[321825]

Looking to double-check this with other owners before I take my Accord back to the dealer

After 30 minutes of producing heat, the heating system 'takes a break' and blows mostly cold air. When new 12 months ago, I took it to the dealer and they said another car on the lot does the same - and it's expected behavior since "the AC turns after a while to help reduce humidity/defrosting."

I keep my heater on AUTO set to 71 degrees. Solid heat comes out for the first 30 minutes. Then it pushes out much cooler air. Whether in ECO, Standard, Sport, it doesn't make a difference. Since my commute is 40-45 minutes every day, the last 10-15 minutes is always colder.

Anyone else have this issue before I go back to discuss with the dealer?

 

[SourceQuality]

Looking to double-check this with other owners before I take my Accord back to the dealer

After 30 minutes of producing heat, the heating system 'takes a break' and blows mostly cold air. When new 12 months ago, I took it to the dealer and they said another car on the lot does the same - and it's expected behavior since "the AC turns after a while to help reduce humidity/defrosting."

I keep my heater on AUTO set to 71 degrees. Solid heat comes out for the first 30 minutes. Then it pushes out much cooler air. Whether in ECO, Standard, Sport, it doesn't make a difference. Since my commute is 40-45 minutes every day, the last 10-15 minutes is always colder.

Anyone else have this issue before I go back to discuss with the dealer?

I never really thought about it but my car does the same. I just raise the temperature and it blows hotter air

 

[Keyboard]

Here's my best guess at what's going on with your AUTO Climate Control:

• 71° is not very warm. It's a temperature that teeters between needing the heat or A/C.
• Once the cabin exceeds 71°, the heater cuts off and the unit blows cooler air to bring the temperature back down.
• The heat comes back on when the cabin cools down too low, but probably doesn't reach the low threshold before you reach your destination.

I keep my temperature set at 74° year round. However, I haven't noticed any issues during the cold months.

 

[qman]

On very cold days with the temp set to Auto and 68° (almost too hot), my 02, 04 and 05 all do the same thing. The air barely blows out since there is not heat to be had yet and then once the temp gauge moves it blows like a madman. Once the temp reaches what I set it to (68°)


The only way you'll have a case with the dealer is to have data. Put a temperature gauge on your dash and pay attention to the temp.

 

[DARKART]

That's a normal condition of an AUTO climate control. It adjusts the blend door back and forth to maintain the temperature set. When you start the day, the inside of the car is cold, and the car will blow full heat to warm up to your set temperature, then thereafter the air will cool off to maintain that temperature. If the car continued to blow heat the cabin temperature would raise beyond your set point and defeat the purpose of automatic climate control. Just set the temp to max (Hi) and just move the blower speed down if you want it to constantly heat.

 

[mtts60]

Take the HVAC off of auto and I bet it stays nice and hot all day long.

 

[DARKART]

Take the HVAC off of auto and I bet it stays nice and hot all day long.

True. If that is done and the air temperature fluctuates, you have an issue.

 

[campverdefela]

I

Looking to double-check this with other owners before I take my Accord back to the dealer

After 30 minutes of producing heat, the heating system 'takes a break' and blows mostly cold air. When new 12 months ago, I took it to the dealer and they said another car on the lot does the same - and it's expected behavior since "the AC turns after a while to help reduce humidity/defrosting."

I keep my heater on AUTO set to 71 degrees. Solid heat comes out for the first 30 minutes. Then it pushes out much cooler air. Whether in ECO, Standard, Sport, it doesn't make a difference. Since my commute is 40-45 minutes every day, the last 10-15 minutes is always colder.

Anyone else have this issue before I go back to discuss with the dealer?

I've had the same issue not on short trips but for me after an hour or so and like someone else has said I had to increase the temp but all the way to 80 to get some heat which was set around 72. I did take it to the dealer and they said it was normal but they could only run it for a much shorter time and experienced no issues. I still don't think it's right to do this and even setting it to manual made no difference.

