S-Class (W221) 2007-2013: S 320 CDI, S 350, S 450, S 500, S 550, S 420 CDI, S 600

Heater vents question

Old Sep 10, 2020 | 10:16 AM
  #1  
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Heater vents question

Today was the first day i've had to use my heater. It was 55 outside and I set the temp to 78, the climate system set to automatic. I noticed that no heat came out of the center dash vents (silver ones). Is this normal? The heat only came out of the side vents and a little bit under the front window. Can somebody confirm if when thier heater is on that they get heat out of the two center vents?
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Old Sep 10, 2020 | 10:29 AM
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in auto the car works out which vents to use based on 9 interior sensor pretending they have a clue....

you can have auto vent or not

best on manual vent, auto temp, switch the vents to all equal with 3 large arrows, set the fan at 3 and temp at 70 then you never need touch them again in your life

buried in other settings you can adjust the foot well higher or lower than the others
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Old Sep 10, 2020 | 12:23 PM
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From: Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Originally Posted by BOTUS
in auto the car works out which vents to use based on 9 interior sensor pretending they have a clue....

you can have auto vent or not

best on manual vent, auto temp, switch the vents to all equal with 3 large arrows, set the fan at 3 and temp at 70 then you never need touch them again in your life

buried in other settings you can adjust the foot well higher or lower than the others
Thank you so much, i'll try that!
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Old Sep 10, 2020 | 01:05 PM
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my left vent (passenger side on UK vehicles) sometimes forgets to work, I manually persuade and it wakes up and works for a few weeks. In diagnostic tool I found a re calibrate all the vents (not sure it was a great idea) also seems to say you can with diagnostics customise vents / flow rates to suite customer request

mine used to have more air flow to the face level vents then after a new AC condenser OR after a software update, I have less air flow and its really irritating ….
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Old Dec 20, 2021 | 04:22 PM
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So Winter is back and I need an answer after all. I have a scan tool that checks the live data and I could see that when i raise the temperature to about 79-80 degrees the center dash vent flaps were open only 10-12% and the input coming from the control unit was also the same 10-12% so it makes me think that the center dash vents do not open up to let hot air into the cabin. Can somebody just set thier climate control to Auto and raise the temperature to 80 or so and let me know if hot air comes out of the center dash vents or not? I'd appreciate it.
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Old Dec 21, 2021 | 05:37 AM
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there are manual vent closure / flow restriction turn knobs on each individual vent. If these are OFF nothing will come out

then we get to a question do you mean NO heat or NO airflow ? a cheap valve near the wipers wears out and stops heat working correctly, regardless of what you do in the car.

then we get to the display at the bottom of the screen....

in the middle AC you can go in here and find more confusion, like set it to control the rear (if you have it), make the rear follow the front etc. And then airflow features diffuse / focused / or whatever. The idea in AUTO with diffuse the air wafts quietly around. Focus get more air out of the vents. This setting makes the amount out of the centre vents change

If you put the fan on 7 and then go to the auto words and twiddle the comand knob you can switch air flow between three locations feet / screen / face - with a little arrow for low air flow or a big arrow for lots of airflow
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Old Dec 21, 2021 | 05:57 AM
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Originally Posted by BOTUS
there are manual vent closure / flow restriction turn knobs on each individual vent. If these are OFF nothing will come out

then we get to a question do you mean NO heat or NO airflow ? a cheap valve near the wipers wears out and stops heat working correctly, regardless of what you do in the car.

then we get to the display at the bottom of the screen....

in the middle AC you can go in here and find more confusion, like set it to control the rear (if you have it), make the rear follow the front etc. And then airflow features diffuse / focused / or whatever. The idea in AUTO with diffuse the air wafts quietly around. Focus get more air out of the vents. This setting makes the amount out of the centre vents change

If you put the fan on 7 and then go to the auto words and twiddle the comand knob you can switch air flow between three locations feet / screen / face - with a little arrow for low air flow or a big arrow for lots of airflow
Can you elaborate on what the valve is near the wipers? I've had my car a few months, and it is now getting cold. I've noticed that I have to set my heat to about 80 degrees in order for the cabin to stay decently warm. I don't recall any other car I've had needing to set the heat at anything other than a 'normal' 71 or so. Wondering if my problem is the valve you mentioned? If anyone else has input, please let me know.
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Old Dec 21, 2021 | 09:25 AM
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its DIY ish
170 VALVE
CHANGE-OVER VALVE 001 A 23 083 000 84 - $50.90





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Originally Posted by Ninamashr
So Winter is back and I need an answer after all. I have a scan tool that checks the live data and I could see that when i raise the temperature to about 79-80 degrees the center dash vent flaps were open only 10-12% and the input coming from the control unit was also the same 10-12% so it makes me think that the center dash vents do not open up to let hot air into the cabin. Can somebody just set thier climate control to Auto and raise the temperature to 80 or so and let me know if hot air comes out of the center dash vents or not? I'd appreciate it.
All vents in my 2007 deliver heat on a day like today where the temperature shows 37 degrees F. My car is set for 75 degrees, all year.
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