Dual climate on a not dual... forester?

[crazyman03]

This is puzzling me. My wife's 2009 Forester had warm air blowing out when the AC is "on". No big deal, i grab a can of recharge and go to it. When recharged though the air on the passenger side of the car is noticeably colder - the clutch is on and it would seem it is working. The odd part is that from the left vent (under the radio) to the driver side it is the complete opposite. 

Now, I would have figured that the mixer/diverter door might be stuck but to half of the vents? Are there 2 condensers on this thing? What strikes me as really odd is that the vents under the radio usually are supplied by 1 duct that splits to the two?

 

-Justin

[1 Lucky Texan]

 

I don't suppose any ducting is dislodged?

make sure the cabin air filter hasn't degraded and put some debris on the coil I guess?

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by 1 Lucky Texan

[sparkyboy]

Do these later subarus have the individual blend doors for each vent a la bmw?

On the bmws the blend looks like the knob that simply opens or closes the vent but will cause nonsense like that. You can blast the ac as cold as it gets but if on the hot blend will be warm...

Just food for thought  subaru is probably not like that, earlier ones are definitely not like that.

good luck finding the issue!

[crazyman03]

I'm still at a loss for this one. 

I pulled the center of the dash apart and verified that there is tension for both the blend knob and the mix knob. Both go to their appropriate doors - blend on passenger side, and mix on the driver. They move the door unobstructed, freely and all the way to the end of its actuation. 

I also verified that the center ducting is not shared. they divert off to their corresponding sides (L/R). 

Since the car is not dual zone, it would seem silly to have 2 heat/blend doors for each side when it doesnt call for it? 

 

-Justin

 

[Numbchux]

We had a situation like this when I worked at the dealership (several years ago, so bear with me).

The heater box and vents are all the same between the dual zone and base models, the only change is with the blend door (s) and mechanism. I don't remember exactly what is different, or how it works, but the temp control cable runs down the passenger side, and has to actuate both sides, and something between there fails.