lgt_nube

I posted earlier in this long thread, but I'll say here that after a few years with my 2005 LGT, I still consider the HVAC system to be a bad joke. The only saving grace is that it has enough manual control to make workarounds possible. But even with that, I still have to continually adjust the (automatic) temperature control.

http://fiddymentfarms.com

 

Haha. It's a street named after a family. Hence Fiddyment Farms housing community.

>Is there any way to link the two (driver and passenger) side so you only have to adjust one of them?<

 

The answer is No; it's a common complaint here.

I think the problem is residual heat in the system, probably caused by heat from the engine. I can be driving with AC off and temp set to 65 (never any heat) and the air coming out of the vents may be OK, if not as cool as the outside air. But if I stop and let the car sit for while with the engine off and then start again, the air coming out of the vents is much warmer and cools off VERY slowly. I've noticed this effect on prior cars and used to just run the AC for a bit to take away that residual heat and then it was OK. But that doesn't work on my LGT unless I leave the AC on for a long time. I've just resigned to using the AC more than I did on other cars when the temperature is warm but not hot.

 

my vents never seem to draw "fresh air" - it always seems to be HOT (well, not that its summer especially). but even on full Manual mode, with the 'fresh' air icon on (only light on the panel), it does not feel like outside air at all - if its 70 outside, the vent seems to still spit out hot hot air.

>Even if it's in manual mode and you can't see the temperature settings displayed<

 

I don't understand that one. The temperature settings are always displayed, 65, 66, 67, 90, whatever. Maybe I don't understand what you meant.

 

> if they are at anything other than the lowest setting (65 on an '05-06), it will heat the outside air.<

 

I don't think so. If the setting is, say, at 70 and the system thinks the inside-car temp is warmer than that setting should be, it turns off the heat just as if the setting were 65. Setting it to 65 in that condition (very warm car inside) won't change the temp of the air coming out of the vents. I think the problem of warm air coming out of the vents (even set to 65) on a fairly warm day is heat in the system itself, probably from the engine. See my post in answer to the question of petes99. At least that's my take on it.

From what I can tell when driving, it seems to cycle the a/c compressor on and off. Let's hear from others about this one.

 

When set on auto, for >65 settings when it's trying to cool, does blend in hot air from the heat core, or just reduce the a/c duty cycle? I usually set it to 65 in the summer and work the a/c button on and off, under the assumption that i'm running the compressor less. Am i saving gas or just wearing out my a/c button?

Sunday morning I walked back to my 2005 Black LGT 5EAT Wagon in the parking lot for the Marin County Farmer's Market at Civic Center, and there was the identical car parked right next to mine.

The system remains in auto mode for all functions except the ones you set manually. Yes, the Auto light disappears but it's still in "auto mode" for all the other functions when you set the airflow to another setting.

 

My issue with that split airflow mode (defrost and footwell) is that the air temperature in the two directions is not the same. The footwell air temp will be warm and the air going to the windshield will be cold (or cool) which is silly for trying to keep the windshield from fogging. Just another bad design item.

 

How can I keep in "auto mode" and not have airflow only from the dash registers? I want to use the auto function and have the airflow split between the defrost and footwell registers. My system always routes airflow to the dash registers/vents only in "auto" mode and reverts to manual whenever I redirect airflow to bi-level or even split between footwell and defog registers/ vents.

I've been waiting for a plan that didn't require soldering :-) But I don't see (or recognize) the "round circles" you mention. How about some clues?

 

Thanks to mweiner2 and all the others who shared their knowledge for this mod.

 

I just finished mine up this morning. A few things different I did on mine:

 

a) I popped the pins out of the map light plug and swapped them

b) I couldn't get my "blob" of solder to stick to the metal tabs of the map light, so I used an "eyelet ring" connector. I secured the rings with the screws next to the "round circles" seen in the pic below.

 

The rings were large enough that it touches the corner of the metal bar and that's where the electricity flows through. I used a washer to make sure the screw head held the ring down nice and snug!

 

It's nice to have the front of the car illuminated now too!

 

LaterZ!

Darren!!

