J.Russ

I flew back into town yesterday after leaving my avant in the airport parking deck for three days. While I was gone, a cold front came through and dropped the daytime highs to about 55F. I fired up the wagon, set the CC to auto mode and turned up the temp to about 82F to warm up the interior. Suirprisingly, the fan refused to speed up. I then set the temp to HI. Still nothing. I adjusted the fan speed manually and the car warmed up just fine, but the Auto mode seems to be malfunctioning.

Or, does the system behave differently in cooler temps? Any help out there? TIA.

IronMike

In auto mode the fan won't start blowing until it can blow warm air.

Rodney

to desired temp. For example, if you set the temp to 84 it will blow little or no air (1 or two bars on the display) til the engine has warmed up enough to warm the air that it's blowing. Or put simply it won't blow cold air at you. Just give it a few seconds (actually, depending on how cold it is outside it'll tak about 30-120 seconds to kick in), cranking it up manually doesn't do you much good...it's just blowing cold air.

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms

HJohn

that the CC waits until it can actually blow warm air before it activates the fan. Setting the temp or the fan higher won't help unless the "water" running through the heater core has some heat in it.

The only thing to do is be patient. It doesn't take that long and, when the fan starts, it will come on strong and the air temp will be warm. While your waiting turn on the seat heater, if you have it. It works more quickly.

Rodney

You beat me, AND said it more concisely :-)

Paul H. (in MD)

Or is the heat pulled from the exhaust manifold somehow? I've had warm air within 30 seconds of starting the car with the outside temp about 45-49F, but ONLY when I use the "defrost" button. What gives? If there is an electric heater, or some other way to give heat (in addition to the heater core), why not use it all the time?

Paul

RPF

No flame intended. I really read the FM, far into the first night and the next morning over coffee when I should have been driving my new beauty. Still it's interesting how much stuff I missed. The locking/alarm system, radio, and automatic climate control in particular require close re-reading.

Bill Houston
99.5 2.8 Avant QMS (two weeks and three days now)

donp

In auto mode fan speed does not come up until engine coolant is warm enough to heat the cabin