THIS is Why Car Engineers and Car Mechanics Don't Always Get Along! 

As a retired tech, I can vouch for the fact that engineers have never given a second thought about serviceability . Their goal is ease of assembly and reduced cost.

Retired from Lexus and this brings back nightmares 😂

HINT: Tape off your defrost vent when you get a new windshield. The windshield installer doesn't care if they drop stuff into your defrost vent.

This has to be 1 of the best Car mechanics on RU-vid. He knows his stuff, no question. He is very polite and honest. And unfortunately, we know the stories about some mechanics who are not honest. Thank you Car Care👍👍👍👍👍👍

Thank you, as a 30+ year mechanic I appreciate your input to the many “bad design “ tasks. You just can’t explain why a job takes so much time to do! Unless you show customer. I might also add some of the things that will break during this job, some plastic connections will break because they are old and brittle. You do us proud to show customers what is involved. I watch all your videos, as I always like to see how another mechanic approaches a job! Thanks !!

A shop I worked at long long ago used to call the HVAC box the "double cheeseburger," because typically either the technician that had to work on it had a heart attack, or the customer had a heart attack when presented with the estimate. Back when I did line work, I had a rule that if the box came out, everything got replaced. Either a whole new HVAC assembly, or every serviceable part got replaced, and I would discount labor to prevent double-billing. As for the engineering side of things, I stopped being angry a long time ago. The reality is, the engineers are very specifically tasked with finding the most efficient design for assembly, not for service. Every single engineer that works on these vehicles is absolutely capable of creating field-serviceable designs, but their management's directives do not budget for it. It's not the engineers' fault. They have X-amount of labor hours allocated for the design of a subsystem, with a bullet-point list of goals to acheive.

Don’t be so hard on Toyota. You would lose your mind working on a BWW engine 😂

As an engineer, they mainly design based on lowering labor costs for the factory. If they can make it easier for mechanics, they will. But the manufacturers cost takes priority

AMD, We have reached the point where Toyota should be getting your pre-approval before they release a new car or modify an existing design . 😉😁

The more I watch your programs the more apprehensive I get about my car. Ignorance is bliss, I guess. You're educating me about things in my car I'm not really sure I want to think about.

I will NEVER again complain about changing the blend-door actuator on my Grand Marquis; what a mess! GREAT VIDEO!

Some engineer probably got an award for finding a way to control all of those doors with one motor.

I'm a car engineer that used to work on cars all the time, I try to make my stuff serviceable when it's possible. I replaced the heater core and blend door actuator on a Lincoln Navigator once, that was a 10 hour job. The HVAC box is about the first part that gets installed on the line. Most engineers have zero or near zero car knowledge. The #1 Design Directive: Cost savings. #2: Design for assembly (ease of assembly, fewer fasteners, ergonomics to eliminate line worker repetitive stress injuries, etc). #3: Make it last at least the length of the warranty, our internal directive is 15 years. I asked my boss early on how we take into account how to work on the car, he just laughed.

Remember the days of slide levers on the dash? PERFECTION!

I absolutely HATE these servo motor jobs and evaporator jobs, especially this time of the year. When I first started in the business almost 30 years ago, these jobs were easy. You could get the evaporator out in less than an hour. Now the job takes a whole f-ing day or more and I hate it.

Remember doing this to a 2010 Camry. I took the dash out with the heater box and steering column attached, as they did on the assembly line. Hung the complete assembly from a hoist arm with ratchet straps, took HVAC box off, and replaced all motors, heater core and evaporator. Have to say, doesn't matter who the manufacturer of the car is, this is SOP on all cars for the last 10-15 years,. Don

i was able to repair blend door servo 2002 Lexus RX300. took apart servo and adjusted the drive screw mechanism by following youtube video and it still works 40K miles later. no parts required. Grateful after watching this 2010 Lexus nightmare!!!!

My professor in school told us something I've always remembered, "engineers live in a theoretical laboratory world of their own design, mechanics on the other hand live in the real world and have to correct engineer's design".

I had a 2007 Tundra Limited with no heat on the drivers side. My 20 year old 1972 Corolla’s heater worked awesome. Simplicity is key.