I think those Japanese engineers had way too much sake when they designed that climate control. Actually, it's more like they got carried away with all the things that computer control made it possible to do and they did all of them, regardless of if most of those things made any sense. The whole thing is a bad joke and one that Subaru seems oblivious to or they would have fixed it after one bad year.

From the Sylvania bulb guide (or Deer Killer's bulb guide sticky) we find that the dome and map light bulbs are DE3175 and the step/courtesy are DE3021. Autolumination's cross reference chart indicates their 3022 festoon dome bulbs for both of those applications. You'll find what you're looking for on their festoon bulb page. Use the 31mm bulbs.

Thanks! That's quite a process. One more question...

 

- Why did you select the 31mm "6 LED Super High Flux" festoon bulbs for the map lights and the 31mm "12 LED Two-Face" festoon bulbs for the dome and map lights?

How does one find those bulbs on their site? How did you find them in the first place and know they were good replacements? Their "Automotive Lighting Lamp Replacement Guide" takes you to a Sylvania site and its search results didn't list the bulbs you used.

 

I got them from Autolumination.com and used the Super White color, which goes nicely with the electroluminescent gauges.

 

For the map lights I'm using 31mm "6 LED Super High Flux" festoon bulbs.

 

For the the dome and the front door puddle lights I put in the 31mm "12 LED Two-Face" festoon bulbs. The dome enclosure has an opening in the top to allow heat to dissipate so I turned that bulb into a vertical position so that the output of half of the LEDs wasn't wasted illuminating up into the hole and the inside of the headliner. In the door lights the indirect light off the backside fills out the lens nicely.

 

In the trunk I used the 194 "5 LED Matrix" wedge bulb but they've since come out with a 194 "SMT Super High Flux Tower" that would put out more light.

 

I've ordered a few times from them and they have reasonable, quick shipping.

 

Here are some not so great shots, but you get the idea...

I got them from Autolumination.com and used the Super White color, which goes nicely with the electroluminescent gauges.

How would you compare the brightness of the new bulbs with the original ones? Do you know that they draw less amps than the original ones?

Do "we" know which model years have this very strange-working ACC unit. Mine's a 2005 LGT Limited and that's the only year I remember seeing in this thread (but I haven't really checked).

lgt_nube,

 

It think you are confusing my comments on the installation and operation of Sam's fan assembly with my comments on the operation of the LGT's HVAC fan. Sam's fan assembly (which functions merely to draw cabin air across the sensor) works flawlessly once installed but I found it's operation somewhat noisey for my taste. The solution would seem to be a quiter, lower flow fan or a potentiometer with which to adjust the fan speed. As an alternative to installing Sam's fan try simply cranking the LGT's system fan up on high to get the sensor quickly up to cabin temperature.

Thanks. I missed the point that Sam's parts included a fan assembly.

Originally Posted by Mike M http://legacygt.com/forums/skynetim/buttons/viewpost.gif

I wanted to take the time to post an update on my experiments fixing the climate control system.

 

 

Thanks for your effort to improve our bad-acting ACC units. I'm not sure I follow you so I have a couple of questions.

 

1. Did installing the additional parts increase the airflow enough to work correctly? I ask because you also say you had to turn the fan on high to get it to work correctly.

 

2. What caused the increase in fan noise? Is there no fix for that other than replacing the fan with a quieter one?

That's what I do, but after a while A/C still kicks in, sometimes on its own, sometimes I turn the temp down 1-2C, but still, that shouldn't trigger the A/C.

Delaer said, "It's normal".

All I can say is that after setting the A/C off manually, I've never had it come back on. The exception is if I thereafter select Defrost, either using the Mode button or by pressing the Defrost button (upper half of the right circular knob). Then if I still want the A/C off I press A/C again.

Okay! How do I set the A/C manually then?

Press the A/C button. If that leaves it in a state (on or off) that you don't want, press it again.

Here's my question: I always use manual mode, and set the right temp for me, but every time for some reason A/C kicks in and I don't even need it.

The automatic climate control system is manual only for each function that you set manually. It sounds like you didn't set the A/C manually.

the controller is so dumb that it thinks to turn on the A/C and recirc mode.

That fresh air/recirc control is one thing I want to be in control of, so I habitually set it to fresh air after I start the engine the first time of the day. AC is another thing I manually set off in the (not hot) mornings.