A/C blowing hot air out floor vents
 

Hey guys,
My wife's '03 X5 latest trick is to blow hot air on the driver's feet with the a/c on and blowing cold everywhere else. I've tried it in auto and manual, setting the dial all the way to blue on the center vents, changing the temp all the way up and down, all to no avail. Still blows full hot on the floor. I've heard that when the a/c is low on freon that you might get warm air from the center vents, but this feels like full hot air not just warm, and it's only from the floor vents. Not sure if the passenger side is doing it.
Any thoughts?
I did change the radiator the other day, but not sure that could be associated?

Just something to check if the refrigerant levels are OK and there's nothing wrong with your water valve/heater valve.

It could be something as simple as air temp & air direction from the center vent on the dash. There's a temp sensor behind the left grill in the IHKA control panel that functions to regulate the air temperature that is set on the IHKA control panel. A small fan draws air in across the thermistor.

And if the system is in AUTO mode (especially)...it will do what it takes to maintain the set temp...so you may get warmer or cooler air from certain vents to maintain the set temperature.

So...if the middle vent, in the dash, is blowing air (especially cooler air)...it can drop or be drawn into the IHKA's grill where the thermistor resides. If this air is cooler than the set temp...then the system may blow heated air through the floor vents to compensate.

See the info below...and make sure that the center dash vent's louvers are NOT pointing downward toward the IHKA control panel:

Hot on the floor indicates the control flap is stuck. The mixer on the dash only mixes outside air into the dash vents


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Thanks for the responses!
Funny, the whole way to work this morning it blew full hot on my feet (about 70 degrees outside air temp) with the a/c blowing cool/cold air from the center vents. On the way home (about 80 degrees outside air temp) it did not blow hot on my feet, but the drivers side center vent did not cool down as much as the others did with the a/c blowing cool/cold air.
I'm wondering about the a/c charge... and also maybe a flap acting up as well possibly... maybe intermittantly?
Any normal culprits?

Have your ac system checked...you may be low.

I have a gauge at my work; I'll check tomorrow and post back!

Bumping up the old thread as I seem to have the same issue.
HVAC set to Auto with AC. Everywhere else blows cold air, except blows hot air to feet.
Already replaced the water/heater valve, but didn't fix the problem.
Any other ideas?

There has to be a flap stuck or heater vakve stuck open.

Do you have scanner that will report hatter core temp and valve position ?

Thanks Andrew. Which "flap" are you referring to?

Inside daah. Decides if hot or cold air goes to which location. Often both heat and EVAP are working so might have 120F heatwr core and 38F evaporator. (as in the case when I run heat and AC with temp set to 77 when it's 50-60 outside). To get warm dry air inside.

There are motorized flaps to decide the mix. I don't know if there are one for each zone.

I think there is a foot well temp sensor also and you should be able to read on your scanner. If that is reading wrong (low) it would explain your situation.