Cold Air Ventillation

[leszekg]

Realised last night that the cold air vent has stopped blowing cold air when switched on (yes, the air vent is open). The hot air vent blows ok when switched on, so I assume that the hot and cold vents use different fan sources.

According to the handbook there is one fuse only for the ventillation system and this I checked and is fine.

Are there any other fuses lurking around that I need to check? Anyone else had this problem, what are the other possible causes?

Any advice appreciated.

[williamball]

Cold air vent? Unless they've changed the system on later cars, all vents blow the same temperature, but yes there are two 'intakes' and fans, one for hot and one for cold [and air conditioned] air. On mine, this all mixes together and is distrubuted back to all the vents, and only idiocyncracies in the plumbing give the vents different temperatures i.e. the drivers feet have a cold air bias. If you are talking about the face level vent, then a simple mod is possible to make it always blow cold, and it involves cutting into the big cold air pipe above the steering column and connecting it to that, and disconnecting it from the mixer box or octopus depending on the age of the car.

WB

[leszekg]

williamball said: Cold air vent? Unless they've changed the system on later cars, all vents blow the same temperature, but yes there are two 'intakes' and fans, one for hot and one for cold [and air conditioned] air. On mine, this all mixes together and is distrubuted back to all the vents, and only idiocyncracies in the plumbing give the vents different temperatures i.e. the drivers feet have a cold air bias. If you are talking about the face level vent, then a simple mod is possible to make it always blow cold, and it involves cutting into the big cold air pipe above the steering column and connecting it to that, and disconnecting it from the mixer box or octopus depending on the age of the car.

WB

Yes, it's the face level vent. There is no air coming through - used to work fine until the other day.

[williamball]

Check the air hose coming to it hasn't pulled off at either end - it's just a push-fit as I recollect. Have a poke around under the drivers side dashboard [you'll probably have to take the lower trip panel off - but it's just 3 or 4 bolts/wing nuts]. The drivers side is the cold air side, so the big thick pipe is cold air after its been through the fans and air cond unit. Should be pretty simple to see what's going on. Disconnect the big cold air pipe and see if it's blowing there; that'll proove how the cold air fan is working before it hits the 'mixer' system.

WB

[yg649]

hmmmmmm I've noticed that it's only hot on the two vents under the window, and only cold on the two footwell vents and the drivers steering column ...

However, the "mixer" ends up being the cabin itself - I maybe have to fidget with my knobs (ohhh errr misssus) every two minutes, however, it normally maintains a reasonable balance.

Best part is - it's now SUMMER . Therefore, every trip is all windows down, grimmace through the wind chill factor and just marvel at the noise.

Too much chat of sports exhausts here - me thinks I'm gonna end up emptying my pockets over this one ...

[vroom]

Leszekg,

Is the cold fan coming on? If not, check you can here the switch operating when you press the fan knob. Sometimes the knob itself prevents the switch from toggling (if you know what I mean). If this is the case, slacken the little grub screw on the knob & reposition it further up the shaft (now that does sound dodgy...).

[leszekg]

Thanks everyone. Will try the suggestions during the next day or so.

[gazzab]

could be the LX panel itself behind the switches??

[cinman]

I too have a very similar problem. The hot fan button works (I can hear fan running, air comes out of vents, etc.) but the cold button does nothing? No fan noise and no air. The a/con button does illuminate blue when switched on, but I suspect that's unrelated as its the cold air button that's not working by the look of it. Any ideas? The button does click when I press it - but no air? Earlier today, when it clicked on having been pressed, the fan noise happened for about 5secs before cutting out - now nothing - but the hot fan button still works?

[bacchus180]

open the window

[leszekg]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Couldn't spot anything obviously wrong myself. Offords had a look at it in the end and tracked down the problem to a wiring fault. All working again now.