 

[321825]

Take the HVAC off of auto and I bet it stays nice and hot all day long.

Unfortunately, set to a specific temp with AUTO off, I still get the chill after 30 minutes.

 

[Sterg]

I never really thought about it but my car does the same. I just raise the temperature and it blows hotter air

This is what I do. OP, mine does the same thing. I agree with 71 teetering on the edge of cool. I put mine up to 78-80 for the first 10 minutes of the drive then drop down to 71 to shut the fan down when it’s warm. After a while if the rides long enough I’ll have to bump it up to 74-75.

 

[Gladius Nova]

I thought it was just me but I experience the same thing. After awhile on say 72, it starts to blow cold air for a bit and I always have to turn it up to say 76 and of course after awhile it gets unbearably hot so I turn it back down to around 72 again. And this is on manual.

 

[campverdefela]

Since a dealership can't duplicate the conditions unless they take our Accord's out for a long drive I guess were going to have to live with it. The next time I take it in for service I'll mention that I'm not the only one having the problem and let them make a note of it. If they get enough complaints maybe they'll have Honda check into it.

 

[JeffJo]

Take the HVAC off of auto and I bet it stays nice and hot all day long.

Unfortunately, set to a specific temp with AUTO off, I still get the chill after 30 minutes.

Just to be clear: Leave the climate control system on "AUTO," but turn the A/C off by pressing the "A/C" button until "A/C OFF" appears in the console, as in my picture.

The automatic climate control will do its best to control every aspect of the system to maintain the temperature you set. That means Heat or A/C or None, fan speed, mode (which vents are active), and recirculation. So if the temperature goes above what you set, it will turn the A/C on to bring it back down.

But if you manually set any of those aspects, it should leave that one where you set it and only control the others.

 

[bertsirkin2]

It's very frustrating. On a 90-minute trip yesterday when it was about 38 degrees outside, it started off very warm when set to 68 degrees. But after a while, I had to crank it up to 85 degrees just to keep it barely warm. Also, I notice that the upper vents (right and left on top of the dash) were blowing cold air when the heat was set to 85 degrees. I've not checked those upper vents initially, but I'll bet they blow warm air initially.

 

[campverdefela]

It's very frustrating. On a 90-minute trip yesterday when it was about 38 degrees outside, it started off very warm when set to 68 degrees. But after a while, I had to crank it up to 85 degrees just to keep it barely warm. Also, I notice that the upper vents (right and left on top of the dash) were blowing cold air when the heat was set to 85 degrees. I've not checked those upper vents initially, but I'll bet they blow warm air initially.

That's exactly what I'm experiencing, something's not right with the program[software]-conflict with sensors? We need to report it to our dealers.

 

[campverdefela]

Just to be clear: Leave the climate control system on "AUTO," but turn the A/C off by pressing the "A/C" button until "A/C OFF" appears in the console, as in my picture.

This is what I and it sounds like others here are doing, but it still blows cold air after awhile and you have to really crank up the heat.

 

[bertsirkin2]

That's exactly what I'm experiencing, something's not right with the program[software]-conflict with sensors? We need to report it to our dealers.

I've never experienced so many problems with a new car before, but, of course, I've never had a car with this many features (my last car was an 09 Accord).

The dealers are overwhelmed - they don't have a clue where to start or what to do. Honda doesn't seem to care (LOTS of issues with the infotainment unit, but when was the last update - hint - it was April, 2018). The user manual provides too-little detail for troubleshooting, and Honda doesn't appear to have a decent web site (other than these forums) for troubleshooting.

So far, these have been a few of my issues:

1) HondaLink app - almost completely useless with erroneous information and "system errors"
2) Heat is screwed up (per this thread)
3) Infotainment system - whenever I start the car, it thinks I'm on a phone call! (plus other issues)
4) USB - the rear USB port doesn't always work in cold weather
5) Auto-high beam headlights seem to go from AUTO to MANUAL by themselves

that's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'm missing a few things.

