heater probs

[fuzztiva]

finally had to use heat this morning. but something weird is happening. after car gets warmed up heat will come out of the defrost, but when i switch it to vent it comes out cold. what will cause this? also noticed that air is blowing through vents while driving even with all air turned off.

92 festiva L manual 5 speed.. no rear defrost

[BP-Festiva]

there is nothing wrong with your festiva, in fact every festiva ever made was designed like this, the heat will only work in the defrost or floor vents. and air coming through the vents may be due to the fact that on the hvac controls there is a lever that has symbols one that has an arrow going in a circle in a car and one that has an arrow pointing through the car, the latter allows outside air to enter even with the blower motor off.

[hofficergrover]

yeah most of the festivas all have this. i remember some one else asking this but i don't remember what was said about this really all of the cars do it all three of mine do and my gfs mom's does as well so jsut use the defrost and defrost/floor they push heat.

[Team Lightning]

Mine has been like that since it was new. It's a 90"L".

[fuzztiva]

thats great to know. thanks thought i was looking at a new heater core.

[FB71]

design constraint of the Festiva. No heat from the dash registers, floor and defrost only.

[eurotiva]

I drove mine freezing my rear off for 3 years before i realized this.....finally i bought a heater....which melted my cig lighter and while under the dash i found that the "box" was warm and tried floor and it work.....I was like duh.

[WmWatt]

Warms your face or warms your feet. The rest is unimportant.

[takeone51]

^ lol

[MONSOON]

Besides the fact that even on the coldest West Michigan day, both Festivas that I owned up there would roast you out after a little bit.

[gdawgs]

Besides the fact that even on the coldest West Michigan day, both Festivas that I owned up there would roast you out after a little bit.

That's odd, none of the Festivas I've ever owned or driven would roast me out on a really cold day. Even with new OEM thermostats and the entire front end covered with cardboard. On a -40 degree day, it takes everything it's got to keep ice off the front windows.