ripley

I don't know if this got lost in the shuffle or was just a "stumper", but I'd appreciate any advice (on a 1995 90 quattro with automatic climate control):

When starting up cold, the climate control waits a few minutes before turning on the blowers (as expected), but when they come on they blow lots of very cold air. As I drive, the coolant temperature guage in the dash gradually rises, and around the time that it gets to pointing "straight up" the cold air turns to warm air. However, if I come to an idle the air gradually goes cold again, then when I rev up the engine it quickly turns warm again, etc. This tendency continues until I've been driving for some time, after which it seems to eventually settle into consistently warm air.

Any help diagnosing this would be appreciated! As background, the car does have a gradual coolant leak (I add coolant about once a week). A month ago I flushed the old coolant (very dirty) and refilled with 50/50 distilled water and "Dex-Cool" anti-freeze/coolant (silicate and phosphate free). When I drained I used both drain points, and when I re-filled I used both bleed screws, all per Bentley instructions.

One other thing, which may not be specific to my car: I notice that the climate control likes to have the "AC" on (snowflake symbol) even in very cold weather. I can of course override and turn AC off, but then if I hit "automatic" again it turns the AC back on. AC on or off doesn't seem to make a real difference in the heating, or in the behavior described above, so I assume this is just something about the overall heating/cooling system that I don't understand.

Again, thanks for any help!
-Mike

Michael Ripley

icos6

it sounds like you dont have enough coolant in your system.Maybe you did not bleed it right.

90/90Qs

AC when heater on is normal. helps to dry the air (or add moisture(?))