 

[JeffJo]

This is what I and it sounds like others here are doing, but it still blows cold air after awhile and you have to really crank up the heat.

With all due respect, only one other said that the A/C was turned off. One of the problems is that the automatic climate system works very differently than cars used to work. So you shouldn't expect it to work as before, just with "extras." What I was trying to do, was be as specific as I could about what changes affect this problem.

Page 232 of my 2018 HAH Owner’s Manual describes these functions for the Climate Control System:

• Pressing the AUTO turns the entire system on, and sets all controls to automatic. Pressing it again only re-sets all controls to automatic
• Turning the dial around the AUTO button adjusts the driver’s preferred temperature.
• Pressing the SYNC button sets the passenger’s temperature to the same as the driver’s.
• Turning the dial around the SYNC button adjusts the passenger’s preferred temperature.
• Pressing the A/C button sets air conditioning to manual, and toggles between A/C ON and A/C OFF modes.
• Turning the dial around the FAN ON/OFF button sets the fan to manual modes, and adjusts its speed.
• Pressing the FAN ON/OFF button turns the system off entirely, or turns it back on with your previous settings.
• The other buttons include adjust other specific components. Pressing them changes that component to manual, and toggles its functionality.

Nowhere in this list is there a button that turns AUTO off. So it is unclear what people are doing when they say they "turn AUTO off." They need to turn the A/C component of AUTO off, and leave most others on. I can't know which they did, unless they make it clearer by saying explicitly what was done.

I, too, had this problem when the weather turned colder. I solved it by putting the A/C into manual mode and turning it off. You can also set recirculation to off, as the Owner’s Manual recommends. Or turn the fan down.

 

[grumpypolecat]

I recently purchased a 2019 2.0 Sport and have not had any problems with the climate control. I read this thread last night and decided to test out the auto setting as I have been using manual mode exclusively.

I set the temperature to 70 degrees. It got warm initially but then comfortable as time went on. From my understanding the auto setting acts like a thermostat in your house and heats and cools to keep the temperature stable.

What fan speed do you have it set in? Mine stays on the lowest setting once the car is warm. I feel like I'm going to have a heat stroke when it's set up anything over 70.

 

[321825]

Okay.

Since at least one person wants the 'diagram a sentence' details. Here's what I do and what I observe:

• I set the car to AUTO with the thermostat set at 72 degrees
• After 1 minute of driving (once there's actually heat to blow), the fan kicks up to a relatively aggressive setting and will blow warm (soon to be HOT) air
• As I continue to drive over the next 20 minutes, the air becomes warmer (as the engine warms), and the fan slowly steps down its intensity as the car comes closer to the preset temperature
• Eventually, the fan spins down to a low setting and heat can still be felt coming out of the vents (since it's on AUTO, these are the windshield and footwell vents).
• About ~30 minutes into the drive, the temperature of the air coming out of the vents switches from hot to cold

While it may be working as designed, it doesn't make sense to me. What I was expecting was for the temperature in the car to reach 72 and maintain that temperature - whether by blowing cold air or hot - forever.

What's actually happening is after ~30 minutes of driving in cold weather, the temperature in the car drops due to the fan blowing cold air. While I'm not a human thermometer, it feels like a lot colder than 72 degrees once the 30-minute threshold hits and the blower starts blowing cold air.

Setting the AC to OFF disables the AUTO function - and doesn't solve the problem of the unexpected cool-down after ~30 minutes of driving.

Turning up the heat to 80 does increase the fan speed and the heat (a little bit), but doesn't seem like the way I should have to 'force' my car into warming things back up to ~72 degrees.

Switching to the dash vents, or dash + footwell vents doesn't change the temperature of the cold air blowing after 30 minutes.

Same behavior whether on ECO, Standard or Sport mode (even though I've noticed ECO is conservative on the A/C in the summertime).

Does that help?