having owned an 08 Vue XR myself before totaling it in a 5 mph bumper thump. I must say they drive quite niceley and with the 3.6 v6 if you got that you can blow a lot of A holes off the road when they try to pass you on the right for no reason whatsoever.

They handle well, and aside from the intermediate shaft in the steering making noise which was normal until it was finally declared not normal, we had 0 issues until the waveplate tranny issue

It wasn't until a few years later I started reading about the brakes doing the equivalent of applying themselves. Later read it had something to do with the brake lines deteriorating from the inside out, almost like the fluid must have been boiling under normal usage and corroding the steel, blah blah blah
GM is known for their crappy HVAC motor driven actuators. I should say AC Delco puts cheap motors in them.

Just replaced one on my neighbor's 05 Silverado 1500 pickup last weekend.

Yours sounds like an blend door issue AND a "diverter" issue. Lemme go look at the drawing and I'll post again

 

Once you get the MIL, the faulting component gets disabled. I'm going to wildly guess that the Mode Door Actuator (changes which vents the air comes through) CIRCUIT has an issue. I say circuit because it may be a bad connection or the Mode door actuator itself may have failed. Either way, it prob defaults to the footwell setting when the flap loses power to the motor ((I am GUESSING that is what disable means. If the mode actuator door were flipping around, the air would be randomly coming out of different vents, and that's not the case. So, 1 problem noted.

The Air temperature Actuator ( will be 2 if dual zone so check if pass and driver side behave the same) controls the mix of cooled air and hot air that are mixed to reach the desired temp setting on the HVAC module. If this is stuck on cold for one side, MIGHT be the actuator. If cold on BOTH sides, I begin to get suspicious.

Does recirc work? not just turn on, but actually close off the fresh air intake and speed up the fan?

When the equivalent of 2 actuators go south at exactly the same time it is usually:
1) Loose connector, poor connection at the HVAC module itself, causing the head not to get the response it commanded from the actuators and then shutting them down

2) The HVAC head itself is either confused or defective in some way.

I do not know the history of the HVAC systems on the 2nd gen Vues so I am going off a completely independent examination of the symptoms.

If you are getting a MIL. get the codes read by someone with a true scanner (not Autozone....)..it needs to be a scanner capable of reading "Body" or B codes, which is what this type of problem will set. Autozone only reads P codes (generally emissions related). If you have a good bud, it's free. If you have to get a diag done at a mechanic, it's prob $90. then the question is do you want to fix this yourself even if you have to dismantle 3/4 of the dash (theoretical) or do you want a shop to fix it?

Write down the Bxxxx codes and post them here. Just remember that if you take it to a 2nd shop for the work, you're paying for a second diag.

You can also have codes that do not set the MIL.
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Before you do anything

1) research the net for similar problems and solutions
2) consider purchase of a scanner (not code reader) that can pull these types of codes. There are decent ones at the $200 and slightly lower price point. The equivalent of 2 uses and it's paid for IF you repair it yourself. Even if you do not, you know what's wrong and are much less likely to get ripped off on the repair -- so in theory that may save you money.
3) Price out a replacement HVAC head, Air temp control actuator, and mode door actuator. See what the worst possible damage is.
4) THEN decide what to do or come back here and post the info and we'll do our best to help you

 

today I drove the wife's 2009 Vue XE with 3.5 . and at idle wow no warm air at all, but once the revs hit 1000 rpm it's fine. I turned the heat control back and forth a few times but it's still the same, then I pushed the recycling button , and the heat did decrease at idle but it still blew warm air. Like I said it is her car so I had no idea if it is resent or if it has been that way for years. But at -38 if it sucking in that cold air it may be just too much cold air

 

Where does the temp gauge on the dash read?

-38?
Minnesota or UP?

 

It was -38 at 8 am and it warmed up to -32 by noon, but the coolant temp stayed at 84 C which is about 195. But last night the kid was using the car and said we were all crazy because he found the car very warm and didn't notice any drop at idle. So I don't know

 

oh so you're in Canada....
195 F is right on so you should, in theory, get some heat.
What mix are you using and have you tested the specific gravity of what's in the car to ensure it is what you think it is?

You might have a partial blockage in the heater core or the lines leading to /from it. limiting the amount of warm coolant getting past the blower fan per unit time. At higher rpm, enough coolant might be getting by.
Once the vehicle is up tp operating temp, let it idle and see if the supply and return lines o the heater core are pretty close in temp (hand test). Then do the same with revs held at 1500. The higher revs with the vehicle sitting still should not make much difference w r t the reading at the coolant temp sensor since that is an average of the temp of everything going by it and the heat dissipates into the coolant and then within the coolant isteslf

Seems you should have your answer just letting it warm up at idle.

 

I will check that, but I will use my infrared temperature gun , it is more accurate, But I will wait for the cold snap to end