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How The Dual-Zone Climate Control Works


c_hunter

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In essence this is still the WORST Heat - A/C system I have had in any of the over 30 new cars I have purchased.

 

AMEN. Myself and a Subaru of America field Rep from the Denver, CO zone office were sitting in our new MY05 OB XT (10/94 Production) which at the time was about 5 weeks old. He was speech less! ........ SOA knew full well of the HVACs pallet of short comings. Short comings my arse, DEFECTS.

 

What has it been five years of production? And no fixes, not even so much as a simple patch to afford the operation of an "outside ambient air temp (NO HEAT) vent with fan speed-" Otherwise an industry standard.

 

There is a first and last to everything. Our Subaru ownership included.

Edited by M. Schneider

Cheers, Mike

 

 

|`94 E-Class Coupe |`98 Carrera 993 C2S |`14 Cayman S |`20 Outback Touring XT | All Debadged |

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The "Dual Climate Control" was a feature Subaru thought necessary to compete in the sales showroom wars. Sadly, the decision was made to include the crippled, defective HVAC system in the production versions of our Legacy/Outback Subaru’s. That marketing/sales department has some clout! Subaru Outback XT Ltd., our first and last..

There,,, I had the last word – the customer always does. Rule number 1 in any business.

Cheers, Mike

 

 

|`94 E-Class Coupe |`98 Carrera 993 C2S |`14 Cayman S |`20 Outback Touring XT | All Debadged |

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My biggest gripe is not being able to just have a "little" heat when it's real cold out. It's -10 degrees out, I have my coat on driving to work, and in 3 minutes it's a burning inferno when set at "66 deg" and an icy blast when set at "65"...no inbetween. So it's back and forth, back and forth, the whole way to work. When the sensor finally warms up after 15 or 20 minutes, it gets a little better, but then I'm at work. All they would have had to do is make the range 55 and up, and even the "too cold" sensor would probably have been able to function.

 

I've wanted to do the fix that guy did to Foresters (some little fan to blow air on the sensor), but haven't had time and it's really quite ridiculous.

 

I do love my Legacy...great car overall, a blast to drive.

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  • 3 weeks later...

something odd just started with my climate control today. when driving to work I put on the A/C and the air on recirculate. when I got to work, I pressed the A/C button to turn the A/C off and then pushed the recirc/fresh air button to put it back on fresh air (i like to do this before i shut the car off, sometimes it can get a little musty if i leave the a/c on and venting closed to recirc.) and then pressed "Off" to shut the system off.

 

now i get in my car again and push the fan speed button which SHOULD bring up the last configuration the car was in (a/c off and on fresh air) but my A/C is on and the car is in recirc air mode. so i turn off the a/c again and recirc mode and go on my way. i stop the car, press "off" to turn off the system...next time i get in my car and start it up and push the fan speed button to turn it on and the A/C and recirc are on again!

 

i cant get it to leave the a/c off and the vents on fresh air anymore. i feel like i've tried every possible button combination and no matter what i do, when i press the fan speed button the system starts with recirc air and a/c on.

 

for the longest time pressing the fan speed button would just start the fans at the last configuration used...anyone have any ideas?

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Is there any way to link the two (driver and passenger) side so you only have to adjust one of them? It's kind of pain to crank on both sides when you want the entire care one temperature.
BANNED FROM THE TIKI FORUM. :lol:
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  • 8 months later...

I don't know why Subaru didn't have a "SYNC" button for the climate control, however my wife doesn't complain driving it by herself with her side of the car cranked! I'm glad it has this, since we used to fight over the climate controls since she insists on having the heat on full and blowing in her face when it's cold, and I can't stand it.

 

It's not too bad of a system otherwise though, I'm glad you can actually set where the air comes from. My SVX has auto climate, and it has "OFF" "AUTO" (runs A/C) "ECON" (doesn't run A/C) "DEF" (defrost) and "VENT" (just blows the fan, no heat or AC) as well as a "CIRC" button to turn on recurculation. The climate control adjusts the air between the floor and the vents based on the temperature setting, but you can't get heat out the vents. Closest you can get is to turn the fan to HI and put it in Defrost mode.

JDM SVXes had a "mode" button to change the vent mode, however it only came in the JDM (RHD) models, and therefore won't fit in the left hand drive models. It will connect up and work, it'll just be facing the wrong way.

