2007 ac swap, will update untill finished/solved

[sh0rtlife]

so lets set the stage

the car in question is a 2007 canadian 5dr that my wife brought with her when i imported her LOL, she loves the lil yaris and dubbed him mr wedgie

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this car is not only clean but LOW miles.160k kilometers..you do the math into miles, however she couldnt get all the options she wanted when she bought mr wedgie new, so im on a slow road to fix that bit by bit

fast-forward, weve been using the car for deliveries and her mother is potentially moving a 500mile 1 way thru the desert away from us..while an AC swaps been on the list for a while..its now rapidly becoming a priority

i have scoured the forums with alot of mixed input and nothing condensed or finished into something usable

if ANYONE has an accurate detailed 07 wiring diagram please let me know

over the past year ive gathered up all of the obvious parts, like the controls, and the lines as well as the condenser and evap, waiting to buy the pump new

found out there was an 07 2dr at the yard not far from me and went out and GUTTED the poor lil car to the bone when i found out it had AC..so now ive got pretty much 2 of everything(ive got another project tat ill use it on), but i also went so far as to cut up the wiring harness with precision and traced all of the wires as best i could even cutting out chunks of fuse box etc and taking mess of pics so i know where wires go and plug into where they Y off etc, i just need a diagram to triple check everything

before anyone states find a car with it....let me till you that first off the 07 5dr doesnt exist in the US, and we both hate the 08+, secondly "low mile" clean examples are pushing 8k+ localy soooo yeah no!

so again if anyone has a 05-07 diagram for the wiring i really want to triple check everything before i pull our DD yaris apart for this

[sh0rtlife]

a few relevant side notes to onlookers and naysayers

first off
the engine does NOT need to come out..only the passenger side engine mount needs to be lifted or removed with the engine jacked up "slightly"

secondly
the heater boxes are 100% identical and you can just get the Evaporator and slide it into your existing box WITHOUT fully removing the box and dash(but its not entirely easy)

thirdly
while removing the wipers and cowl pan make life easier its totaly un needed, since if your hands dont fit well you can lower the engine to gain some hand/arm space..tho if you find yourself needing to remove the wipres and pan its about a 3 min job

fourth
YES the ENTIRE dash has to come out
HOWEVER, while this seems scary its actualy VERY straight forward and ment to be easy(think about the manufacturing)yes the steering column needs to come out too, but again its very VERY straight forward, most of the plastic parts are cliped and held in by nothing, the passenger air bag is the only real item holding the entire dash top in, there are otherwise only a dozen or so screws for the whole dash, the real "meat" in the removal is the side to side brace bar that EVERYTHING mounts to

lastly
the parts list..of which all the parts seem to be the same 05-11?
3 ac lines
2 fender wall clips
heater/ac controls
compressor
condenser
Evaporator
THE PIECE I FORGOT..theres a plastic panel in both the AC and non AC yaris that sits next to the radiator, non AC cars its a MUCH bigger item, the AC cars its smaller....i need to go retrieve that

on initial inspection...atleast my 07 has ALL of the pigtails in the wiring for this to possibly be plug n play?!?!?!?

since i took pics of every conection point as well as each connector in the entirety of the heater system from the unit to the controls to the compressor and sensors....a days worth of work wittling away and surgicaly stripping the wrecker car

i have manged to check the car my pics against the "stripped down" harness i bought and compare everything to mr wedgie and to my disbelieving
ac sensor pig tail, exists
compressor pig tail, exists
all 3 heater control plug wireing matches(no extra wires here)
the control unit on the bottom of the heater box both plugs and wire pin out and connectors match

am i missing anything?!?!?!?!..i dont think so

with all that said if ANYTHING is extra in the harness..only a diagram is going to point it out at this point...but....ive defiantly got my hopes up!

current cost right around 100$ and that includes a COMPLETE heater/ac box assembly and EVERYTHING except the compressor and a wiring harness i likely wont need,, with the compressor prices skyrocketing i may opt for a used unit and rebuild it..justifying 400-700 for a compressor seems a bit silly when a rebuild kit if under 100

[sh0rtlife]

small update

ALL 07 models share all the same parts, from the interior to the engine side a/c wise

HOWEVER 2008+ the wiring changed on the controlls side at the very least

also the "late" 07s seem to have changed the "big" ac line to have a canister in it the same line is used in the 08+..im unsure if its a dryer or an expansion tank...still looking into it

