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Heater takes a very long time to start warming

JohnE

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#1
I actually took it to the dealer to check this. My first thought was that the thermostat might be stuck open but the service guy said it was definitely not stuck, otherwise it would have thrown codes. The coolant temp gets to just short of halfway in the normal amount of time like 10 minutes but it takes 20 minutes before it starts to blow warm air and it is warm, not hot. It blows cold before that and that’s with the climate control at the highest setting (Hi). If I stop, shut down and get back in a few minutes later, it seems to blow warmer but still not very hot. The dealer said that they reprogrammed the HVAC but I see no difference. How is yours working?
 

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Seattle, WA, USA
#2
Mine does take some time to warm up as well.
 

OP
JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #3
Mine does take some time to warm up as well.
Thanks. Good to hear. I really try to avoid having the service department tear into things because of other damage that could happen while they’re doing that.
 

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Greeley, CO, USA
#5
No issues with heat here. Haven't tried the A/C yet.
 

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Nettleton, MS, USA
#6
Mine seems to do fine. Auto button has 3 modes. Might try it in high mode, 3 lights on, if you haven't already.
 

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JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #7
Mine seems to do fine. Auto button has 3 modes. Might try it in high mode, 3 lights on, if you haven't already.
Thanks. I’m aware of the 3 auto fan speeds. It takes a good 30-40 minutes to start blowing warm air. That’s why I thought the thermostat might be sticking open. I appreciate everyone’s comments.
 

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Cincinnati, OH
#8
Mine takes about 5-8 minutes to warm up, 20 minutes is way too long.
 

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JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #9
Got the news yesterday that the heater core is most likely the issue. There’s been a few 2020 Explorers with the same problem and it turned out to be the heater cores are internally plumbed incorrectly. The entire dash has to come out to get to the heater core. Not a happy camper right now. This car has NO squeaks or rattles. By removing the dash, all sorts of stuff can go wrong. I just hope they put their best guy on it.
 

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Surprise, AZ, USA
#10
That sucks, but it has to be fixed. Try not to worry and hope for the best. Good luck!
 

OP
JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #12
That sucks, but it has to be fixed. Try not to worry and hope for the best. Good luck!
Yep; you’re right, it does have to be fixed and we’ll hope for the best.
BTW, I see you’re from Whittier. I was born and raised there. Lived at the top of Hadley in Whittier Hills. Miss that place!
 

KegsBdry

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#13
I had mine set to 3 and I don't think it ever came on. I'm not looking forward to the dash being ripped up to get it fixed.
 

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JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #14
I had mine set to 3 and I don't think it ever came on. I'm not looking forward to the dash being ripped up to get it fixed.
What was set to 3? The Auto button had 3 lights? That’s just for the max fan speed while in auto mode.
 

KegsBdry

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#15
What was set to 3? The Auto button had 3 lights? That’s just for the max fan speed while in auto mode.
Sorry, should have specified. The Seat Warmer was set to 3 and the AUTO HVAC was set to 2. Aren't the heated seats electric? Or do they require forced air to heat your seat?
 

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JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #16
The heated seats are electric and do not used forced air. They are unrelated to the HVAC system. If it’s your heated seats that you’re having issues with, the dash won’t need to come out.
 

hbalek

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#17
If you have heated/cooled seats then there is forced air for both. You can hear the fan come on for both heat and cool. My previoius 2 vehicles were the same way, a 2010 and 2013 MKZ. The fans were really loud on the previous generations. I found this discussion: https://www.f150forum.com/f38/seat-heater-blower-malfunction-238767/
 

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JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #18
If you have heated/cooled seats then there is forced air for both. You can hear the fan come on for both heat and cool. My previoius 2 vehicles were the same way, a 2010 and 2013 MKZ. The fans were really loud on the previous generations. I found this discussion: https://www.f150forum.com/f38/seat-heater-blower-malfunction-238767/
The “cool” function uses a fan, heat does not. Neither use the HVAC blower.
 

hbalek

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#19
The “cool” function uses a fan, heat does not. Neither use the HVAC blower.
Both use a fan but for the heat function the fan comes on for a few seconds and doesn't stay on for very long but for the cool it stays on the entire time. I've had heated/cooled seats for 10 years and this is how they work. No one said anything about the HVAC blower. The fans are built into the seats.

Also found this technical explanation:

The seats use Peltier/Thermoelectric Plates. So it blows both hot and cold air. There is a module in the seat bottom and one in the seat back. They basically consist of a fan that blows over a Peltier plate. The plate can become hot or cold depending on the polarity. That's the simple explanation anyway.

And another:

These seats, like all Ford / Lincoln heated cooled seats, use a "TED" (Thermo-electric device) to generate the heat and the cold.

These devices generate heat on with polarity on one side, and remove heat with polarity on the opposite side. Pressing the cool button simply switches the polarity on the device.

A fan moves air across the heat sink of the device in both cases and blows this air through ducting up through the perforations on both the seat backrest and base. There may be 2 TEDs in each seat, we haven't determined that fully with this model yet.

The TEDs are more effective at heating than cooling, plus hot air rises. The fan will operate, but at a very low speed (so as not to cool the TED) but still move the air to the perforations.

Cooling uses more airflow to try and be effective.

The heated seat fans sometimes turn up and then down to control temp.
 

Last edited:
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JohnE

JohnE

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Thread Starter #20
I had mine set to 3 and I don't think it ever came on. I'm not looking forward to the dash being ripped up to get it fixed.
Sorry, should have specified. The Seat Warmer was set to 3 and the AUTO HVAC was set to 2. Aren't the heated seats electric? Or do they require forced air to heat your seat?
Both use a fan but for the heat function the fan comes on for a few seconds and doesn't stay on for very long but for the cool it stays on the entire time. I've had heated/cooled seats for 10 years and this is how they work. No one said anything about the HVAC blower. The fans are built into the seats.
This thread is about the HVAC system but thanks for pointing out that the seat fan subsidizes the heated seat function; I never knew that.
 

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