peeeot Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 I've noticed that when I have my climate control turned off (this is automatic climate control, btw, in a 91 cutlass supreme) I still get warmish air blowing at low velocity over my feet from the floor vents. I can't tell whether the fan is running or not. Anyone ever have this problem? Quote
Supreme Cutlass Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 I think it might have to do with air simply coming in through the intake by the hood, I have the same thing at high speeds. Quote
peeeot Posted September 3, 2006 Author Report Posted September 3, 2006 whoa, that was quick! I keep forgetting to check whether it happens when I'm not rolling. I feel like I might have checked it, and it was still happening. It's annoying in 90 degree weather without A/C. Quote
peeeot Posted September 3, 2006 Author Report Posted September 3, 2006 so this is normal behavior? It's supposed to do this? Quote
peeeot Posted September 3, 2006 Author Report Posted September 3, 2006 The symptoms will occur with the temp turned down to 60 (again, the climate control is turned off so the temp setting shouldn't matter) and the top up and windows closed. Quote
White93z34 Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 my lumina has always done this, the air it bows is specific to my temp setting. Quote
Crazy K Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 my lumina has always done this, the air it bows is specific to my temp setting. this is normal. never satisfied, check that vacuum ball! Quote
1990lumina Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 When I turn everything off on my Lumina, it is off...I've never felt anything blowing from the floor vents or anything....except when driving into a good head wind I think something leaks through the firewall (missing gromet or something maybe).. Quote
ToroToro Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 Yeah, my Cutlass did this too. Annoyed the piss out of me. Quote
terryk2003 Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 every gm car i've ever owned has done this...i believe its just circulating fresh air into the cabin... Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 x2 on setting it to the lowest temp setting. Quote
MonteCarloChick Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 every gm car i've ever owned has done this...i believe its just circulating fresh air into the cabin... Correct. Quote
Pontiac6KSTEAWD Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 every gm car i've ever owned has done this...i believe its just circulating fresh air into the cabin... This is correct, and is required by law beleive it or not. Its for those older people that never roll there windows down, and just leave on the climate control and on Recirc. This way they dont asfixiate (sp) themselves. A certain amount of clean/fresh/outside air must always be coming into the vehicle when moving. The air should not still be coming thru when the car is stopped, however, if you auto climate control, it might be a little bit diferent. Quote
Supreme Cutlass Posted September 3, 2006 Report Posted September 3, 2006 every gm car i've ever owned has done this...i believe its just circulating fresh air into the cabin... This is correct, and is required by law beleive it or not. Its for those older people that never roll there windows down, and just leave on the climate control and on Recirc. This way they dont asfixiate (sp) themselves. A certain amount of clean/fresh/outside air must always be coming into the vehicle when moving. The air should not still be coming thru when the car is stopped, however, if you auto climate control, it might be a little bit diferent. older people? I do that all the time... Quote
Crazy K Posted September 4, 2006 Report Posted September 4, 2006 yes, the system allows air to circulate, but the air is not propelled by the fan IIRC. But now you guys make me want to check this! maybe the fan defaults to "super-low". you can vary the temp of the car even with the system off, as long as you are able to control the temp lever or setting, since the damper doors when off are on 'standby'. Which means they allow air to free flow out of the default vents that are automatically selected by the vacuum actuators (which are spring loaded, btw!). Usually it leaves the defrost and floor vents partially open but closes the 'vent' vents. any free flowing air moving though the HVAC box, passed through the ac evaporator (even if ac is off), and then a varying percent of the air goes through and/or bypasses the Heater Core. The percent of air bypassing the HC varies the temp. make sense? damn i need to do a write up. Quote
