I own a 2007 Toyota Camry LE, with about 90,000 miles on it. It’s been kept in pretty good condition, however recently I noticed that the air conditioning was blowing hot air occasionally. I took this to a garage to get it fixed, and soon after this I noticed that the dashboard dials (speedometer, revs etc) would occasionally drop out entirely and not work. When this happened, I noticed the air conditioning would blow hot air at the same time. Other than these issues, I haven’t noticed any other issues - the car turns on and off every time fine, doesn’t cut out and generally appears to be running fine.
I took it back to the garage, who said that it appears that ‘part of the onboard computer is playing up, and it’s a particularly expensive part to replace’. He quoted me that his cost for the piece alone would be about $1,800, not including labor etc.
This seemed very high to me, so I was wondering whether anyone had any experience of whether this appears too expensive, or plausible? Something about the way that the guy said it, and the fact that he then offered to ‘do me a favor and buy the car from me himself (for pennies, btw…)’ made me think that something fishy may be up…
Possibly BCM problem, but with many symptoms blamed on “the computer” the problem is something connected to it: a sensor input, power supply, etc. You know some, maybe all, of the symptoms. Now someone should study the circuit diagram for your car and see where is the common element - maybe a connector, a ground wire, a little corrosion on a fuse contact, etc. - that affects those circuits and not others.
Thank you both for your replies. I feel like it seems worth it to get a second opinion at this point. I initially found it odd that the dials failing only started after the air conditioning was fixed originally - as if maybe something was replaced incorrectly…?
I suspect there is a common connection to power for those things you mentioned and if there is I would start my hunt for the trouble there. The trouble is most likely due to some sort of intermittent connection and should be easy to fix. It is the finding of the connection that can take some time. Tapping on suspected areas with a screwdriver handle may help locate the problem.