[sh0rtlife]

so here goes

so first off this pic list is LONG as i tryed to detail every last inch of whats required to pull the dash...that said i got my wifes 07 heater box out in roughly 2 hours so its NOT a lengthy job

youll only need 5 or so tools, a pair of pliers for the 2 hose clamps, a 12mm wrench, 12mm socket 10mm socket and a philips driver, a flat head is usefull for some of the "tabs" as well

another noteworthy bit..the steering colum does NOT need to be removed from the car if done right, thus i did NOT remove it, also to be noted i did not remove the guage cluster as i know that can sometimes cause a brain to toss codes on some cars..so i worked around it just encase

[sh0rtlife]

heres your basic parts..i opted for the "newer" 08+ big line as it has an expansion canister on it, otherwise the -07 and the 08+ are the same..in fact it seems the canister is a midyear switch on the 07s sooooo the fatcory changed it probably for good reason

also added new o-rings, dryer, and expansion valve, ive also got a presure switch on the way as they seem fail prone from what im seeing around here

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[sh0rtlife]

from here out im just pointing out where all the nuts, bolts screws clips etc that need to be removed are

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[sh0rtlife]

more dash dissasembly

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[sh0rtlife]

continued

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[sh0rtlife]

and the finish

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[sh0rtlife]

bonus note

the car in question checks out as having ALL of the A/C wiring in place from the factory..as in ZERO wire mods required, even tho i have a gutted harness pulled for the other box that i grabbed just as a precaution as i was worried id have to build an AC harness

BONUS the brain on the bottom of the heater box in the last 2 shots, above is the "heat only" brain below is the AC box...both are the same part number..i have a 3rd brain from an 08 thats a totaly different part number...

i got a good laugh out of the AC uh "plug" for in the heater box..the amount of molding work and such is astounding...i cant belive toyota even made that thing

anyway all looks good right now, awaiting the pressure switch, but i will be re-installing everything tommaro as well as detailing the requirements and walkthru of the engine side of things

got the heater box out only spilling about 1/2 a cup of coolant...and didnt drain the engine or rad

[CrimsonEclipse]

You have my respect.

I'd rather change the engine than replace an evaporator.

[NYC-SE]

You have my respect.

+1

Lots of good info and pictures here for the next guy. Well done.

[sh0rtlife]

You have my respect.

I'd rather change the engine than replace an evaporator.

honestly tho its EASY "light" work and only took 2 hours to get out and another 2 to get it back in, and i also did some re-routing of fog lights, usb hookups, and wired it for cruise

all said the biggest pain in the job is the steering colomn piviot bolt which requires dissconnecting the brake arm from the master rod, and even then getting that bolt out is a TIGHT fit, otherwise the only other snag bit is fishing the box out the passenger side of the car as you hold up the cross bar..a second set of hands would have made that simple

[sh0rtlife]

ill toss up the finishing pics shortly, the front end of the ac stuff is stupid easy

also..the black plastic "fill" panel for the radiator is the same for with and without AC so it is NOT needed!

[sh0rtlife]

so heres the engine side of things

if for some reason you needed to replace a line or the compressor you instantly have access by just popping the bumper off, in fact the rad crossmember does NOT need to come off if you were doing lines or comp, but it does have to be removed to get the condensor in

fun lil side note, mind the top tab "finger" of the engine mount on the body side
so heres the trick
put a jack under the engine and take the weight "just" off the mount remove the top 2 engine bolt and get out a 2ft+ extension and come up from the crank to get the 14mm NUT, after that remove the 3 body bolts on the other side of the mount....youll now find the mount still wont come off, you need to lower the engine slightly and pull it forward ever so slightly and the finger should come out..if not you may need to lift the engine just above its normal position at this point the finger will be loose enough to get out...its honestly the only "tricky" bit

outside of the engine mount everythings VERY straight forward

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[sh0rtlife]

remove the bumper, pop loose the radiation top support, as well as remove the top clips that hold the black plastic "fill" beside the radiator..dont break anything you will re-use it all

insert your 2 body ac line clips and basicly just slip everything together..the lines go in best if you come in from a low angle and go over the top of the engine with the radiator end of them down tward the ground

the filter and dryer can be removed with nothing more than a bolt and vice grips..dont bother trying to find an allen that will fit them it wont be worth the price, i didnt measure the bolt but can tell you that its NOT metric lol

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[sh0rtlife]

still waiting on some pag oil as well as a pressure switch, however i vac'ed the system amd after 2 days its still holding right where i left it so...its good to go

also seems you dont need to change any fuses or relays...110% plug n play!!!!

after looking at several 09+ i suspect they are the same plug n play, in fact the first car i gutted for the parts was an 09, the wiring from an 09 to an 07 is totaly not the same even tho ALL of the parts are save for the part number on the brain on the bottom of the heater box..its the ONLY piece i can find thats actually different..atleast as far as the number is concerned

once i get my r134, switch and oil and get it charged ill report back again on it

