skassamali

Temperature is finally decent at night here in TX, so I thought I would pull in outside air instead of using the A/C. All I got was warm air even though outside it was 73 degrees. I even cranked down the temp to COLD and it was still blowing warm air.

Anyone else experience this? I hope I don't always have to use the A/C when driving on the interstate even when it's 70 degrees outside!

jayclapp

Why in the world would you not want to use the A/C? Constant temperature at whatever you set it at. I have never turned my A/C off. Use it, that's what's it for, especially in a car like this.

CarGuy89

Wait, so you want the cold outside air, but you still want the A/C on? You could just turn the A/C off and then hit the auto button once you feel like rolling up your windows.

skassamali

No, I wanted the outside air since it was nice outside, but didn't want to roll down my windows when driving on the freeway. If it's like 70 degrees outside, I don't see any point in running the AC at 68 degrees or 73 degrees and running the compressor. I'd rather bring in the fresh air from outside.

CarGuy89

Oh I see! You want to set the thing on vent (or w/e the LS equivalent is). I always leave mine in auto and it keeps me comfortable (one of the best climate controls I've come across). Auto will shut off A/C when necessary. I'm not sure about directly drawing outside air in since the car has a filtration system. I will mess around with it next time I go for a drive and let you know if I find anything

skassamali

I didn't realize the car would turn off the AC when necessary! Ill test it when "winter" comes in the Lonestar state .

thinkin

Let me understand better - you had temp at COLD, main climate control Auto light OFF, and the recirculation mode set to vent position (leftmost light IIRC, and the auto recirculation light also OFF) and it was still blowing warm?

Were you in motion? Heat from the road and engine can bring the vent air temps up quickly if not.

skassamali

Right. I manually turned off the A/C so I could get outside air and the recirculation mode set to vent. I was in fact in motion. I had this same issue in our old 05 FX35, but not in my old 05 G35 or the 06 FX.

Lust4Lexus

My 05 LS does the same thing. I feel the same exact way you do. I honestly am unsure if the A/C compressor is shut down if not necessary. I would guess to say that it does NOT, as I have never noticed it shutting down automatically myself. I always seem to have to hit the auto button to keep from hot air from the engine blowing in.

jayclapp

It's unlikely that you'll get 70F outside air into the passenger compartment thru the outside air system. There will probably be some heat input to the ducting from the engine and the blower. If the ducting has heatsoaked to a higher temperature as the car was parked prior to driving, then the relatively low air passing thru the system in a vent situation would take considerable time to cool that ducting. When the outside air temp drops to 55F or lower, then then vent should provide a cooler temp.

This is why I never bother to turn my A/C off. I just set it on auto, forget it, and enjoy the ride.

Lust4Lexus

This makes perfect sense. Thanks for clearing that up.