Heater not on

[Diddy]

Didn't know this until tonight when i was installing my deck on the driveway. On all the other cars my family has/had, the cars' heaters all turn on with the key in the ignition turned to II position. But on the p5, it doesn't, unless u start the car, which i find wastes gas.

[Evil Homer P5]

this is normal.

my car does this too.

the other cars in my driveway do this as well.

[si_1]

The heater core draws its hot coolant from the cylinder head and returns it to the pump. if the engine isn't on and there is no hot coolant.. ur gonna get nothing but cold air.. plus its -30 out bro. LOL =P

[kiwee]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (si_1 @ Jan. 13 2004,10:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The heater core draws its hot coolant from the cylinder head and returns it to the pump. if the engine isn't on and there is no hot coolant.. ur gonna get nothing but cold air.. plus its -30 out bro. LOL =P[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
right! but while the car is still warm, it will blow warm air.

[Mike_Moss]

For a limited amount of time...and if you're drawing cold air from outside, that won't be long. I'm not sure if this helps much, but when I want to use the heat when the car is off, I flip it over to recirculate the air in the car in hopes to help this out. Not sure if it helps much, but it's an idea.

[kiwee]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (mike_moss @ Jan. 14 2004,1:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">For a limited amount of time...and if you're drawing cold air from outside, that won't be long.  I'm not sure if this helps much, but when I want to use the heat when the car is off, I flip it over to recirculate the air in the car in hopes to help this out.  Not sure if it helps much, but it's an idea.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
it does. you are relying on the car to circulate already heated air. the fan blows and circulates the air with the vents closed.
when the vents are open, the car has no resources to heat the air, so it takes in the cold air and tries to warm it up but can't and just ends up blowing cold air.

[superdave]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kiwee @ Jan. 14 2004,08:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (si_1 @ Jan. 13 2004,10:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The heater core draws its hot coolant from the cylinder head and returns it to the pump. if the engine isn't on and there is no hot coolant.. ur gonna get nothing but cold air.. plus its -30 out bro. LOL =P[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
right! but while the car is still warm, it will blow warm air.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
If the warm coolant isn't flowing through the heater core it (the heater core) will cool down quickly... especially if not on recirc. So even if the engine is warm, and the heater is 'on', engine 'off', you will have heat for a limited amount of time (until the heater core cools down). To bad these cars don't have electric water pumps!