Preach bro. Engineers can design anything, but the cars of today have become too complicated. We need the engineers from past generations. We also need mechanics like you CCN also.

This makes one appreciate older vehicles. How much technology do you really need. Everything has its price.

just my 2 cents for those who own old cars like me, if you live in very hot weather and get just few days of cold weather like in south Texas, after having issues with broken recycle doors or the actuators, many times in the past I noticed that in my case always happened the first days of winter..... so after years working in injection molding I learned that no matter what plastic is ALL gets drier and more brittle in cold weather, there are even some plastics that once molded and cooled down we used to ship them in a bag with water inside so it could absorbed the moisture and not be brittle when got to the assembly line in winter, so, this is what I do since like 7 years ago and have not had an issue since then with all my old cars I cycle the AC system once a month with AC cold and the heat also even if we are 100F, (air up, mixed, only floor, defrost etc) just driving on the express way at consistent speed, of 65 or 70 so the coolant flow is high and also clean the evaporator core, I got to the conclusion that if you don't frequently cycle all these plastic parts they will get harder to move and especially if you have not used your heater for 8 months and then you turn it on a very cold day when the plastic is dry and brittle and... "snap" a gear or a lever breaks or a recirculating door side post and that is it... $1,000 or more to repair..... also I like doing this to keep fresh clean coolant inside the evaporator core.......

My previous car was a 2012 Kia Rio5. The A/C stopped working after about 7 years. I had an extended warranty, so I had the dealer service it. Like this Toyota, the heater core/evaporator unit is buried in the dash and the entire front of the inside of the car has to be removed as that assembly is one of the first things put in the car when it is made (so, everything else has to be removed to get it out). The repair was about $3500 and the dealer had the car for the week (covered under my extended warranty plan). Just wanted to share since the issue in the video isn't an exclusive issue with Toyota (it's pretty much this way in every car).

Toyota engineering should have a seasoned tech on the design team.

The Car Wizard went through many of these.

Anyone who is shopping for a 2010 to 2015 RX350, check the hvac system for functionality if there is an issue , ask for a $5000 off asking price.

This is a good demonstration of why sometimes a mechanic comes back saying a bunch of parts need to be replaced for what seems like a minor issue to us, the customers. Mechanics aren't always trying to gouge us, folks.

Having been an almost lifelong shade tree mechanic, I have done a lot of note taking during disassembly, including step by step numbering. Also I don't shy away from things that are not meant to be disassembled. As I do this I keep things in mind as to make improvements in the repair. There is no limit to the satisfaction gained from such a successful repair. Almost makes the extra hours worth it. By the way, service and repair manuals are useful to an extent as well...in conjunction with note taking when repairing the "unrepairable".

I thought the starter motor on the tundra's were bad, ha! Having done Shotokan Karate with a Japanese man many years in Miami, I have come to appreciate the Japanese culture and thought process. Looking into other aspects of their culture you see just how thoughtful and creative they are. Example in Japanese gardens when the garden architect or planner has the beauty laid out low in small shrubs or rocks or other low lying things the stepping stones on the path gradually become smaller and less flat more irregular so your footing is slightly unsettled and you naturally lower your eyes. The oposite is true when the beauty is higher the stepping stones become larger and flat. This brings your vision to the area the garden planner wants you to see and enjoy. You are going over a pond on a foot bridge and there is an unexplained "Z" pattern where you have to slow down and turn and walk a short distance the turn again etc. once again it is there to slow you down and give you the opportunity to look around and find the water below and enjoy the fish etc. Japanese flower arrangement, Food prep and presentation, interior design etc. etc. this is a very old culture, very thoughtful people. THEN, THEN you have a starter motor that cost $2000 in labor because it is way in the back inside the engine or worse what you just showed us. Wow! They should be ashamed, these engineers have let thousands of years of culture and heritage down. There is a not so advanced Kata, "Hiean Godan" where the angle of the arm is such that you have to think of a drop of water slowly running down from you shoulder and dropping out between your two knuckles. There is very little of any of that in some of these designs it is truly shameful and looking at the thousands of years of Japanese culture, very UN- Japanese.

