General Climate Control a bit rubbish?

[Doofer]

My climate control isn't as good as in my previous car. In fact, a lot of the time it seems to be making a lot of blowing noise but no air is coming out of any of the vents.

My feet and hands went numb on a long journey the other day. I've now manually set it to all vents (all three arrows on both sides), which works much better. But Full Auto just seems to make a load of noise and not achieve anything. It was similar in the summer too, i.e. it was often too warm.

Is this a general shortcoming or is there something fixable wrong with mine? Thanks.

 

[DoIDon'tI]

If yours is broken then mine is too...

Temperature control is variable - in my old car I left it at the same temperature all year round, I can't in this one. Heating of the footwell area is poor at best anyway, but non-existent in 'full auto' mode. I manually override mine most of the time and turn the aircon off when possible.

Having said that, it may still be worth getting a garage to have a look. Two other factors to bear in mind: the JTD engines run quite cool so in the winter insufficient heat is available for a 'red hot' heater setting; secondly, in the summer the engine is rarely turning over fast enough to circulate the refrigerant most effectively - I find that manually raising the revs helps somewhat (as does putting the skydome blind across and raising the rear door blinds).

HTH.

 

[Doofer]

Thanks for that. Not sure whether I wanted to hear it's normal or not!

At least it's not just me then. I found 20 degrees was too hot in the summer, but 23 is too cold in the winter. Like you, I never used to change it in my previous car.

I take your points about it being a cool engine though. I guess that's good news. I did also close the interior blinds on the roof the other day, and this does make a big difference (although I like a bit of light).

The blowing noise with nothing happening does concern me though. Does anyone else get this happening on full auto? I'm wondering if there's a stuck flap somewhere, but all the directions do work fine when manually selected. If it's a general "feature" then I guess it's probably down to crappy software (wonder if an update is available?).

 

[Crombel]

My Croma does exactly the same as yours.

I think the temperature is measured in the air that comes into the cabin and is not the temperature in the cabin.

Maybe one sensor is defective and gives the command to close a flap.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Sounds like blocked pollen filters to me

 

[Moneyfool]

On Full Auto mine suddenly often fogs up the windows, sometimes just one side of the windscreen(?) but also all side windows and the sunroof. This is after the car has been running for sometime so everything is well warmed up. Pollen filter changed a couple of months ago. Wasn't there a recall for the recirc valves - anyone know why?

 

[DoIDon'tI]

I'd check the drains in the scuttle under the bonnet if I were you - they've been known to block and cause water to build up. When the recirc flap opens to allow fresh air in then you get water / water vapour when you should just get air.

HTH.

 

[Doofer]

Well I'll live with mine if it's par for the course. It does seem a lot better now it's manually set to all vents, with about 3 bars on the fan speed.

It's a shame though, a previous car with CC did all sorts of wondrous things, e.g. automatically onto the windscreen if it's cold followed by warming up your feet, or blowing in your face with the air-con when it was hot. This was a SEAT, which I believe had an Audi CC system.

I put a new pollen filter in mine, and checked all the drains at the same time (using the instructions someone posted elsewhere on this forum), an easy job. I also wiped it all out with disinfectant spray, and sprayed a can of air-con sanitiser through the recirc inlet. This finally got rid of the aroma of "old dishcloth with wet dog" that it had when we bought it used.

 

[cjlar]

Hi, I am familiar with "old dishcloth with wet dog" in my Croma and have used a sanitizer as per instructions to no avail .When you say "recirc inlet ", where is it ? BTW my CC seems to work as it says on the tin.

 

[s130]

On Full Auto mine suddenly often fogs up the windows, sometimes just one side of the windscreen(?) but also all side windows and the sunroof. This is after the car has been running for sometime so everything is well warmed up. Pollen filter changed a couple of months ago. Wasn't there a recall for the recirc valves - anyone know why?

Yes there was a Service Campaign for this misting up problem. Service Campaigns that are NOT safety recalls are normally handled by the dealer at a scheduled service time or pre delivery as appropriate. All Fiat dealers can check on SIGI (service information gateway ? ?) for the status of fixes on any modern Fiat car.

Suggest you contact your local Fiat dealer with you car Reg.

 

[Radlet6]

I don't think that the system is the best there is.

My Croma system seems to provide an acceptably warm or cool enough environment overall but it cannot provide air that was as warm or as cold as the system in my old Rover 75.

 

[Granvilleb]

I have had Fiat Automatic Clima since the Regatta without any problems. The air flow from the dash vents is normally more and warmer from the left side than the right side. I don't know why. The internal temp is senced by a small fan behind the small slots near to the screen that shows the Clima info. The pollen filter is important as it does effect the amount of air entering the Clima system.

 

[Doofer]

Hi, I am familiar with "old dishcloth with wet dog" in my Croma and have used a sanitizer as per instructions to no avail .When you say "recirc inlet ", where is it ? BTW my CC seems to work as it says on the tin.

I can remember I couldn't find it at first. In the end I had to put it on recirc, on full fan and stick my hand in a bucket of water so I could feel the air flow, then wave around inside the footwells. I think it's somewhere around the footwells or front seats, but I can't remember now.

I got a can of proper air con sanitiser from a local car parts shop. It's an aerosol that stays open after you press it, so it empties its entire contents. You put it on recirc, point can at inlet, press can, then get out of the car. Then leave it running with can squirting until empty, then a few minutes more.

After this it smelt like Vicks for a couple of days, but then was fine after.

 

[Doofer]

Does anyone have one that works well on "Full Auto" mode?

On mine, I get nothing until the engine warms up (fair enough), then after it's warm the fan goes up to max and it makes a load of noise. But I can stick my hand over any vents and there's nothing coming out. It then keeps blowing like mad for ever, as it never reaches the set temperature as both the car (and I) are freezing cold.

All the vents work fine if I select them manually, so I don't think the flaps are faulty as such.

Another thing I noticed is that the fan shuts off if you drive at 70mph (on Full Auto only). It's probably designed this way, but it's quite entertaining - you can dip the accelerator slightly to make the fan go from full to off and vice versa. It still shows full speed on the display though, even when actually off.

 

[DoIDon'tI]

Another thing I noticed is that the fan shuts off if you drive at 70mph (on Full Auto only). It's probably designed this way, but it's quite entertaining - you can dip the accelerator slightly to make the fan go from full to off and vice versa. It still shows full speed on the display though, even when actually off.

Hmmm, I agreed with you up to this point - mine definitely doesn't do anything speed-related. In less cold weather than we're currently having then the fan will eventually (after 20 miles or so ) settle down to about 3 bars. Same on non-tropical summer days. Never encountered the 70 mph thing though - although there aren't any dual carriageways or motorways on my way to work so I don't spend a lot of time at those speeds.

Is it a fault?

 

[Doofer]

Is it a fault?

I'm pretty sure it's a feature. I can vary the speed by a few mph and make the fan go from max to off.

It only happens when on Full Auto and the fan's at high speed, i.e. cold cabin, warm engine. If it's working properly then it shouldn't run at full speed for more than a few minutes anyway, so it should be a rarely used feature.

Mine will blow at full speed for ever when it's as cold as now, as no air is actually coming out of the vents.

It does make sense - when your road speed is high enough there should be enough airflow without the fan blowing.