So, today (96 degrees fahrenheit), my air conditioning stopped working. I used the Tesla App to turn on my air conditioning as I was walking out of work. When I was approaching the car I could hear the AC compressor running. When I got in the car and started to drive I noticed that the air conditioning was blowing hot air, and the air compressor was not turning on. I can usually hear and feel the AC compressor when I drive, but not happening now. Did two scroll wheel resets with no luck. Scheduled a service appt. for July 11th, but would love to figure this out if it's something I can fix.
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Air Conditioning Stopped Working
- Thread starter random155
- Start date
Same thing happened to me. I used my mobile app to cool off the car. When I got in the car, the AC was running and it was cool. As soon as I started driving, the AC went off and started blowing hot air. Running firmware 2019.20.4.3
We reached 112 in Phoenix today. After rebooting the car several times, found someone at the Tempe service center 5 minutes before they closed. He tried a few things to no avail and said I need to take it to the service center. We even did power off from security screen and rebooted the car with no luck. The earliest appointment for service is on 7/23 (12 days from today.) At this point the car is not drivable due to excess heat.
I read that A/C mechanism also cools down the batteries when they get overheated. Would this cause any harm to the batteries? Right now, the air is blowing through the batteries and it's not shutting off.
I was able to get this corrected, although I’m not sure if the persistence fixed the issue or just something else.
I had to perform a “Power Down” from Control, Safety & Security option. They key is that you need to be in Park, sitting in the driver’s seat and do a power down. You need to wait 2-3 minutes and don’t touch anything (breaks, door opening, touching the screen, etc.) After 2-3 minutes, tap the screen or open the door and the system starts up. It almost sounds like the clicks that you hear when the Firmware is being installed.
After doing this 3 times without success (although I might have anxiously rolled the windows down because the temp in my garage was 120 due to the car’s fan running and trying to cool the batteries perhaps), I was able to get the A/C working on the 4th attempt .
At the same time, I was on my laptop with Tesla Support’s chat which took 45 minutes just to get an agent on the line. He sent me a canned set of instructions including what I just described and when I did a power down again and was waiting, he said he was going to end the chat and close the ticket.
I don’t know if he did something remotely or this was just a coincidence but the A/C is working the way it should and the car’s cooling fan is no longer running all the time. I’m still going to take it to service in 11 days which is their earliest time that they can get me in, but at least I can drive the car for now.
At this point it appears that this is a software bug and not related to hardware. I would recommend to anyone whose AC stops working after the latest update to power cycle through the security screen. You need to have all doors, windows, trunk, frunk closed. Cabin overheat protection must be off and you must be sitting in the driver seat. Power off and wait 3 minutes. After three minutes, tap the brake pedal and boot up the car. Try this several times to get the AC back up and running. It only took one time for me and I havent had a problem again in over a week.
Try the method I just explained in my previous post. It should work. YOu need to power down from the security screen while following the above instructions
I have the same problem. Your method gives ppl a sauna if outside temperature is very hot. I cannot do it.
But, the easiest way is just close the door and leave the car for about 15 mins. After 15 mins, the car went to deep sleep, then go back to car ( don’t try to start the AC on app). The AC will start.
Yes I know its uncomfortable, but find a shady spot and I promise you will survive 3 minutes. For the proper reset to work correctly you must be seated in the car. I left my car for about half hour and my AC did not correct itself. It only began working after the method I explained.
You need take your car to service. From my search on both TMC and Reddit, most ppl 3 will come back after a deep sleep. Your problem seems something else.
3dnathaniel
Member
My AC stopped working recently and it ended up being a refrigerant leak that they fixed and replaced the pressure/ inlet air temp sensor.
Tried this method 3 times - sat in drivers seat and did nothing. Waiting longer on the 4th try and still nothing. Guess I will be bringing it in
George Jetson
Member
There are umpteen threads about this lately; this summer isn't appreciably hotter here, so my suspicion is a latent bug in one of the recent software pushes. Here's the thread that I started. A/C Died Suddenly - creative solutions?
From my experience, if it is working 100% then suddenly quits, it's likely to be a software glitch, not a mechanical issue. Rebooting/restarting isn't always *the* answer. I don't know if the Tesla techs pushed out a fix to my car or it just self-healed. For me, just leaving it alone for a whole day seemed to do the trick. It's been working flawlessly ever since even in the 100+ degree heat. YMMV.
From my experience, if it is working 100% then suddenly quits, it's likely to be a software glitch, not a mechanical issue. Rebooting/restarting isn't always *the* answer. I don't know if the Tesla techs pushed out a fix to my car or it just self-healed. For me, just leaving it alone for a whole day seemed to do the trick. It's been working flawlessly ever since even in the 100+ degree heat. YMMV.
In my case, my 70D's AC continued to work, but was weak. So I am uncertain if this situation falls within the bound of what the OP and others above have posted.
Here's the situation.
We are having a weekend of what is (for us) an unusually hot spell of weather, with temperatures approaching 100F and high humidity. Unusual for the Boston area.
On Thursday and Friday, the AC seemed a bit noisier than usual as i was driving, and although the AC was working, I had a vague sense that something was not quite right. But my trips were not long enough to quite tell.