Everything made today is designed to be as cheap as possible to manufacture, with zero thought given to reparing it. I have been servicing consumer electronics since the early 70's, back then they had removable plates so that you could gain access to replace the parts that often failed, then as the years went by the stopped fitting them, so you had to waste hours dismantling the entire unit and have no way of been certain that you had replaced all the faulty components until it was reassembled exactly the same as this cars HVAC unit is. We made our own extension adapters to allow testing before it was fully rebuilt. So i feel your frustration. Todays servos and actuators have a finite life, yet they are used everytime the car is started, crazy or what ?

Former engineering manager here: engineering is an art of tradeoffs among function, cost, schedule, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, longevity, etc. The biggest problems occur when there's not an easy way to take some of these "abilities" into account. As others have mentioned, getting inputs/feedback from "downstream" parties like suppliers, manufacturing, service, and end users is critical, but often not sufficiently looked for or listened to. Finally, sometimes we're just plain not smart enough, knowledgeable enough, or talented enough to find a way to make it better enough.

Haha, as an engineer with previous technician background. I can tell you it's not the engineers. It's those business people that keep kicking us to make it cheaper.

This dude is great. Thx for the weather strip video for my 2015 ES on the sunroof. Fixed it perfectly - no more ratting and wind noise.

I was a gasoline and diesel tech for many years and in the 80's when they started using electronics (not well) I decided to go to college to be smarter thinking they are the folks that will get paid the most. I was correct but I decided it was easier to work as a BSEE than a tech and the engineers looked down on techs not all but many of them. I have worked with all the engineering disciplines over many years and most couldn't keep a job as a tech and many would never get hired. In a perfect world they should work together as they did in Detroit in the 1950 and 60s. The techs were called method engineers and would review the engineers designs for sanity albeit many times the bean counters had more influence with management. Remember everyone reports to someone regardless of position or rank. When Henry Ford made his first model Ts they were so good that he found out they were not selling any parts such as tie rods etc. He made them stop producing parts that were so long lasting again it is about money. Every decision that has been ever made can almost always be traced back to MONEY and it hasn't changed in my 75 years if anything it is worse now and will probably continue. I expect car manufacturers will start reducing their warrantees down from three years and 36000 miles for most of them until eventually it will be like buying a toaster and get a one year warranty. I am an old man and we get very cynical as we age but mark my words and I am on the record.

Not a big fan of auto temp control. It just seems like sure-fire way to shorten the life of the servos. I keep mine in manual.

I'm a Mechanic who further did Automotive Engineering at University, most of my classmates had never held a spanner before, these are the guys who're designing some of these designs and surprisingly the chief engineer approves such designs.

It would be cool to see disassembly of the HVAC unit itself. For those curious like me…I think a video of it would be great!

I can't believe this. Those who designed this have lost their minds. And of course they don't care because the bill will be passed on to the owner of the vehicle.

I attended a GM tech school in the mid 80's. The Instructor said his normal job was looking at the placement of various parts and systems. He said they would see how hard or easy it would be for a tech to service, disassemble, reassemble. He said we win some and loose some. All of us agreed they lost more than won.

I'm more than happy with the ice cold AC on my 1997 corolla which is all manual sliders for the direction and recirc controls. Only I button to turn the AC on and off, the way it should be.

Things that I saw that broke the blend doors. Coins, broken glass, clips from air fresheners, and loose screws.

Toyota engineers should really should do a focus group with technicians like you prior to developing a new engine.

Throwing left over bolts and screws that's how I fix most of my old cars. Thank you for you dedication during this. You are truly a trooper !

I'm in awe of your commitment to customer service and your expertise and your willingness to generously share it with us! Thank you.

Thank you for taking the time to educate us. Your are a true blessing!

