Technical max defrost problem or not?

[fugly-wagon]

after picking my multipla (03 115 jtd elx) up and getting in when cold and icy turned (max defrost ) on and nothing seemed to happen apart from switching a/c on the blowers didnt start or anything
used to drive a marea and when turned max def on a/c, heated rear screen, blowers etc started working
is this a problem or not

 

[cee em dee]

I have the same happen on my JTD 120. The handbook with the car doesn't help much as it is probably translated directly from italian to english and not re-written properly so consequently it's harder to understand. From what i can understand the car has to be at a certain temp before the fan cuts in but i may be wrong.

 

[multiplexed]

Not sure if this will help........ but wnen i start my multi if you dont flick fan switch from "auto " onto a nominated speed 1.2.3. etc fan does not start blowing until engine is quite warm. by flicking fan into manual then back to auto fan then keeps going.
Having said that when I use max defrost a/c kicks in and everything starts up straight away!
You do have to set temp to max and direction knob right round to six"o" clock to make everything work on max defrost.
Might not be any use but hey its a Fiat. Good Luck

 

[fugly-wagon]

not read handbook yet only had car 1 week but will look through

 

[johne]

We had exactly the same, going from Marea to Multipla (53reg) and came to the same conclusion as CMD, that the system thinks the air needs to be warmed up to a certain temperature before it will function in the max defrost mode, whereas the old system just threw everything at the windscreen
Though there's something I vaguely recall about aircon systems not working properly at less than 4 degrees - perhaps that's part of it as well

 

[arsedownoz]

I have just had my friend round who is an Air con engineer, i tried Air Con nothing worked ie clutch did not pull in on the Air con Pump, he had a look and told me that the Multipla uses a system similar to Climate Control but without the flash digital control display and said it uses an external temp sensor, so yes as in my case it was to cold outside for Air Con to come on so the system failed, when it got above the set temp(which i do not know) all was well and it all works fine clutch pulls in we are all happy, he did add a small amount of gas after as it was a little on the low side hope this helps Alan.also JTD115.

 

[fugly-wagon]

have just had a read of my handbook and from what i can gather the max defrost wont start working until the coolant is up to temp to prevent any cold air from being blown into cabin
so what is the point of max defrost as you have to wait for engine to warm up so then you would just turn your heaters on stupid italians strike again:bang: dont care about uk market

 

[rayking32]

Hi, just has my 04 JTD 115 serviced and asked about max defrost problem. Apparently it won't work below 5degrees. Stupid as this is exactly when you want the thing to work. My Mazda and Rover both work from cold!!

 

[Quovadistamworth]

Not sure if this will help........ but wnen i start my multi if you dont flick fan switch from "auto " onto a nominated speed 1.2.3. etc fan does not start blowing until engine is quite warm. by flicking fan into manual then back to auto fan then keeps going.
Having said that when I use max defrost a/c kicks in and everything starts up straight away!
You do have to set temp to max and direction knob right round to six"o" clock to make everything work on max defrost.
Might not be any use but hey its a Fiat. Good Luck

I have taken this issue up with Fiat and the answer is that because the engine is energy efficient, no surplus heat is given off the engine until it reaches the optimum running temp. Because of this , heating of the car suffers until the engine is warm . The best way to overcome this is to let the car run 10 minutes on the drive before you leave. alternatively put a small fan heater in the car and plug it in before you . this is great for melting ice and snow etc quickly plus when you get in it is warm . Just make sure the fann heater does not face anything , just let it blow across width of car .

I have been doing this and it works !!

You can get a diesel heater that switches itself on an hour ( or whatever time you want) before you . This warms the car and water supply of engine but they a grand fitted!!

Trust this clarifies .