Climatronic. When is MAX not MAX?

[Thorfinn]

Not sure if this has been posted before? Can anyone tell me why when you select the MAX option on the Climatronic system, in order to clear the windscreen, the maximum possible fan speed is not actually engaged. It only goes to level 4 of 6 and there are another 2 speeds that you have to manually select if you want "full" fan speed. Secondly does anyone know how to change this?

Cheers.

[Aspman]

I just turn the dial up and try not to worry about the logic of car builders.

[Fatbloke]

I couldn't find any obvious setting using VCDS

[silver1011]

Hit max, if you want more noise wind the dial up the extra two notches!

[J00SPD29]

Hit max, if you want more noise wind the dial up the extra two notches!

Why bother posting a sarcastic reply to what is a perfectly valid and sensible question? I have always wondered as to why its says max but doesn't put it onto max!

[Jockdooshbag]

I did wonder this myself as ive been using the "max" setting a lot lately. It is quite loud though so having it even loder doesnt really appeal, plus normally the car is cold anyway when its engaged so more cold air probably isnt going to help too much anyway.

Heated front windscreen is what we need, hopefully this will be standard on most cars soon as i cant get my head round why it isnt.

[Jockdooshbag]

Why bother posting a sarcastic reply to what is a perfectly valid and sensible question?

Relax mate. Hardly offensive was it?? Seems like humour is against the rules on here sometimes or at least some think it is.

[Aspman]

Heated front windscreen is what we need, hopefully this will be standard on most cars soon as i cant get my head round why it isnt.

Patent was owned by Ford until recently. I think it's has expired which is why it's appearing on more and more cars. I had it on a Focus in 2001 and it was by far the best option I've ever had on a car.

[iscacamper]

I have a feeling this is done because if the fan is on maximum, the airflow is so fast that some if it deflects off the windscreen, reducing its effectiveness. I think the air flows more smoothly over the whole screen if the fan is set a little bit below max. There will also be less turbulence at lower fan speeds. This is just from general experience, and I have no real evidence to back this up!

[eccleshill]

The climatronic is a pretty darned clever piece of kit! The fan speed is reduced when the engine is cold and/or when ambient air temperature is cold. Switch to max in summer when the engine is up to temperature and it will run the fan on max.

The system is trying to get the optimum balance between airflow and temperature. If it is -10 outside and your engine is barely warm then by reducing airflow you can still get "warm" air to defrost/demist the screen albeit at a lower flow rate.

Think of it like your electric shower at home - you can have a high pressure torrent of barely warmed water or, by reducing the flow you get warm/hot water. In winter, because the inlet water temperature is lower, you need to run at a lower flow than in summer to get the same temperature or you can increase the heat input..

[Thorfinn]

Thanks iscacamper. I follow your logic and wouldn't disagree. It would make more sense just to have the "screen" symbol and leave the MAX off the button. Also agree with the other comments re. heated screen. The Mrs' Fiesta has one and it works a treat for condensation and ice.

[Thorfinn]

Likewise eccleshill. Cheers. Read your post afterwards.