How would the blender door be the problem if the heat starts working later and the blender door control stays the same? Doesn't make sense to me....I would put money down it's the thermostat, although that should be obvious if the coolant temp gauge is it at one position after a few minutes and then it gets even higher after the 10 minutes, you can also feel the hoses with your hand or check the hoses with a infared temp gun (like $30-40 at harbor freight I think), aim it at the thermostat outlet and should be at whatever temp thermostat is made for after a few minutes once it fully settles to it's final position (they go thru mini cycles consisting of opening and closing but can only be seen on a quality gauge mounted in the right spot) and also the stock gauge I dont believe is that accurate but should be enough for what you need but could be seen with a temp gun. Can also compare the temp of the hoses at the engine and the inlet and outlet of the heater core, if the inlet and outlet has a huge difference then it's clogged but I doubt it since these are still new cars and shouldnt have gunk inside by then. But if the temp at the heater core inlet and outlets are at proper engine coolant temp (mine is 180) then you know it's not the heater core or engine related and you know it's something with the hvac system like the blender door or something related. I would say its low coolant but if it's not low then I vote for thermostat.

 

The air doesn't get even warm after the car warms up...its warmer then it was but still cold. I didn't have this issue last winter. Could there be any way that the door is stuck open/closed partially?

 

If that was the problem then why would the air change temp the more you drove it? Assuming you mean it's fullly warmed up when you feel the first warmish air (then gets lil warmer after driving more). If you measure the temp of the hoses going in and out of the heater core it will tell you where to look, if its thermostat related or inside dash related

 

I will measure the temp going in and out of the heater core, where is the best place to have access to them?

 

measure the temps of the two heater hoses going in and out in the engine bay firewall.

 

Word, Thanks

 

One poster who worked at an auto parts house wrote here that he had been able to obtain the correct thermostat for an Evo. I've tried to go the same route with aftermarket parts houses, even had them call their headquarters and no luck. So when you say you are running an aftermarket stat it causes me to think it is not the correct one. The stat that codes for an Evo in their database is actually for a Lancer.

On the other hand, the Evo 8 is notorious for jamming the blend door in the heater box. The problem is caused by the poorly designed levers that move the door. If you force the temperature knob hard enough the cable can kink adding to the problem. That, or the knob breaks off. I think you would know this because the knob become hard to turn from heat to cool. Redesigned replacement levers are available from Mitsu at minimal cost.

 

Fixed it...well a temporary fix. The door was stuck closed. I poked my head under the dash on the drivers side and I could see right away that the wire thing rod that pushes the door open and closed was bent. I manually pushed it open. now I just need to replace that rod.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcG20LmRZFU

 

Very help full, thank you