hello there w211 mb owners,it is a great pleasure to be part of the forum.
i drive a 2004 e500 and love the car, but about a month ago the heater directional inop. button has stoped controling the air thah is coming through the center vents; thus doesn't matter which i point the knob, air comes out through the center vents. i took the car to the dealer and the s.a. had told me that this is normal!? has any of you guys come across the same problem? i greatly appreciate your help.

thanks
nick

 

Please try to be a little more clear. What is a "heater directional inop. button" ?

 

I think he meat the knob(the ring dial) that you can rotate to change the direction of the air flow. I generally set it to blow straight out and to the feet, and have not changed the direction of the air flow, so I don't know whether some air will come out of the center vent regardless of the setting.

 

In an E500, the setting you are making takes the HVAC system to "manual" mode and the system will blow wherever you set it. Once you press "auto" the system will itself, choose where to blow. It will blow where it has been designed to by the factory to blow based on the outside temperature, the temperature inside the car, and whether the unit is supplying heat or cold to the cabin at that moment, without regard to where you previously had set the wheel... the auto setting overrides that setting.

If he rotates the ring the air should change outlets within seconds. If it doesn't is is NOT normal. If he is talking about the wheels that close a flap (damper) just inside the outlet, he should be able to shut any of the 4 dash outlets off. If he can't, THAT's not normal. If he is talking about the center blue wheel which lets fresh air into the cabin under certain conditions. I have no friggin idea what that wheel's supposed to do. I've rotated it summer & winter & never felt any change. (Maybe thats why its gone now! LOL)

I'm just not sure what wheel he is talking about, because the left-right louvers are not designed to completely stop the flow of air from the center vents, thats what the thumb wheels are for on the left and right of the center outlets.

 

first, thank you for the reply guys. yes i do mean rotational knob that directs the air flow to either the windows or cente or footweil. i have it on manual not auto.