HVAC died today

[Andyw2100]

When did I "lose face"?

In my opinion it was when you wrote the following about wk057, a guy who has been quite critical of Tesla on several different topics:

I think you win the award for biggest Tesla defender on this site! :smile:

 

[cwerdna]

We had exactly the same syndrome develop a few weeks ago; sudden complete failure of the HVAC. The warranty repair invoice states that the DC/DC converter internal fuse was blown, but they replaced both the compressor that blew the fuse by drawing too much power, and the DC/DC converter itself. It's not clear why replacing the fuse would not have corrected that.

It surprises me that the compressor requires its own DC/DC converter,(nothing else failed). I guess that means it is running off the high voltage battery, rather than the 12 V system. I wonder what else runs from the high voltage battery?

FWIW, the electric AC compressor on the Gen 2 and 3 Prius also run off its HV bus (~200 volts):
Changing AC compressor | PriusChat
How many volts does the GEN III AC Compressor run at? | PriusChat

I suspect that's true of pretty much all EVs/PHEVs and non-plugin hybrids that have an electric AC compressor. (EEs or electricians please chime in on this) If the compressor ran off the 12 volt bus, they'd need very thick wires due to the high potentially continuous (well, a lot longer than running a starter motor for a few seconds) draw from the compressor.

 

[jerry33]

I suspect that's true of pretty much all EVs/PHEVs and non-plugin hybrids that have an electric AC compressor.

True today as far as I know, but the original Prius (pre 2004) had a belt driven one.

 

[wycolo]

Used to drive cross country in beater vehicles without air conditioning, AC just wasn't part of our vocabulary in 60s/70s. Big public buildings was our only exposure and that could be painful. Las Vegas poolside was @ 115*F on first day and our swimsuits were dry by the time we climbed out of the pool and back to our chairs. Being from NY State this was most impressive but as long as we were dry as a bone it was fine in tourist mode.
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[muleferg]

Used to drive cross country in beater vehicles without air conditioning, AC just wasn't part of our vocabulary in 60s/70s. Big public buildings was our only exposure and that could be painful. Las Vegas poolside was @ 115*F on first day and our swimsuits were dry by the time we climbed out of the pool and back to our chairs. Being from NY State this was most impressive but as long as we were dry as a bone it was fine in tourist mode.
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Me 2.

 

[cwave1]

I just got mine back fixed after one day. The issue was a leak of the refrigerant at the O-ring at the compressor. They replaced the O-ring and refilled and pressurized the refrigerant and tested for leaks.

 

[qwk]

@jomo - Did the MCU display any errors or alerts indicating that the low pressure sensor was faulty? It shouldn't be that difficult for the vehicle to self diagnose since presumably it reads the state of that sensor. No reading = faulty sensor. It should generate an alert stating as much to the driver.

I had the same issue. No, there is no fault shown on the dash, although there were faults in the logs. Tesla doesn't use a low pressure sensor in the newer cars, so newer firmware just abandons the sensor in older cars, which leads to this problem.

 

[hill]

Used to drive cross country in beater vehicles without air conditioning, AC just wasn't part of our vocabulary in 60s/70s. Big public buildings was our only exposure and that could be painful. Las Vegas poolside was @ 115*F on first day and our swimsuits were dry by the time we climbed out of the pool and back to our chairs. Being from NY State this was most impressive but as long as we were dry as a bone it was fine in tourist mode.
--

Yea, we all got it pretty easy, and have become used to throwing a fit when it's not perfect. That's what makes comedian CK Lewis standup so funny - he pokes fun at our impatience .... cel phone example, "give it a second!! ... it has to go into outer space at the speed of light!! . . . not that your stupid Axil Rose photo is important anyway . . ."
:biggrin:
.

 

[FlasherZ]

Used to drive cross country in beater vehicles without air conditioning, AC just wasn't part of our vocabulary in 60s/70s. Big public buildings was our only exposure and that could be painful. Las Vegas poolside was @ 115*F on first day and our swimsuits were dry by the time we climbed out of the pool and back to our chairs. Being from NY State this was most impressive but as long as we were dry as a bone it was fine in tourist mode.
--

My GTO also has the 4-75 A/C system. 4 windows down, 75 miles per hour.

EDIT: Admittedly, it's more of a 2-75 system with the two tiny rear-seat roll-down windows slightly contributing, but hey...

 

[Electricfan]

When I got to the SvC and explained the issue, the service agent noted that they likely knew the exact issue as they've had a few others have similar issues in the recent heat wave. The low pressure sensor/transducer connector needed to be replaced. .

Awesome. This is a great thread. My car is scheduled to be serviced July 1, so I will bring this up to make sure I don't suffer this problem - thanks so much for your post.

