Brr.... Ls Not Liking Low Temps!

[MadMax96]

After a week in 85+ degree weather on a cruise I sure wasn't ready to return to Chicago. That week sure went by quick! My new-to-me LS had been in the garage while I'm gone but sat outside last night.

It was about 1deg F this morning. After cranking a little slower and longer than normal it fired right up. I hit the front and rear defrost and then went inside for about 10 minutes.

When I went to leave I noticed I still had frost on the windshield...hmm.

Get inside and the fan isn't blowing at all. All the bars are lit indicating full speed but I got nothing. Turned the fan speed back down, and back up, turned it off, cycled through the modes and the fan still didn't want to do anything. I could hear things going on when cycling the mode so I know the problem is isolated to the fan at this point.

I turned off the climate control, turned off the car, and then restarted. The fan is now working and was fine my whole way to work (about 40 mins in stop/go traffic).

So:

Is this a common issue with the climate control?

Is this a total fluke that I shouldn't worry about?

Is this an indication that the battery is on it's way out? (It is a few year old Duralast I think...has some crust on it but the prev. owner said it was a 7 yr battery or something)

More details on the car - I'm the third owner, ALL service has been done and it currently has 115,400 miles.

Thanks guys......

[nc211]

Max, when you hit the defrost for the front, it kicked on the A/C unit as well. My car does this too when it's that cold and the a/c won't engage until the engine has warmed up to a certain temp. I think this is done as a precautionary purpose to not put the load on the engine until it's warmed up. I've found that hitting the front defrost and then immediately turning off the a/c will work. It'll warm up the inside quite nicely! Or, just have the normal foot / head setting on set to max heat and that'll warm up the insides too. The heat itself will dry out the inside, then when you are ready to venture back out in the cold to get into the car "poor guy", just hit the defrost then and it'll clear the windshield in like 30 seconds. Oh how I don't miss those Great Lake winters! I used to live in Lafayette, Indiana as a child for about 8 years....and BURRRR is an understatement!

[MadMax96]

Thanks for the info.. I'll give that a shot tomorrow. I reeeeally want to get a remote starter but funds are super limited. I didn't have it on my prev. car (because it was a lease) but had it on the vehicle before and it was great. It should be standard issue around here right? :D

[nc211]

Damn right! There is no way I could survive in Chicago, I'd freakin' freeze to death!

[RFeldes]

Just a note guys, on my 90 LS the air would not blow until the engine warmed regardless of the defrost. It actually makes sense, because you don't want cold air blowing on you bringing the wind chill down to -10 in the cabin. Yeah, I lived in Chicago and the wind off that Lake is Murder!!!!

[MadMax96]

Just a note guys, on my 90 LS the air would not blow until the engine warmed regardless of the defrost. It actually makes sense, because you don't want cold air blowing on you bringing the wind chill down to -10 in the cabin. Yeah, I lived in Chicago and the wind  off that Lake is Murder!!!!

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I think that's kind of odd that it wouldn't blow anything... I've never owned a car that did that. My past two cars also have had automatic climate control.

I don't care if it blows cold - that's why I let it warm up. By the time I leave it's blowing warm air.

The wind chill around here might suck, but it's got to be better than those tropical storms! :P

[nc211]

Ralph, I think the new guy' is callin' us out!! <_< ;)

The wind chill around here might suck, but it's got to be better than those tropical storms!  :P

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[MadMax96]

:D All I'm sayin is that I'd take a little cold and snow anyday... it makes me appreciate the summers more (that's what I keep telling myself anyway).

As a motorcycle owner - the winters seem even loooonger. :cries:

[RFeldes]

Just goes to show you... "All places" have their pleasant sides and some not so pleasant sides. B)

[nc211]

Hahahaha!! We might get a little wind-burn here and there "granted it's at 140 mph!", but we don't get frost bite!

Yeah I can see where being a motorcycle fan could make winter draaaaagggg on and on!

I've never not had at least the air blow in the car when cold. Now I've had the a/c hold things up when selected, but never happened when a/c not selected. However Max, I have had a few funny glitches here and there where the defrost wouldn't engage and so forth right off the bat, but came on later. I wouldn't worry about it. I've got a feeling messing with the hvac on these cars would be too costly to chase down a funny glitch that maybe happens 3 or 4 times a year at random times.

[jc19907]

After a week in 85+ degree weather on a cruise I sure wasn't ready to return to Chicago.  That week sure went by quick!  My new-to-me LS had been in the garage while I'm gone but sat outside last night. 

It was about 1deg F this morning.  After cranking a little slower and longer than normal it fired right up.  I hit the front and rear defrost and then went inside for about 10 minutes.

When I went to leave I noticed I still had frost on the windshield...hmm.

Get inside and the fan isn't blowing at all.  All the bars are lit indicating full speed but I got nothing.  Turned the fan speed back down, and back up, turned it off, cycled through the modes and the fan still didn't want to do anything.  I could hear things going on when cycling the mode so I know the problem is isolated to the fan at this point.

I turned off the climate control, turned off the car, and then restarted.  The fan is now working and was fine my whole way to work (about 40 mins in stop/go traffic).

So:

Is this a common issue with the climate control?

Is this a total fluke that I shouldn't worry about?

Is this an indication that the battery is on it's way out?  (It is a few year old Duralast I think...has some crust on it but the prev. owner said it was a 7 yr battery or something)

More details on the car - I'm the third owner, ALL service has been done and it currently has 115,400 miles.

Thanks guys......

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I posted on this last week.. . ? I didn't get a response (probably b/c I have the navigation system). After reading up, I think that mine too, won't even give me a readout until the car is warmed up and re-started. I'm able to manually turn on the heat by going straight to the climate menu and turing the control on high --

problem is, I cannot adjust the temperature upward . . ? I think I'm just gonna try the front defrost button - I that puts the car into high heat mode when the car actually warms up.

[nc211]

Jc, that brings up an excellent point for Max!! Max, are you in "Auto" mode when doing this in the morning? I didn't even think about that. If you're in Auto, then no, I don't think it will start blowing air at all until it knows it's going to be warm air. If you are in Manual mode, then it should work no matter what, like normal. I didn't even think about Auto, as I never use it.

[CELICA XX]

I prefer to let the car warm-up by itself on those bitter cold mornings - before turning on headlights, fan, radio, CD player, defroster, etc...