[sh0rtlife]

charged up today took on almost 2 12oz cans, and with that said it blow nice n cold, its not as cold as a 03 crown vic of a friend of mines HOWEVER its colder than my 01 explorer sport so...im quite pleased with it

will see how it holds up over the next few months

[komichal]

Hats off to you sir, this is some serious work!
By the way - does the cool air start to blow instantly after you turn on the AC, even in very hot conditions?
My AC sometimes takes literally 5 minutes to start blowing cold air, espacially when the outside is awfully hot and the car sat overnight on the parking lot.
I asked the dealership to check - they added little bit of refrigerant and measured the pressures - all was OK and they were not able to find a problem. They changed the pressure switch "for preventive purposes" but no help. Could it be that the whole AC system is just worn out after 15 years of service?

[sh0rtlife]

Hats off to you sir, this is some serious work!
By the way - does the cool air start to blow instantly after you turn on the AC, even in very hot conditions?
My AC sometimes takes literally 5 minutes to start blowing cold air, espacially when the outside is awfully hot and the car sat overnight on the parking lot.
I asked the dealership to check - they added little bit of refrigerant and measured the pressures - all was OK and they were not able to find a problem. They changed the pressure switch "for preventive purposes" but no help. Could it be that the whole AC system is just worn out after 15 years of service?

ive yet to have it hot enough outside to put it "thru the ringer" to so speak

however at 79-82 with some humidity it blows ice cold in say 30 seconds or so

i do have some further notes im about to post tho that may help

[sh0rtlife]

HUGE FOOT NOTE!

for anyone charging the system themselves, or even having issues with the system, ive run into a handfull of bogus write ups procedures etc that dont actually apply to the yaris or such a small system..not really sure but even TOYOTA's own checklist and procedure was GARBAGE

so after some falls positives, some head scratching and lots of trial and error i found a combination of new and old school that works

obviously you need to vac and leak test the system, being paranoid i did -25 vac after 20 mins disconnected my gauges and left the car for 24hours, came back the next day and was still holding 25, so i know the system is sound

baring any bad parts..heres the "fill" procedure i found to finally give me predictable ice cold air on demand
even a "cheep" set of high/low gauges will work but dont try and do it with a single on the can gauge as youll NEVER get it right, and youll be chasing your tail for days

start the car
add "some" refrigerant like a can of "first can", keep adding it till the system starts to cycle
now watch the gauges, youll find that the system "kicks off" at around 29 on the "low" side and 110ish on the high side, but will also kick off if things get wildly too high as in pegged gauges LOL

pull up a temp to psi ac chart, youll need it and a temp reading of outside air
at this point youll need to charge the system SLOWLY and you may find yourself venting some as needed..i recommend a "spent" empty can

with the AC on MAX and the fan on MAX, you either need a second person, a block of wood or a lil bit of dancing

1500RPM is your KEY point that your working around..anything lower and youll chase your tail, anything higher and the same thing, so if you can set your car to hold that..DO IT, if you cant..aim the gauges thru the windshield rev and watch

today was 70ish so i was shooting for 35-40 low side and 145-160 high side
getting the low side up seems straight forward but until you hold the 1500RPM youll either get way off readings or wild fluctuations and even redlined over pressures, i found myself adding to the low side, and doing alot of swapping to an empty can to vent the high side till i got it close

DO NOT use the fan as an indication of the AC on..watch the gauges, you should watch them and see that when the low drops to 29 it kicks off and the high side will now fall, at some point you'll see the high side start to climb again this tells you that the compressor is cycling, if fact watching the guages and listening closely youll be able to verify if your transducer is working correctly as well as it has both high and low psi cut outs..and those cut outs are 29 low and something VERY high..not sure exactly how high, low sides all that really matters

the sweet spot is to add to the low side while the compressor is running and when the low side is at its lowest psi but before the compressor kicks off, theres a sweet spot....yes you can add it whenever but it may toss things out of balance quickly if done while closer to the high end , what your trying to do is is add to the low while keeping the high from dropping too fast, if your adding to the low side above 35 while the high side is sliding down what youll likely end up with is next cycle the high side spikes out and you find yourself venting some off...i found myself only adding from 32-29

the issues i had with alot of the procedures was setting the ac to mid not max ment when i hit max id get HUGE spikes in the high side 400psi!, and the same went for any rpm, what i had was a "charged" system that looked right on paper at idle, worked briefly and unreliably or not at all at standard engine speeds

