I'm having the same problem in my 996 and I see this is a common failure with this model's blower section. I get freezing cold air all summer long, but my heat is mildly warm, not hot like it should be. Oh well. Guess there are worse things to worry about.

 

+1 This is what happens. There are ways to fix some of the doors in your 996 without removing the whole thing. This is VW, same sh--t on the doors.

 

Thanks to all for all the informative replies. I probably do have a foam problem and I have learned to turn off the A/C, but my biggest beef and the reason I posted, is that on the Auto setting, it blows cold air until the block temp comes up, which seems to take much longer than other cars. Alternatively, my Toyota Rav4 on Auto keeps the fan off until the block reaches a reasonable temperature, after which the fan slowly increases speed as the temp rises. When the block/heater core is near operating temp the fan then blows max until the cabin temp reaches the preset, then backs off to maintenance flow. So I guess some of the problem is the the controller software design. Is the foam hard to fix? I do see foam pieces at the vent control vanes.
Guess I'll use my heated seats......

 

I agree with what you say about the behavior of the auto climate system as my experience matches yours. Apparently the programmers of the system didn't like how it was done it other cars. In my 996 my habit now is to turn the A/C off and the fan WAY down until I see the temp gauge come up some. And many thanks to "Bash Hat" for recommending setting the temp to 'Hi' - it does seem to produce more heat from the vents. Prior to this suggestion I was just leaving the temp at 72 (like I would in my other cars with automatic climate systems) and waiting... and waiting... and waiting some more.

I'm planning on doing the "easy" foam fix this weekend. While I hate cutting the inner vent housing, I don't want to disassemble the entire dash to achieve the same effect. And boy do I wish I had heated seats...

 

I did the foam fix this past weekend. I didn't drive the car until Tuesday and it was single digit temps that morning. I had some heat in about a mile and good heat shortly after--like a "normal" car. The repair was well worth it.

Thanks to all who helped with information!

 

just curious why it's recommended to run AC all the time. I get the defroster kicks the AC on, at least other cars I've owned.