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Oh nonsense! The "auto climate HVAC" in these Subaru Lagacy/Outback cars is a total functionality POS and that's not counting the units out right failure a number of times. ~ This customer will never buy another Subaru, ever.

 

Of the many, here's one simple functionality breach; Try a "Vent, fan assisted mode" without heating the incoming air? I dare ya.... A Vent mode is an entirely usual and customary function of an automobile HVAC as we know it.

 

Oh,,, don't get me started on the Subaru/Panasonic,, Mickey Mouse HVAC dual zone piece of crap. Oh the pain... And the doctor said these nightmares would end........ I wanna go back to the Axe Murder persona......... Oh the pain!

Edited by M. Schneider

Cheers, Mike

 

 

|`94 E-Class Coupe |`98 Carrera 993 C2S |`14 Cayman S |`20 Outback Touring XT | All Debadged |

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I still have the Subie, my wife drives it. I have since purchased 4 other new cars, each with a much better climate control system. Its a great snow car but otherwise it has BY FAR the WORST climate control of any new car available (other than another Subaru). I also find the engine to be extremely thirsty and lacking in performance. For these reasons we do not look at anything more from subaru.
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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.
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I have to agree with most everyone's assessment of the Legacy GT's dual zone HVAC system.....it sucks!

I've never had a car with such a PITA HVAC control system.

Now I've got a new wrinkle in the system's operation.

I can only get heat on the driver's side, regardless of the passenger's temperature setting.

The passenger's side vents only blow cold air.

Guess where my wife sits?...and guess who is always colder than me?

I'm guessing I've got a bad blender door?

Is that a D-I-Y project, or does the dealer get me on this one?

(I'm a decent wrench, having just done the timing belt, pulleys and water pump at 110,000 miles.)

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  • 3 weeks later...
I have to agree with most everyone's assessment of the Legacy GT's dual zone HVAC system.....it sucks!

I've never had a car with such a PITA HVAC control system.

Now I've got a new wrinkle in the system's operation.

I can only get heat on the driver's side, regardless of the passenger's temperature setting.

The passenger's side vents only blow cold air.

Guess where my wife sits?...and guess who is always colder than me?

I'm guessing I've got a bad blender door?

Is that a D-I-Y project, or does the dealer get me on this one?

(I'm a decent wrench, having just done the timing belt, pulleys and water pump at 110,000 miles.)

 

Try adjusting the temp while looking under the dash with a flashlight, you should be able to see the actuators working. If it's not an actuator problem, and it is in fact something stuck in the blend doors, you will need to pull the dash to get to it. It's a pain in the butt cuz the dash is pretty big, but it doesn't really take that long. First dash I pulled took about an hour and a half to get out.

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  • 1 month later...

i had the a/c running full blast recently, and bam everything hvac related just stopped working, including the display monitor.... checked every fuse, none blown.. pulled the a/c relay and ordered a new one.. hoping that works

 

has anyone else had this problem, and have any* advice?

I make T-Shirts! and I Detail Cars(I'll go to you!) Send me a PM!!
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checked every fuse, none blown.. pulled the a/c relay and ordered a new one.. hoping that works.

Has anyone else had this problem, and have any* advice?

 

Historically the symptoms you have described call for the remedy of replacing the HVAC/Radio assembly; it’s an all-in-one chassis arrangement, the HVAC/Radio/CD changer thingy. Our MY05 OB XT LTD has had the HVAC failure you describe 3x, and in each failure Subaru has replaced the HVAC/Radio assembly. On the third HVAC failure this original owner was outside of the new car warranty by 18 months and say,, 15k miles. Subaru of America is well aware of this POS HVAC/Radio unit. I’m sure Subaru is charging back the replacement cost’s (in warranty periods and out) to Panasonic which is the OEM supplier. Such a “charge back” is a common business practice within the production car business. Or so say’s my nephew who works in the OEM procurement/finance department at BMW of North America. His focus there is with the BMW/OEM contracts.

 

Try reaching out to Subaru corporate for sum good will. The dual zone HVAC failure is well known.

Cheers, Mike

 

 

|`94 E-Class Coupe |`98 Carrera 993 C2S |`14 Cayman S |`20 Outback Touring XT | All Debadged |

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...
Anyone have a problem where one side blows a bit cooler than the other? With both zones set to the same temp, the passenger side blows cooler than the driver's.

 

Thanks.

I have this issue. It's annoying to say the least when you're in snowy mountains and you just want hot air asap...:mad::spin::soap_box::mad:

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