air conditioning controls??

[jfw834]

ok guys....this is kinda stupid but here goes. I "believe" that my AC might work alright or at least do something and I have been fumbling with the controls trying to figure out what the hell they all do. Those three levers are explained SO POORLY in the manual, and they are marked in an even more confounding way on the dash. So what position should they be in (and those knobs too) where I will get maximum AC?? Also is there a control for fresh outside air? HELP!

[jfw834]

umm....guess none of you touch those controls

[S4drifter]

Still new to the car myself, but here is what I do. Turn the snowflake dial behind the shifter to the maximum number of hash marks. Turn the fan knob next to it to the max. That blows cold for me out of all the dash vents. I do not bother with the controls up top. I believe they work the defroster and the heat.

With the windows down, sunroof open, and upstate NY climate, I never really run the airconditioner. I still keep it charged and run it occassionally to exercise the seals etc.. So given that, even these instructions may be wrong. You are right about the manual though. Useless.

[emcon5]

The panel on the dash is for fresh air, and directing heat to feet or windshield. This part is pretty clear:



This is a little confusing, particularly the "Air Flow Distribution" part:


I haven't used my A/C much, but I can't remember the dash controls doing anything to where the AC was blowing, it just came out of the center vent and the bowtie under the dash.

Not much help,

Tom

[masraum]

All that you can do with the AC is turn it on, the two knobs, one is for fan, and the other is colder to warmer. It should only blow out of the dash vents. Have all of the dash levers moved to the right and the heater levers down.

The levers on the dash are ONLY for heat and freshair. One lever determines where the heat goes floor or windshield, one lever does the same for fresh air and one determines the amound of fresh air and the fan. (the dash levers on your car are a little different than in an '88 I think since '88's have 4 levers. I think the difference is you have one lever that controls the amount of fresh air and fan speed)

[S4drifter]

Follow up question. I turn the heat on in my car by turning the rotary knob next to the parking brake. Setting 1 is usually adequate for the cool nights. Is this heating separate than the levers on the dash for the heat exchangers? Also, when I test drove an 88 targa there were two red levers behind the ebrake lever that i did not have. What are those for?

[IceBlueSC]

Originally posted by S4drifter
I turn the heat on in my car by turning the rotary knob next to the parking brake.

S4..

I think that you have the Porsche "climatronic auto heater system thingy".

Most of the older cars only have the three dash levers for 1) fan speed, 2) fresh air direction (up/down), and 3) heat direction (up/down); plus the two levers by the parking brake for side to side heating. If you have A/C there should be two knobs under the dash at the top of the center console: 1) fan speed for A/C and 2) cold, colder, or coldest settings.

I don't the the auto heater thingy, but I believe that it is just an automatic thermostat to adjust how much heat comes in from the exchangers.

Good luck!

[preeble]

I believe the auto heat also controls the fan speed of the heat coming out - you can adjust where the heat comes out by the bottom slider on the console.

[jfw834]

thanks guys, that helps a bit......now i get it that the levers really don't have anything to do with the A/C but with the direction of the airflow. The real confusing thing is that in my manual it has that diagram with 4 levers and I only have 3 cause I have A/C. Guess the top two are combined. I'll try more combos and see what happens.

I also have the auto heating knob. we'll see how that works this winter!

[S4drifter]

The top row has two levers. if the they are both moved to the middle, they look like a solid lever just like the two below. pull each end of the top lever and you will see that it is really two separate ones. The One on the right controls fan speed and the other one on the left regulates the amount of airflow.

did that make sense?