In the summer, i never had an issue with the climate. When it was hot, I'd push the left climate control **** and set it to 72 degrees. It kept everything cool.

Now that my first fall is here with the new car, i dont think my heater is working.

I get in my car and it's freezing. I push the left climate control button on and turn it to 74 degrees. It automatically sends heat from below the dash only and it only hits 2 bars on the display. (i really want it to come from center and above teh dash, but pressing mode takes it off auto) In my 3 series, i'd do the same thing (set it to 74 and hit auto) at would hit all 6 bars, then eventually settle down to one or two bars to maintain 74. So in my G, i turn the climate to as high as it could go, 90 degrees and its still only sputtering out with 3 bars.

Moreover, at 74, the air coming out is cool, not really warm. What's goign on? I shouldn't have to turn it up to 90 to have it at least feel like 74.

Am i doing something wrong?

 

I had to turn the heat on tonight and was a bit miffed as well. I hit the mode until it had the right config, then hit auto and it seemed to work fine. But before that, yeah, cool air only.

 

Agreed. The HVAC system in my G leaves much to be desired. I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. The fan settings seem to be programmed very conservatively. As for the actual temperature of the air not being warm, that may be a problem.

 

with the G you need to think in different terms.

if you really want heat, you need to crank it all the way up.
setting it to 74 will not accomplish your goal.

I seem to think there either is no dual inner cabin air temp sensors,
or that if they're there they're not properly tied into the system.

the G doesn't seem to be able to tell if the inner cabin is hot or cold.
in my other car, if the cabin is cold, and I set it to 74, heat comes out,
hard and fast, then slows until the inner temp hits 74.
and if the cabin is hot and I set it to 74, cold air comes out, hard and fast,
then slows until the inner temp hits 74.

I don't think the G is capable of that.

 

YES! taht's what i am talking about. In my bimmer, there was an interior sensor near the moonroof. It detected the interior car temp and the A/C heater woudl adjust automatically.

The G must not have that since i get in it and its like 50 degrees and I put it on auto and 74 and its blowing cool air. Totally oblivious to the cabin temp. And this is after the car has been driven 15-20 min.

i went through the manual tonight and it said that just to get the heater going, you...

press the left dual **** to activate the auto climate. Then you push the A/C button to turn the fan off. You will just get the heat and you can turn the **** to adjust the temp.

That just doesn't seem the right way to go. If it's the summer and i set it to 72, it should know to cool... if it's the winter, it should know to heat to 74 all based on the internal cabin temp.

 

I posted this on another thread also but thought it was applicable here also:

Just had my car in for service and I mentioned that the heat doesn't seem to kick in until I put it up to 76. They said that the "ambient switch" must be set to summer. Whatever, but when I got the car back the heat starts to kick in at 62-64. Doesnt' make sense to me that something has to be done to the car to account for change in seasons (i.e. A/C to heat)??? I have an '08 g35x.

 

ambient switch? where the heck is taht?

 

it was fairly cold this morning, and my heater turned on once my car warmed up, i keep my temp at 69 degrees...

 

Don't know.

 

This morning it was 34 degrees when I left for work. Set it at 70. Once car was driven a few miles (and heater core was warm enough to produce heat), fan went to 4 and had heat. No problems.

My two cents. or should I say 4 cents..

1. Just because it is 50 outside, and you feel it is cold in the car, doesn't mean the actual temp of the car below what you set. The sun can easily warm a car to 70 when it is 50 outside. When it is in the 50's I typically get coolish air from the top vent because the car is at temp and it wants to cool based on sunlight. There is a sun senor in the dash that allows for this.

2. The car does have a sensor in the roof for ambient temp. measurements. Look at your moon roof controls. You will see cuts where the sensor is.

3. Heat means from the floor, always. Every car I have driven does this. It's simply because heat rises. All auto systems will heat from the floor, go to bi level once about at temp, and swtich to full vent once car is slightly warmer than temp. Some people like heat from the vents. Not sure why but... even if you remember old 1980 cars with manual controls they were clearly marked heat and that meant floor (at least on crappy american cars).

4. I think the comment about an ambient swtich needing to be set it total hogwash. Something the dealer made up. The weather here in Vermont varies greatly over the course of a day for from day to day. I think the system works very very well.

 

hit the blower button (+), shut A/C off, and select mode. that's what i do. i am not a big fan of the Auto

 

I still think something is not correct with teh heat. Temp outside tonight was 50's. Had auto set to 72 degrees and its blowing out cold air.

I had to turn it up to 82 to get warm air to come out. and this was after 30 min on the highway. the car was running for a while. not just from a cold start.

 

This might sound crazy, but if I were you I would put a small battery thermometer in the car out of the sun. This would give you a rough idea of what the actual temp in the car was. I think that is the only way to answer this. The car won't be exactly at 72, but if the car is at 65 and you are getting cold air something is wrong.

After 30 minutes on the highway, outside temp in the 50's, my car would probably be blowing cool air as well. Although this morning, no sun, cold start 45 degrees and raining, 20 minute ride. AC on full auto, I had it set to 70, and got 4 bars on the fan and full heat until the car got warm. Then I forgot to check it... I was comfy though.

 

actaully, that's a great idea.

i've got one of those oregon scientific indoor/outdoor thermometers in my living room that i can stick in my car tomorrow. that should tell me the interior temp, just like in the house.

 

+1 - I couldn't care less about how the auto starts out low, even if it makes sense thermodynamically. I prefer the dash vents to do the initial heating/cooling.