Hello fellow Listers,

I have always assumed that the rear climate controls were working fine until it started getting cold this winter and my wife mentioned while sitting in the back with our 2 kids that the overhead and side vents were blowing "COLD" air. It stayed cold no matter what I did with the temp controls up front. It gets plenty of heat up front in the Vent, Mixed, Floor setting. But the only time we get heat in the rear is when it is set to the Floor or Mixed setting.

Here is what I have done:

1. Checked the rear heater hoses and they are hot on both sides of the rear heater control valve.

2. Took apart the side panel covering the rear ducts and rear climate control assy and found nothing binding in the blend door. Actually I toggle the controls up front between the Vent setting and the Mixed setting and can see the door moving from top to bottom and visa versa and can verify the air flow change from the overhead/side vents to the floor vents.

3. There are 2 aluminum heater core/condensers in the rear, one was hot and the other was cold to the touch. The one that was hot was lying on it's side and the other that was cold was upright.

Does rear heat only work on the Mixed/Floor setting? Or is something not working the way it should? Ideally I would like the heat to come out of the overhead and side vents for the rear.

Please reply if you have any experience in this matter...


Thanks Much!

 

On my '91 I get heat from the side vents on any of my heater settings, defrost, mixed, floor. On vent the top vents blow cool air but not cold air.

 

Yes... supposed to only work in floor/mix setting. See your owner's manual. I once took my van in to have that fixed that they pointed to the page in the manual where it sez that it works best on floor setting.