2004 Forester XT: Cabin temperature is either too hot or too cold

The cabin temperature control on the 2000 Forester seems to go into over drive, when heating. In NJ, we have finally seen the deep freeze, so I have to use the heat. Putting it one notch past the coolest temperature, is much too hot. 2 Toyota Camrys & a Nissan Sentra never had such a problem. Is this normal for the Forester?

Niels

Reply to
<nkistrup
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I don't know about the Forester, but I had the same problem with my '99 Legacy Outback last week. I was up in Oregon with the temp right around freezing and I could not find a comfortable temperature for the cabin. Either too hot or too cold.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Reply to
<nkistrup

If you do a search you will find thst allot of people find the auto climate controle to stink. I know that do not like mine.

Reply to
Hiver

Nothing I could do about it. I tried leaving the control on the hot side and regulating the temp by cracking the windows....

I did not like the road noise so I do not consider this an acceptable fix.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Reply to
<nkistrup

I ahve an '04 OBW LLBean. It has electronic climate controls. You can set the temperature like a normal thermostat. Guess what- it's either too hot or too cold. I error on the side of too cold and turn on the heated seats.

Reply to
Alan

No real problem with my '04 XT auto climate control system. It just isn't as good as that in my Volvo. The calibration (degrees) on the temp knob don't seem to coincide with real-world temps, so I just turn it (usually to around the 75 mark, or a bit less) and things work OK. Mine does get year-round use here in SoCal, so I presume it cycles fairly often. So far, in three months and a few days, 3,500 miles, no malfunction.

HW

temperature,

Reply to
H. Whelply

It's like that with my 2003 Forester XS too. Works OK on automatic in the summer, but in the winter I get better performance by turning the dials myself. I really don't like seeing the air conditioner light on in the winter time, though I can't tell whether the compressor is actually running. Nor do I appreciate the system defaulting to outside air vs. recirculating. The concept of defogging the windshield using air conditioned air is quite novel, and it's remarkably effective when the windshield is fogged on the inside. But it sure doesn't help get rid of fog or frost on the outside or contribute to a cozy cabin temperature. There were some very humid nights in the summer when it actually attracted fog to the outside of the windshield.

This is my only large complaint about the Forester. Other complaints are utterly miniscule, such as it's hard to lower the sun visors from the inside corners due to the way they ct the headliner, the buttons on the radio should have more tactile character to them for safer "no-look" operation, and a few other really minor annoyances. Basically, I love my Forester!

My fervent hope is that the people who programmed the feedback system for climate control aren't the same ones who did the ABS!

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote:

Reply to
BBB

Same here, HW. Mine is 2 months old, 7000 miles, and no malfunctions yet. But I find that darn climate control does take control. I find it is preferable to just turn the darn thing off automatic and use it in manual mode if it doing something uncomfortable. Note: just punch the Auto button and voila, it's manual! Then set your desired temperature!

Reply to
GTT

real-world temps

I agree. The lowest setting is 65 degrees, which is outright blazing when you are dressed for below freezing temps. In the summer, I had to set the auto temperature to 74, compared to 68 in my house; I like cold but the Forester XT's AC goes overboard.

But my original question focused on manual control. In my Toyotas & Nissan, turning the dial into the 'blue' zone, meant no heat, except in that small overlap area. The Forester XT goes into heavy heat mode, anywhere beyond the coolest setting. Bad engineering.

Reply to
<nkistrup

Novel idea? Autos with AC have automatically used the AC system to defog windshields for years (decades?). You just didn't know it because there was often no lamp indicator to tell you the AC was cycling, but if you listened, you could hear the compressor. As a matter of fact, this feature is so helpful that I always thought AC should have become a standard feature, regardless of where you live. I grew up in New England in the 60s-70s and few autos had AC. I moved to mid-Atlantic area in the latter 70s and immediately removed from purchase consideration any autos without air conditioning. In some humid weather, with heavy downpouring rain, a car without AC can simply not keep the window clear enough to see unless you crank up the heat to the high setting. That's pretty uncomfortable when it's already 85-95 degrees F.

You need to learn to use the temperature setting AND the vent choice settings with your AC. It will ONLY cause condensation on the outside when you have it set colder inside than out AND you have the vent set to blow against the windshield (and sometimes side windows.) Set the temperature warmer and no condensation occurs. Don't blow the cold air directly on the windshield and it won't condense on the outside there. And maybe you don't realize it, but you will not hurt anything to adjust the temperature upward when you run AC. You can run the AC unit and heat the air at the same time with no problems, and for fast defrosting of moisture that is on the inside of the glass, this is the best way to go. -- D N I E T S Off to R the M __, D H

Reply to group. (Detestible spammers!)

Reply to
D H

Also, when interior fogging is a problem, the vent should be sent to OUTSIDE air. Actually, it should always be set to that, except when it is very hot outside and you want to make the car colder. Wish I had a dollar for every car I see with fogged up windows while mine are clear.

Reply to
Alan

I haven't noticed that to be the case in my XT.

Reply to
H. Whelply

I agree with you that at leat we can put-it manual but the sales person told me it was one of the advantages from the X model to XS and was worth some $$$, for now I would had prefered an other type of extra for my $$$

I also want to say that beside that I love the car so mutch.

Reply to
Hiver

I have the X so I don't have the problems in which plague the auto A/C systems, however the 2 things that irritated me with the X model system (I guess it's the same for the auto hvac systems?) was that...

  1. It Defaults to outside air on the two defog modes.

I want to chose to go to recirculate in case I happen to run behind a smoke-belching vehicle or those cases where outside air is not that pleasant while still in defog mode. Much faster than switching out of defog and hitting the recirc button.

  1. A/C turns on with no indicator that the compressor is on.

I want that idiot light.

...anyways, I had to go in there to change some things to give me those options.

Reply to
Xtranet

could be a simple adjustment to a 'blend door' or something. I think I've read about another soob model being delivered with an issue like this on occasion. Take it to the dealer, and when they say;"They all do that" point to one on the lot and say;"OK - then let me try that one." And see for yourself. (or my alternate Ford phrase - "Then they're all broken and they all need to be fixed and you can start with mine.")

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote:

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

I don't think it's the outside air that's important. The key is that the A/C needs to be on when in the defog setting to work. A lot of the older vehicle A/C's do not come on even in the defog position and many owners do not know to turn on their A/C's so that the defog would work better.

Also, it didn't matter if I had it on recirculate or high heat. My windows would clear up fast once the A/C is switched on because it dries the air and removes the fogging action.

The recirculate is to either cool/heat/defog the interior faster and to avoid smelling the outside air on some occasions. I will agree that it should be set to outside air so that you receive fresh air and not breathing your own carbon dioxide.

Reply to
Xtranet

Since other people in the group are reporting the same problem that I'm having,

A) You are one of the lucky ones with a working temperature control, or B) My posting attracked all of the complainers, including myself, of a minor glitch.

Reply to
<nkistrup

Time to take it back to Subaru. Since the car is just over 4 mos old, the worst that they can tell me is it is not a problem.

Reply to
<nkistrup

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