at 1500rpm you want to see the high side fluctuate minimal 5-10psi tops, if it goes high and keeps climbing, you need to vent/remove, if it goes low or drops fast you need to add to the low side...simply put, if its swinging fast do ALOT if it swinging slow do small amounts as your getting close...but make sure the sytem is either cycling a couple times between or staying on rock steady..honestly once you can get it to stay on rock steady your close enough to just leave it alone

what i found myself doing was venting to a catch can then re-using the catch can on the low side and kept dancing till i got it and it held, mind you at idle its NOT right and the compressors going to do a good bit of cycling on/off however toyotas AC system for the yaris was NOT ment to be run at idle as a setting for "at idle" will mean anything above 1500rpm and the high side will spike into shut down and you wont have ac again till you turn off the system for 5 mins(the amount of time it takes for the pressures to equalize) at which point if you turn it back on it will work briefly


hopefully between this and the previous write up it should basicly solve alot of ac woes

[sh0rtlife]

BONUS NOTE

to EVERYONE who has a yaris with or without AC, are you aware there is NOT a water flow control valve?, as in even on MAX ac you still pump hot water thru the heater core into the cabin of the car, which diminishes the cooling , heck on a hot day without ac and your heater dialed to cool and off its STILL PUMPING HOT WATER!!!!!

im currently in search of the best fitting "fix", obviously a standard issue water bypass valve is in order..i mean most american cars and euro cars have had em since the 40's , tho they useualy only locked off one side of the flow, modern units shot off both sides and do a return flow as to keep the coolant cycling in the hoses, just not thru the heater core

yes you have a "blend" door but that doesnt mean that the blend door isnt radiating 210degs of heat, always wondered why as a passenger my left toes would be burning on a long drive...now i know why

currently eyeballing the unit off a 2001 ford explorer sport as its a simple inexpensive design....but trying to find something that matches our hoses as well as will sit cleanly in the engine bay (hoping to match hose distance apart on the core side) is going to be the true trick

either way ill have to put a switch on the blend door movement so that once set to "no temp" it shuts the valve, now weather thats an electric switch or a vac switch is yet to be determined

[IronYaris]

Mad respect. Every other mechanic shop i've asked around my area suggested buying a car with AC.

[sh0rtlife]

Mad respect. Every other mechanic shop i've asked around my area suggested buying a car with AC.

everyone here seems to be under the same statement "go buy a yaris with it"

thats why i took the stand and did all the figuring and grabbed everything and just did it

all in used parts, save for some key wear parts, charged and blowing cold less than 250$, alot of thats going to be simply finding the used parts and being patient with prices, i managed to get most of my parts from pick n pulls, and i also bought an entire heater box assy in that total mostly to prove that a non AC box was the same as an AC box..i wanted ZERO supprises and zero setbacks when i pulled the dash apart

id wager if i had to do it again i could do it with a mix of new n used for about 150-200

[sh0rtlife]

im off to testing my setup before "hard wiring"

im using "Four Seasons 74809 Heater Valve " in conjunction with a 05 corolla ven solinoid(or i think thats what it is), will grab the part number when i post the pics

for now ive got a rocker switch floating in the glove box

the heater valve is a dead match for the hose sizes on the yaris and the spread is VERY close, nothing a couple of 3-4inch hose chunks cant overcome

i did need to tap into the engine vacuum which was tricky, so i used a fuel pressure fitting and replaced the gauge outlet with a small barb....NOTHING on the yaris required cutting and my cost is 20$

will see how the testing goes but i suspect no more long travel cooked feet on the passenger side and no more heat in the car when you dont want it

assuming everything works as it should and i see no reason it wont....the next step will be to make the solinoid trigger when the heat is turned off...not the fan but the temp dial, looking at the spare heater box ive noted a couple of empty screw holes not far from the tempeture diverter flap as well as a L shaped part on the flap assembly hanging out that has a hole in it akin to what youd find in a door handle/lock, so my current running theory is to setup something like a brake switch on a spring attached to that

anyway, will be a long couple of days of driving so will report back with details after the testing....this could very well be ideal for anyone wanting less heat in the car in the summer but doesnt want AC

[sh0rtlife]

initial testing has been done, humidity has been pretty gnarly

ive run into a couple of issues where "idling a long period causes the system to shut down if running high fan...i suspect the 4seasons valve at the condensor is faulty and causing too high of pressures....its a known issue, so ill just order up a genuine denso

