Heat From Footwell

[Petrolhead]

anyone notice excessive heat coming from the footwell? i noticed it today on my drive back home from the city. is this the heat coming off from the engine? i thought it was residual heat from the cabin after being parked in the sun for a couple hours but after a 30 min drive and all windows and sunroof open, it was still warm. i should mention that it was an especially warm (90 degrees) and beautiful virginia day and i did not have the AC on at all. should i be worried?

[aaronz]

Yep I get the same thing, chalked it up to heat from the engine going through the vent system and into cabin since it doesn't close it off when "off"

[Petrolhead]

Yep I get the same thing, chalked it up to heat from the engine going through the vent system and into cabin since it doesn't close it off when "off"

interesting. glad i'm not the only one. shouldnt there be some kind of heat shield or something to prevent this sort of thing?

[Skywagon]

The car has two catalytic convertors up against the foot wells. They are darn hot. If you don't run air on a hot day I'd wager your feet cook?

[drob23]

If you try cars w/o auto climate control, and leave the temp dial all the way in the Red, you'll get heat through the vents even if the climate control is off. So guessing this is something where you left it in a certain auto setting and it isn't changing while off. Could try turning on the AC and then turning off? I'm really not a fan of auto climate control.

[Petrolhead]

The car has two catalytic convertors up against the foot wells. They are darn hot. If you don't run air on a hot day I'd wager your feet cook?

they were definitely sweating at the very least!

If you try cars w/o auto climate control, and leave the temp dial all the way in the Red, you'll get heat through the vents even if the climate control is off. So guessing this is something where you left it in a certain auto setting and it isn't changing while off. Could try turning on the AC and then turning off? I'm really not a fan of auto climate control.

not exactly sure what you mean. my climate control was completely off as in the screens were all blank. I don't like to use my A/C frequently but it usually stays within the 70-73 degree range.

[drob23]

they were definitely sweating at the very least!



not exactly sure what you mean. my climate control was completely off as in the screens were all blank. I don't like to use my A/C frequently but it usually stays within the 70-73 degree range.

Go drive a car with plain old climate control (knobs, not auto temp). Turn the fan off. Move the dial between hot and cold, you'll get hot air out of the vents even if the fan is off.

[Skywagon]

Go drive a car with plain old climate control (knobs, not auto temp). Turn the fan off. Move the dial between hot and cold, you'll get hot air out of the vents even if the fan is off.

Correct, even with your A/C or heat totally off air will be coming into the car. I'd wager it's a safety item mandated by the gubment.

[Petrolhead]

Go drive a car with plain old climate control (knobs, not auto temp). Turn the fan off. Move the dial between hot and cold, you'll get hot air out of the vents even if the fan is off.

oh gotcha. i must admit, it's been awhile since i've driven one of those!

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

Is your S4 manual? I've pretty much experienced this from every manual vehicle I've ever driven if I don't have the AC on.

Once the firewall gets hot enough it will radiate heat into the cabin. Where the pedals are is the least insulated so heat transfer is the highest.

I wouldn't worry about it. if the heat bothers your feet too much turn the ac on the lowest setting for the footwells with the windows down. This usually cancels out the excessive heat.

Jason

[SwankPeRFection]

Never had this issue, but be aware that the vents cycle to open (fresh air) and possibly route down to feet only when the climate control fans are set to off. So, what happens is when you're driving, the air coming in across the cowl will come into the car as part of the normal driving speed/air forced in. Also, the air pickup is under the hood in the cowl, so you are picking up hot air from under there. Unless it's still cold in Virginia, how are you driving around without A/C on?

[achilleas101]

i haven't experienced this in this car, but i know in my b6 A4, the heater's heating element was under the steering column. so that would heat up (think like you push in the cigarette lighter to heat that up) to be "ready" for turning on the heat if you so wished. But if i had no climate control on, i'd just feel radiant heat coming up from that area. Really annoying. Figured out a window configuration to flow the air well enough to not feel it, but if the temp was in say the 60s and i didn't want the windows open, i'd feel it after about 20 minutes of driving.

try having the sunroof open with the back windows down a few inches, front windows closed. see how that circulates the air for you