AC or heater - problem!

[Abelgoddard]

This has happened a few times now. I'm in Texas. It's July. Hot is an understatement. But I've turned on the car and the ac is set to *anything* and the car is blowing heated air at the highest level. I know it's heated because even the outside air wasn't as warm as what was blowing. Basically, it seems like it's stuck. On a couple of occasions, it eventually turned cool after about 10 minutes of driving. Today was weird, though. I remote started while the car was plugged in at work. When I got to the car, it was blowing cold air and had cooled the interior a fair amount. So of course then I unplug and store the cable, and then get in. I get into drive mode, and immediately the heat wave rolled in! I put down the windows to get some relief! Today I just couldn't let it try to cycle into cool, so I tried rapidly turning the ac off and on a few times, maybe 5 or 6. Still hot air. I kill it. I get to a stop light and turn it on again, and it starts blowing hot but within a few seconds cycles into cool finally. The rest of the trip was no problem.

Thoughts? Ideas? Solutions?

 

[hybridbear]

What level of climate electricity draw was showing on the dash during the episodes of hot air? Does turning the HVAC all the way to "LO" help?

 

[Abelgoddard]

A) I haven't seen the climate draw option. Could probably find it, just haven't seen it yet and haven't looked.
B) Nope. Hi, low, mid. AC on, AC off (just fan). Didn't matter. Still blew heated air.

Typing that last bit makes me think it could be something actually really wrong. Unless y'all have any ideas/solutions, I might have to take it in for a diagnostic.

 

[Abelgoddard]

It was L1. I suppose it's possible that the battery was hot, but it had been plugged in for hours. :-/
I have the same circumstance today. I'll see if it duplicates tonight.

 

[Abelgoddard]

No problem tonight. The car had longer on the remote start, but when I got in it was blowing coolish. Not cold, but the cabin temp seemed to be around 80 instead of 120, so that was good. When I turned it on to drive mode the air quickly turned cold. I guess when it happens again - I'm assuming when, not if - I'll take careful note of everything surrounding the occurrence. If I take it to the dealership, would the diagnostic and fix be covered by warranty I wonder?

 

[WattsUp]

No problem tonight. The car had longer on the remote start, but when I got in it was blowing coolish. Not cold, but the cabin temp seemed to be around 80 instead of 120, so that was good. When I turned it on to drive mode the air quickly turned cold. I guess when it happens again - I'm assuming when, not if - I'll take careful note of everything surrounding the occurrence. If I take it to the dealership, would the diagnostic and fix be covered by warranty I wonder?

Are you sure all this isn't you just not being patient enough with the A/C? When I first turn on A/C in the my FFE, it doesn't get "instantly cold". Sometimes it will take a little while (though no longer than a couple minutes). In a hot car though, any air blowing through the vents will "feel warm" at first. That doesn't mean the heater is running though.

I haven't noticed any difference in the A/C behavior based on whether the car is in drive or not. For me, the A/C works the same whether I'm parked or moving.

 

[WattsUp]

A) I haven't seen the climate draw option. Could probably find it, just haven't seen it yet and haven't looked.

The "climate" and "other" energy meter view is one of the display options for the MyView section of the left-hand dashboard display. You have to configure it. It is not the default mode of the MyView section.

Whenever the heater is actually running, the climate usage graph will zoom past 5 kW. When the A/C is running, it will always be much lower... something like 0.5 kw to 3 kW (at most). When the climate system is completely off, the climate usage graph will barely register anything.

I have this mode of MyView configured all the time, so I know where my energy is going.

 

[jmueller065]

I have a (somewhat blurry) picture of the my view configured this way here:
http://jamiegeek.myevblog.com/2013/09/25/butterflies-really-what-your-dashboard-can-tell-you/

 

[michael]

Was your car plugged in when you started the A/C? I think I noticed the same thing. I approached the car and heard the TMS running. With the car still plugged in, I turned it on, to check battery level. The A/C came on but blew warm, and the green car symbol of course didn't come on. I unplugged the car with it still on, and still warm air. Then I restarted the car, the green symbol came on, and the A/C got quickly cold.

This was on a hot day and the TMS was active when charging. Could this be the same case you are seeing?? If so sounds like this is the way it's intended to work, not a malfunction.

 

[Abelgoddard]

It was remote started, and blowing cold while plugged in. When I unplugged it started blowing warmer. When I put it in drive it kicked into highest fan level and was blowing heated air, far hotter than even the 100 degrees outside. It continued blowing for several minutes at the same levels. Not to sound condescending, but I'm 39 years old and am very familiar with the way AC works, and it takes a minute to blow cold. But at no time does it actively blow HEATED air. I'm certain that the air was heated versus just unconditioned air being blown at high speed.

I will set the My View appropriately and take note of conditions at next occurrence. Thanks for the info about the AC/heater energy being consumed.

 

[WattsUp]

Not to sound condescending, but I'm 39 years old and am very familiar with the way AC works, and it takes a minute to blow cold.

I'm 43 and was only trying to help. :? I didn't assume you didn't know "how A/C works". But, none of us are sitting next to you in your car. So, I was merely attempting to figure out more about what you're experiencing and/or suggest what might be happening.

On that note... is it possible that when you plugged in your car, the A/C switched from whatever temperature you had programmed for the remote start (perhaps the low 65 degree setting) to some previous (perhaps warmer) setting? The car has many software bugs, so something like this wouldn't be very surprising.

