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Bowman9
12-21-2003, 04:21 PM
I hope someone can answer my question before I sufficate.

We are now having cold weather in Pennsylvania and it's time to use the heater.
The outside temp has been between the high 20's and the mid 40's and I have been running the heater at about 74 degrees.
Well the heater works fine and warms up the car nicley, but when I'm sitting in traffic traffic the heater pulls in the exhaust fumes from the cars and trucks in front of me and needless to say this is not a good thing.
Is there a way to change weither the heater is using inside cabin air vs the ouside stinky air?
I remember other cars having a button or switch for this feature but I see no such button on the Marauder.

Smokie
12-21-2003, 04:33 PM
Try this: Set heater to maximum temp. 90* and set the fan to a low speed so you don't feel too hot, it will not draw in outside air. If there is a better a better solution I am listening.:)

TripleTransAm
12-21-2003, 04:50 PM
Tough question... I too have noticed over my ownership of this car that it tends to pull outside odours into the car too easily.

Funny that I do not get this in my other cars... second worst is my Civic, but it has to be behind a really smelly vehicle for me to notice it. In the Marauder, I can tell if someone within 2 car lengths of me in ANY direction is smoking inside their vehicle with their window open.

My Civic, however, has a button controlling whether it does 'recirculation' (pulling inside air) or not (outside air). Old-style ventilation controls like those in the Marauder (and my Trans Ams) will pull in outside air except for when the A/C is set to MAX. In this position, the system is supposed to recirculate air, for maximum cooling.

In many cars, conditioned (dehumidified) air can be warmed by controlling the temperature selector, which proves the heater core is located downstream of the A/C hardware. So try selecting the MAX A/C setting and see if the car stops drawing in outside fumes.

I know this works in the summer, in my MM, but I haven't tried it while heating. I think it should work for you...

merc406
12-21-2003, 05:12 PM
The seal on the hood or cowl is properly positioned?

Bowman9
12-21-2003, 05:24 PM
What seal should I be looking for?
If you have an image with an arrow pointing to it that would be great.

merc406
12-21-2003, 05:29 PM
Should be a rubber seal either underside of the back of the hood or on top of the cowl.
Picture I can't help with.

merc406
12-21-2003, 06:17 PM
Smokie says theirs a seal, check to see if it is sealing by putting a thin coat of vasoline on the rubber, close the hood, raise and see where it may not be touching, sealing. Or you can use a sheet of paper.

Bowman9
12-21-2003, 06:30 PM
Thanks Merc406 & Smokie, I'll give it a try tomorrow.

TripleTransAm
12-21-2003, 06:34 PM
The seal will prevent crap from getting into your engine bay, but it won't prevent outside fumes (like from other cars' exhausts) from getting into the air intakes on the cowl.

merc406
12-21-2003, 06:40 PM
I figured with the amount of fumes getting in, that the engine fan was sucking some in and getting by if the seal wasn't sealing, that is.

TripleTransAm
12-21-2003, 06:45 PM
Interesting theory... our cars have electric cooling fans, so I can't say for sure if they were on while I was getting these outside smells in the car, but I'll check this out next time I have a chance.

Nonetheless, the base of the windshield is supposed to be a slightly higher pressure area than under the hood, so it would have to be a heck of a pressure under the hood to overcome that seal. But it's definitely something worthwhile to check.

Murader03
12-22-2003, 06:04 AM
If you place the control on Max A/C, I know....and then turn set the temp to where you want it, it will recirculate the air within the cabin only. It will not draw air from the outside in this postion, but you can still get heat. Of course, it will cycle between the two (A/C and heat) if it gets to warm inside.......Otherwise, you'll be sucking air from outside! Any postion but max a/c draws air from the outside.....

GordonB
12-22-2003, 10:11 AM
Unfortunately, the General (GM) stills makes the best (IMHO) HVAC units for cars. My Vette (2000) has separate toggle buttons that can force the HVAC to Circulate from Outside or Recirculate from Inside REGARDLESS of operating mode (Heat, A/C, DEF, etc.).

GordonB

TripleTransAm
12-22-2003, 11:49 AM
Gordon, my 1998 WS6 still has the old style system, with MAX A/C being the only drawer of outside air. However, it does have the revolutionary half-defogger/ half-heater (leg position) setting! LOL! Guess the unwashed masses who bought F-bodies didn't deserve the updated climate controls (reminds me... gotta go take a shower...)

(and WHY in the world do they call the upper outlets the "VENT" position and the lower outlets the "HEATER" position? Get with the 80s... you can get both cool air AND heated air in BOTH positions, sheesh....)

But, yeah, I've been fortunate with my GM climate controls. In fact, I can operate my WS6 with the T-tops off down to a threshold temperature of +5C until it's too cold to drive, whereas my GTA gets uncomfortable below +10C.