Yesterday morning, we had a trip to a social event about an hour away. I started the AC from my phone at about 10:30 AM. I noted that the initial cabin temp was 125F, probably the hottest I have ever seen it. The car was parked in an open parking lot, in the sun since shortly after sunrise. Ambient temps by then were around 90-92. My car has a sunroof, and I have no screens or special protection on the glass.
I had cabin overheat protection enabled, but it does not run after 12 hours since the last trip, so it did not actuate.
We got in the car to leave about 30 minutes later, and the cabin was not very cool. The phone app said it was about 80F in the car. The compressor was working very hard -- we could hear it from across the parking lot as we left our condo. It sounded normal, but if it was cooling something, it must have been mostly the battery that got the benefit.
We had a trip of about 1-1/4 hours. mostly highway. As we drove, the cabin temperature did not improve. I played with adjusting the controls to see if it would help -- I shut off air to the back seat, and manually cranked up the fan speed. Those steps helped a little initially, but the cabin seemed to get gradually warmer as we drove, not cooler. It was somewhat cooler than outside, but definitely uncomfortable. The ambient temp was about 95F by the time we got to our destination.
I was disappointed, to say the least. I don't recall ever experiencing such limited cooling before, and we have certainly driven in 90+ heat before.
When we returned home, it was early evening. The car had been in the shade for a while, and of course the sun was no longer as high in the sky. It was still 92F out. But the cabin was nice and comfortably cool on the return trip. (I used the AC for about 15 minutes before we left, and the cabin was already cooled down when we got in, as it should be.)
My theory -- the battery was overheated from sitting in the asphalt parking lot before we left in the morning and the AC was devoted mostly to keeping that cool. But if so, the AC system is either inadequate for 90+ temps on a sunny day, or my AC system is not working up to snuff.
I keep seeing posts from people who live in AZ that say their cars are fine in 110F+ heat, so maybe I should schedule an appointment to have the system checked. But unless the technician checks under similar conditions to yesterday, I am not sure they will see any problem.....
Here's the situation.
We are having a weekend of what is (for us) an unusually hot spell of weather, with temperatures approaching 100F and high humidity. Unusual for the Boston area.
On Thursday and Friday, the AC seemed a bit noisier than usual as i was driving, and although the AC was working, I had a vague sense that something was not quite right. But my trips were not long enough to quite tell.
Yesterday morning, we had a trip to a social event about an hour away. I started the AC from my phone at about 10:30 AM. I noted that the initial cabin temp was 125F, probably the hottest I have ever seen it. The car was parked in an open parking lot, in the sun since shortly after sunrise. Ambient temps by then were around 90-92. My car has a sunroof, and I have no screens or special protection on the glass.
I had cabin overheat protection enabled, but it does not run after 12 hours since the last trip, so it did not actuate.
We got in the car to leave about 30 minutes later, and the cabin was not very cool. The phone app said it was about 80F in the car. The compressor was working very hard -- we could hear it from across the parking lot as we left our condo. It sounded normal, but if it was cooling something, it must have been mostly the battery that got the benefit.
We had a trip of about 1-1/4 hours. mostly highway. As we drove, the cabin temperature did not improve. I played with adjusting the controls to see if it would help -- I shut off air to the back seat, and manually cranked up the fan speed. Those steps helped a little initially, but the cabin seemed to get gradually warmer as we drove, not cooler. It was somewhat cooler than outside, but definitely uncomfortable. The ambient temp was about 95F by the time we got to our destination.
I was disappointed, to say the least. I don't recall ever experiencing such limited cooling before, and we have certainly driven in 90+ heat before.
When we returned home, it was early evening. The car had been in the shade for a while, and of course the sun was no longer as high in the sky. It was still 92F out. But the cabin was nice and comfortably cool on the return trip. (I used the AC for about 15 minutes before we left, and the cabin was already cooled down when we got in, as it should be.)
My theory -- the battery was overheated from sitting in the asphalt parking lot before we left in the morning and the AC was devoted mostly to keeping that cool. But if so, the AC system is either inadequate for 90+ temps on a sunny day, or my AC system is not working up to snuff.
I keep seeing posts from people who live in AZ that say their cars are fine in 110F+ heat, so maybe I should schedule an appointment to have the system checked. But unless the technician checks under similar conditions to yesterday, I am not sure they will see any problem.....
Today I did a follow-up test. It is sunny this morning, with ambient temps in the high 80s (not certain of precise temp, but my phone says it is 86 here). It does not feel as humid as yesterday. I started the AC remotely, and the phone showed an initial cabin temp of 112, more than 10F cooler then it was yesterday. After a good half-hour, the interior temp was 78, still well above the setting of 69F, but more comfortable than it was yesterday. The AC compressor was similarly loud as i approached the car, but sounded normal. After a short drive around the parking lot at low speeds, the car showed an exterior temperature of 96F, which is probably the temp right above the pavement and a few degrees hotter than the true ambient air would be.
Without going for a ride, i cannot say if the cabin interior would eventually reach the setpoint, but it seems to me that it should have with 30 minutes of pre-cooling.
So, is my system working normally? or do i need service to look at it?
Im in the same heat wave (NJ) as you are. I can also tell that the AC is noticeable louder than I have heard it since ownership in March. Its VERY loud. As far as cabin temperature, I have noticed that it doesnt seem as "cool" as most warm days, but it's still comfortable in my cabin.
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