3 series climate control

Clarkey · 13 Jul 2007 at 23:50

Ok so its this afternoon, grey rainy afternoon temp. is high teens out, climate is on full auto set to 20.0C with the AC on, now there is freezing cold air coming out of the dash vents yet really quite hot air coming through the footwell vents. Is this type of behaviour normal in there cars, it seems very odd to me and it's never done this before?

p.s. just to clarify, this is my sisters car not mine and she came to me seeming quite alarmed that all of a sudden her feet got really hot despite not touching any of the controls, thinking there was something wrong with the car (again).

Scuzi · 13 Jul 2007 at 23:54

E46? Between the centre vents, there is a wheel which changes the temperature of the air which comes out of the dash vents. You can change it to hot, cold or keep it in the middle where the air will be the same temp as from the other vents.

In case you didn't know, it's probably set to the coldest setting, i.e. Blue, scroll it up to the middle or set it to hot depending on what you want.

Clarkey · 13 Jul 2007 at 23:58

yes, thanks. That dial controls the vent temp for all the dash vents? I was under the impression it just controlled the middle ones. You have to manually set the temperature despite it being auto climate, seems to defeat the point to me?

Scuzi · 14 Jul 2007 at 00:16

It sets the temperature for all the dash vents, yeah.

It kind of defeats the purpose until you get used to it. I can't do without it now, I think it's a great invention, it allows you to fine tune the temperature which is hard to do instantly with standard climate control.

Clarkey · 14 Jul 2007 at 00:21

so, say you had the temp set reasonably high, the dash vents on really cold, it would compensate by pumping really hot air into the footwells?

Scuzi · 14 Jul 2007 at 00:26

Clarkey said:
so, say you had the temp set reasonably high, the dash vents on really cold, it would compensate by pumping really hot air into the footwells?

I don't know for sure but I think it does. I only drive my mums E46 for about 5 or 6 days each month so I'm not 100% sure. I'll try it tomorrow though if someone more in the know doesn't reply.