if you had your temperature control turned to the heat (red, right half) you should have gotten heat no matter what position the mode control is set toward. Regardless of if the ac compressor is on or not.

So, if you had foot or foot/defrost set as the mode and the temp selector turned to heat you should have heat.

Otherwise there is a problem, maybe the blend door is malfunctioning.

Having the ac compressor on with the temp setting to heat gives you hot air, not cold in any position. The ac compressor only serves to dry the air.

 

thank you I will look into it.

 

From what I've read on the forums, blend door problems are usually found as heat on one side and not on the other. Maybe turn it on the way you had it and see if the passenger foot well gets warm while the other doesn't, etc.

There are a few threads on the blend door issues, good luck, sucks not having warm feet!

 

Right on..... I've notice the vents on the passenger side are a lot warmer than on the driver side....you guys rock...i'm going to look into it

 

Your ac compressor will cycle in the defrost setting. It is designed that way to remove moisture (dehumidify) from the air or surface. There is a way to disable it im sure or you could drain your freon or disconect you compressor, but you might want your ac when its hot.

 

The short answer is no. Running the compressor, in defrost & mix is a NHTSA requirement. CARB (California Air Resources Board) also requires that the A/C runs in recirc mode above 75F. This has been implemented on all U.S. spec Chrysler vehicles.

 

Interesting, I can see how it is beneficial, but I would not have thought it would be a "requirement".

Can you shed some light on why it is required? Safety issue? (some rigs still come without AC, don't they?)

Thanks!

EDIT: I googled around some but didn't find the NHTSA requirement info. I did read that the ac compressor won't/shouldn't come on at low temps (<40?) because the r134 won't have enough pressure to something something something... Any truth to that?

 

Yes, the AC compressor needs to be disabled at very low temps due to the properties of the freon, IE: proper liquid condensing in the condenser, and proper evaporation/saturation in the evaporator. Freon in the liquid state always migrates to the coldest location, this is why residential heat pumps usually have a crank case heater wrapped around the base of the compressor to keep liquid from migrating in the compressor, and causing a burnout by sucking liquid. My 1979 Lincoln Town Car even had a compressor cut off thermostat for low temps. As mentioned the AC system dries the air making it easier to DE-fog the windows quicker, and safer. If you ever tried to DE-fog the windshield in the dead of winter with just the heater, you get a "steam" effect before the heat actually dries out the interior fog....
http://law.justia.com/cfr/title49/49-6.1.2.3.36.html

 

interesting. thanks for the info and link.

 

Mine does NOT do this! I can turn the AC on if I want, but it doesn't do it automatically. I have an 07 X. I don't know if different years are different here.