jepva

This may be operator error, but we have had trouble getting our new GX to blow warm air on cold days.

The fact that there are no real buttons to operate the climate control is kind of annoying. I set the temperature to high (like 80+ degrees)..but it will not do anything or adjust automatically. Even if I hit the fan buttons to increase the blower, this does not have an effect for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, it will start to work correctly and blow the warmer air. Our old 4runner V8 (basically the same car) was able to blow hot air almost instantly after start-up..I've never waited this long in any car.

Anyone else experience similar trouble?

2GSKaizen

iTrader: (1)

Our cars are programmed to wait until the car warms up before it will start blowing any air. They want to avoid blasting you in the face with really cold air. If you want warm air as fast as possible, make sure the auto mode is selected, then press the front defroster button. Our cars have an electronic heater that is attached to the heater core, and this will turn it on. You will get warm air pretty quickly, and not have to wait till the engine warms up.

Eppieguy

And the 4-Runner is not basically the same truck.

SaniDel

I respectfully suggest you are 'micromanaging' something that doesn't need managing. Here is a step-by-step tutorial on the operation of the automatic climate control system of the GX 460:

Step 1. Press the AUTO button

That's it ... don't press any other buttons, don't press the OFF button and don't attempt to override its operation except in extreme situations such as ice. Your GX460 will "soft-start" the HVAC system when it is ready and the best thing you can do is to start the engine and drive immediately. The sooner it gets underway, the sooner it will produce warm air ... the automatic transmission will stay in a lower gear while the engine warms so don't "baby it" by dawdling.

You may want to adjust the temperature settings seasonally ... we prefer 70º in Winter and 72º in Summer and of course you can adjust temperature left and right if the driver and passenger have different preferences. Likewise for the vanes and dampers on the vents for different drivers, but if you are the only driver it is about as "Set and Forget" as a system can be.
Regards,

SaniDel


P.S. If you want more air during warm-up, press the "Filter" button on the lower row of the climate screen. The system will increase air flow for three minutes, then revert to automatic operation. We use that on Spring mornings when we need heat, but our heads are already overheated by hair dryers ... this blows cool air at our heads until the cabin reaches set point.

jepva

Tried the defrost thing, helps a little. Either way, this car takes way longer to warm up than the 4runner did.

I could agree that leaving it on auto is easiest, but it still doesn't substituve for the lack of control not provided by the touchscreen, and I still wish for real buttons. Unfortunately this is how most cars are going, though. This car is by far the least intuitive as far as controls go, when we test drove the Audi Q7 I was able to figure everything out almost instantly.

And the 4runner is different from the GX how? Because it has a few luxury bits added? They are the same platform and we had the 4.7 V8 that was also the same V8 and powertrain in the GX470. Sure, the GX460 has a different engine (now used in the Tundra) but let's not pretend the GX is worlds different from the 4runner or Prado.

alder8

I have similar problem. No matter what temp I set, the AC keeps blowing cold air. Only when I set to 85F, I get warm or hot air. I did not measure the temp inside the car, but I don't think blowing cold air when temp is set at 76F is normal. Took the car to the dealer today for 5K service, they called an hour ago and told me AC is working normally. Will try to test it with them when I pick up the car today, but I have a feeling they won't budge.

SaniDel

Does your GX460 have the rear climate control system option? That is a separate system and is controlled independently of the front system. It may be set too high and is filling the rear of your vehicle with warm air, which the front system is attempting to cool. As it is easier to heat a vehicle rather than to cool a vehicle, the rear system inevitably 'wins' while the front system desperately blows cold air at the driver and front seat passenger!

Our experience after driving our GX460 for over 40,000 miles over four years is to set the rear system to be slightly warmer than the front system in the winter and slightly cooler than the front system in the summer. The effect is to shift more of the HVAC load to the rear of the vehicle to avoid having the front system work so hard as it blows hot or cold air at our faces. We like the feel of warm air coming from the rear in winter and cool air coming from the rear in summer.

