White particles on dash

[IPAuto]

Hi everyone,

I have ’07 SE (2.4L).
Recently I paid attention when I turn HVAC, doesn’t matter fan or A/C, white parts (very similar to salt grain) are coming out from vent grilles and spread all-over the dashboard.
I took the car to the dealer. Mechanic says the a/c evaporator has to be replaced. Well, they have to keep the vehicle for the whole day, disassemble dash completely and replace the part. He didn’t mention anything about cabin filter.

Did anyone have this problem before?

[Yazovets]

Never heard of this kind of problem before. Make sure the dash is put back together properly. You should expect some new creaking and rattling from the dash because of the incompetent technician's "work" so make sure to enforce the dealer. Have them fix your dash rattles after.

[IPAuto]

Thanks for response.
3 months ago I brought my Camry to dealer to fix dash creaking and rattling. It became much better than it had been. I really don’t want another dash replacement. You right, dealer’s assembly is not comparable to factory one.

[njerald]

These members have no memory..........

TSB-0075-08 covers this problem.

TSB-0075-08 - 5/27/08 - Excessive Dust from HVAC Vents

[Streaker]

Have the same problem at least once a year. Looks like dandruff. I replace the cabin filter and it stops.

[bobka.ev]

I have TCH 2008 with 88K KMs on it.
The white dust problem started about a year go. I thought it was related to the cabin filter but it's replacement did not fix the issue. It was getting worse during winter months.

It was so until last weekend when I discovered that it was a very well known issue with AC evaporator in Camry of 2007 - 2009 model years.
Toyota has experiments with some new anti-bacterial coating in these models and apparently something did not go well.

I also found details in "TSB-0075-08 - 5/27/08 - Excessive Dust from HVAC Vents" thread on this web site ( TSB-0075-08 - 5/27/08 - Excessive Dust from HVAC Vents ).
This bulletin has been updated on January 16, 2012. According to Toyota's latest bulletin this service required 7.5 hours of work.

Fortunately for me this evaporator replacement was covered by ECP I bought along with the car.

So I took my car to the closest Toyota dealership in Toronto and they fixed it free of charge (covered via ECP). It took them almost 2 days to get it all done and I got rental from them while the car was in service.

Now I have my dashboard nice and clean and no more white dust in my car.

Hope this will help other happy TCH owners.

Cheers.

[HotRod53]

Very interesting, my wife just commented on the white powder on my dash yesterday. I have only owned this car for a month, I had never heard of the TSB. Thanks for the post!