M3 windows frozen and will not drop when opening car door

[JAMBergie]

I haven't had my windows freeze yet in Minnesota, but we will see.

The manual suggests directing the air vents out towards the window for additional defrosting if needed. Doing this may help speed up unfreezing a window, although I have not tested it. It may be worthwhile to at least do this on the passenger side if you prefer a different air position while you're driving as it may be hard/annoying to remember to change it every time you get out unless Tesla updates the app to allow you to adjust the air vents from your phone. This would possibly help you at least get into the car sooner. If you try this, you can't put the temp all the way to HI as that will only blow air through the floor vents until you lower the temp back down.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

Pre heating the car for 30 minutes without plugging in is gonna suck up tons of power from the battery. That kinda loses the whole purpose of driving an efficient EV. I don’t see an easy fix for this issue. Kinda worrying.

You'll have to quantify "tons," because my observations of pre-heating without it plugged in hasn't resulted in what I would call "tons" of power loss.

That's not to say it wouldn't be more efficient not to pre-warm for 30 min, of course.

 

[McFlurri]

You'll have to quantify "tons," because my observations of pre-heating without it plugged in hasn't resulted in what I would call "tons" of power loss.

That's not to say it wouldn't be more efficient not to pre-warm for 30 min, of course.

I have pre heat my car for 10 minutes and lost about 10km of range.

To me that is tons.

If i follow what Tesla says and preheat for 20 minutes... i could lose 15 to 20km of range!

Keep in mind too thats at an ambient temp of around the freezing mark. What happens when its actually winter...

 

[JohnSnowNW]

I have pre heat my car for 10 minutes and lost about 10km of range.

To me that is tons.

If i follow what Tesla says and preheat for 20 minutes... i could lose 15 to 20km of range!

Keep in mind too thats at an ambient temp of around the freezing mark. What happens when its actually winter...

My Model X is rated at 413km EPA...so losing 15-20km in 20 min doesn't seem like a "ton" to me, of course, YMMV.

 

[electracity]

I have pre heat my car for 10 minutes and lost about 10km of range.

To me that is tons.

If i follow what Tesla says and preheat for 20 minutes... i could lose 15 to 20km of range!

Keep in mind too thats at an ambient temp of around the freezing mark. What happens when its actually winter...

But regen works better and sooner.

I think the ability to preheat is great. Even with ICE cars people use fuel or electricity to make sure a car functions well in very cold weather: Espar coolant heaters on diesels, plug in parking meters in the far north, and remote start systems everywhere.

 

[eCharcoal]

I have pre heat my car for 10 minutes and lost about 10km of range.

To me that is tons.

If i follow what Tesla says and preheat for 20 minutes... i could lose 15 to 20km of range!

Keep in mind too thats at an ambient temp of around the freezing mark. What happens when its actually winter...

Exactly. Imagine how it will impact future SR owners in the next polar vortex.

 

[McFlurri]

But regen works better and sooner.

I think the ability to preheat is great. Even with ICE cars people use fuel or electricity to make sure a car functions well in very cold weather: Espar coolant heaters on diesels, plug in parking meters in the far north, and remote start systems everywhere.

In my case it had no difference on regen. And even if it did, it would not make up the 15km to 20km lost heating the car.

 

[eCharcoal]

But regen works better and sooner.

I think the ability to preheat is great. Even with ICE cars people use fuel or electricity to make sure a car functions well in very cold weather: Espar coolant heaters on diesels, plug in parking meters in the far north, and remote start systems everywhere.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought preheating the cabin does not warm the battery because the Model 3 does not have a battery warmer like the S and X. The battery is warmed by the motor. I doubt preheating a cold soaked car for 30 minutes will make any difference in regen. My drive back home from the office is 28 miles and I don’t get full regen until I’ve driven a good 20 miles. Temperature was right around the freezing mark.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

In my case it had no difference on regen. And even if it did, it would not make up the 15km to 20km lost heating the car.

