Air Conditioner Blowing Hot Air 3 days before my road trip...

[ArizonaP85]

I just had a new “acuator - inlet” installed. My AC has been performing poorly and freezing up. It seams much better now.

And idea exactly which part is “actuator - inlet” actually is?

Freezing is almost always low air flow. I assume "actuator inlet" controls the louvers which allow increased air flow during peak demand.

OP doesn't report weak air conditioning; he says either works fine or not at all and goes back and forth. Refrigerant leaks don't fix themselves. Intermittent control issues are the hardest to diagnose (although evaporator leaks buried in ICE car dashes can be the most time-consuming to actually repair), so let's hope OP gets a real diagnosis. Nothing worse than parts swappers throwing parts at an intermittent problem, calling it cured when it's on the working cycle and then finding out on your big road trip that it still goes out half the time.

 

[mbhforum]

Freezing is almost always low air flow. I assume "actuator inlet" controls the louvers which allow increased air flow during peak demand.

OP doesn't report weak air conditioning; he says either works fine or not at all and goes back and forth. Refrigerant leaks don't fix themselves. Intermittent control issues are the hardest to diagnose (although evaporator leaks buried in ICE car dashes can be the most time-consuming to actually repair), so let's hope OP gets a real diagnosis. Nothing worse than parts swappers throwing parts at an intermittent problem, calling it cured when it's on the working cycle and then finding out on your big road trip that it still goes out half the time.

agreed. Just to clarify, it hasn’t gone back and forth more the once yet. It happened for one afternoon night and the next day it was fine again. But it sounds like to me they are doing trial and error here also and guessing....hopefully it doesn’t need give me problems on my road trip this weeeknd....

 

[TaoJones]

My a/c in this second car has been flaky as hell. Doesn’t maintain temperature well.

The SC said all was within spec after a “thermal test”, but....

Will reread this helpful thread - headed out for another week or month (another “playing it by ear” trip) and hopefully won’t have to visit an SC on the way to get this finally dealt with.

 

[mbhforum]

My SC first ran a thermal test and noticed the louver on the passenger side wasn’t opening and closing like it should. Who knows if this will be fixed but I will keep this thread updated throughout the weekend.

 

[mbhforum]

Got my car back in time for my road trip tomorrow. Wish me luck! I gotta give credit for the Syosset SC squeezing me in and getting it back to me for the weekend.

 

[Pinot.Noir]

Got my car back in time for my road trip tomorrow. Wish me luck! I gotta give credit for the Syosset SC squeezing me in and getting it back to me for the weekend.

Lets hope your road trip reports are positive!

 

[mbhforum]

Got into my car this morning and ac was blowing hot air. Dropped it off to SC, they offered me a 75D but we declined since my wife had the car packed with the Child seats. They said they will reimburse us for gas.

Off on the road trip we go with an ICE

 

[brkaus]

Dang. Sorry, that sucks.

 

[mbhforum]

I’m not sure what else it could be. It should not be a leak, they replaced the a/c sensors and louvers. Potentially the compressor, but it does work sporadically.

 

[Vitaman]

Was having to set Temp to 68 to get mere complaints from my wife as opposed to outright mutiny.
Took the car in 2 days ago and they replaced the intake actuator.
Completely fixed all A/C issues. Now at a 75 setting it is far colder than previously at 68.

 

[ArizonaP85]

Got into my car this morning and ac was blowing hot air. Dropped it off to SC, they offered me a 75D but we declined since my wife had the car packed with the Child seats. They said they will reimburse us for gas.

Off on the road trip we go with an ICE

THIS is the problem with parts-swappers vs. diagnosticians. Sorry that you're a victim. However, Tesla shareholders are also victims by paying for needless new parts and wasted labor installing them. Poor management.

 

[mbhforum]

THIS is the problem with parts-swappers vs. diagnosticians. Sorry that you're a victim. However, Tesla shareholders are also victims by paying for needless new parts and wasted labor installing them. Poor management.

Pretty frustrating. They had my car all day Saturday and I still don’t have a diagnosis. They said they hope to have something early Monday. Sounds like it’s a very small chance that my car will be ready by Tuesday on the way back from my road trip. I told them take your time because I’d like the diagnosis to be CORRECT.

On another note, talking to advisors, they are very overworked and busy. With the model 3’s getting popular and the S/X selling, Long Island, NY desperately needs a second service center. It’s scheduled to open in Smithtown in late 2018, early 2019(looking like the former).

