Get cold air rather than heat from vents

[Padelford]

we’ve just driven from Seattle to Ohio along I-90, and we’ve experienced cabin heating problems when the battery is 50% or less. We get no heat from the vents even with the temps set at HI. External temps have been in the 20’s to low 30’s.

Range mode is OFF. Firmware is 2018.12. We don’t have the cold weather package.

However, if the vehicle is charged to 90% or more, we get plenty of heat from the vents with temps set at 70 - 75 deg.

I called the Tesla tech assistance folks, and they didn’t have any idea why this is happening. Is anyone else experiencing this lack of heat problem?

 

[FlyF4]

Wow, that would be a cold drive. I was going to suggest trying range mode off until I saw you mention it. Just out of curiosity, have you tried restarting the MCU with the ole 2 thumbs salute on the steering wheel?

 

[boaterva]

Have you tried with the temp set to 70-75? Trying to get too much heat out of it can cause it to run cold (too much air flow over the heating coils). Definitely can’t see why battery level would matter when that full!

 

[Padelford]

Have you tried with the temp set to 70-75? Trying to get too much heat out of it can cause it to run cold (too much air flow over the heating coils). Definitely can’t see why battery level would matter when that full!

We’ve tried with the temp set to 70 - 75, and it seems that if the battery is < 50%, no heat.

 

[Padelford]

Wow, that would be a cold drive. I was going to suggest trying range mode off until I saw you mention it. Just out of curiosity, have you tried restarting the MCU with the ole 2 thumbs salute on the steering wheel?

That’s a good suggestion. I’ve had to reboot the MCU at least once in this trip, but I didn’t notice if that fixed the lack-of-heat problem.

 

[Lloyd]

Make sure that you have some fan speed going. If there is not sufficient air flow, the resistance heater can overheat.

 

[boaterva]

We’ve tried with the temp set to 70 - 75, and it seems that if the battery is < 50%, no heat.

Yeah, that seems like a serious bug. And you called the national support line and they had no idea. I also would suggest a reboot and calling them back. Something is busted for sure.

 

[Padelford]

Make sure that you have some fan speed going. If there is not sufficient air flow, the resistance heater can overheat.

The fan was going throughout the experience. Sometimes the fan speed was very high while still blowing cold air. This was especially annoying.

 

[animorph]

And make sure the fan speed is not too high. Too much cold outside air can overwhelm the heating element.

This is not just the rear zone, right? That seems like a known problem.

Otherwise it seems like the battery level dependence needs a trip to the SvC to figure out, if it's repeatable after a reset.

 

[Padelford]

And make sure the fan speed is not too high. Too much cold outside air can overwhelm the heating element.

This is not just the rear zone, right? That seems like a known problem.

Otherwise it seems like the battery level dependence needs a trip to the SvC to figure out, if it's repeatable after a reset.

This is the front zone.