Hot air from floor vents

[srd]

Hope someone might have some knowledge on this issue. The dealer wasn't able to assist. I have an 03 disco ser 2 SE with 45,000 miles. When driving recently I've noticed hot air coming from the floor vents. The faster I go, the more hot air comes through the vents. The a/c and heat unit is turned-off. If I turn on the a/c, the hot air stops coming from the floor vents.

(When driving the car with or without the a/c and heat unit operating, the console in front of the gearshift is also hot to the touch which enough to melt a candybar...not sure if this is relevant but it's close in proximity to the vents.)

I appreciate any advice you can provide!

 

[joey]

You have two things

1) the front gearshift is getting hot because it is sitting so close to the Transmission and transfering heat to the shifter.

2) On the Disco, the heater is always on even when the a/c is on... odd I know, but that is the way they are made. Try turning the heat to the vents on the dash, and then close the vents. Heat will be off, at least the best it can be. The other option would be to add a heat shut off or deversion valve into the heaters water pipes.

 

[NHESS81]

Yeah, the vents are always 'open' so the fast you go the faster air is pushed in. I have noticed that if you have the fans turned off (you know that selector with 0-4 or 5 bar thingy, put it on 0) and then put on the 'recirculate' air feature (little recyle thingy next to the a/c snow flake button) and this seems to prevent air from being pushed into the cabin.

Hope that wierd little solution might help stop pushing the hot air in....Let me know if you try it/it works for you because its interesting how things on one truck wont make a difference on another....thats the beauty of unique mostly handbuilt anti computer controlled discos!

 

[avonnied]

just a suggestion (i haven't tried it)..

most cars i've owned do this, i noticed in some of my other cars all i had to do was turn the vent system to recirc, essentially closes the flap for the fresh air so you dont' force air through the system anymore..

in my 90 300zx i could do recirc without turning on the heater/AC. but i don't know about the Discos if you can do the recirc option without turning on the fans..

worth a look at though

 

[NHESS81]

hey avonnied!....that was my suggestion! lol, great minds think alike eh? Yeah, at least on my disco 1 I can 'recirculate' with the fans on zero, and it stops the air...so that is why i thought this suggestion would work for srd.

 

[srd]

Thanks everyone! Very helpful info. My disco 2 didn't allow the fan to be placed at "zero", but I did set it to recirculate and at 1 bar. I then turned-off the unit. Some hot air was still coming into the cabin so I moved it away from the floors...feet were getting hot.