It's obviously going to matter under specific circumstances, but burning 15-20km of energy while warming the pack can make a difference when driving around. If you get regen back faster you'll be able to recoup some of that energy loss, compared to not warming up the vehicle...and thus not having regen sooner. In other words, what's the efficiency difference without full regen, as compared to pre-warming and having regen?

 

[Lon12]

I like to keep everything in % capacity. It's not as dramatic when you talk about losing one or two percent heating. I hardly notice it.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought preheating the cabin does not warm the battery because the Model 3 does not have a battery warmer like the S and X. The battery is warmed by the motor. I doubt preheating a cold soaked car for 30 minutes will make any difference in regen. My drive back home from the office is 28 miles and I don’t get full regen until I’ve driven a good 20 miles. Temperature was right around the freezing mark.

The Model 3 uses the motor to preheat the glycol that then heats the battery (is my understanding). I have no idea the efficacy of this system to bring the battery up to temperature and its impact on regen, however it is designed to heat the battery pack...so one would assume that it is able to do so.

 

[Darthbenji]

I know I get way too many connection errors with the app to be able to rely on preheating.

 

[cmalinowski]

It still amazes me every time I see someone ordered a Tesla without doing the slightest bit of research on how to charge it at home.

To each their own. I'll admit to being a bit lazy on reading the manual and stuff before getting the car. They really need a "readers digest" version of the manual. Give me the highlights. I don't need to know every minute detail about the seat belts.

...But what do I know - I'm just an idiot taking a delivery in New England tomorrow and driving to Virginia 3 days later for Thanksgiving. If you see me with a blown motor or some other QC issue on 95, say hi.

Slacker. We got the car on a Friday afternoon and left for a 450 mile trip (Baltimore, MD to Clayton, NY) Saturday morning

 

[Carl_P]

Well, if you're in a hurry I assume the old ICE car methods would still work. (Hot water poured down the windows and door seals.) Not a recommendation by the way. Without preheating the problem becomes the same as an ICE car.

Dan

Not exactly. With every ICE I've ever owned, I didn't have to contend with the INSIDE of the door handle or the INSIDE of the window freezing up stopping me from entering the car. Not to mention it sounds like it's having trouble with just the cold, not necessarily precipitation. Again, never had a problem opening my ICE door when it was below freezing

 

[super20g]

Are there service center approved methods (other than pre-conditioning) for aiding in the window and door handles not freezing up? Specific lubricant that is seal/paint safe that would aid in lessening these occurrences? How often to apply and so on?

 

[moridin2002]

We need scheduled cabin preconditioning. My Kia Soul EV had this and it was amazing. Would also help with getting other systems warmed up on the car without having to remember to log in to the app and get the car going.

 

[dendenyc]

hmmmm Im always very suspicious of OP's with low post count and very strong negative opinions.

 

[StellarRat]

The Leaf allows you to turn the heat on on a timer. So your car can warm itself up before you leave every morning. Probably a feature that Telsa needs to add to the M3 and app. I'd hop into a nice toasty Leaf every morning with no mileage loss since it was using wall power. That also melted the frost and ice "pre-flight." My suggestion is to crank up the heat in the app and turn it on well before you leave.

 

[insaneoctane]

Sorry for the naive question from lifetime Californian.... Do other vehicles have frozen handle issues too? I think I'd be irritated if most cars are fine with this but my Tesla windows and handles were freezing!

 

[Az_Rael]

Sorry for the naive question from lifetime Californian.... Do other vehicles have frozen handle issues too? I think I'd be irritated if most cars are fine with this but my Tesla windows and handles were freezing!

I never remember it being an issue in the mountain winters where I lived in Utah (as the kid, it was my job to brush the snow and scrape the car. My reward was getting to start the car! My parents were genius). And that was serious cold, we had an engine block heater so the car could start in -15F weather.

In DFW, I occasionally had my car doors freeze shut with a thick freezing rain storm. The entire car would get coated in thick ice. But because the handles protruded out, I could usually muscle the door open past the ice.

I suspect the 3 may be worse than a standard car or even the S reading all these posts of frozen handles. The retracted handle probably makes it harder to access once frozen.