What does this lever do? (dial to the right of the center vent)

[jumpfroggy]

So I've always wondered about this dial, and I don't have a user manual. I know the dial to the left of the center vents is an on/off for that vent, just like the door vents have one. But to the right of the center vents is a different dial with a different picture. What does that do? It shows an arrow blowing air onto the passenger, in one of the pics it's blue and in the other it's gray. All the other vents use the same air/no air icons, so I have to think this one does something different.

Anyone know? I've attached a fuzzy shot below. Thanks!

Edit: see the second pic...

 

[turbosax2]

The manual calls it the "cool air bypass lever".

Since you really seem interested in this, I'm going to take the cover off my brother's 95 and see what his user's manual says. Be back in a few.

"Center and side ventilators"
Set the ventilator dial to the open position. Air flows continually out from the side ventilators when the blower switch is turned on. From the center ventilator, air flows out when the blower switch is on, the mode selection knob is set to the (pointing at face, or face & feet) position and the cool air dial is set to the white position. Air flows out continually from the center ventilator, when the cool air dial is set to the blue position regardless of the mode selection knob position.

"Cool air dial"
While heating with the mode selection knob in the heating, heating and defrosting, or defrosting position, cool air can be delivered through the center ventilator to get rid of a glow in the upper half of the body.
-Set the dial to the blue position (move the dial all the way upward). Cool air can be delivered while introducing outside air or while operating the air conditioner.
-To stop the cool air flow, set the dial to the white position (move the dial all the way downward).

....

 

[jumpfroggy]

The manual calls it the "cool air bypass lever".

Interesting, now I finally know what to search for. So at this patent link, it describes what a cool air bypass does.

So from what I gather (why can't they explain it simpler? or have pretty pictures?) you normally have the Evaporator and Heater core inline. The bypass allows you to let air go straight from the AC to the center vents, while the rest of the vents still go through the heater core. This allows you to have cold AC towards the face, and heated (and AC?) air towards the feet. Weird.

So this may explain something else I've noticed... that in the wintertime, I'll get heat through my vents when I'm moving, but when the car is still the vents will start blowing cold. My AC is not on, but maybe the "cold air bypass" is allowing most of the air to bypass the heater core, so when I'm moving enough air is forced through by wind pressure to give me some heat, but when I'm still I'm just sucking through the bypass and not through the heater core. I really have to experiment with this once it gets cold again.

 

[jumpfroggy]

....

Thanks so much for looking that up. I'm laughing right now, it's just so twisted and complicated. So basically that's a "give me cold air no matter what" switch. That makes sense why I'd get cold air in the wintertime. So it seems like for normal usage, I just want to keep it on the white setting.

Thanks again turbosax2, that's bothered me since I got my first DSM about 3 years ago. Now I can finally sleep at night...

 

[turbosax2]

So it seems like for normal usage, I just want to keep it on the white setting.

Or you could get yourself a '99 - by then they figured out the switch was unnecessary so they got rid of it. Oh, Mitsubishi...

 

[RedTalon95]

I actually used that switch all the time in the winter. It allows you to put on full heated defrost, while still keeping cool air hitting you. Basically, it keeps you from sweating balls while the defrost is on full blast heat.

 

[crensinivon]

They use the a/c coils in defrost mode to pull water out of the air, like a dehumidifier. So when the humidity is high you can run your defroster on hot and point the center vent at your face and keep cool.

 

[Defiant]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/problem-diagnosis/100303-how-do-you-remove-center-vent-2g.html