This is a very subjective statement, but if you are uncomfortable in your GX460 or even if you are aware of the system trying to keep you comfortable, you are using it wrong. It will automatically and imperceptibly adjust everything to maintain the temperature set points ... two in front and one in the rear. What may be wrong is that these set points are too different, i.e., too much of a temperature difference side-to-side or front-to rear. If the driver wants 60º and the passenger wants 85º ... they will get what they want, but they won't like what they get!
Regards,

SaniDel

eroyslade

First time posting-hope I'm doing it right. Also first time Lexus owner. I just bought a 92 SC400 and the air will not get warm no matter how long you drive. The temp control **** is of course all the way on max heat and the compressor is off. The air temp never gets warm. Any help will be great. Thanks!

tecman

I think this is where you need to be posting your question. Welcome to CL
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-400-300-6/

alder8

I was told by the dealer that you need to turn off A/C in order to have hot air. He explained to me that if you were to set to AUTO. the A/C will still be blowing cold air and heater will be blowing hot air. It did not seem to make sense to me, because I thought that if you set the temp to 82F and select AUTO the system should figure out that you want to warm the car and try to set the cabin temp to 82F. However, in reality, it seems like the dealer was partially right - i'm able to get hot air blowing if I turn off the A/C, which is very annoying, because I have to go through several screens to turn off A/C. In addition, the windows start fogging up at some point and it usually takes 2-3 minutes for the hot air to actually start blowing (outside temp was 56F today when I tried this). All in all, either I don't know how to use climate control or there's something else going on. I'm fairly frustrated because heating up the car in the morning worked perfectly fine on my 10 year old Acura MDX.

SaniDel

As soon as you start the engine, your GX 460 can produce copious quantities of cold air, but it may take several minutes until the engine warms before it can produce warm air. That is why you need to leave your climate control system on AUTO ... the system will wait until it can produce warm air instead of blowing cold air. There is a reason why it is so difficult to turn off the A/C ... it is unnecessary except in an extreme situation, e.g., extreme altitude or steep road conditions where the parasitic losses to the compressor are unacceptable. If you disable the A/C you won't dehumidify the air, which leads to the window fogging you described.

The sooner you get going after starting, the better. Don't 'baby' it ... the transmission will stay in a lower gear until the engine warms. Set the temperature controls to reasonable values and leave them there ... 82º does not sound very reasonable, but it is a personal preference. If you want to drive around all day at 82º your GX will oblige, but if you have to reduce the temperature to be comfortable you are doing it wrong. My wife and I set ours somewhere between 70º to 75º year-round, depending on how we are dressed, how warm or cool we feel, etc. We tested the system at its minimum and maximum settings ... it was quite dramatic, but no fun ... and it quickly got very uncomfortable!
Regards,

SaniDel

tecman

I live in Atlanta, the temperature changes are quite dramatic. When I use the heat I always turn off the AC. If the windows fog up I use the defrost setting which turns on the AC, I turn it off when the windows are clear.
I am trying to extend the life of the compressor. I am paranoid due to having to replace the compressor on previous cars.
Why run it if you don't need it?

I have read that the compressor running on the GX does not impact performance. Is this true?

Craig B

I also turn off the AC as well, I think it also helps fuel mileage as well...

william489

I too have this issue, ie, if outside temp is like 50F, and I set climate control to be at 72F, even after about 15 min local drive (engine is warm for sure), air coming out of vent feels code (whether I use AUTO or MANUAL w/o AC on), it is occasionally blows warm air, but so far I haven't figure out a pattern.

If set climate control to 80F or 85F, you can feel warm air coming out of vent.

So I am not sure this is just the nature of GX 460 climate control, from what I read here, many folks have this issue, ie, when outside and inside air temp is like 10F or 15F difference (outside is colder), it blows cold even when engine is warm up already.

Livable but confusing.

PNWRacer

My winter full auto set point in my 2005 4Runner was 74 or 75. Have been driving the 2016 GX around at 76 or more since I got it two weeks ago, and have also noted cooler air coming from the dash vents when I would expect warm air. Still pretty new to the car though, so reserving judgement.