Hot air from ventilation openings

I have a 2001 with a/c and when the a/c isn't on I get the same thing.

Is it normal that I can't switch off completely heating on Ford Focus?

Anyone have same problem? It is ok in winter but during summer at 25 + degrees it is not!

My focus used to blow warm air from the center vents with the a/c turned off too. Its a characteristic of the car.

Tim.

In alt.autos.ford.focus Tim.. :

Sounds interesting, just tested this with a small LCD thermometer putting the outside sensor (cable) directly into one of the center vents, but can't really acknowledge it. There was no real difference shown to my outside thermometer (1999 wagon).

For the fun of it turned A/C on to measure and quickly temp dropped down to 1/1.8 C/F, much more then expected. ;-)

Please can you check if heating radiator under the vent. control almost on the floor of the car is warm when heating is off. (this is the case in my ford focus)...

Thanx

Where's the air for fresh air come from? I know it comes in from below the windshield, but does that come Thruogh the egine compartment? or just over the hood, which could still pick up some heat.

Micheal, your AC cooled it to 1 degree C? thats almost freexing, I haven't had an AC do that since I had a freon one in my '86? Tempo, that would put out about -2C / 29F with recirculate on.

I checked it again it seems thet problem is in cabin radiator which is really hot when heating is turned off... Are there any hot water valve or something similar?

Ops, seems my conversion tool was using F (absolute), should be

33.8F in reality.

The problem might be the heat exchanger as "Dudo" pointed out, haven't checked about the Focus, but any other Ford owned by me had some kind of cover you moved with the temp control over the heat exchanger. There weren't any valves to control refrigerant flow manually.

From the beginning of my test it was turned complete to cold air. Perhaps you have to drive longer (30 min.) to measure the difference?

Did took a look today, but things are quite compact and I wasn't able to find the heat exchanger in second today.

Indeed found the cooling capacity quite respectable, though it was just 24C outside. But even with outside well >35/95 C/F you have to turn it off frequently even at low fan speed or you'll freeze to death quite soon...

Ops forgot to test with recirculate on at all.

Are you sure that there is no any valve that control refrigerant flow? In that case this could be big design flaw on ford focus if you wan't to drive it comfortably in hot climates like summers in Croatia are without AC.

Actally heat exchanger is allways hot in my car (you can't hold finger on it because of temp.) so it seems if everything is as you wrote that we allways have source of heat (cca. 90-100 degrees C) in the car?

[..]

I'm guessing you mean *coolant* flow?

As far as I know, Ford and many others have not used a valve on the heating system since the 1960's.

It is not a design flaw; there are a number of advantages in this approach.

A flap is used when the temperature is set to the coolest setting to prevent air passing through the heat exchanger. It may be that yours is broken or out of adjustment because I have never noticed unwanted hot air coming in to the car in the seven years I've owned my Focus.

If there is a weakness with the Focus heating/ventilating system it is quite the opposite. There is insufficient air flow through the car, so it tends to mist up quite easily. Also, in the coldest weather the heater is barely adequate.

HTH

Chris

This is my experience with Ford, though I haven't checked on my Focus. Ford uses just the usual thermostat to separate the radiator, from the circuit if the engine is cold.

This might be well the reason or simply some dust/dirt preventing to close the flap completely?

IMHO vents are much more likely to break then this simple technology.

Found the heating quite sufficient, though it takes a little time especially with the wagon if it is really cold.

Indeed, some rain and the Focus fogs up quite fast, even if I have exchanged a few parts recommended by Ford (TSI - technical service information), it got a little better but still annoying, the only thing you can do is turn on heated windscreen and turn on A/C to get a clear view back...Unluckily it rains quite often in my area...;(

Don't suppose the reason due to a wrong mounted interior air filter as some pointed out, as all service has been done by an official Ford dealer. Though I could double check of course, but there would be no TSI information and some fix in production if there wouldn't be a problem.

That's right...

Well then maybe is something broken or out of adjustement with that flap in my focus because ventilation canals get really warm and when temp outside reaches 20-25-30 C it simply gets too hot in the car...

Please if you have any documentation how to disassemble ventilation system could you sand me it on my email...

Btw. that 'heating radiator' was changed few months ago at least old owner said so...maybe they didn't assemble it correctly...

Well I have this car for one week only so have to get a bit colder to check that... :-)

I agree that simple technology is sometimes much more reliable and I'm sure that flap is much more reliable then valve but...

I don't know about winter but during summer heating radiator with hot engine water/coolant at 90-100 degrees C is simply one unwanted source of heat in the cabin.... at least when gets hot and the car doesn't have AC

Please could you explain me where to find interior air filter in ford focus?

I live in Minnesota, in the winter when it's above 0F(~-15C) I get heat within 2-3 miles, and good head within 10mi, and below 0F, I get heat in about 5 miles, either way I have turned the heat down by the time I get to work, ~35 miles.

You get what??

When I visited Minnesota, I just got cheesy souvenirs from the Mall of America and some good used books from Uncle Hugo's & Uncle Edgar's.

[..]

There is something wrong with your car then, without a doubt.

I don't think that's a "maybe"...

Can you find out where the last owner took it for the repair? Then perhaps you could return it to them to do the job properly.

Chris

In alt.autos.ford.focus Dudo :

Can't remember any real problem due to the fact, though my Focus has A/C. From your other contributions it sounds like someone has worked on the heating system of your car and perhaps left it in a state you suffer from?

Should be the shown filter, It's rumored to be easily mounted wrongly, getting wet while raining and some people accuse it as reason for interior fog? Have never checked about mine, it doesn't happen any time it rains and I can control it with the heated windscreen and/or A/C quickly, though it shouldn't happen in the first place.

Yes they changed cabin radiator because of leaking... few months ago...probably they didn't do something as they should and hot air gets in.... and btw. air recirculation switch works randomly... One day it works another day don't...

Good car but bad mechanics...

Thanks a lot for the info...