bone_stock

You Northern bretheren are going to find this hard to believe, but in the last 2 days is the first time I've shut my A.C. off in the car for a year and a half. As such I wonder if my A.C. is working correctly in the off/semi off setting. Today the air temp in Florida was a rare 52 degrees. I wanted some of that cool outside air in the car without the compressor running. BTW my car has the navi in it. I pressed the auto switch button to turn the system off (indicator went out). I was getting the cool outside air in, but it was very weak. I pressed the AC button on the navi panel to bring up the controls on the navi screen. Here's where I don't get it. Every time I pressed the fan speed icon the temp setting would light up and the A.C. would heat the cooler outside air to the temp setting on the display. I kept pressing the off icon and the temp display would go out, but then I lost the fan speed. When I pressed the fan speed icon I'd get more fan spped, but the air would once again be heated up to the temp in the display. HOW DO I GET OUTSIDE UNCONDITIONED AIR AND FAN SPEED AT THE SAME TIME? The manual does not mention this at all. All I want to do is bring the outside air into the car and use the fan without the compressor. Am I doing something wrong, or does this car not do such a simple task.

DDT-TypeS

The air is actually seeping in...although the rate of the outside air seeping in is slow (I guess it has to do with having the air pass thru the HVAC system).

Just leave it in auto/semi-auto where it will "mix" outside air and conditioned air (heated/cooled). Again, it is better to run your A/C during winter so that the internal components will be probably lubricated by the A/C system (circulating oil).

If you want fresh air, just open your window(s). Other than that, you don't have a choice. Our HVAC System was designed that way.

russianDude

1. Turn your climate control system
2. Manually turn off your air conditioner while keeping cliemate control system on. ( there is a button to turn manually A/C on/off) You will see on display "A/C off"
3. Set your temperature dial ALL the way to lowest possible temperature.
4. Go to your phan dial, and regulate manual fan speed.

O yeah, make sure your outside air intake is open.

DDT-TypeS

There is no way to "not activate" the Full Auto/Semi Auto modes when you want air to enter into the cabin (air that comes naturally from the outside). The system will remain "on" even if you fully turn the dial left or right and set your fan control speed.

russianDude

What are you talking about? In my instructions the climate control is on, but its in manual mode where A/C is off and when you turn your temperature dial all the way to the lowest temperature it will just blow air from outside WITHOUT air conditioning AND heating it. This achieves the goal.

bone_stock

Sorry dude the manual states that the lowest temperature as well as the highest temperature settings use the compressor no matter what.
I understand from the other replies that I'm doing nothing wrong. That's just the way the system works. Thanks!

russianDude

god damn, i said "TURN YOUR A/C MANUALLY OFF". You will see on display "A/C is OFF". When your A/C is off AND you set to the lowest temperature, the SYSTEM will not use A/C.
The system will use A/C compressor no matter what if your A/C is in AUTO mode, but if you manyally switch it off, it will not turn on!

Why don't you try it, i've done it many times. it works.

DDT-TypeS

I meant the A/C is off..but the system is still on...but I haven't tried fully turning the temp controls to full 60/90 and setting the fan speed other than on the AUTO setting.

If you turn the damn thing on FULL AUTO/Semi auto, it'll just mix condition air with outside fresh air...running the system on all the time will actually keep it in good working condition..it is actually recommended the HVAC be on "full or semi-auto" mode.

russianDude

I dont know what the manual recomends, but I have a button which can make A/C ON or OFF. And once it displays "A/C off", rising or lowering temperature dial and changing fan speed will not make A/C turn back on.
I dont know, maybe if you have Navi System, u dont have the button that can turn on/off AC manually.

DDT-TypeS

No, you are correct about manually turning off the A/C. BUT the system in FULL auto/semi auto mode will still USE THE A/C. That is what I meant. There is no way to not use the A/C compressor to mix outside air and cabin temp setting.

What I meant above was that there's no way to let natural air in the cabin without using the HVAC system (without it being on). The american cars/cars without auto climate control can let natural air in (say you are driving on the freeway at high speeds and the HVAC is off), the outside air is forced into the cabin thru the vents.

I think with these auto climate HVAC systems, air can still seep into the cabin with the HVAC TOTALLY OFF..but very little air can come into the cabin.

