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2014 - Weak heater? (merged thread)

('14-'18) 
362K views 2K replies 241 participants last post by  sinbad 
#1 ·
My wife and I picked up our 2014 FXT two weeks ago and have been getting insufficient heat from the heater. We have tried letting the car run to full warm up time with the remote start and still find the car on the cold side. Everything is turned to max. Recirc and outside vents have been tried

In comparison, my wifes work vehicle is sometimes a 2013 rav 4 or a 2013 ford escape and those cars are blowing hot air within a few minutes. Our temperatures here have been in the -25 to -20 Celcius and we need the our FXT to be warm inside. Recently, the temperature warmed up to -4 Celcius and still very weak heat. This is very dissapointing. Can anyone else share their experience?

The closest Subaru dealership is 2 hours away and i would hate drive all that way for them to tell me that nothig is wrong with the car.
 
#2 ·
In Manitoba...same issue with my 2.5..... takes it forever to warm up and it seems no matter how long you let it idle it wont come up to heat....the heat really doesn't kick in till your driving for 15 minutes......Almost seems like the block is struggling to make temperature.....But I am not a mechanic so I dont know........but the heat is definitely not as strong as I would expect......
 
#4 ·
I've had my 2014 2.5 for a couple months now, and notice this as well. It takes a really long time for the heat to get to the point that I feel I need to turn it down. At the same time though, it doesn't take too long to get to a decent level. As long as I dress warm I'm good most days. I do use a autostart though.
 
#6 ·
funny,

on my commutes to work where it is 35-40 degrees here, I fell a lot of heat on my legs with temp knob only half way to heat and little fan (I have the turbo 2.0) living here I am more concerned with the A/C working good, will have to wait till spring for that
 
#9 ·
I think part of the problem, at least for models with automatic climate control, is that it directs heat to the feet only. I usually end up changing it to defrost and feet or to dash vents and feet.

Like Valvestem pointed out, the huge windshield along with the moonroof and all the windows make it harder to heat up when it is cold.
 
#10 ·
That's a bummer,,my 08 blows heat in just over a half mile after zero warming up. Within a couple miles its blowing great heat. Now that's with outside temp in the mid 20's and the vehicle out all night.

Blocking the radiator isn't the problem. It sounds like the T-Stat is open. Something is not right. This 08 EJ is the best vehicle I have ever had in this area. I did have the T-Stat replaced when the TB was done. It made a difference.
 
#1,239 ·
I picked up a 2011 Forester in January, and a 2015 Forester in February. This being the worst winter in many years, the Morning temp had been -4 to +4 on any given day. Both cars from a cold start, will start emitting heat as soon as the idle lowers to operating speed, sometimes as I move the car. Within a half mile the heat is cranking.
 
#13 ·
Anyone with a Scangauge report the engine temps and the rate of warming? Is this only an occurrence with automatic climate control cars, or do the manual control ones have the same issue? If the engine thermostat is working properly, on a new car it should, the radiator should get little coolant flow until operating temp is reached.
 
#17 ·
Don't have the XT but the 2.5 FB engine and it does take awhile get enough heat so you can actually turn the heater on.

I figured this would happen with a 4 cylinder engine compared to the Ford Escape V6 I had before the Forester. I had almost instant heat in the Escape with dead cold 20 degree weather outside.

Why I say this is because I also had a Ford Ranger 4 cyl. pick up in the early 2000's and that vehicle also took a long time to give sufficent heat.

I have to drive a good 8 to 10 miles before the heater in the Forester really gets hot blowing from the vents.

Like Geojosh said though, the AC works great. Gotta move to the Arizona desert I think.
 
#18 ·
I thought only some of the earlier VW diesels had poor heaters in them. A poor heater probably won't be noticed that much where temperatures only drop to 0C(32F)but where I live temperatures have been dipping down to -30C(-22F) without the windchill factored in. This would be a major problem here. Hopefully there is an easy fix for this problem as being cold while driving a vehicle isn't any fun at all.
 
