HVAC heat blows warm/hot on drivers side, cool/cold passenger side (warranty issue)

[Daox]

However, this view only shows the two heater hoses going directly to the heater core...

[MightyMirageMpg]

This is where ide look.

Whether it's there or even related to your problem i have no idea

[01-7700]

If it was a valve issue, I wouldn't expect a difference in temperature between vents inside the car. If it's an auto AC or blend door issue it makes more sense - but not as much sense as a clogged heater core in my simple mind.

[Daox]

There is still a lot of things it could be. It could simply be more clogged towards the end and the flushing and CLR didn't do its job. It could be a flapper door issue. It could be a sealing issue where the air is going around vs through the heater core. We don't really know until we look into it more... I probably won't go into too much more depth with this until summer rolls around. I don't feel like ripping the dash apart in winter. In summer I can bypass the heater core and rip away. I certainly would love to find a smoking gun though.

[roosterk0031]

You need to get one of those inspections scopes so you can get a look inside without tearing anything apart, and look inside the heater core. Where is the electric heater, any chance it's set up just to help the driver?

How about the possibility of air trapped in the core?

When your SG2 was saying 195d water temp, did you check the temp at the heater core? Maybe a water pump flow issue.

[Top_Fuel]

Hmmm...so check this out...

I just did the same pyrometer test in my air vents after running the heat on high (89) with an engine temp of 195. My observations were not much different from yours! My passenger side air vent appears to be approximately 15-20 degrees below that of the driver's side air vent?!? And just using the CFM gauge built into my right hand () I would say that the passenger side vent appears to be flowing the least amount of air of all of the dash vents.

I'm not sure what to make of this. You may have just uncovered another Mirage anomaly/feature. I would never notice this because I'm never a passenger in my car. And my wife doesn't like direct air flow...so that vent is always aimed away from the passenger.

I will make this comment... To get the most consistent readings, I needed to shoot the temp of the air vent ductwork behind the louvers on each vent. When my laser got the temp of the actual vent louvers, sometimes I got a temperature drop compared to the actual ductwork.

I will try the same test tomorrow morning when I get to work to make sure I'm not going crazy.

[Cobrajet]

I'd be very interested to see what kind of temperature readings people with manual heater controls get in each vent.

[01-7700]

Hmmm...so check this out...

I just did the same pyrometer test in my air vents after running the heat on high (89) with an engine temp of 195. My observations were not much different from yours! My passenger side air vent appears to be approximately 15-20 degrees below that of the driver's side air vent?!? And just using the CFM gauge built into my right hand () I would say that the passenger side vent appears to be flowing the least amount of air of all of the dash vents.

I'm not sure what to make of this. You may have just uncovered another Mirage anomaly/feature. I would never notice this because I'm never a passenger in my car. And my wife doesn't like direct air flow...so that vent is always aimed away from the passenger.

I will make this comment... To get the most consistent readings, I needed to shoot the temp of the air vent ductwork behind the louvers on each vent. When my laser got the temp of the actual vent louvers, sometimes I got a temperature drop compared to the actual ductwork.

I will try the same test tomorrow morning when I get to work to make sure I'm not going crazy.

laser is affected by the emmissivity of the surface you are reading and can be quite different than the actual temperature

[01-7700]

You need to get one of those inspections scopes so you can get a look inside without tearing anything apart, and look inside the heater core. Where is the electric heater, any chance it's set up just to help the driver?

How about the possibility of air trapped in the core?

When your SG2 was saying 195d water temp, did you check the temp at the heater core? Maybe a water pump flow issue.

there's going to be a heat wave here this weekend - up into the 30's - i'm going to do something on the car, just not sure what that is yet - a good excuse to buy a bore cam though

[Top_Fuel]

I just ran another test this morning after a 25 minute drive into work. Everything was up to full operating temperature and the heater control set at 89 the whole way. I checked the vent temps at a few different intervals and I am seeing this trend...

1. The hottest air is coming from the driver's side vent
2. The air from the center vents is roughly 10 degrees cooler than the driver's vent
3. The air from the passenger vent is roughly 10-15 degrees cooler than the center vents

I'm also getting the same amount of airflow from all vents...so I will retract the statement about weak passenger vent CFM from my previous post. Clearly the biggest variation is when you compare the driver's side vs the passenger side. For what it's worth, my heat works fine and I would never have detected this variation without a pyrometer.