MAX A/C question for you

Does your Explorer / Mountaineer let you warm the air at all
when set to "MAX A/C"? Mine will in the regular A/C mode,
but not in MAX A/C mode... it's 100% cold even with the
heat dial turned all the way up.

Thanks - that explains it. Although, it would be nice to have it recirculate
the internal air to dry it AND be able to warm it up a little, too (or just have
separate recirculate & A/C controls like many other vehicles).

Do you happen to know if MAX is the only position that recirculates the
cabin air?


"Captain Coleman" > wrote in message ...
> In my 97 Ex, it works the same as yours. On the Max setting it a flap opens up to draw the
> internal air. When you turn it on max, a valve shuts off the flow of coolant to the heater core.
> So there is no way to add heat back into the air to adjust the temperature.
>
> "Malcolm Reynolds" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Does your Explorer / Mountaineer let you warm the air at all
>> when set to "MAX A/C"? Mine will in the regular A/C mode,
>> but not in MAX A/C mode... it's 100% cold even with the
>> heat dial turned all the way up.
>>
>>
>
>

Ford finally fixed this on my '05. It has a button to recirculate the
air, but this does not affect anything else. This is good on very
humid days when the temperature is not extremely high as I can leave
it on recirculate and also regulate the temperature. The system
returns to outside air when the key is turned off and the vehicle
re-started. Yes, it is possible to recirculate and dry out the air,
but as soon as you return to normal A/C mode, the system will pump in
wet outside air.

On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:44:57 -0500, Alan wrote:

>Yes, it is. But, once you get the first batch of heat unloaded from
>the cab (which is why you used MAX in the first place, right?) then
>you turn it to AC and you can adjust the temp and do what you want
>"have it recirculate the internal air to dry it AND be able to warm
>it up a little, too."
>
>Alan
>
>
>
>On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:22:31 -0400, "Malcolm Reynolds"
> wrote:
>
>>Thanks - that explains it. Although, it would be nice to have it recirculate
>>the internal air to dry it AND be able to warm it up a little, too (or just have
>>separate recirculate & A/C controls like many other vehicles).
>>
>>Do you happen to know if MAX is the only position that recirculates the
>>cabin air?
>>
>>
>>"Captain Coleman" > wrote in message ...
>>> In my 97 Ex, it works the same as yours. On the Max setting it a flap opens up to draw the
>>> internal air. When you turn it on max, a valve shuts off the flow of coolant to the heater core.
>>> So there is no way to add heat back into the air to adjust the temperature.
>>>
>>> "Malcolm Reynolds" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> Does your Explorer / Mountaineer let you warm the air at all
>>>> when set to "MAX A/C"? Mine will in the regular A/C mode,
>>>> but not in MAX A/C mode... it's 100% cold even with the
>>>> heat dial turned all the way up.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>

<Alan > wrote in message ...
> Yes, it is. But, once you get the first batch of heat unloaded from
> the cab (which is why you used MAX in the first place, right?)

....actually, no - usually the main reason I use MAX is to recirculate the
cabin air instead of drawing in outside air. First, because sometimes there
are outside odors (diesel fumes, road construction fumes, skunks, etc.) that
I don't want drawn into the cabin, and second, there are times when the air
is so humid, it takes several cycles through the condensor to bring the
moisture down to a comfortable level.

It's nice to be able to recirculate the cabin air AND control the temperature.