Someday in cases like this - when Tesla "likely knew the exact issue as they've had a few others have similar issues..." - instead of scheduling you for another day they'll ask you to drop by immediately and get the problem fixed with minimal heartache, instead leaving you without a car for the weekend. Tesla keeps saying they want to set the industry standard in customer service and this is one place they could do that.

- - - Updated - - -

In my opinion it was when you wrote the following about wk057, a guy who has been quite critical of Tesla on several different topics:

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I'll stand by mine. His post on this thread was nothing but pure Tesla defender stuff.

 

[Lloyd]

Originally the Service at two years called for the AC to be recharged at two years. I noted that it was not done on my car at two years but I was not having any problems so I did not complain.

 

[jomo25]

@jomo - Did the MCU display any errors or alerts indicating that the low pressure sensor was faulty? It shouldn't be that difficult for the vehicle to self diagnose since presumably it reads the state of that sensor. No reading = faulty sensor. It should generate an alert stating as much to the driver.

No, I had no alerts on the consoles anywhere. Not sure if the logs did. I assume so, but never saw or got confirmation from the SvC tech.

 

[Andyw2100]

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I'll stand by mine. His post on this thread was nothing but pure Tesla defender stuff.

We don't even need to discuss whether or not his post in this thread was, as you put it "pure Tesla defender stuff." That is entirely beside the point. You had written "I think you win the award for biggest Tesla defender on this site!" about a guy who was frequently openly critical of Tesla. He started the thread doing the side by side comparison comparing the P85D efficiency to the P85 efficiency, to demonstrate that the P85D efficiency was not as advertised. That's just one very obvious example, but there are many others. So your statement that he wins the award for "biggest Tesla defender on this site" was a ludicrous statement. That's not opinion. That's fact.

 

[AudubonB]

Take it easy, everybody.

I don't think there's a need to take the above OT conversation any further. Thank you.

 

[apacheguy]

I had the same issue. No, there is no fault shown on the dash, although there were faults in the logs. Tesla doesn't use a low pressure sensor in the newer cars, so newer firmware just abandons the sensor in older cars, which leads to this problem.

No, I had no alerts on the consoles anywhere. Not sure if the logs did. I assume so, but never saw or got confirmation from the SvC tech.

Yeah, TM needs to change this so the owner can take advantage of the full diagnostic capabilities of the car, IMO. That goes for all instances where something breaks down. I shouldn't have to get Tesla to "pull the logs" I should be able to do it on my own. Roadster owners can do this via USB.

 

[JPP]

I just got mine back fixed after one day. The issue was a leak of the refrigerant at the O-ring at the compressor. They replaced the O-ring and refilled and pressurized the refrigerant and tested for leaks.

...same as my failure...interesting.

 

[Alysashley79]

@jpp & OP ...how many miles do you guys have on your cars? I just crossed over the 50k end of last week and now starting to hear a cricket chirping and it's not as cold as it used to be. And...just changed out the cabin filter two weeks ago so I know it's not that.

 

[StephenM]

Of course, when I drive the car into the SvC this morning, the HVAC was working. I didn't even try to drive it yesterday since it was another summer day in PHX. And even if it was working, I'd not want to chance another outage.

When I got to the SvC and explained the issue, the service agent noted that they likely knew the exact issue as they've had a few others have similar issues in the recent heat wave. The low pressure sensor/transducer connector needed to be replaced. He noted that this part has proven problematic occasionally, especially in very high heat, and needed to be replaced with a newer version of the part. He said that it would likely eventually completely fail if not replaced. But prior to it, it would fail only intermittently. Sometimes for just brief periods of time.

(Side note: This triggered a realization that I have noticed the AC system blowing intermittently "not as strong" recently. It never blew hot air, but sometimes would blow more lightly. I thought it might have been just the recent firmware updates, but apparently it was related to this issue.)

Anyways, it was replaced within a few hours and it worked fine on the ride home. I can only assume and trust this takes care of it all. So, a positive experience overall as usual.

Thanks for this thread jomo. Brought out a lot of knowledge on our HVAC system and symptoms of failure which could be very useful down the road. Especially since I'm going on 2.5 years with MS.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I'll stand by mine. His post on this thread was nothing but pure Tesla defender stuff.

You got caught calling the wrong guy a fanboy. If I were in your position, I'd just apologize and move on. No one would think less of you for it.

 

[russman]

Any thoughts on cost of repair, if this was out of warranty?

 

[cwerdna]

True today as far as I know, but the original Prius (pre 2004) had a belt driven one.

Yep. That's why I said "non-plugin hybrids that have an electric AC compressor".

The Gen 2 Honda Insight also had a belt driven AC compressor. The 1st gen HAH had a funny arrangement of two compressors. Per Honda Accord Hybrid - Road Test - Car Reviews - Car and Driver
"The belt-drive compressor (75cc displacement) stops with the engine, but the electric compressor (15cc) maintains cabin coolness and keeps the Accord alive with enough vibration that you could think-in a Lexus anyway-the engine were still idling."