Even with the no heat or AC turned on, the vent directly above the dash controls (directly to the right of the steering wheel) is getting burning hot. It doesn't happen every time I drive, maybe 1 out of every 2 or 3 times. It is hot enough that it has burned skin.

It may be coinciding with an odd smell coming into the car.

Any ideas?

Climate control door, maybe?

If the plastic vent is hot enough to burn you it should also be melting. Possible short in the radio or other wiring? I would pop the dash pad and inspect.

There isn't air blowing through, just extreme heat on on that one vent.

If I close the vent (using the wheel thing) it will cool and the others will warm a bit, but not nearly as much as that one.

Is the air hot or the vent itself hot? You may also have an actuator problem in the passenger zone that's diverting heat to the driver's sideif we're just talking about air coming out hotter on one side than the other.

"Burning hot" air from a single vent accompanied by an odd smell might be an electrical short circuit. The ductwork makes it possible to move air, at a different temperature than the passenger side, out of the driver's side dash vents, but that air would come from both driver's side dash vents. If it's not electrical, the posts by other members concerning faults in the heat and distribution doors need to be tracked down - pull your DTC's from the car's built-in system to see if there's a HVAC system code or two showing up.

The vent itself is hot. If I hold my hand an inch or so from the vent there is nothing. If I touch the vent, burning.

If I turn on the AC, it will blow out cold air and cool down the vent pretty quickly. If I crank the heat, the other vents get warm but not nearly as hot as the problem vent.

I'll pull the codes in a bit and see if there is anything. I haven't seen anything current recently.

The vent itself is hot. If I hold my hand an inch or so from the vent there is nothing. If I touch the vent, burning.

If I turn on the AC, it will blow out cold air and cool down the vent pretty quickly. If I crank the heat, the other vents get warm but not nearly as hot as the problem vent.

I'll pull the codes in a bit and see if there is anything. I haven't seen anything current recently.

That just doesn't sound right. I'm back in the electrical short camp. Possibly a problem with your head unit. Is there a correlation to when the radio/CD is on or off?

The vent is plastic so it's not conductive and there is nothing electrical behind it, just an air duct. Pull the vent and have a look.

No current codes that affect this. Just the security system code that has something to do with the way my remote starter was installed.

It did not get hot at all Monday with or without the radio.

Yesterday and got hot (and smelled... can't describe the smell. Burning crap?) with and without the radio.

You suggested to pull the vent or dash pad and look. How do I remove those?

The smell part is what makes me think either a short or high resistance ground. The ground problem could increase the current draw enough to heat the wires but not enough to blow a fuse. Did the hot vent problem start soon after your remote starter was installed or any other work done to the car?

To remove the dashpad: You must remove the A-pillar trim first to get enough room to lift the dashpad. The vents are held in by a spring tab at the top and bottom. They're a PITA to get released, you need to slide something thin between the vent and dash to get them to pull back. Some people use credit cards, I use a piece of aluminum roof flashing with a V-shaped notch cut in the side to work around the tabs. Once you get all 4 vents out there will be a 7 mm hex head screw behind each vent. Remove those (close the vents first so they don't go down the duct if you drop them) and the dash pad should lift upin the front and slide forward to disengage the rear clips. Disconnect the speaker wiring harness before completely removing the dash pad. You are looking for anything burned, scorched, melted, or discolored in the area of that duct. For the temperature and smell issues you posted you may have a potential fire hazard so I would not put it off too long.

I think I'm a little out of my league with this one. Am I going to get killed at a dealer?

I think I'm a little out of my league with this one. Am I going to get killed at a dealer?

Problem is they will not be able to estimate the job up front because you don't know the cause of the problem, only the symptoms. So they'll happily let you pay them diagnostic labor at $100? an hour and then add book rate on top of that for whatever the repair for the problem becomes.

I might have another piece of the puzzle. I have realized that if I turn on the AC for a minute, it cools down and won't get hot again.

Something is making that vent hot. The AC is cooling it at least temporarily. The question becomes: why is it just that one vent? The heat is coming from somewhere. This could be as simple as a malfunctioning heat zone actuator directing hot air through that vent. Without codes this is a challenge to solve.

Something is making that vent hot. The AC is cooling it at least temporarily. The question becomes: why is it just that one vent? The heat is coming from somewhere. This could be as simple as a malfunctioning heat zone actuator directing hot air through that vent. Without codes this is a challenge to solve.

I think it might be challenging even with the codes :)

I've got four codes, all in History:

B3055 - Key Not Present
U1016 - Loss of Communications with PCM
U1713 - Loss of Front Door Module to Window Motor High Speed Comm.
U1715 - Loss of Front Door Module to Window Motor High Speed Comm.

:hmm: Stuff in proximity to that vent:

IPC
Radio Head Unit
Center Dash Speaker
Some random wiring I remember seeing the last time I had my dashpad off.

I guess its possible that the dual-zone actuator could be involved somehow but I'd expect the extreme heat to be coming from the driver's footwell too. :hmm: :hmm: :wtf: