Warm air from vents

[fistpoint]

Originally Posted by DoomsdayJesus

This is the single dumbest argument I have ever taken part in. With the biggest whiners I've ever seen. This is not a Honda Civ...

What an asshole.

If it doesn't bother you, then get the fuck out of this thread. Leave the thread to the people who are bothered by hot air when it should be cold. We know why it's happening, we just don't like it. If you don't like that we don't like it, then off you go, your input has been well noted and dismissed.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

I have an appointment tomorrow at 8am and I'll find out what Subaru has to say.

All I know is when I turn off my AC, it then is the same as if i turned the heater on. I get hot air from the vents and from the footwell area. The faster I drive, the harder it blows even with the system off.

This doesn't seem right to me.

First you said warm air in your original post (which can be attributed to the intake location of the HVAC near the battery sucking in some hot air from the engine bay)...

Now you say it's hot air? If it is indeed hot air, it may just be a defective HVAC unit.

-alex

[mike the snake]

I didn't measure the temp, but it's between hot and warm. Like I said, it's like the heater is on, and the faster the car is going, the more air that blows out the vents.

If I've been running the AC (which is always) then it takes a few minutes to eventually blow warm once the system is turned off.

[strat61caster]

I've written it off as a quirk, they could have added 20lbs to thermal isolation (would probably double as noise isolation as well, another common complaint) but decided racecar.

If anyone asks the HVAC is mediocre at best and you can't get cold air through the vents unless the A/C is on or you haven't hit operating temperature. At least I get to roll down the windows and enjoy the breeze

[Mikem53]

Many of those complaining must not be used to small type sports cars.. My last 4 vettes were the same.. Way worse actually.. The whole center tunnel (torque tube) would get hot and transfer into the cabin.. Vents would blow hot air when the car sat for a few minutes after being on. Everything is crammed in there under the hood with minimal insulation to control noise and heat.. But worth the trade offs for the weight savings..
The vette also circulated coolant and used a vent flap to control air flow.. Sometimes these things don't seal well and hot air can bleed into the system.
I would just turn the fan off and run in recirculate mode to stop the hot air from coming in.. Or leave it on outside air and it would eventually cool down to ambient or close to ambient temp levels..
Like some have eluded to.. The HVAC system is not a area of focus for these cars... Which in most respects is a good thing..

[STV3]

Originally Posted by DoomsdayJesus

If it bothers you that much, like I said. Weather tape the rear underside of the hood (I had to do this on my old SRT-4 after I got a CF hood with no rubber strip in the rear, and I pulled it in the winter).

I still have my SRT-4 and have a CF hood on it with no rubber seal as well (CF hood has been on for atleast 5 years) and have always got nice cool air flowing through the vents while cruising with the recirc off.

In my FRS it feels like I have the thermostat turned all the way over to the hot side.

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by STV3

I still have my SRT-4 and have a CF hood on it with no rubber seal as well (CF hood has been on for atleast 5 years) and have always got nice cool air flowing through the vents while cruising with the recirc off.

In my FRS it feels like I have the thermostat turned all the way over to the hot side.

I'm sure it varied hood to hood depending on the design; the one I had had functional vents as well, I think that was the reason. With the weather stripping the hot turbo air went out the bottom instead of over the intake, it was like night and day, especially with all the city driving I did in Philadelphia in the summer.

Originally Posted by fistpoint

What an asshole.

If it doesn't bother you, then get the fuck out of this thread. Leave the thread to the people who are bothered by hot air when it should be cold. We know why it's happening, we just don't like it. If you don't like that we don't like it, then off you go, your input has been well noted and dismissed.

What bothers me is you can be given a rational explanation why it is what it is, as well as some easy solutions (try extra weather stripping yet? I bet not) and still whine like a petulant 5 year old. I'm solution oriented, I don't sit around crying like a little bitch.

Originally Posted by mav1178

My counterpoint/counterargument to the posted "problem":

- S13 240SX: blows air inside with fans off and recirculation off
- P10 G20: same
- P11 G20: same
- 2005 Camry: same
- 1992 Infiniti Q45: same

The air "leaking in" is a combination of the location of the intake of the A/C system, as well as any leaks in the cabin whether it's windows or something else. I've never found this to be a problem for my BRZ, and frankly it's welcomed as makes the car more fuel efficient, all else equal.