#20 ·
Has anyone tried to blow heat on a lower blower setting? Even in my 05 XT, if I set my blower to MAX right from the get go when it's really cold outside, the air is not nearly as "hot" as it normally is. If I take it down a couple notches to a medium speed, after several seconds, the heat gets much hotter.

Very cold day + driving in cold weather + blower on MAX, technically you could be keeping the coolant temp lower than normal. First thing you do when your car overheats is turn the heater on MAX because it helps, right? Well, the same thing happens during the winter, you are cooling the coolant. This is just a thought, but I've noticed it when it gets into the teens or lower here. I keep the car on a medium blower speed (and if I warm the car up in the morning, I keep the blower on low, as all you are doing with the blower on high is having the coolant take longer to warm up).
 
#72 ·
What I have tried is to leave the heater blower to two blocks/notches blowing through the vents only while warming and find that this helps a little. This is only good for a little while until I start driving and the windows start fogging up. Then I have to alternate between vents and windshield/feet.
 
#21 ·
There's a reason today's diesels generally come with some form of auxiliary heater- Forester has 1.5kW of elements in the HVAC housing, other brands have elements in the coolant circuit, still others a Webaso fuel-powered device.
 
#22 ·
I can confirm the weak heater in my '14 2.5 as well. I've been in Tahoe for the past week and it takes almost 15 minutes of driving for the cabin to feel luke warm, with cold pockets everywhere. I've even tried letting the car warm-up for 15 minutes before taking off and its still cold inside.

Not a huge deal (seat warmers FTW!), but definitely a design flaw in my book, especially for a car touted to be the unofficial master of winter conditions.

Other than the weak heat though, loving my Forester! Just wish the Sierras would get some damn snow already! :biggrin:
 
#23 ·
I can confirm this also, my '02 Mazda did a much better job than my base does now. Same city and what not, yeah the Forester is much bigger but putting my hand up to the vents just shows that for me it's not the greatest. I have between 10-15 drive home and if the windows aren't fogged or frosted I don't even bother because it takes so long.
 
#24 ·
Despite the weak cabin heat, I find the windshield defroster works pretty well on the Forester.

I notice a significant amount of air comes out of the defroster vents with floor mode selected though. Seems like Subaru could have diverted 100% to floor to help heat the cabin more quickly... I'd rather select floor-windshield mode myself if I needed some air on the windshield.
 
#26 ·
That was another weird quirk to me, if you have it just on the floor I get air blowing up top on the windshield. Not 100% dedication which is what I would prefer. To me when I have is just blowing on the windshield it takes too long for my liking because the heat is not getting there.
 
#31 ·
I also put a piece of cardboard (size 12 x 25 in) on passenger side of the radiator. It covers 1/2 of the radiator. Since I am driving in heavy city traffic (probably the worse situation), this increases the average oil temperature with 30 degree Fahrenheit. The gas usage improves with 5-8 %. Some teens are expected next few days and I'll try to take some measurements.
 
#32 · (Edited)
This would probably work quite well, but you have to be careful you don't overheat the engine.

We used to do this years ago in the 50's and 60's to get more heat, but geez having to do this in 2014 vehicle sounds crazy.

If the thermostat is not opening too soon, which adc thinks it isn't, then it has to be that the heater core is too small for the vehicle.

I still think the thermostat might be opening too soon letting cold water/antifreeze enter the heater core too soon.

I have to agree somewhat with adc on using the upper vents to get warm quickly, but still my feet are freezing. Just wondering if the air blowing out of the floor vent on the driver side is not blowing directly to where your feet would be.

Can't see how Subaru missed this defect.
 
#40 ·
Having to take cardboard to block off the grill so your 2014 Subaru can heat the inside adequately is just not normal. In bizzaro world perhaps.
Yea truck tractors do it, but your really going to use that to compare to a brand new 4 cylinder passenger car ? An old VW air cooled stern mounted engine ? Ah, come on fellas. Lol
Can we do it, and will it do the trick ? Sure. It's it considered normal to be driving around with a pizza box shoved I your grill in 2014? Eh, I don't think so…
But it's certainly not the end of the world either. Just makes you scratch your head a little and wonder. Lol


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