Also, I've noticed that the FFE climate controls are pretty sensitive and also a little "dumb". Even if the cabin temperature differs by only one degree cooler than the set temperature, the heater will come on, even when it's much warmer outside. You'd think a car with limited energy resources would be smart enough to simply bring in some outside air, but it instead attempts to heat the cabin air using the battery.

I find the MyView climate extremely useful for noticing when the heater comes on unexpectedly. You will see the climate energy graph spike usually well before you feel any warmth (and before much energy has been wasted). I usually notch the set temperature a little lower and the heat goes back off. Or, turn the "recirculate" setting off (if it's on), since this also seem to convince the climate system that it doesn't need to heat the cabin air with the heater.

 

[Abelgoddard]

I'm 43 and was only trying to help.

I do appreciate the ideas and help - I was a bit put off. Sorry.

On that note... is it possible that when you plugged in your car, the A/C switched from whatever temperature you had programmed for the remote start (perhaps the low 65 degree setting) to some previous (perhaps warmer) setting? The car has many software bugs, so something like this wouldn't be very surprising.

That's what I think, it's a bug. I had it set for 72, never changed that.

Even if the cabin temperature differs by only one degree cooler than the set temperature, the heater will come on, even when it's much warmer outside.

The cabin temp was markedly cooler than outside when I got in. When the full blast heat turned on, it was startling. I'm used to it turning on full blast and getting warm outside air and then turning cool in a minute, that happens every day - Texas, in July, right?

I usually notch the set temperature a little lower and the heat goes back off. Or, turn the "recirculate" setting off (if it's on), since this also seem to convince the climate system that it doesn't need to heat the cabin air with the heater.

Definitely. That's what really raised my eyebrow. I turned the temp all the way down and it continued blasting the heated air. I tried back and forth all the way up and down a few times. I tried turning the AC on and off several times rapidly. I hit the max AC button several times, alternating with the AC on/off button. Basically, I kept changing a whole bunch of settings to try to force the computer to realize "oh the current thing I'm doing isn't right I should change and start doing what my owner tells me." I immediately was trying these options after turning the temp to Lo - the car I got out of to get the FFE (it was an 07 Accord EXL (top of the line every option available)) had recently developed a similar heater/AC issue, except the fan would adjust according to how extreme a temperature change I was trying to make. The air temp coming out would stay hot until I lowered the setting to the low 60s and then it would wake up and blow cold and I could adjust the desired temp to the normal settings (74ish usually). Having that issue start up was the cherry on top of my decision to get out of it ASAP - I sure didn't want to spend dough to fix it since I knew I wanted out soon anyway. I knew I could set the AC to low when I took it to the dealer so that it would be working when they looked at it and they wouldn't take $$ from the offer on it because of an AC problem. It worked, too. I got a pretty good price for it.

I find the MyView climate extremely useful for noticing when the heater comes on unexpectedly. You will see the climate energy graph spike usually well before you feel any warmth (and before much energy has been wasted).

I found the climate in MyView and have set it now, so I can see what it's doing immediately. So far, in the month I've had the car, I haven't needed to turn on the heater. But when I changed the MyView setting yesterday, I noticed the huge spike of the AC as it tried to bring the cabin down from the superheated sun induced state. It didn't get to 5, but it was sure high 4, until the temp was down and it crept back down. It never got real low, but then it was still having to cool fairly significantly against the noon summer heat at lunch time and the 5 o'clock heat when I left.

Again, thanks for all the info. I'm loving this forum for all the FFE info and admiration.

 

[mattbrown]

I noticed a simular circumstance the other day. I had the car set to a go time and a temp of 65 F, when I got in the car it was very cool and blowing cold air. I unplugged the car and once started I noticed hot air coming from the vents.

It didn't take long for me to realize my climate control was set to auto at 70 F. Once I bumped the temp down to 65 F the heat stopped and the fan slowed. The car was just reacting to a temp lower then its "Auto" set point.

I now leave the AC and auto climate off and set to temp to "low" when I get in after a go time. I also set the climate to inside air with the fan on low. I find I can drive the first 10-15 miles without the temp rising much. Hopefully your issue is just something simular to mine, but I wonder if the HVAC in the FFE is controlled by vacuum pumps and switches like most cars. If it is you may have a bad switch/pump.

 

[Abelgoddard]

A bad switch sounds about right. Next time it happens I'm for sure taking it in. Thanks.

 

[Abelgoddard]

Definitely taking this in. Yesterday at work I was plugged in all day, both because of heat and because I needed 12 hours of charging. Before I got in to leave, I'd remote started through the app, for 15 minutes. When I got in, it was as hot as ever, but the fan was blowing. After I stowed the EVSE and the sunshade, I turned the car to Drive. I pulled away with the AC set to Lo and the air was blasting. Normally turns cold in a minute or so. I gave it a solid 3 minutes, during which it blew untreated air (neither heated nor cooled). I started messing with switches and settings and the fan would lessen if I turned the temp closer to ambient, and then it would heat if I turned the setting to high. Looking at the energy meter, when the AC should have been blowing cold, there was zero on the Climate bar. When it heated the Climate climbed to 5+. For the next 7 minutes I would modify every single AC control setting I could. Finally, 10 minutes after getting in to drive, cold air started coming out. The Climate bar correspondingly climbed as well.

So there you go. If anyone else ever has this happen, you're not alone. I'll report back what the dealer finds.