B Pillar AC in 6 seater

[re04586]

I was testing the AC in my 6 seater MX, and noticed the air coming from the side vents on the B pillars don’t seem to be chilled.

The air coming from the console between the driver seat and front passenger seat is cool. The air coming form the C pillar vents are also cool. But the air from the B pillar is noticeably warmer.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Saghost]

I was testing the AC in my 6 seater MX, and noticed the air coming from the side vents on the B pillars don’t seem to be chilled.

The air coming from the console between the driver seat and front passenger seat is cool. The air coming form the C pillar vents are also cool. But the air from the B pillar is noticeably warmer.

Anyone else experience this?

How long had the system been running when you observed this? Was the car heat soaked at the beginning?

AFAIK, all the air coming from the B-Pillar and C-Pillar vents comes from the same source, blown by the rear fan through the rear evaporator core, and should be the same temperature.

But I'm sure the B-Pillar are the last to cool down, since they have so much further to go and so much more duct to cool down first. Depending on just how hot it is out, how high the fan is, and how much insulation there is, it might gain several degrees even in the steady state.

I haven't really dabbled with it much - there aren't folks in my back seats very often.

 

[re04586]

How long had the system been running when you observed this? Was the car heat soaked at the beginning?

Saghost - car was in the shade, interior temperature in the mid 80's before turning on, AC setting set to 70 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I rarely have passengers in my back seats as well, but I have a baby on the way and was just trying to get the car ready and wanted to test it. Browsing through the forum, I found a couple users mentioning i may need to close off the front vents to get the B pillar vents to send more cool ai. I'll test that again and see if that works.

 

[animorph]

Make sure the car thinks you have rear passengers or the rear A/C should turn on.

 

[NovemberXray]

If I remember correctly from what I was told by Tesla at our local service center, the Model X has a secondary heat and a/c unit for the third row seats, but the middle row feeds off one or the other and so frustratingly it’s the most used (after the front) middle row that has the worst heating and cooling. Passengers in the middle are usually hotter or colder than those in the front or third row...

 

[Saghost]

Saghost - car was in the shade, interior temperature in the mid 80's before turning on, AC setting set to 70 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I rarely have passengers in my back seats as well, but I have a baby on the way and was just trying to get the car ready and wanted to test it. Browsing through the forum, I found a couple users mentioning i may need to close off the front vents to get the B pillar vents to send more cool ai. I'll test that again and see if that works.

From what I understand of the system, that makes no sense - the B-pillar vents share the rear evaporator with the C-pillar vents and should be functionally independent of the front vents.

But maybe I'm missing something important.

 

[jelly]

From what I understand of the system, that makes no sense - the B-pillar vents share the rear evaporator with the C-pillar vents and should be functionally independent of the front vents.

But maybe I'm missing something important.

Don't the B pillars share source with the front vents in a 5 seater?

Would make sense in the 6/7 that it shares both front and rear.

@NovemberXray's response seems to make sense, that the B pillar is farthest from either source vs front and C pillar.

 

[Saghost]

Don't the B pillars share source with the front vents in a 5 seater?

Would make sense in the 6/7 that it shares both front and rear.

@NovemberXray's response seems to make sense, that the B pillar is farthest from either source vs front and C pillar.

With the rear system off, I have flow through the rear of center console vents, but none through the B pillar. I believe they are connected only to the rear system in the 6 and 7 seat cars.

 

[RecklessFury]

I notices this too. I live in Florida so it could take a while for the duct to cool down. That wasn't something I considered. Also I never really have any one back there. I'll test running the AC for an extended time while sitting in the seat.

Is the B pillar Driver side?

 

[re04586]

Is the B pillar Driver side?

B pillars are the pillars on both sides of the car next to the front seats.

If I remember correctly from what I was told by Tesla at our local service center, the Model X has a secondary heat and a/c unit for the third row seats, but the middle row feeds off one or the other and so frustratingly it’s the most used (after the front) middle row that has the worst heating and cooling.

This seems to line up with what is happening. The middle row side pillar vents seem like they are getting the leftovers from one of the systems.

 

[Saghost]

This seems to line up with what is happening. The middle row side pillar vents seem like they are getting the leftovers from one of the systems.

That's exactly it. On the 6/7 seat, the air duct runs right past the C-Pillar vents, down under the floor, and back up to the B-Pillars. On the 5 seat, it feeds from the end of the front system, having a splitter right before the rear of console vents. I found this in the public version of the EPC:

https://epc.teslamotors.com/#/systemGroups/66331

There are two versions of 3, one for "no RHVAC" which has the connection to 6/7/8, which I think are only in the car if you don't get the rear system.