Thank you for explaining the various aspects of this issue. 🙂

I love the way You Think Sir ! While Youre in there . . . . It saves money for the customer in the long run

Boy o boy, now this is a project for sure. It's is exactly like you say, you must take great care taking all this "stuff" apart, bagging and marking the fasteners/clips, etc, take pictures also. There is no way you could get this back together write if you are sloppy taking it apart. I just can't imagine trying to do this job for the first time and getting it right. I was glad to hear that you are replacing the heater core while inside, don't leave anything to chance. Anyway of taking that assembly apart, perhaps finding the thing that fell inside jamming the actuator. I know you said it doesn't come apart but you are replacing the assembly so it doesn't really matter if you break that lovely plastic to get at the culprit. I can only imagine all the dealer techs calling out sick when this job rolls in. God bless you CCN for taking the time and care to do this job the way you would want it done in your own car....

Oh my goodness, you must have the patience of Job .

I had a late model Camry that had a piece of a cell phone mount that fell down in the center vents causing major issues. Had to stick a camera down in to verify the issue. People, please don't attach things to your HVAC vents, no cell phone mounts, no air fresheners, no nothing. It's just too costly when something breaks like this.

Mechanics exist because engineers need heroes too! FACT

Wow! Insane in the membrane. You are the king of Buyer Beware and Be Informed! Like many RU-vidrs you are a gem

Very smart man I'm always amazed on the work he does

How about a choke cable and knob for good old fashioned operation.

This is why I keep my vents on defrost at all times. When inevitably the actuator fails, as long as my heat and AC still work I don't have to mess with it. I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of this repair was more than half the value of the car.

My 06 Frontier needed a new recirc motor. Out came the entire dash. While out, I replaced the recirc motor, air mix (hot/cold)motor, cleaned the reason why the recirc door was binding, made sure other doors operated smoothly and reassembled everything. I used the green masking tape method. Wrap the tape around screws and ID their location. Same for nuts, other hardware and both sides of the electrical connectors. Takes longer, saves time and patience with reassembly. Same with my wife's 06 Sorento. The Kia also got a new evaporator and heater core. Both were completed at home in my garage. I've done several Ford trucks and one Escort at work in the past. No one else in the shop wanted to do them. They all took time. Except for one Ford Truck, all the other vehicles worked as designed with no problems on startup. That truck had a bad A/C compressor unknown to me. Yes I fixed it. Green tape, take your time, replace parts in those assemblies that WILL break soon. Why change working parts? "I do the job ONCE, so I don't have to do it over or again!" Thank you AMD for this video.

the engineers never set one foot in the shop

Its 14 years old. In BMW X5 (diect competitor to RX Lexus) its common to pull the dash out like this on 5 year old cars to replace evaporator. Lexus may not be perfect but they are a lot more serviceable than the European competitors.

As usual, great insight into your Toyota and modern cars in general. Great video. Thanks very much.

This guy is super knowledgeable. Nothing but respect.

A True Professional !!!

You forgot to say how much it all cost (Parts, labor).

What a level of dedication and commitment! Fully therally explained!

I am a nearly 50 years hard core home shop DIY mechanic, and I've done a couple of dashboard strip downs to work on the HVAC systems. I can't speak for Lexus, but on American cars I figured out how to change it from a 3 day long nightmare to a more manageable 1 day out and in and done job. I don't know if this in any of the factory service training, but I realized that the entire dashboard including the steering wheel and upper column can be removed as a complete assembly and then placed on a work bench for easier servicing - vs. disassembling the entire dashboard into pieces inside the car. Here is my basic outline besides the obvious stuff: 1) remove the drivers seat 2) remove the pinch bolt attaching the intermediate steering shaft to the upper steering column and drop the intermediate steering shaft out of the way. 3) unplug the approximately 5 or 6 or 7 dashboard wiring harness connectors including the one that goes through the firewall on the driver side. 4) there are usually about 8 or 10 bolts that attach this complete loaded dashboard assembly to the car 5) get a helper because the dash assembly is heavy and an awkward shape and pull the entire dash assembly WITHOUT separately removing the steering wheel, upper column, air bags, sound system, HVAC controls etc. etc. 6) place this entire dashboard assembly on your workbench. More or less it takes 2+ hours to get the complete dashboard assembly out, then a solid hour changing out all the various actuators, then a solid 2 hours reinstalling. Best part is you still get to charge the 18 or 22 hours (or more) that the flat rate guide allows for labor.