-alex

There are passive vents (rubber flaps) by the tail lights that dump cabin air through the bumper when the windows are up. I'm assuming that's what lets the air out when the windows are up. I think almost all modern cars have them, you can see them when someone's driving around with their rear bumper off.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by DoomsdayJesus

There are passive vents (rubber flaps) by the tail lights that dump cabin air through the bumper when the windows are up. I'm assuming that's what lets the air out when the windows are up. I think almost all modern cars have them, you can see them when someone's driving around with their rear bumper off.

Actually this brings up an interesting point... could the location of this vent (behind the bumper & rear wheels) on this car make the HVAC vent more outside air at speed?

My old S13s (all ~9 of them) had this "problem", where the location of the vents + any speed over 15MPH allowed air to be "pulled" out of the cabin via this pressure vent, and to the occupants of the car it feels like air is being pushed in when the fan is off.

-alex

P.S. The pressure vent that you speak of is a design on every modern car, to vent out cabin air when you close the door. Otherwise, the airtight design of modern cars could blow out your windows if the air has no place to go.

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Actually this brings up an interesting point... could the location of this vent (behind the bumper & rear wheels) on this car make the HVAC vent more outside air at speed?

My old S13s (all ~9 of them) had this "problem", where the location of the vents + any speed over 15MPH allowed air to be "pulled" out of the cabin via this pressure vent, and to the occupants of the car it feels like air is being pushed in when the fan is off.

-alex

P.S. The pressure vent that you speak of is a design on every modern car, to vent out cabin air when you close the door. Otherwise, the airtight design of modern cars could blow out your windows if the air has no place to go.

Especially if at speed the vent location is a low-pressure zone (or if the intake was higher pressure), it would definitely want to draw cabin air that wasn't blocked by the recirculation button.

[mike the snake]

When I turn my system on, it defaults to "recirc".

apparently, when the system is turned off, it goes to "vent".

I learned today that even with the system off, if you push the "recirc" button, (BRZ) that the recirc can be turned on even with the rest (heat or AC) off, and it reduces the air blowing in to almost nothing.

I still have heat radiating from the footwells and engine hump, but I think that's the nature of the car.

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

When I turn my system on, it defaults to "recirc".

apparently, when the system is turned off, it goes to "vent".

I learned today that even with the system off, if you push the "recirc" button, (BRZ) that the recirc can be turned on even with the rest (heat or AC) off, and it reduces the air blowing in to almost nothing.

I still have heat radiating from the footwells and engine hump, but I think that's the nature of the car.

If you look at some of the tear-down/build threads you'll see pretty quickly this car has a lot less sound deadening/insulation than most.

[fionnsfrs]

I've noticed something similar, although it still happens when the ac is on. when I accelerate over 2.5 rpms it blows hot air even when the ac is set to full cold. could this just be the same design flaws?


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[dflood75]

These cars are kinda fucked up, ya? Mine has the same hot air blowing in your face/balls when you get on it and at idle. Totally intermittent too. It's like the compressor shuts off every now and then. Low pressure switch issue???

Anyway taking it in tomorrow for a whole list of shittyness. This definitely not a Toyota product. I'm just glad I've been managing my terminal modification condition. Hopefully manana will be fairly dispute free.

[fistpoint]

Googling "warm air from car vents" comes up with tons of results of people having the same problem on all kinds of makes, models and years of vehicles.

The heater valve thing seems to come up often as the likely culprit. More interesting is one of the threads I read where one of the responders said he went out of his way to make sure his future vehicle had "a valve to keep hot coolant out of the heater core"...

A '99 Civic he said, just like MY previous vehicle('00 Si) which is also similar to my RSX...both of which I said I never experienced this crap with

So...Honda apparently has the knowledge/hardware to prevent this shit(2+ decades ago!), but Subaru and many other car companies are still behind the curve, as expected, or they just don't give a shit as much as Honda does.

Still waiting for "winter" here. Compressor on during cold/dry weather is an absurd notion. I'll take perma-crickets over this if the former comes to pass.