 

[brkaus]

Was having to set Temp to 68 to get mere complaints from my wife as opposed to outright mutiny.
Took the car in 2 days ago and they replaced the intake actuator.
Completely fixed all A/C issues. Now at a 75 setting it is far colder than previously at 68.

Mine too. I'm still curious which actuator that they actually replaced. I'm going to call them tomorrow to check. For future reference.

Does not sound like this is the same problem at the OP.

 

[Snowstorm]

I have had this happen to me off and on. Usually on hot and humid days. It typically last only a few minutes, I manually turn down the temp and it usually resolved. Once it was really hot & humid and the issue persisted for maybe 30 minutes.

 

[mbhforum]

I have had this happen to me off and on. Usually on hot and humid days. It typically last only a few minutes, I manually turn down the temp and it usually resolved. Once it was really hot & humid and the issue persisted for maybe 30 minutes.

Yeah this is different. The first time it happened, even hours later after the car was idle, it was happening. I wasnt taking a 4 hour road trip without this being fixed

 

[Kalex]

They replaced the intake actuator on my MS and the AC is now cold and the fan is quite.
Please check my previous post with the pic of the work order.
Mat in Syosset diagnosed the issue.
Elias was the ranger that came to replace the part. Awesome tech and very knowledgeable.
Hope this helps.

 

[mbhforum]

They replaced the intake actuator on my MS and the AC is now cold and the fan is quite.
Please check my previous post with the pic of the work order.
Mat in Syosset diagnosed the issue.
Hope this helps.

Thanks. I am going to mention this on Monday.

 

[mbhforum]

So today’s part that needs to be replaced is an extension valve. I did bring up the intake actuator but they explained a lot of different parts can cause AC failures. I asked why this wasn’t diagnosed the first time and was told this error code is now showing up. It’s possible this is true since the first time I brought it in, they couldn’t see the issue happening.

I will get the car back tomorrow, we shall see.

 

[ArizonaP85]

So today’s part that needs to be replaced is an extension valve. I did bring up the intake actuator but they explained a lot of different parts can cause AC failures. I asked why this wasn’t diagnosed the first time and was told this error code is now showing up. It’s possible this is true since the first time I brought it in, they couldn’t see the issue happening.

I will get the car back tomorrow, we shall see.

Did you mean "expansion valve"? That regulates the flow of the compressed refrigerant into the evaporator where it expands and gets colder (Boyle's Law), absorbs heat and routes the heat outside the interior back to the condenser.

Expansion valves normally only get clogged due to debris in the system, such as a failing compressor. Your nearly new car should not have any failing components or debris in the lines. Moreover, expansion valves do not clog and unclog spontaneously several times. I'm trying to say that your symptoms do not match a clogged expansion valve and it sounds like the parts-swappers are still running amok.

An A/C system that works perfectly, then doesn't work at all, then works, then doesn't, etc. is almost always a control problem. Something is interfering with the signal commanding your compressor to turn on, then allows it to operate, then interferes, then allows. Control problem is by far the simplest explanation. However, it may not be the simplest to figure out where the control signal is interrupted - maybe that's why the parts-swappers are avoiding the thinking work?

Again, I wish you good luck. Maybe show this to the service manager and see if you can shame them into assigning someone who can diagnose problems instead of just throwing parts at it forever?

 

[mbhforum]

Did you mean "expansion valve"? That regulates the flow of the compressed refrigerant into the evaporator where it expands and gets colder (Boyle's Law), absorbs heat and routes the heat outside the interior back to the condenser.

Expansion valves normally only get clogged due to debris in the system, such as a failing compressor. Your nearly new car should not have any failing components or debris in the lines. Moreover, expansion valves do not clog and unclog spontaneously several times. I'm trying to say that your symptoms do not match a clogged expansion valve and it sounds like the parts-swappers are still running amok.

An A/C system that works perfectly, then doesn't work at all, then works, then doesn't, etc. is almost always a control problem. Something is interfering with the signal commanding your compressor to turn on, then allows it to operate, then interferes, then allows. Control problem is by far the simplest explanation. However, it may not be the simplest to figure out where the control signal is interrupted - maybe that's why the parts-swappers are avoiding the thinking work?

Again, I wish you good luck. Maybe show this to the service manager and see if you can shame them into assigning someone who can diagnose problems instead of just throwing parts at it forever?

Yes, thank you for your explanation. For someone who doesn’t have a good understanding of how these cars work, it’s hard for me to troubleshoot in my head when talking to them.

I am going to make it clear that if this problem happens again, my expectation is that they come and pick my car up at my house and drop off a loaner. I am not sure if Tesla even does this, but if I have to bring the car back for a third time, something should be done.