Bottom line is just put the bitch in FULL AUTO/SEMI AUTO mode whenever you drive around town. It is recommended in the manual.

As for the A/C, you can manually turn that on and it'll fully condition the air that comes out thru the vents.

russianDude

O yeah, the "cliamate system" must be on if you want your fan blowing air inside the cabin.
But, think of this: Your A/C is OFF and your heater is not warming anything, and FAN is blowing the air. This is the natural air ( no heating AND no A/C ).
The instructions that I mentioned will let you turn off the A/C and stop heating, but yes, the system must be "ON".

Sometime u can let natural air go in if your climate system is off, and you open outside air intake button. But no fans will be helping it....

gto2050

Boy, you guys can argue up a storm..... if you turn the system off, the temp control still controls the temp of the air coming in, be it ever so slight. Up here in the north, I use a setting all the time that I like. With the system off (completely off with NOTHING showing in the LCD) turn the temp all the way to the left (down). There will be some air "seeping in. But imagine that you are trying to push air into a full box with none escaping. Not much will go in. Tip the sunroof up and you will get a 100% increase in air flow. All it needs is an outlet to escape. My $.03.

NOVAwhiteTypeS

Just look at your dash and check the outside air. then set your temp to that then just turn off a/c.

JRock

This is what I do when I want outside air. I leave the climate controls completely off and just use the sunroof tilt to increase airflow.

Anything else uses the compressor (which I think is retarded because all other cars allow you to run the fan without the compressor robbing your performance).

beestea

Ok... I was under the impression you could do the following to get fresh air into the cabin without having it go through the aircompressor and without having it be heated/cooled. It seemed to work when I tried it. (Btw this is in a car with navi)

First off... don't use auto mode.

Bring up your AC controls by hitting the AC button.

Pick the air flow pattern that comes straight from the dash (this probably doesn't matter, but I think thats the most direct path)

Make sure the AC ON/OFF setting is set to OFF.

Set the fan speed to whatever you want, 1 if you don't want much assist, 5 if you want to feel it in your face.

Now for the important part... Make sure your recirc button is not lit up, this should bring the air in straight from the outside.

AFAIK the temp setting doesn't matter, so don't mess with it after you set all of the above.


When I did all of that the air temp coming in through the dash matched that of the air outside.

bone_stock

What you relayed above is exactly what I started this thread with. That does not work in my car because when you press a fan speed icon the LCD lights up and raises the cooler outside air temp to what is displayed on the LCD. It doesn't appear that you can ever get cooler air than 61 degrees inside this car. Save for tilting the moon roof and opening the windows. All I want to do is keep the cabin quiet (all glass closed) and bring in cooler than 61 degree oustide air using the vents. In the CL with navi (can't speak for non navi systems) you can not do that simple task. With all AC indicators showing off my car automatically raises cooler outside air to the temp shown inthe LCD display. Being in Florida I only get the chance to bring in unconditioned outside air 1 or 2 times a year. I really hate that this car won't let me do that when the chance becomes available. Even so I still overall like the car, but that part of the auto AC sucks IMHO.

beestea

Ok, well I will admit that the last time I tried that the air outside was only a little bit cooler than what I normally set the temp at on the inside of the car so maybe it wasn't working and I just didn't notice. Ill try it again when the air temp is either really cold or really hot.

I am curious how the car can cool the air coming in from the outside if the AC setting is on OFF? (not the climate control system, just the AC setting).

Ill try it soon and let you know if the same happens on my car.

bone_stock

It really isn't a matter of the AC automatically cooling the outside air, but warming the outside air. As mentioned all I wanted to do was take the outside 52 degree air and put it inside the car through the AC vents. Every time I tired to do that the system would warm up the air to the setting that showed on the LCD display. The lowest you can set the LCD display to without compressor intervention is 61. At a setting of 60 you get the compressor regardless. Bummer!

beestea

You guys were right.... I tried my "instructions" this AM when the air was about 48 degrees outside and sure enough the air coming into the cabin was being heated. Im surprised our AC system can't do this. Personally tho it doesn't bother me too much because for some odd reason I really like the conditioned air. I leave it on about 72 with AC switched to on and the recirc button lit up all year round.