Heater question

[7ashes]

Hi all,

I recently bought an '04 TL w/o Navi and I have a question regarding the temperature settings of the climate control. Here's what I experienced:

Before touching the Climate Control:
- Climate Control not on Auto
- Fan is on half way
- Current temperature is 77

While driving I tried to increase the temperature one degree at a time but did not feel any change in the actual temperature in the cabin. The air blowing out of the vents did not feel any warmer. I went up to 85 degrees and still didn't feel any change. I eventually hit the max when the heater finally turned on and hot air started blowing. Once the heater was on, I lowered the temperature to 77 and the air cooled down and started increasing it again one degree at a time and this time I could feel the air getting hotter with the increase in each degree. I set it back to 77, kept driving for about half hr and tried to increase the temperature again and the same problem. What is going on? Am I doing something wrong here?

I've already tried searching on this issue and haven't really found anything. Thought I'd check in with you guys before I go to the dealer.

Thanks in advance.

[petroxg]

I am not sure what is wrong with it. But I think it might has to do with your car thermometer that detect what is the temperature outside. In general, I think if the temperature you set is not warmer than what your car is detecting outside, your car will be blowing cooler air than warmer air until u start setting a temperature that is warmer than what is detect outside by your car. And vice versa with cooling your car. And auto setting is just going to be controlling the fan speed by itself when the car interior reached the right temperature and whether or not A/C needed to be turn on.

[7ashes]

petroxg - thanks for your reply. I turned off the "Auto" feature so that I could control the temperature myself. And when I manually increased the temperature, nothing happened. The air would not heat up. Until I'd increase the temperature to the max when the heater would finally turn on and start blowing really hot air all of a sudden. Will try to call Acura today and see if they have an answer.

[petroxg]

Ah ok, sounds like something is wrong with it. Sorry I am not much help hopefully someone that own an older TL might know about it.

[7ashes]

So here's an update on the heater issue for all you who are interested.

I took my car to the dealer on Monday. They kept it for a couple of days and told me there was nothing wrong with the climate system and advised the technician to show me how to work the climate system. I sat down with the technician and showed him exactly what was going on and he agreed that there was a problem. There's basically a problem with the "air flapper" mechanism that flaps in either direction to blend the hot and cold air. The flapper adjusts according to the temperature set by the user. So I told the Service guy (the guy that writes you up and puts stuff in the computer) that even his technician agreed there was a problem. The service guy told me that they have 3 other TLs with the same problem and that they have actually called someone from Acura to come and take a look at the problem. I told him that it seems like a recall and he said that they won't treat it as a recall until they get enough people complaining about it (isn't 4 cars with the same problem at one dealership enough???). Anyways, my car's been there for 4 days now and I'm still waiting on it. At least they've given me a 2008 TSX as a loaner so I'm not complaining. But I miss my TL and I hope they figure this thing out soon cause according to the dealership, there's no fix for the problem yet. It's all up to the Acura guy. I'll keep you guys posted on what happens.

On a side note, the 2008 TSX is a lot of fun to drive. It's got decent power, GREAT handling and I feel like the bass from the stereo is much deeper than the TL.