Heater question--always cold air from top vents?

[tomjonesrocks]

Quick question about the heater in the ZHP--is it a little weird?

I don't have an opportunity in San Diego to *really* use the heat much--but when I have it seems like the heat only emits from somewhere below the dash--air through the vents *always* seems to be pretty cold.

Is this the way this is supposed to work--or is there a specific setting in the climate control that works best for heat?

[postitpad]

Is the wheel between the top vents set to 'vent'? If so it will be showing blue dots, rotate it until red dots show and it should give warm air. Also, if set to 'auto' the hvac seems to prefer to heat from the floor and cool from the vents, use the button to force the heat to the vent while troubleshooting.

Unintuitively, leaving the vent rotated to red will also draw from the AC and give you cooler air when the AC is in use.

[tomjonesrocks]

Ah thanks. Will check it out.

[johnrando]

What he said. Plus, I tend to run my heat not on "auto", as it's pretty mild in auto as he said.

[llll1l1ll]

If it's not any of those, it could be a bubble in your cooling system. I would also check the HVAC water valve (it's under the airbox in the engine bay), as apparently those things have a tendency to go bad.

[echo46]

Check the vents. As mentioned above it could be some air in the cooling system although that would also probably cause the car to run hot. When is the last time you changed the coolant?