Heat in Winter

[kodak_jack]

My V-6 warms up very quickly according to the temperature gauge, but seems to take forever to warm the interior. I know we've talked about this in the past, but has anybody come up with a known good way to get more heat quicker? The ducts are tiny and just don't warm my feet. If I go one click off the heat setting to keep the air conditioning from coming on, that takes a little more off the feet area and sends that part up in my face. There has to be a way!:(

[Ritz]

It gets pretty cold here too (though not as bad as Rochester) and our VUE seems to warm right up. Maybe the flap in the HVAC box is not operating correctly?

[fdryer]

If you have to fiddle with the dial to prevent the a/c from turning on then there's definitely something amiss to the design of the HVAC system with possibly one of two temporay seasonal 'fixes'. When the cold season ends and summer cooling returns you'll have to undo this 'fix'. Either remove the a/c relay in the UHFB (fuse panel) or disconnect the power harness at the a/c compressor. One or both should prevent the SES light from turning on for more annoyances but you'll have full control of where you want to direct heat whenever you want. The only other suggestion for disabling the a/c would be to wire a switch (anywhere in the interior cabin) in series with the power lead to the compressor so you can selectively turn it on or off without the bother of removing and replacing the relay or compressor connector. Although this may seem a little more work than anyone would want this is part of the L300's auto climate control system that allows me to push the A/C OFF button on the control panel when I specifically don't want the a/c on. Since its computer controlled, the only over-ride to this manual off switch is when I select DEFROST - this automatically turns on the a/c and any temperature dialed heat I choose, to allow quicker defrosting. Not what I want but its just one less annoyance when I don't want a/c at any other time when auto mode is selected and I don't want a/c massaged air. I'm a little puzzled that this wasn't adopted across the board when auto climate control was standardized. Any of these suggestions also allows experimentation till you have what you feel is the least annoyance and more control over your HVAC system. Just my 2-cents. :cool:

[bob shanks]

That's exactly what i did last winter. I pulled the a/c relay. It's a simple fix instead of going to the dealer and have him hunt down the problem.

[Tom92SCm]

And just because the gauge indicates that the engine has warmed up, it's been my experience with other cars that there is a HUGE dead band programmed into the factory gauge. On my Mazda, the factory gauge will indicate "warmed up" when my aftermarket Autometer gauge is still showing 100*F. As the Autometer gauge shows the increase in temp- all the way up to 190*F, the factory gauge has not moved the slightest.

[kodak_jack]

That's exactly what i did last winter. I pulled the a/c relay. It's a simple fix instead of going to the dealer and have him hunt down the problem.
It's not a problem, that's the way the stupid thing is designed to work. If one of the sensors feels the air is too humid, it kicks on the compressor to try to dry it out. It's not just the Vue, most vehicles do the same. It does it regardless of temperature, since it's come on at 31 Degrees F when the manual says it should only do it above 39 Degrees F.

[fdryer]

Uhhh, we're suggesting something to help you get your heater going, possibly quicker w/o the a/c kicking on. You could humor us or yourself if you simply yanked the a/c relay and see what happens. No harm will occur to your a/c system at all. As one member stated, it works. Without the a/c relay and you won't have to fiddle with the selector knob. Leaving the relay out will never turn on the a/c, period.

[1saxman]

The VUE is NOTORIOUS for a bad heater. Plus, as everybody knows by now, the freaking AC compressor automatically engages in the floor register position that most everybody uses in cold weather. The problem is air delivery. The VUE just does not put enough air on the floor, and there ain't a durn thing you can do about it.
As for compressor operation in cold weather, there are two parameters; ambient temp and vehicle road speed. The compressor should not engage at freezing temp or below. It may engage from 39F down to 32F when the vehicle is not moving. It should not engage below 39F when the vehicle is moving at 5 MPH or more. The increased cooling of the moving air would cause the compressor to be damaged.
All you can reasonably do is to find the selector position closest to the Floor position that does not engage the compressor. Then you can run the fan on top speed with the temp selector all the way up and turn the dash registers down toward the floor. In low humidity you can also use Recirculate which will heat up the car quicker, but it also causes interior fogging. One thing that really helps is the seat warmer - first one I've ever had, and it's great. When your backside is warm, you feel warm all over.
Even though we both have '03s, hers has the old HVAC head that does not have the AC/heat circuit! Mine has the revised head with the circuit.

[OhioVueBoy]

The other solution might be to get the aforementioned HVAC head unit from a 2002 or early 2003, which does not engage the A/C compressor on the floor position.

It is a different part number than the later models.

~D.J.~

[kodak_jack]

Uhhh, we're suggesting something to help you get your heater going, possibly quicker w/o the a/c kicking on. You could humor us or yourself if you simply yanked the a/c relay and see what happens. No harm will occur to your a/c system at all. As one member stated, it works. Without the a/c relay and you won't have to fiddle with the selector knob. Leaving the relay out will never turn on the a/c, period.
He suggested doing that instead of going to the dealer to search for a problem. My response is that the dealer would not consider it a problem and would tell me that's the way it's supposed to work.

[kodak_jack]

One thing that really helps is the seat warmer - first one I've ever had, and it's great. When your backside is warm, you feel warm all over.

YES!! I never would have spent that kind of money for leather and heated seats on a new vehicle, but this one was used and came loaded. Thank God for the heated seats because they DO make a difference.:yes: