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HVAC controls swap from 2008 to the 09+ -- Do they work the same?

2K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Alpinwolf 
#1 ·
This is a minor thing that's half cosmetic and half functional. I got the 08 WRX and love it, while also seeing room for improvement. One of those things is that the smooth HVAC knobs on the 08 have no way to grip them well if you have light gloves or dry hands. In the '09, they came out with the 5-star knobs, and I've been very slightly jealous. There are other things like power and handling that I'm more jealous of, but that's not the point here, today. :laugh:

So I just got a gently used HVAC control cluster off eBay from a "09-10" WRX, appearing in almost perfect condition. I wrestled my dash apart and installed it today (and, BTW, the service manual I had "acquired" as reference was NOT terribly clear on what-all I had to take apart...) and tested it. As far as I can tell it's doing all the right things with my HVAC system. Except one.

Here's the question:
Does the 09-10 WRX HVAC have a function that, when you press and hold either the air circulation button (left) or the AC button (right) for about 3 seconds, it blinks at you briefly and goes into "automatic" mode?

My '08 does this (well, did this), and the replacement has no response at all to my pressing the buttons for that long. So is this a feature change/delete? I can probably learn to live with it - it's minor, like the knobs themselves - or I could probably take the control clusters apart and swap the circuit boards, but I would like to know if the device is flawed or if this is normal.

Thanks!!
 
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#2 ·
On the 09's the automatic is set by turning the fan knob to auto, and then you can also have where the air coming from (vents versus defrost) set to auto as well by turning the knob to that position.
 
#3 ·
Thanks Boosted! Those functions are working the same between the two versions. But it's not the knob functions I'm asking about, but the buttons inside the knobs.

On the stock 08, I can set the fan speed to auto on the left knob, the vent selection to auto on the middle knob, the temperature is "auto" regulated based on the right knob, the Outside Air vs Recirculate can be set to auto by pressing the left button for 3 seconds, there seems to be no function to holding the middle defrost button, and the activity of the AC compressor can be set to auto by holding the right button in for 3 seconds. Those hold-in functions give feedback by blinking the indicator light on the button a few times, before settling on whatever the HVAC computer thinks is best.

But do all those functions exist on the 09-10? The button hold-in didn't seem to do anything. What does the 09-10 owner's manual say about how that works?

Cheers!
 
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