YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 2014 Subaru legacy 28K miles... car is just a tad over 3 years old. issue: The heat on this car is just warm not scalding hot like my 2003 legacy or my 2002 CL type S. I put the heat on max temp and my feet never really get warm... and I notice that the car does not want to go into 6th gear but rather stay in 5th. I can get more heat by forcing the engine to load up by using the paddle shifters.... I thought this was maybe a t-stat issue but according to my data logger, the engine coolant temp is a very respectable 196F... is there another engine temp sensor that I need to check? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow_419 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 My first thought would be some type of heater core issue. It seems to soon for cooling system clogs/build up but anything is possible. With the car being as new as it is, have you tried dealer service yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capttris Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 1. did this just develop (and the heat and transmission used to be normal?) 2. are you still under warranty? (if so, visit the dealer ASAP) 3. Engine temp from the data logger seems normal. Is your temp gauge in the middle/normal range? 4. I'm thinking these may be 2 separate issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08SpecB_DE Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Have you checked the coolant level? It could be low or you might have a blend door getting stuck and not completely switching from cold to hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cww516 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 If you're on auto (rather than pushing the mode button until you get to the foot vent setting), that could be part of it as well. Auto mode foot vent gets you less airflow than manual foot vent, for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVAKeith Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Have you checked the coolant level? It could be low or you might have a blend door getting stuck and not completely switching from cold to hot. When the car is cold check the coolant level in the radiator, not just the overflow tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 2.5i and coolant level is normal... Manual hvac controls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cww516 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I'm with 08SpecB_DE, then, might be a blend door issue. A partially plugged heater core or an unhappy water pump could potentially cause those issues, too- it seems a little soon for either of those to be the culprit, but the fact that loading up the engine gets you more heat means you can't fully rule those things out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picky1 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 The floor heat on my car is poor as well, there was a thread on this last winter. Basically what folks ended up doing was selecting the heat to come from both the floor and the dash vents, then close all of the dash vents which causes all of the airflow to blow your feet...problem solved! For an extra boost you can hit the recycle button, but I find things fog up after a while. Note that if you select feet only the airflow is split between your feet and the windshield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humble Rumble Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I've actually found that if I select only feet, I get most of the hot air up on my face somehow. More so than even selecting face/feet. In winter, comfortable for me is usually feet/defrost split. 2012 Legacy 3.6R Build Thread 5th Gen Legacy BM/BR Body Kit Compendium Thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellesedil Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Is this a non-auto climate control thing? Because I pretty much just leave my climate control at 70 degrees and auto, and I don't have any issues at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 When I mean poor heat output I am talking about the air that comes out of the vents, it does not matter what selection I use, the air temp is the same. when you move the dial all the way over to the right (red) the air coming out should be hot enough to make it vey hard to hold your hand there at the vent. I get air that is roughly 100F out of it.... aka luke warm... This is the first winter I have had the car as I bought it back in May 2016 as a early lease return with 19K miles on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLlegacy Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Have you tried it in recirc mode too? And just to be clear it would have to be in vents or floor or both to get recirc to work properly IIRC. The auto climate does this by itself depending on the difference in temperature inside and out. It may be that the recirc blend door is stuck open to fresh air also depending on how often you use the different modes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 OK here is the update. recirculate does nothing to increase heat output. I know that the doors are working right as the natural airflow through the vents stops when I turned it on. also the data logger revealed that the coolant temp is dropping down to 172F... so my edumacated guess is that the T-stat crapped out on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLlegacy Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Sounds about right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy.B Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 ^^ Agreed. 195F is about where my coolant sits on average. I had the heat set to 78F to get it warmed up since it's single digits tonight and it was fiery hot coming out the vents. Timothy.B's 2011 LEGACY 3.6R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 OK another update. I do not drive my car hard at all... and I have noticed that my average fuel economy is just 25mpg. In the summer I was near 33 on the same route and when we changed over to winter fuel I was just under 31.... Now for the fun part I called my local dealer whom I bought the car from and asked them to take a look at he car and they are booked out until Jan 17.... so today on the way to work I decided to take a different approach and work the car a little bit harder with faster take offs (tach around 4K) and for most of the 33 mile drive to work heat was so...so... until the last 8 miles. I started to see a noticeable increase in heat output... I did take it in back in June for low coolant level and no leak was found and when I last checked the coolant today it was normal.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellesedil Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 If the car heats up when it's driven harder, and then cools back off when you ease up, I can't imagine it being anything other than the thermostat. I think it's time to take a look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 yeah it is in the negatives temp wise here.... and my garage is stand alone away from the house with no heat so it will have to wait until I can get it in to the dealer as the car is under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 car is at Subaru getting fixed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 OK I got the car back the same day and they said air bubble? given that the car was low on coolant earlier in the year, I am still going to follow up on the 17th and have then take a closer look at it. No way that this should be going on.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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