Digital Climate Control Issues

[Mountaineer302]

I'm just curious if these electronic of digital climate control setups are known to be problematic. The one in our 2001 Mountaineer isn't working correctly. I'm curious to know what the common issues are with these units. I am leaning towards switching it for a standard setup. The main issue with ours is that it often will not initiate the blower motor to turn it on.

 

[Mountaineer302]

I can never get it to blow warm air until it has been driven a little while. So, there is no way to get warm air will idling warming up in the driveway.

 

[Mountaineer302]

Does someone know exactly how this sytem works and have a breakdown or the way it is supposed to operate?

 

[Craigerz]

It would take mine 10 minutes to warm up just sitting ideling in the driveway. I wouldn’t let it idle that long, maybe a minute, then drive it easy until it’s warm. Unless you need heavy defrosters or something unsafe.

 

[Craigerz]

It still takes 3 or 4 miles of driving to warm up

 

[Craigerz]

Ive gone round and round battling the EATC system. It’s far from perfect. Run the self diagnostic check.

 

[Craigerz]

The main issue most people have is a vacuum leak somewhere. Check your heater hoses and feel if they are warming up with the engine. There is also a control valve that shuts off the flow of water to the heater core on the top heater hose. It’s also vacuum controlled but is only suppose to shut off the flow on max ac. Is the coolant dirty? Maybe a clogged heater core.

 

[Mountaineer302]

How does the self check work on it? I didn't know that there was a way to do that. I've had problems getting it blow air from the AC when its hot outside too. This is far from satisfactory. Shouldn't have to wait for it to defog windows etc.

We had a Nissan with the goofy digital climate control and it worked much better than this does.

I would definitely prefer the traditional analog 3 knob setup.

We did just check the things you mentioned other than for vacuum leaks.

 

[Craigerz]

EATC Trouble shooting

Second post.

Yeah I agree it is sub par but I’ve gone through every single detail of this system and I really don’t care for it.

I think it’s the same system you have