peeeot Posted September 4, 2006 Author Report Posted September 4, 2006 I checked today and the air definitely does not come out of the floor vents when I'm not moving. I wondered whether the doors in the HVAC system might stay where you left them when you turn the system off, even though that didn't sound like good design to me, which is why I put the temp on the lowest available setting. The digital climate control deals in numbers, so the lowest temp I can set is 60 degrees. Even so, the air that I get on my feet is almost always heated. It seems like having the temp setting as low as possible without a/c would result in either a. no hot coolant circulating through the heater core or b. no air blowing through the heater core, whichever way this system regulates temperature. I think I saw a diagram in the shop manual that shows a cross-section of the air passages and doors, etc. I'll look it up; maybe it will clarify what's going on here. Quote
Crazy K Posted September 4, 2006 Report Posted September 4, 2006 the heater core is always hot! it can radiate heat and heat the hvac box, meaning you may feel a little heat at all times, even with the heat all the way down. Quote
terryk2003 Posted September 4, 2006 Report Posted September 4, 2006 its pretty much like just having it set to VENT...and if its hott outside, the air coming in is gonna be hott as well...so it only makes sense that hot air is blowing in.. Quote
peeeot Posted September 4, 2006 Author Report Posted September 4, 2006 All that is true, yes. In old cars they had a valve that regulated the coolant flow through the heater core to adjust temp. I wasn't sure whether that was how this car did it or not, but now I know. Also in old cars they had fresh air vents that let in outside air and it felt cool even on very hot days, just because of the motion of the air. Either the air control valve motor isn't shutting off air flow to the heater completely on my car, or the air is being heated by the engine compartment at the cowl, or heat is radiating from the always-hot heater core. In any case, I seem to have my answer--this is normal. Quote
GP1138 Posted September 4, 2006 Report Posted September 4, 2006 I think the fan is off in "Off" mode, but air flows into the car.. somehow.. when you are moving. When I move faster, the air moves faster. If you want to defeat this, put the vent selector on Max AC. This engages "recirc" mode. I don't feel any air at this setting. Quote
Crazy K Posted September 4, 2006 Report Posted September 4, 2006 yes. suffer I find the Automatic Climate Controls are a PITA sometimes. you don't seem to have a 'vent mode' without heat or A/C, Unless you set the interior temp the same as the exterior temp. I am tempted to determine which wire powers up the A/C compressor relay and hook a kill switch to, so it doesn't run if i don't want. The worst thing for our cars with ACC is if the A/C is not functional when it needs to be because it automatically turns the fan all the way up and goes ballastic. no air circulating? actually, in my luminas, if you tricked the CC by making all the buttons pop out(partially press one button or another?IIRC), the air would stop. but air would flow if you actually pressed off. again, this is a safety issue, the air flow is to prefvent you from getting carbon monoxied poaisening etc. etc. I still modulated the temp of that air flow because the heat adjustment still worked. Quote
ToroToro Posted September 4, 2006 Report Posted September 4, 2006 When I got all the buttons unpushed on my CS, it was blowing air through the floor vents at whatever speed the fan was set. I guess it works differently in Lumis. Quote
peeeot Posted September 4, 2006 Author Report Posted September 4, 2006 I've wondered about an equivalent to "vent" setting too. The shop manual has this little table that shows valve positions, a/c compressor operation, etc, for different modes, but for some reason it doesn't give all of that information for all of the available modes. It also refers to a "mode valve" which is not referred to in the sections on air routing (where the other valves are explained), AND the exploded diagram that is referenced by the "mode valve removal" section doesn't show/indicate a mode valve! Honestly, this shop manual is the most convoluted, confusing maze of hidden/absent information that I've ever encountered. All this to say, I still don't know for sure which settings are supposed to run the compressor, or whether there is an equivalent to the "vent" setting. Quote
GutlessSupreme Posted September 5, 2006 Report Posted September 5, 2006 Yeah, my Cutlass did this too. Annoyed the piss out of me. x2. Quote
Crazy K Posted September 6, 2006 Report Posted September 6, 2006 When I got all the buttons unpushed on my CS, it was blowing air through the floor vents at whatever speed the fan was set. I guess it works differently in Lumis. hey. auto climate or not? yeah i read my owners and service manual, and nada. vent I guess assumes you set the ACC temp = outside temp. Quote
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