Hot air AC

[GoCanucksGo1]

1000 miles in. Love the car. Took it on a Houston to San Antonio road trip and back.

What REALLY sucked was getting hot air blown in our face for the first 15-20 min on the way back even though our AC was set to max low temp. My guess is all of it was being diverted to cool the battery. I’ve read that is an issue in hotter climates. My forum search only showed S and X models with this issue. Eventually it got cooler but it was a pretty uncomfortable for a little bit. Strange how the rear vents were still blowing cold air to the kids in the back.

 

[gambit48]

How hot was it? I think the a/c is pretty weak compared to my ICE cars, but I haven't had any hot air blown at me. It's only hit 105 here though. Shouldn't get really hot here for another month or two.

 

[SDKoala]

1000 miles in. Love the car. Took it on a Houston to San Antonio road trip and back.

What REALLY sucked was getting hot air blown in our face for the first 15-20 min on the way back even though our AC was set to max low temp. My guess is all of it was being diverted to cool the battery. I’ve read that is an issue in hotter climates. My forum search only showed S and X models with this issue. Eventually it got cooler but it was a pretty uncomfortable for a little bit. Strange how the rear vents were still blowing cold air to the kids in the back.

I just drove mine after it was sitting in direct sun in 100F heat a few days ago and the A/C was noticeably cool after 1-2 minutes. It was uncomfortably chilly after about 5-10 minutes on max LO. 15-20 minutes to cool does sounds excessively long.

 

[Sparky]

1000 miles in. Love the car. Took it on a Houston to San Antonio road trip and back.

What REALLY sucked was getting hot air blown in our face for the first 15-20 min on the way back even though our AC was set to max low temp. My guess is all of it was being diverted to cool the battery. I’ve read that is an issue in hotter climates. My forum search only showed S and X models with this issue. Eventually it got cooler but it was a pretty uncomfortable for a little bit. Strange how the rear vents were still blowing cold air to the kids in the back.

Call Tesla Service. I had this and all it took was a remote check of my logs showing there were some A/C related codes. Then an OTA update which brought the car up to 2018.24.7...
Problem hasn't returned.

 

[dek526]

when i scheduled a service appt, the rep mentioned how service centers were extremely busy dealing with ac issues. def sched an appt to have them check it out

 

[SunCharged]

My car was delivered with AC that didn’t work. Randomly worked for one day while waiting for service. Ended up being a high pressure side sensor of some sort.

 

[UZJedi]

I've noticed cold air delays lately as well. Was thinking of calling service center. Car didn't do this in the first month of ownership. Now I'm noticing it frequently for several minutes.

There was another post about fluid leaking from the ac causing this behavior. I hope it's as simple as an update though. We'll see.

 

[rhaekar]

1000 miles in. Love the car. Took it on a Houston to San Antonio road trip and back.

What REALLY sucked was getting hot air blown in our face for the first 15-20 min on the way back even though our AC was set to max low temp. My guess is all of it was being diverted to cool the battery. I’ve read that is an issue in hotter climates. My forum search only showed S and X models with this issue. Eventually it got cooler but it was a pretty uncomfortable for a little bit. Strange how the rear vents were still blowing cold air to the kids in the back.

The battery cooling doesn't work that way. Air is a poor conductor of heat. The battery is liquid cooled.

Seems like the front vents weren't getting routed cool air. I'd schedule an appointment if it happens again. My AC gets ice cold in a few seconds.

 

[chronopc]

How hot was it? I think the a/c is pretty weak compared to my ICE cars, but I haven't had any hot air blown at me. It's only hit 105 here though. Shouldn't get really hot here for another month or two.

I've actually had the opposite experience. I think the A/C is strong compared to ICE. On my Model 3 it's like a blizzard when it's on full power.

 

[swingpsu]

We are getting the compressor replaced next week at Tesla service's recommendation after reviewing our data logs. They are estimating a 3 hr service visit by mobile ranger. VIN 19xxx with May 18 build date. Our AC symptoms are similar to others reporting on Tesla's Model 3 forum: AC works moderately well for the beginning of a long trip (down to 70 degrees for instance), but then starts blowing warm air. Turn off for an hour, AC will return, but cool for a shorter time. We noticed the problem initially but waited for some longer trips to be sure.

Luckily we live in a fairly cool summer climate. Otherwise, all else is working very well and enjoying keeping the windows down when pleasant.

 

[gregd]

The battery cooling doesn't work that way. Air is a poor conductor of heat. The battery is liquid cooled.

Liquid cooled, yes, but the A/C system is used to cool the liquid.

 

[GoCanucksGo1]

Thx for all the input.

The ranger was fixing the headlight alignment to make it flush with the hood and I mentioned the AC issue. He looked into it and it turns out there is a faulty sensor that needs to be replaced. He said it’s a known issue. 1 hour in the service center. Scheduled for next week.
VIN 24xxx

 

[SunCharged]

Thx for all the input.

The ranger was fixing the headlight alignment to make it flush with the hood and I mentioned the AC issue. He looked into it and it turns out there is a faulty sensor that needs to be replaced. He said it’s a known issue. 1 hour in the service center. Scheduled for next week.
VIN 24xxx

You VIN is real close to mine and that is exactly what I had fixed.

 

[SigNC]

Not exactly on topic but if you get some IR blocking tint on the car the AC will cool the car down much quicker. Even something like 3M CR70 which is pretty much clear.

 

[WileyTheMan]

Glad it was diagnosed. I haven't had any complaints about AC in my car. It does a great job and is comparable to any other card I've had.

 

[swingpsu]

The AC compressor was replaced in our VIN 19xxx this morning by a mobile unit technician who travelled 3 hours to our house in central PA. Technician verified that the logs showed a slow compressor pressurization leak...apparently this is a known flaw in at least a few units. Great service from a very knowledgeable guy. He had worked for high end dealership shops in the past, but said he loves working for Tesla because he can instantly and distantly diagnose problems, order parts beforehand with confidence and converse directly with the engineers when needed.