Climate control temp variation

[FernMTL]

I've started to re-use the climate control as the weather is getting cold around here. Let say I normally set the temperature around 20 celcius, fan at the lowest speed and not on auto. Heat is coming out of the traps and, after a couple of minutes, It get warm and most of the time cold. Have to raise the temps to HI as I'm not getting hot air, then It's too hot and have to close climate control. And repeat day after day. Samething if I use Auto mode.

 

Anyone experience a similar behaviour?

[lolder]

There is a delay before heat is produced due to the engine warming up. If you try to get more heat during that time, nothing will happen for a while and then it will get too hot. Leave it on AUTO and set the temperature for what you like and don't touch anything. See if that works. You may be just confusing it with rapid changes to the settings.

[Waldo]

Ford's "normal" temperature setting is 72F (22C) so if you have it set lower than that, it's first going to try to heat up the cabin, but then it's going to assume you want things colder than average, so it will dial down the heating.

 

My advice - set it to 22C, press auto and never, ever touch it.

[talmy]

A coworker has a Fusion and has trouble with temperature regulation -- he also never uses auto. I couldn't get over all he fiddling he was doing with it when I rode in his car. OTOH I always use auto and it works like a charm and better than any other car I've ever owned.

 

So, yes, use auto, always.

[CCalvinN]

It's my understanding that it either senses you want it warmer or cooler. The temp of the air coming out of the vents is dictated by that decision, whether the system is doing the deciding for you (auto) or you are fiddling with the temp yourself. When it's pumping out warmer air I feel it coming out of the foot wells, when it's cooler I feel it coming out of the forward vents. I tend to leave it on auto as it does a good job of mixing the two (cooler and warmer air) and keeping me comfortable. When I need to nudge it, I just tap the temp button up or down.

 

The only time I take it off auto is when the window starts to fog up. I then put it on defrost and have to adjust the fan AND the temp.

[FernMTL]

When I set It, either auto or not, It will be warm/hot for a couple of minutes. Then I get almost cold air from the vents and never comes back to hot. Have to raise the temperature. Of course, I turn the heat on when the engine is hot. I don't use Auto much in winter as I'm using the defrost vents.

 

Tried 22 degrees at Auto today and samething happenned. As soon as the cabin is warn, cold air is blasted through the vents. It's either hot or cold.

 

Let say you have a car with no Auto climate, you can select medium heat at the lowest speed and leave it like that. You get medium heat, It won't turn to cold air. See what I mean?

Edited November 5, 2015 by FernMTL

[BoatDrinksQ5]

Yeah sounds like in auto your overshooting your desired temperature setpoint. I haven't noticed that in my 2015.

 

unless there has been an updated to the HVAC programming system, it could be an issue with your cabin temperature sensor (or other temp sensor?) or how it's mounted (causing it to react slowly...or too quickly to changes in temperature). Issues with too high/low of supply temperature could also cause issues with cabin tempreature control....could point to something failing with the thermostat/valve, discharge temperature sensor, or fan speed issue...

 

Have you noticed it more when sunny or cloudy by any chance?

 

Are your vents mostly open?

 

I have noticed in my Fusion that the fan stays on all of the time regardless of 'heat available' for heating - where my other 'Auto' car (Saturn Outlook) the fan stays off until the engine temperature has heat to put out. So... not the best programming for HVAC controls - maybe their control loop for temperature regulation isn't great either.

Edited November 5, 2015 by BoatDrinksQ5

[billford]

When I set It, either auto or not, It will be warm/hot for a couple of minutes. Then I get almost cold air from the vents and never comes back to hot. Have to raise the temperature. Of course, I turn the heat on when the engine is hot. I don't use Auto much in winter as I'm using the defrost vents.

 

Tried 22 degrees at Auto today and samething happenned. As soon as the cabin is warn, cold air is blasted through the vents. It's either hot or cold.

 

Let say you have a car with no Auto climate, you can select medium heat at the lowest speed and leave it like that. You get medium heat, It won't turn to cold air. See what I mean?

 

Try using a thermometer in the car and see if it matches to what you set it to.

 

I had a problem a while back. When I set it to auto 74F, the temperature would increase to almost 90F. Then sometimes the system would not work, it would freeze/lock up.

There was a reprogram of the heater system, which fixed the lock up problem.

Now if I set it to auto 74F, the temp will increase quickly to 74F, the fan slows down, then I get luke warm air and it stabilizes at about 80F. Still not fully accurate, but its an improvement I can live with.

[md13ffhguy]

It took a while for my wife to get used to this system in her car. She always expected heat to be "hot," and complained when she set it to 72, that it was putting out "cold" air. So, she'd turn it to 80 and darn near suffocate me, then shut it off when it got too hot, then back to 80 when she got cold... Never having the feature before, she wasn't used to automatic temperature control in a car. I explained that once it reaches the desired temp, it only puts out air that's warm enough to maintain that temp. 72 degree air is not going to feel "hot." (Kind of like the heat pump in our house.) She's mostly learned to set it to a more moderate temp and rely on her seat for "heat."

[Waldo]

There have been some major changes to the climate strategy, so if yours is an early 2014, I'd definitely take it to the dealer and ask them to update the FCIM. Keep in mind that the system also takes input from outside ambient and sunload. On a sunny day, it's going to tend to put out more cold air to offset the heat coming in through the windows.

[FernMTL]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'll do some tests and see If It need a visit to the dealer.

[hybridbear]

When I set It, either auto or not, It will be warm/hot for a couple of minutes. Then I get almost cold air from the vents and never comes back to hot. Have to raise the temperature. Of course, I turn the heat on when the engine is hot. I don't use Auto much in winter as I'm using the defrost vents.

 

Tried 22 degrees at Auto today and samething happenned. As soon as the cabin is warn, cold air is blasted through the vents. It's either hot or cold.

 

Let say you have a car with no Auto climate, you can select medium heat at the lowest speed and leave it like that. You get medium heat, It won't turn to cold air. See what I mean?

I agree. This has been something we've noticed about the car since 2012.