[sh0rtlife]

so...heres a semi fresh write up for "heater bypass"..and this applys to you non AC guys too who want "unheated" fresh air..which isnt something the car can actually do without this mod...i havnt entirely solved the "automated" end of this "yet" but have a good idea of how to do it

order up
Four Seasons 74809 Heater Valve
find used or buy
25860-62010 Toyota Vacuum Switching Valve Solenoid VSV
youll also need 1 foot of vac line and 8 inches of heater hose and 4 hose clamps
and a "y" for a vacum source..imo the simple fix is to use a fuel pressure block and a barb fitting off the brake booster line

pretty simple setup really
use a strip of steel and mount the vac valve to the heater valve body(they sell premade units for "LS swap" aplications for 200$), run the lines as seen in the pics
vac source to the bottom nipple
vac canister to top...run it any other way and it wont work, this allows for when the unit is "powered" that it sucks the valve shut and simply lets the vac of the engine hold it there, when its "un powered" it allows only the canister side to "vent" and release
as far as wireing goes, it doesnt matter both work as pos/neg pick one to ground and another to power..your choice simple 2 wire

how you go about switching it on/off is up to you....for testing i have a switch flopping about in the glove box

with some looking at the heater box however ive found theres a cog on the heat control flap that moves to a fixed point once you get to "neutral" of the heat selection, theres also a neerby threaded hole on the heater box....my running idea is to either use a motorcycle foot brake switch(small slim spring loaded) or a modified brake switch from another yaris..the obvious choice of a bike brake switch is they are super small and easily mounted and have a wire/spring pull to activate, and the cog on the box pulls up and away from the mounting hole

anyway ill update that bit of info when i settle on how i do it

for now the ability to "turn off" the heat entirely has my feet happy, but being able to pump cool flowing air from outside without it going thru a hot heater core is VERY nice, so much so that AC is needed considerably less

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[tmontague]

Great write up and kudos for paving the way on this. I'll admit, it seems to have cost a lot less than I would have thought.

Quick Q for you and my apologies if you already answered it: why did you not just fill the a/c based on weight and essentially be done with it?

I understand dialing in pressures to potentially improve performance over factory specs, but as a starting point why not just use the factory fill weights as a baseline?

IME Japanese manufactured vehicles were never designed to have proper ac cooling at idle, they are sized for efficiency and to perform once driving.

All Japanese vehicles I've owned (Toyota, Mazda, Subaru) have decent ac at idle (~60F vent temps) but improve quite a bit once moving (~45F vent temps). This makes sense as having an ac system that works great at idle means you are just burning gas in the other 90% of times you are using it and actually driving.

[sh0rtlife]

Great write up and kudos for paving the way on this. I'll admit, it seems to have cost a lot less than I would have thought.

Quick Q for you and my apologies if you already answered it: why did you not just fill the a/c based on weight and essentially be done with it?

I understand dialing in pressures to potentially improve performance over factory specs, but as a starting point why not just use the factory fill weights as a baseline?

IME Japanese manufactured vehicles were never designed to have proper ac cooling at idle, they are sized for efficiency and to perform once driving.

All Japanese vehicles I've owned (Toyota, Mazda, Subaru) have decent ac at idle (~60F vent temps) but improve quite a bit once moving (~45F vent temps). This makes sense as having an ac system that works great at idle means you are just burning gas in the other 90% of times you are using it and actually driving.

i did initially fill to spec, but im not sold that said spec is for a "fresh install", as it wouldnt get up to pressure to kick the pressure switch, of course i also think the new valve is at the condenser is semi faulty or sticking which could have caused the false start and lack of pressure, its rated as an oe replacement but with as sensitive and slow as it is im probably going to empty the system and re-fill again with a direct denso part in its place

[CrimsonEclipse]

I apologize if my reading comprehension is not on point:
So you installed an A/C system into a car that did not have one?

You're a madman, and you have my sincere respect.

[sh0rtlife]

I apologize if my reading comprehension is not on point:
So you installed an A/C system into a car that did not have one?

You're a madman, and you have my sincere respect.

sure did.....and boy oh boy is it nice to have, tho i have to admit you can FEEL the power loss at low rpms, anything above 3k its not noticed unless your going up hill


adding options where they wernt is always fun and useualy not so "plug n play"....while i was in there i noted it looks like the harness is there for power windows....when i find them...but thats quite the rabbit hole with needing all 4 door panels, motors, switch panels switches and harneses

[sh0rtlife]

the final piece of the puzzle is you will need to make sure the car has the fan#2 relay, but you will also need to make sure the car has the "fan resistor" which is mounted on the left frame rail beside/below the air box, without that your condensor will run HOT, and also this resistor is how the AC forces the fan on, without it the ac cannot force the fan on!!!!!


as far as i know this whole thing has now been 100% solved, still working on a automatic water flow cutoff but the AC side of things is set in stone solved!

[toyotavios_11]

my respect to you bro