No Floor Heat My Feet are Freezing!

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by jond

He said most owners just pay for repairs and don't worry about the warranty. WTF...

Yea, right... I hope you can find someone there that knows what he is talking about when you have to have your car worked on under the warranty.

He is correct about things like the loose bolt in the window mechanism, etc. It's often easier to fix it yourself then to drive to the dealer to have them do the work under warranty. But pay to have warranty work done ...

[Genjuro]

Originally Posted by jond

I was wondering about euroclassics(richmond, right).
The sales guy seemed snotty as **** when I asked about the elise warantee. He said most owners just pay for repairs and dont worry about the warantee. WTF...

Yeah, I haven't had what I would call a stellar experience with them. They are use to people buying Porsche... and I'm guessing more dollars than sense.

Also, let me translate what I think to be true. 'Most owners don't worry about warranty, but we do. We charge the customer and then charge Porsche and make twice as much money."

[ACE51]

throwback. did anyone ever find a solution? or does the factory floor air just "blow"

[LifesShortLiveFast]

Add me to the list... I've got an 06 with the same problem. The face vents will blow some serious HEAT... the floor vents aren't even warm. I wish it was the opposite! I ride with the top off and a nice jacket. I can always add a hat if it gets bad chilly but I cant do much about my feet going numb! If somebody decides to explore this PLEASE take pics!

[David Craig]

My Elise is a 2009. During the winter I noticed that there is not much heat for the feet. I just assumed that was the design of the car. The top outlets put out enough heat though.

Next time I think I will close some of the air vents on the dash to see if the heat will come out at the bottom.

[SirLotus]

Maybe this will help you troubleshoot.
Michael

[David Craig]

SirLotus,

"Footwell flap closed" from post 8.

Is that in the cockpit area of the car or up-front under the service panels?

Is it something I can easily test or do I need to take apart a lot of things to reach it?

Basically my 2009 Elise has never had any heat for the foot vents. My wife drove the car recently and complained and I told her I'd dig up this thread and sort it all out.

[SirLotus]

Originally Posted by David Craig

SirLotus,

"Footwell flap closed" from post 8.

Is that in the cockpit area of the car or up-front under the service panels?

Is it something I can easily test or do I need to take apart a lot of things to reach it?

Basically my 2009 Elise has never had any heat for the foot vents. My wife drove the car recently and complained and I told her I'd dig up this thread and sort it all out.

Access under the passenger side hood access panel. Remove the fuse box, making sure you don't drop the white spacers. Remove the 4" flexible air duct under the center body spline, where it enters the cockpit area under the windshield. Get your hand into the entrance and see if you can feel for the flap valve as shown in the diagram above and check for operation.
Michael

[David Craig]

Thanks!

When I got rid of my 26 year old Tercel last month I thought my "fiddling around" days were behind me. Should be a great weekend.

[David Craig]

I have been able to access the part I need to look at. However I cannot reach into it very much. My daughter helped a bit too. Her hands are smaller so she was able to reach in further.

However I think if I'm honest we can't solve this one so I think I'm just going to close everything up. I might see if I can add a bit of lubricant before I do so.

However I did manage to drop one of the white spacers. It landed in a location which looked like I could have retrieved it but alas I couldn't get it and it ended up descending to the bottom.

Question? Is there any way to retrieve it now? I thought that perhaps if I remove the front wheel and the wheel liner I might be able to get it. Anyone have any thoughts on that. Or will it potentially fall out on its own?

It is more or less directly under the passenger fuse box up in the front of the car.

[SirLotus]

Originally Posted by David Craig

I have been able to access the part I need to look at. However I cannot reach into it very much. My daughter helped a bit too. Her hands are smaller so she was able to reach in further.

However I think if I'm honest we can't solve this one so I think I'm just going to close everything up. I might see if I can add a bit of lubricant before I do so.

However I did manage to drop one of the white spacers. It landed in a location which looked like I could have retrieved it but alas I couldn't get it and it ended up descending to the bottom.

Question? Is there any way to retrieve it now? I thought that perhaps if I remove the front wheel and the wheel liner I might be able to get it. Anyone have any thoughts on that. Or will it potentially fall out on its own?

It is more or less directly under the passenger fuse box up in the front of the car.

I dropped one too and just left it there as it does not rattle. I found some spacers that I used instead.
Michael

[David Craig]

Tinkering into the night...

As mentioned in the previous post, I had dropped a plastic spacer into the area under the fuse box. I decided to remove the passenger wheel to hopefully gain access to it.

I have one of those devices that has an LCD screen and a long cable with a camera on the end (not sure of the name). I probed around from above the car and from the wheel well area but could not find the spacer. I hate giving up but in the end I had to.

As to the heater problem itself I did manage to grab the metal plate shown in photo one. I wiggled it a bit and added some lubricant but it didn't seem to make any difference. I also used the wire from a coat hanger to try to grab one end of the plate and pull it up. I think I did manage to do that, at least a little bit.

So, apart from the lost spacer, what was the result?

Previously I had either 100% heat to the defrost or 100% to the face vents with 0% to the floor. I now have floor heat but it is always on regardless of the setting. The defrost and face vents still work but have reduced flow, perhaps 30-40%.

I think the result although not perfect is probably better than what I had before. So I think I will leave well enough alone. To really solve this problem the front clam will need to come off but I don't plan to do that any time soon.

Thanks again SirLotus for the advice and instructions.

One more question. Is the plate for the foot heater only as long as shown in picture 1? The lighting was poor so perhaps the plate is actually longer and some is in darkness? These pictures were taken by jamming a camera in there--I couldn't directly see it.

Pictures:

1) The metal plate for the foot heater.
2) The passenger wheel removed, but the liner in place.
3 & 4) With the liner removed. Still really minimal access.