If it wasn't for the outside fume issue, I'd give top marks to the MM's climate control... it's pretty close to 'set-and-forget' although I need to get more practice with the ideal defogging settings.

(related issue: my Civic's climate controls suck. Yes, they have a separate recirculate/ fresh air button, and the A/C operation is also an independant button, but it's SO HARD to get a bang-on comfortable temperature, I'm ALWAYS fiddling with the crappy temperature slider)

Jack McKenzie
12-22-2003, 12:44 PM
I asked my dealer about, they told at first it was probably a seal. since then they ignore the question because they don't have a fix........

TripleTransAm
12-22-2003, 12:53 PM
This thread reminded me of a funny (!) story...

In 1993-1994 I stored the GTA for the winter and was tooling around in a 1985 Parisienne before the gas bills and maintenance woes got to me (and I put together my infamous '84 Civic). 1993-1994 was a viciously cold winter, with -40 F/C evenings and daytime highs of -25C.

I had a hot (!) date set up, and went to pick her up after work. Just that day, that infernal Pontiac decided it would NOT put out any heat whatsoever. Nothing. Ice forming on the INSIDES of the windows, that's how cold it was.

Well, I tried to make the best of it, but the poor girl was getting to the point of her toes freezing, so we decided to abort the evening. I dropped her off at her place, no doubt the cold outside air a welcome release from the icy interior she spent a ride through afternoon traffic in.

Deeply "annoyed" at the situation, I stopped a local convenience store on my way back home to pick up a quick sandwich. Once outside, I fired up the old boat and was greeted once again by icy cold air. I lost it...

I popped the hood, looked for something (anything) visibly wrong in the vicinity of the heater core / blower assembly... nothing. In a fit of rage, I began beating angrily at the blower assembly with the first thing I got my hands on, a brand new Oskar brand extendable snow removal brush. The cold brittle plastic of the brush didn't fare very well in that duel, but boy did it feel good to get that frustration (!) out on the car for ruining my hot date (no pun intended). I'm pretty sure I still have that brush (what's left of it) in my basement, in a bag of stuff I grabbed out of my Civic before I gave it away, years later.

So, having regained my composure, I got back in the Parisienne and... HEAT. Lots of it. Metric tons of it. Ice melting at rapid rates from the glass surfaces, both inside AND outside. B*tch!...

Most likely what happened was either the trap door directing air to the heater core had frozen in the 'cold' position, or the coolant diverter valve had frozen shut, keeping coolant from the heater core. I don't see the first option being possible, I'd have been suicidal to select anything but HOT in the previous 2 months leading up to that episode, so I think my underhood bashing must have loosened the diverter valve enough to allow hot coolant to flow through the feed lines.

merc406
12-22-2003, 09:09 PM
Steve that reminds me of a few heater troubles, from frost blowing out the defrosters to rusted out heater runs on a VW.
Bowman hope you are keeping a rear or any window cracked open a bit.

TripleTransAm
12-23-2003, 06:27 AM
Originally posted by merc406
Steve that reminds me of a few heater troubles, from frost blowing out the defrosters to rusted out heater runs on a VW.


Not to derail this thread, but this reminds me of yet another weird story...

My home-built 1984 Civic was so messed up by the mid 90s, with the cracked windshield and rust and all. After several cycles of using the windshield washer, I'd notice a blue powdery residue on the inside of the car, at the base of the windshield. Seems the washer fluid was seeping through the cracks and crystalizing on the tip of the instrument panel. The first few moments of heavy defroster usage, I'd get a puff of blue powder into the cabin.

Got worse, too. The metal around the air intake on the cowl for the climate control had deteriorated to the point where big rust flakes were falling INTO the climate control intake. The blower had long ago sucked in the loose foam 'filter' (since it no longer had anything to secure to). So it got to the point that I had to first run the climate control at full blower speed in the 'footwell' settings to blow out all the rust flakes for a few seconds, THEN switch to defroster so I didn't end up with a hairful of rust flakes.

Sorry to derail the thread... couldn't resist sharing that. That is by far the worst beater I have ever owned, but mechanically the car was unstoppable!

merc406
12-23-2003, 08:37 AM
That's too funny, I got another one, my buddy had a 79 Merc. Marquis back in 89, we were going down Gratiot and had the heater on full and smoke starts coming out the vents, pulled it over to find a small leaf fire under the hood, the vent screen had a hole that let enough debris in and down to the heater motor to start it. I have an 83 M/M and the neighbors have trees over the drive, I check for crapage every couple of days when the leaves are fallin.

Bowman9
01-07-2004, 04:06 PM
Okay from what I have read in the users manual they only way to get recirculated air is to use the "MAX" A/C or to let the computer choose if inside or outside air is needed when in the "Auto" setting. All the rest of the settings pull the air from the outside.
Not the greatest of designs in my opinon.