<Alan > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:47:01 -0400, "Malcolm Reynolds"
> > wrote:
>
> ><Alan > wrote in message
...
> >> Yes, it is. But, once you get the first batch of heat unloaded from
> >> the cab (which is why you used MAX in the first place, right?)
> >
> >...actually, no - usually the main reason I use MAX is to recirculate the
> >cabin air instead of drawing in outside air. First, because sometimes
there
> >are outside odors (diesel fumes, road construction fumes, skunks, etc.)
that
> >I don't want drawn into the cabin, and second, there are times when the
air
> >is so humid, it takes several cycles through the condensor to bring the
> >moisture down to a comfortable level.
>
> Well, yeah. Getting the moisture down initially is the reason to use
> MAZ.
> >
> >It's nice to be able to recirculate the cabin air AND control the
temperature.
> >
> >
> I'm not sure it's such a good idea. I was driving with my brothers
> and a sister-in-law many years ago, and we had the AC on recirculate.
> After about half an hour I noticed that my brother who was driving
> was looking sleepy, and we were wandering around on the highway.
>
> I could barely make myself manage to tell him to slide the temp
> control to the right to get it off recirculate, so we could get fresh
> air!

Yeah, right.......that would be SO much more effective than opening a
window.

>
> My sense of using recirculate is that you have to do it with care!
>
> Alan

Sorry........I don't believe a word of it.

Dave

Hairy wrote:
<Alan > wrote

<snip>

>>My sense of using recirculate is that you have to do it with care!
>>
>>Alan
>
> Sorry........I don't believe a word of it.
>
> Dave

I have to support Alan on this one. I have experienced this several
times myself, as I drive cross-country twice a year. Cracking a window,
snapping the control over to "normal A/C" - either one works, and works
quite quickly. But the sleepiness, presumably from reduced oxygen and
increased CO2 in the air, definitely happens.

Bill

Carbon monoxide leaking into the cabin perhaps? Those symptoms sure sound
like it. Best to have your exhaust system checked.

<Alan > wrote in message
...
>>Yeah, right.......that would be SO much more effective than opening a
>>window.
>>
>>>
>>> My sense of using recirculate is that you have to do it with care!
>>>
>>> Alan
>>
>>Sorry........I don't believe a word of it.
>>
>>Dave
>>
> We were, I later realized, all of the verge of passing out. All I
> could focus on mentally, was the recirulating mode. Yeah, somewhere
> in the back of my mind was the idea of opening a window. However, I
> was in the back seat of a coupe, and the only people who could open a
> window were in the front sea -- my brother (the driver) and my
> sister-in-law who would have asked questions and argued.
>
> So, I told my brother to just reach over to the AC and move the
> lever. It wasn't his car, so I knew he would just do it. He did.
>
> I'm glad.
>
> Real event.
>
> Alan

Vehicle owner's manuals used to include warnings in the A/C section of
the manual.

They would say to never use Max (recirculate) for long periods of
time, and when using recirculate you should switch over to normal A/C
or open the windows every so often to let in fresh outside air. They
even gave a time interval but I don't recall it now.

They would also give more detailed information on how to use the A/C
system such as on extra hot days you first roll down the windows and
turn on normal A/C and start driving for a few minutes this way
(outside air would always be cooler than the temp in a closed car)
They would then say when the inside temp starts to get more
comfortable, roll up the windows and switch to max A/C (recirculate)
to bring the temp down even more. Then once you are comfortable switch
back to normal A/C

They also mentioned about using recirculate on very humid, extra hot,
or when driving through areas with foul odors, but to not use
recirulate exclusively, switch over to norm A/C or open windows every
so often.

All A/C systems dehumidifies the air. Max just does it better because
it is cooling already cooled and dehumdified air instead of drawing in
and dehumdifying warm humid outside air as in normal A/C mode.

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:21:02 -0500, Alan wrote:


>>
>We were, I later realized, all of the verge of passing out. All I
>could focus on mentally, was the recirulating mode. Yeah, somewhere
>in the back of my mind was the idea of opening a window. However, I
>was in the back seat of a coupe, and the only people who could open a
>window were in the front sea -- my brother (the driver) and my
>sister-in-law who would have asked questions and argued.
>
>So, I told my brother to just reach over to the AC and move the
>lever. It wasn't his car, so I knew he would just do it. He did.
>
>I'm glad.
>
>Real event.
>
>Alan