my abarth selespeed should be here in a few weeks, and i have been reading my manual in anticipation, but i dont understand the difference beetween aircon and climate control. should you leave the climate control on all the time on auto?
how do you work yours.

Aircon relies on you manually controlling the hot/cold air mix to get the desired temperature. Climate control is basically the same system, but with some clever electronics on the front end that distribute hot/cold air in the best combination to maintain the temperature(s) you have selected. With climate control you simpy set the temperature and forget about it, on FULL AUTO it does it all for you, including recirculating air when it detects pollution etc (AQS).

Don't bother turning off the air conditioning unit when its cold, because it acts as a dehumidifier and is great in winter for preventing misting on the screen.

On some cars you notice the power drain on the engine when the compressor is running, on the Abarth it isn't noticeable at all!

Once you've had climate control, you'll never want a car without it - enjoy!

Paul

P.S. If your reading the manual, read the section on the selespeed lots of times - despite what most people think, the Selespeed is very hard to drive properly, and will take a good few months to get used to.

Stilo Abarth 3dr, Broom Yellow (Nov '03)

thanks for that pjp. as for reading the selespeed section, i could go on mastermind with it. cant wait to get my hands on it though.

Dual-Zone Climate Control

is there any chance of someone explaining to me how this works - i cant make any sense of the book.

basically i set the temps either side i.e. 16 degrees, but no matter what setting it always seems to blow hot! if i press auto and it goes to full-auto on 16 degrees the air-con thing lights up but the blower blows downwards and if i change it full-auto switches off!!

please help me!!! im either boiling hot or bl00dy freezing!

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

Hmmm - you can't be doing it right :chin:

My usual procedure is this - set temp in car, say 20 degrees - then press MONO if just me in the car, so passenger and driver side the same temp. I then press AUTO, and let it do its stuff. It may take some time for the blowers to adjust position, until it gets to a steady temperature all round.

How long are you waiting for?

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

ive given it half hour or more. do i need to press any of the direction arrows or just set the temp then press auto?

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

blackJTD said:

ive given it half hour or more. do i need to press any of the direction arrows or just set the temp then press auto?

Click to expand...

As soon as you press any of the direction arrows or fan speed, it will take it off full-auto.

I just set temp and then press auto - works fine, although in the morning the fans can be on full speed, so I turn them down a bit. Never had any problems with it.

Ulysse also has 3 zone CC, and that works a treat.

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

let me get this right:

get in car turn mono knob to set temp (i.e. 20 deg)
do same with auto knob for passenger side
press in auto button
leave until desired temp is reached

two more question if screen is frozen will the blowers auto blow to the up position?

does the blower position change when auto is set? i.e. up, down and face?

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

At this time of year, i don't think you'll get any cold air into the cabin, as the minimum temp. is 16C (and that is hotter than the ouside air).

The reason the air comes in at the feet, has to do with hot-air being lighter than cool air, so the air will spread from bottom to top (if you blow hot air in at the top, it will take longer to remove the cold air at the bottom - hope that makes sense - at least that's how i think it works).

In full-auto mode, the only thing you controlis the desired temp. If you press any other buttons (speed of blower, air-direction buttons etc.) it will go away from full-auto to (semi-)auto. It will now control anything you haven't pushed (if you change speed of blower, i still think it decides where the air should go and vice versa). If you tur off the aircon unit (the star symbol) it goes away from full-auto to (semi-)auto, as it still tries to get the right temp.

Again that's how i think it works, if i'm wrong in any way, i blame fiat

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

Stuart DemonD said:

I just set temp and then press auto - works fine, although in the morning the fans can be on full speed, so I turn them down a bit. Never had any problems with it.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing. sometimes i change the speed or the direction but i never have any problems with it (yet!! ).

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

santa said:

The reason the air comes in at the feet, has to do with hot-air being lighter than cool air, so the air will spread from bottom to top (if you blow hot air in at the top, it will take longer to remove the cold air at the bottom - hope that makes sense - at least that's how i think it works).

Click to expand...

thanks that makes sense, but if its a cold morning with a frosty screen how will blowing air down clear the screen?

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

blackJTD said:

let me get this right:

get in car turn mono knob to set temp (i.e. 20 deg)
do same with auto knob for passenger side
press in auto button
leave until desired temp is reached

Click to expand...

If you have the control in mono-mode, you only need to turn the driver's side knob (if you have it in bi-zone mode, you need to turn on mono-mode).

blackJTD said:

two more question if screen is frozen will the blowers auto blow to the up position?

Click to expand...

Just press the max.def button (it doesn't read max.def but has symbol much like the heated rear window button, it's next to it). when you press this button it turns on heated rear window (+ heated mirrors),turns up blower speed and bloews air up to the windcreen.

blackJTD said:

does the blower position change when auto is set? i.e. up, down and face?

Click to expand...

It should if it detects any reasonto do so (i don't know when or why it does or doesn't do it). That is, unless you have pressed the direction button's yourself, then you need to go back to full-auto to allow the control unit to change direction.

Man, it's difficult to explain this in writing (especially when english is not your first language).

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

blackJTD said:

get in car turn mono knob to set temp (i.e. 20 deg)
do same with auto knob for passenger side
press in auto button

Click to expand...

Nope - only need to set temp once on drivers side, then press mono button in - this makes the passenger temp the same....

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

you guys are the best ill try tomorrow on full auto (which should do everything itself i presume). do i need the air-con button on, on full auto mode though?

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

blackJTD said:

you guys are the best ill try tomorrow on full auto (which should do everything itself i presume). do i need the air-con button on, on full auto mode though?

Click to expand...

Yes, but when you press "auto" to change to full-auto it turns it on if it isn't already on.

so in short: just press auto and watch it switch to full auto.

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

thanks santa & stu things seem a fair bit clearer now!

what is the general conscensus with this then? full-auto/auto or manual? and what degree-age?!

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

In the summertime i normaly has it on full-auto with temp. around 18-23C (depending on outside temp. norm. 3-5C below that but never above 25C).

In winter it's normaly on auto, as i want to decide speed and direction myself with temp. around 20-23C.

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

On these cold mornings, usually onto Max first thing, although I then over-ride fan speed.

Tend to keep it between 20 and 23 during winter; Summer is always on Low.

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

I never put it on low; i think i'd freeze in my car!!!!

Re: Dual-Zone Climate Control

thanks guys, worked brilliantly today! even if the blower speed has got a bit of a mind of its own!