I am finding these hard to figure out. Even when "off" lots of air still coming thru vents. When I press "auto", recirculation light comes on and if I turn it off, the "auto" goes out also. Haven't figured out how to get heat rather than cool - on my BMW I have a heat, neutral and cold setting to complement the fan/temperature selection. Fan speed even on the lowest setting is still pretty strong. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Turn up the temp?

 

I'm curious what you mean when you put the word "off" in quotes. I have an RDX Tech and there is a button labeled "off" in the climate controls - when I hit that button everything turns off and the system is silent. If I just hit the A/C button to turn the A/C compressor off it says "AC off" on the display up above, but the fan still blows to try to control temperature anyway (it can get cool"er" air from outside and get heat from the engine, but it just can't generate colder air via the compressor).

 

Sorry, I should have been clearer. First, we have the RDX base model. By "off", I meant the "off" button on the climate control area which I expect will turn off the climate controls, however there is still a fair amount of air blowing through the vents even when the system is "off". Not sure if that is normal or not.

Also, can you confirm that the internal temperature (ie. heat/cold) is entirely controlled by increasing/decreasing the temperature setting. I don't see a separate setting or switch for "heat/cold".

Thanks for your help.

 

When the system is off it shouldn't be blowing at all. Could be that your vents are taking in outside air when off and it seems like it is blowing when you are moving. If it is off and you are standing still, there should be no air moving through the vents.

There is no heat/cool switch. It is all controlled by the temperature you set it at. If the temperature you set it at is warmer than the actual cabine temperature, then it will blow heat. If it is colder than the actual temperature, is will try to cool.

 

Well i have the same problem. You are right, turn the damm thing off and it will continue to blow out of the vents. All the temps and display are off(tech version) and it continues to blow. any ideas or is this a problem with the system?

 

According to the owners manual, even with the fan off, you still get natural air flow through the vents. I suppose you can push the recirc button if you really want no fresh air.

 

I believe the vast majority of modern cars have "hidden" vents in the rear area of the cabins, so if the vehicle is moving there will be some exchange of air. I believe this is to reduce the chance of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

I would like to know what is the alogorithm for when the climate control (non-tech) decides to recirculate versus fresh air when set to auto (cooling - set to 68). It would appear, it starts on recirc and then when the temp drops to a certain point, the light goes out and it draws fresh. It also appears, if the front of the car is headed into sun, the recirc stays on - I assume it's the IR sensor; little round bubble just behind the windshield.

 

If your system still blows when your climate controls are off and your vehicle is not moving then you do have a problem. If it is off and the vehicle is moving, then air will be flowing through the vents, but the fan should not be blowing.

 

as johny99 said by turning on "Circulation" the vents that draw outside air will be closed, so if AC system is "OFF" there should be no air coming in through vents when you are driving.

as for the IR sensor I think it is for mesureing outside temperature, there should be temp. sensor inside the cabin to mesure inside temp. and using that sensor AC system calculates AC temp. setting and fan speed (in "AUTO")

 

I think I know what he's talkin' about, I thought the thing was broken or had a bug. It seems if you start in Auto, and hit any other mode other than Off the Climate control still seem to be in Auto mode but with the mode but only the modes you have not changed. That's my experience, I don't care for that MO, but everyone say that is a standard bug, I mean feature of Acura. If I don't see a A/C Off or On on the display it means it's in Auto mode even though Auto is not On.

 

Ok so here is what happened. We where driving down th highway and had the a/c on feet only. We turned the system off. Air then switched from the feet to the vents and felt like about 3/4 full fan was blowing out of the vents. The dispaly said nothing as we had turned the system off. I thought off was off. I came from a Honda accord with auto controls and Off meant off.

 

Your system was off and not doing anything. The air you felt coming through the vents was just air naturally flowing from the outside to the inside. Your fan was not actively blowing. If you want to stop the air from flowing completely, you have to hit the recirculate button.

 

Hi, picked up my brand new 2008 RDX 2 days ago and love it .
But regarding the original question...i have the same problem with the climate control "When I press "auto", recirculation light comes on and if I turn it off, the "auto" goes out also. "
Haven't figured out how to get auto mode with fresh air .
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

 

When it's off the air that comes through the vents is air pulled in from the outside of the car I believe. To completely cut it off hit the recirculate button when the system is off that will cut out any outside air coming in and it will truly be off.

When you hit auto it may turn the recirculate on to regulate the cabin temperature faster and then go out when that is done. Just a thought.

 

sj993 your approach seems to have done the trick...strange as it might appear....before shutting the engine I turned off the climate system, next i press the recirculation button even though it is not lit (no power).
I start the engine...press A/C button, press Auto button and...voilà...auto AC with outside(fresh)air and recirculation button not lit.
Have not seen that recirculate light all day and I'm not touching the darn button for a long while.
Thanks for your input...I do appreciate

 

Auto means fully automatic. If you override it in any way, it is no longer in auto since you changed it. Acura's have been that way since at least my old 1999 TL. The system will still attempt to get to the temperature you want. When you turn off the re-circulation, the temperature control is still automatic, it just is not fully automatic since the system will no longer use re-circ.

 

brizey, appreciate your input...i was asking the question because over the years i've had different makes of automobile with auto air system where the re-circulate mode was activated manually so auto could "always" be in fresh mode(outside air).
Now this is my first Acura and over the past week i've noticed that the re-circ mode comes on frequently while system is in auto-mode.
I have to add that i absolutely love this machine....mainly the engine performance + the sporty handling. A little hard on the wallet for the fuel but hey.... everything has it's price.

 

No problem. I had the same question when I bought the old TL.