Fresh air vent blowing hot when air is cool outside

[ougrad1]

Does everyone's 4runner blow out warmer air than the outside temperature when set to 'fresh air' instead of circulate?

It's a rare 75 degrees tonight in dallas and it's pretty cool so I have the air vents set to fresh to allow some air to come through the vents while I drive but I notice that the air coming through initially is hot and than eventually just warm and never as cool as the temp outside - is that supose to be that way?.

Every car I've ever owned, once you set the vent's to fresh instead of recirculate, the air coming in immediately reflects the outside.

Is this just user error and I don't know how to work my car...this is very possiblejavascript:smilie(':biggrin2:')
biggrin2 :biggrin2:

 

[jharris2]

Does everyone's 4runner blow out warmer air than the outside temperature when set to 'fresh air' instead of circulate?

It's a rare 75 degrees tonight in dallas and it's pretty cool so I have the air vents set to fresh to allow some air to come through the vents while I drive but I notice that the air coming through initially is hot and than eventually just warm and never as cool as the temp outside - is that supose to be that way?.

Every car I've ever owned, once you set the vent's to fresh instead of recirculate, the air coming in immediately reflects the outside.

Is this just user error and I don't know how to work my car...this is very possiblejavascript:smilie(':biggrin2:')
biggrin2 :biggrin2:

You don't say what year you have, so I'm assuming you have a 4th gen. What do you have the temperature set to?

 

[ougrad1]

Sorry, I have a 2004 4runner. I have the temp set to Low but I use the manual low,med,high control instead of the climate control in the summer since it just stays at 'Low' anyways in the texas heat.

 

[jharris2]

The initial blast of hot air makes sense since you have air that's been warmed by the engine sitting in the ducts. But that should clear out pretty quickly to allow the temperature to drop. I do find that mine tends to get close to the outside air temperature, but never exactly the same. Just wouldn't use the term "eventually" to describe how long it takes to get there...it usually takes just a couple of minutes.

 

[ougrad1]

I can see that. I am just concerned because I could drive for 15-20 minutes and it never seems to really be that close to the outside temp...I'm wondering how much that has to do with the outside temp being mildly cool 75 as oppose to cold 40s-50s.

I don't remember the winters if I set it to fresh vent and no heater if the air is cold or just cool since it seems like the engine heat is allowed to come in.

I might have to ask the dealer when I take it in for the 30k checkup if it's normal. I've also noticed during the summers that my AC is not as cold this past summer, but that could be because I need to get the ac gas refilled since I've had it for 2years now.

 

[Sac State]

My '03 has done that from day one. Very frustrating. I can have the temp set at 'LO' with the vent open and I have HOT air blow through the vents even though it is cool outside.

I don't know why it does this. I also sometimes smell coolant after shutting off the vehicle. I thought that perhaps the heater core had gone bad, but the dealer did a compression check and it passed. Plus, I don't see any contamination in the engine oil.

 

[jharris2]

Just for kicks, try setting the temperature to something other than "lo." Maybe that is causing the problem....

 

[ajjaaron]

My 03' also has done this since day 1. I have tried to set the temp to multiple temps and it still does not blow as cool air in the car and outside. This has been very frustrating. Hope there is a solution out there. My 98' Tacoma would blow fresh air in as soon as you put it on fresh air.

 

[V8Limited4wd]

this happened to me for the first time tonight... it was 20deg outside and i started driving and only hot air was coming through the vents even though the temp was set at 70deg. it would only blow out cold air if it was set on "lo" temp. eventually the temp went down and it was comfortable at 71deg. i'm wondering if the sensor is going bad or something. the air also felt warmer on the passenger side than the driver side.

 

[MikesToy]

I have no probs with my '03. I set mine to 65, turn on the vents to high so it'll blow off the remaining air in there. Then i turn it off. The next minute i get fresh air (naturally) without turning on anything.