Interesting A/C Trick, I think

[Hugh R]

I don't know if this is new, but several months ago when I bought my Targa, the heater didn't work. I have the automatic heater system with the rheostat (sp?) between the two front seats. Before I launched into the heater I checked on this BBS and found a thread that said the lever and ball socket underneath cover of the heater control had a tendency to pop off. Sure enought, that was exactly the problem and the heater works great.(this BBS is unbelievably helpful!!) Any way, I'm poking around tonight trying to figure out if all my fans for the A/C work and I figured out that the two fans in on the outside of the footwells were working (the two fans that are at the left of the drivers foot and the right of the passengers foot) and I figured out that they are connected to the automatic heater system. As I'm thinking about it, I remembered that the heater didn't work at all with that lever and ball socket disconnected, but the two fans blow through the same fresh air and A/C vents. So I disconnected the lever and ran the A/C and I get a lot more blow from those two heater fans when I operated the A/C and the heater rheostat as a set of auxiliary blowers. Since I live in Los Angeles, I figure that I can disconnect that lever/ball socket in the summer and reconnect it in the winter and get about 50% more blow out of my ventilation system without using the upper outside air vents and fans. To access the lever/ball socket is only four hex head machine screws which were out in about one minute. With the lever and ball socket disconnected, I don't think I pull in any outside air from the heater. I'll try driving it tomorrow and see if I'm correct in my thinking. I have no idea how a manual lever heater system works, (does it use the footwell fans?) but it seems to work on the systems with the automatic system.

[Hugh R]

Following up with a double dip, when the A/C runs, I get about 50 degrees F. at the dash vents and I can hear the A/C clutch cycling on and off repeatedly. Can I adjust the thermostat to cycle at a lower temperature?

[jmohn]

Originally posted by Hugh R
Following up with a double dip, when the A/C runs, I get about 50 degrees F. at the dash vents and I can hear the A/C clutch cycling on and off repeatedly. Can I adjust the thermostat to cycle at a lower temperature?

The AC clutch should cycle on and off, however, if the time between cycles is of very short duration (i.e only a few seconds) it could be a symptom of incorrect "charge" in the system.

Jerry M
'78 SC