No heat at idle

[elund126]

Here is another strange issue with the heat. I have found that it only blows cool air at idle when I have the "AUTO" button pushed on the climate control. If I have a specific vent button pushed (defrost/floor) it will blow hot even at idle.

So I'm guessing that tells me that my coolant level has nothing to do with the problem and more than likely a actuator problem???

[DJE624]

It could still be the coolant level.  If there is a sensor that controls heat that is getting a bad reading at idle.  Like not enough flow over the sensor?

[SHOdded]

I will top it off tomorrow. If I didn't help my wife with all of her Xmas decorations, she would kick me out of the house!!!

Did you get a chance to top off the coolant? 

As far as the AUTO setting goes, I know it does some counter-intuitive things from my readings on the Edge forum.  For example, you will only get warm air directed at the feet, and cool air directed at the head/torso while in AUTO.  Digging into the SHO manual might be required to understand that piece of functionality as specific to the SHO.

[BiGMaC]

I just read the manual, 3rd printing, on this and it looks like (1) if your in auto mode you can still select an air flow manually and (2) that by default warm air will flow through the demister (defogger) vents as well as what SHOdded describes above.  This is pages 149-160 for 2013 SHO.I do note that the instructions/info are often not too clear and that it also seems that it may act differently with the Sony stereo.

[elund126]

I will top it off tomorrow. If I didn't help my wife with all of her Xmas decorations, she would kick me out of the house!!!

Did you get a chance to top off the coolant? 

As far as the AUTO setting goes, I know it does some counter-intuitive things from my readings on the Edge forum.  For example, you will only get warm air directed at the feet, and cool air directed at the head/torso while in AUTO.  Digging into the SHO manual might be required to understand that piece of functionality as specific to the SHO.

Sorry about the delayed response. I did top off the coolant and it fixed my problem. Originally, the coolant level was within specs on the "Cold" marks on the bottle, but, I filled up up about an inch and everything is good!

[BiGMaC]

YAY!!!! 

[markssho]

Another confirmation! I too notice the same issue, cold or cooler air at idle. I ended up putting about 1/2 gallon in the overflow container and after a day, the issue went away.
Though I did notice while driving this weekend in upper 60's temps, I sometimes got a whiff of antifreeze in the air. Figure I'll smell that as it overflows thru the Spring and early Summer.

[DJE624]

Yeah, when I did my 170 I ended up adding a half gallon.  I only spilled a couple ounces.  I'm doing the 160 later tonight so, I'll see what happens then. 

[elund126]

My heat is intermittently hot at idle. Even with the top off. I took my daughter to the bus stop this morning and noticed it wasn't very hot as we were sitting there waiting. The temp was 28 degrees outside.

At this point, it's the first day of spring and I am going to stop worrying about it. Temps are going to go up and now I need to focus on fixing the annoying rattle when my moonroof is open!!

[SHOdded]

Did you run the heat full blast for a few trips?  Seems like you may still have air pockets in the system.  The blower is running correctly at expected speeds?  Any difference driver vs passenger side?

[DJE624]

When I had air in the system, I noticed this:  Start the cold engine, let it idle for a minute or so, give it a quick rev up to about 2K.  You may hear the bubbles like I did up under the dash.  I just kept topping off and releasing pressure from the res tank. 

[jimmyducati]

Its crazy how finicky the ecoboost is with its coolant level.. This happened last winter to me, sub zero temps and no heat! Checked my coolant level as suggested here and it looked to be just right, added a little to the overflow and instant heat!