Living in Chicago, it gets a bit cold here. The heater takes 15 minutes to warm the car interior, even on a mild 32 degree-F day. Very low miles.....will take to the dealer shortly, but looking for some insight from the vets.

Anyone having a similar experience? Any fixes?

I really hate to resort to the old trick of blocking part of the radiator with cardboard.

 

Apparently that is how they do it. I am in Ga. and mine takes a good while too. There was another thred on this..

 

Thats what I had to do to my Camaro when I was stationed in Alaska.

 

I'm in the Chicago area as well.

Is it 15 mins of idling?

If that's so, I'd say that's normal. Driving, mine takes about five minutes to start producing heat on days when it's below freezing - more if it's far below freezing.

 

takes a bit of time to warm up you say? Normal. I wouldnt block off the radiator cuz when it does get warm, it'll get really warm.

 

The radiator really should not be part of this equation. The coolant in the engine is separated from the radiator by the thermostat, which shouldn't open until the coolant temp is around 180 degrees F. You should be feeling heat long before the thermostat opens up. If you're having unusually long warmup times the thermostat should be checked.

 

mine takes about 10 min to defrost the ice off the windows and get the inside nice and toasty.

 

yeah the heater in the 8 is terrible...my '86 accord was about 5x better

 

i think the heater is fine it's the heated seats i have a problem with.

 

yeah, they're nothing to write home about either...i agree

 

My heater works so well that it practically suffocates you within a minute, and you have to turn it off. The defroster is good too. And it can get chilly here in L.A.--down into the '40's most nights, and many nearby areas into the '30's. So, I guess everyone has different experiences. Perhaps putting on the fan full-blast will help.

 

i am from chicago as well, it sounds normal to me. heater isnt very powerful, esp the feet one, cant feel much underneath.

 

Try the top vents only; keeps the AC from coming on..... Maybe that's the issue.

 

I think that Chicago is more like 0 lately.
I live about 90 miles south of there and mine takes about 7-8 to warm up in this weather to it is barley putting out heat. Turning up the blower just blows more cold air. After about 12-15 minutes the car is toasty inside. The heated seats in mine work fairly decent when it is really cold. They get warm in about 3-4 minutes and sure make a difference. They are really only warm when it is very cold.

 

even when its winter the transmision tunnel heats my car up. no matter what my car is warm quick.

 

but its 26 degrees here in jersey and i still am wearing shorts maybe i have a slight skewed perception of when im cold.

 

Yeah, I guess I should have mentioned that I'm in Calgary...so 30 fahrenheit is quite warm for us this time of year...lately it's been ~ -4 degrees fahrenheit

 

don't you have to have AC selected for AC to come on? or does it come on automatically for US cars?

 

I thought it had to be selected.

He may have meant it cools/heats much better when its set on top vents only. It loses its effectiveness if its set to both top +bottom vents? Well I find that to be the case.

 

anytime the floor is selected defrost is selected. anytime defrost is selected AC is on. no matter if the indicator lights are on or not. so selecting top vent only will keep the ac from cycling on. however running the AC doesnt necessarilly cool anything. it depends on the temp selected. however it does help to scrub moisture from the air.

when heating the car up do you use recirc or fresh?

 

It's been so long since I had my 8 and I can't really remember what the buttons on my console looked like... but isn't there a "Recycle" button for the air flow? That will make it warm the interior quicker? Sorry if this is too elementary.:o Sometimes I forget to turn it on in my Maxima. It defaults to fresh.

 

One thing I did a while back that made an immense difference is to partially block off the rear seat floorwell ducts. You did know you have those, right?

Anyway, I rarely need the heat in the back, so I taped off about 50% of each one (1 driver's side, 1 passenger side) with duct tape. You can get to them from the rear floorwell with the seat scooted all the way forward. This, plus the seat heaters (which don't work fully unless the thermostat is set all the way to hot, BTW) make all the difference.

 

you now if all you rx8 dude like your zoom
zoom
than you should look fourwerds to your car because
you should not spend your tire on such a waste because
if your going to get a 8 you should be rilealy take
care of it or it will get tow up
[B][I][U][QUOTE]

 

I notice this too. The floor vents either aren't positioned well or aren't large enough to properly heat my feet. The heater is better at making noise than warming the car. The air coming out of the heater vents is certainly hot enough; but it seems the fan and/or ducting weren't designed terribly well.

On cold days here (<20F) I always let the car warm up for five minutes or so before driving - that seems to help. And the heated seats are a godsend.

 

I drive 45 minutes to work. When it's below 30 Halfway there and I'm comfy. Get heat in aboout 4 minutes but it takes a long time for comfort. Thankfull for heated seats. Above 30 out and it is comfy in about 10 minutes. Coldest car I own.