Hi AMD, would love to see how an expert like you does a coolant exchange on a 2GR-FKS. They don't have top bleeder valves like the old 2GR does.

A servo motor went out in my 2007 Tundra and something jammed up the white plastic gear bad enough to snap the white plastic, my Toyota mechanic was able to repair the white plastic part using a hot wire weld and then he replaced the servo. All is well.

AMD your sheer skill and expertise and integrity are always amazing to me. Your videos are profoundly informative and I enjoy watching them thank you for all you do and Jose thank you for all your work to young man!

Cars (and many other things like mobile phones, laptops etc) should be easily repairable by design. The automotive industry should hire this guy for a review of the engineering principles, it would be a huge value for the brand.

One word........WOW!!!

If you go to a tractor auction the pre emission -computer tractors are the most desirable. Everything today is over engineered and planned to fail !

YOUR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE IS AMAZING.

Rip vent out. Reach in with your hand, and move the flap. Easy. Is it elegant? No. Does it work? Yes. These electronic control systems are a nightmare when they break. Remember the three-knob setups? Ever had one of those break?

Maybe a screen over the defrost to keep out junk👍

I never understood the concept of DUAL CLIMATE ZONE. You have two people within one or two feet of each other requesting different temperatures. How is that efficient?

A fascinating video. Thanks for posting. Really appreciate your attention to detail. Hate it when folks leave out washers. Just knowing the sequence of how that goes back together.... You are a fine mechanic.

Outstanding. Very informative.

A bore scope is helpful if you have one

I am really impressed with your work.

Good update keep it up the good work 👍👍👍

ICE engines (& ICE vehicles in-general) were ruined when the pursuit of absolute maximum fuel economy to meet various regulations resulted in 100% direct-injection (carbon sludge) engines, small-displacement GDI turbo economy engines, start/stop engine tech, cylinder-deactivation engine tech, & belt/chain design CVT transmissions. Good luck finding any new ICE vehicle today with none of that garbage.

Off topic: I’ve got 70,000 miles on my Mazda CX-5. And I have To say that so far it’s been a total pleasure to own and drive this vehicle each and every day. After having driven Toyota/Honda products my entire life, I believe I’m a Mazda guy from here on out. More bang for the buck as well. Zoom Zoom!

you're a good mechanic & you take good decisons sir☝👍

Got to love the engineers that never touch what they design when it breaks. We put up a dart board in the shop with their pictures on it.

Lets see the tear down !

Heater/ evaporator core asking to be replaced

Great video and very well explained.

I love your commitment to doing only high quality work and your attention to detail. Its rare these days.

…of all the places to put that bolt!…

How much would that job be at a dealer?

You're the best Ahmed. Knowledgeable, highly skilled, generous of spirit and a great communicator. Thank you 🙏

You never cease to amaze me. Amazing!

What was the final bill for this project?

Getting the middle finger from Toyota engineers.

My grandpa would have loved your channel. He was a second generation mechanic and he used to say a lot of the same things you say today. I love your content, sir.

Very impressed!

To replace the clock lightbulb I need to take off half the dashboard. Honda Odyssey 2001. Nightmare SUV.

Engineers are designing for ease of installation, such that, OEM saves money on production. OEM only makes money on new car. OEM does not make money on repairing car. OEM has no incentive to spend engineering time on repairability.

When I was a young engineer, I was once tasked with redesigning a fitting, for an aircraft, to mount an additional device in a small area. I submitted a design that satisfied all the mounted requirements. The fitting, fabricated from separate pieces of sheet aluminum riveted together, had many formed sheet components, tight internal corners requiring radius blocks, and blind rivets to assemble. In fact, the manufacturing engineer came and informed me that the fitting was nearly impossible to assemble, as designed. And after a careful consideration, found he was right. Just because you can create a fit in a final design, you must first get to assemble the final design and later inspect and service that design. All these requirements must be considered in a design if you care about costs, inspect ability, and maintainability.

Excellent presentation

There is a Toyota tech named Omar who parts shotgun every car he has to do a diagnostic on. Beware people make sure he doesn’t work on your car or you’ll keep having problems.