Recent heat pump failures - software issue?

[Ruffles]

Makes sense. My build is July 2021 so I am likely a few revisions ahead of your original supermanifold. At this stage I think the software-based solutions have been exhausted for me. The low refrigerant matter is interesting.. any idea if your error code was trying to tell us this? I wonder if under extreme conditions such as deep cold the pressures are such that it becomes damaged or a leak occurs otherwise. The manifold is not visible from the frunk without disassembly so I have no idea which revision I am on now.

Fingers crossed they don't strand me in Halifax too long while they address this.

When traveling back from Idaho, we stopped at the Boise service center to see if they could quickly fix it. They were the ones that said the coolant was low but he said it was very minor and not the cause. They flushed & filled but it still wasn't working and we were out of time so we continued back to Seattle. I had them pass their notes to the Bellevue service center which performed the work mentioned above. They advised me to leave the system in AUTO at 70F degrees for the rest of the drive and that worked. It wasn't as warm as I would have liked but it was tolerable and got us home safely. If your car is having issues, that might work for you while waiting to get fixed. I've also heard discussions online about louvers in the front grill getting frozen open with slush/ice which seems like a plausible cause to me and certainly inline with the conditions I had in Idaho so that could also be the cause. Might be worth getting down on your knees and looking through the front grill to see if your car is doing that.

My take is there are probably a variety of contributors which is why it wasn't detected until the "perfect storm" of conditions appeared. Tesla seems to be giving this the highest priority and I'm very happy with them. I don't think people should be angry or try to pressure them via gov intervention. They are doing the best they can to fix cars as quickly as possible. I've certainly had much worse problems / experience with legacy brands such as BMW & Chevy so this is par for the course of vehicle ownership.

 

[mat1990dj]

When traveling back from Idaho, we stopped at the Boise service center to see if they could quickly fix it. They were the ones that said the coolant was low but he said it was very minor and not the cause. They flushed & filled but it still wasn't working and we were out of time so we continued back to Seattle. I had them pass their notes to the Bellevue service center which performed the work mentioned above. They advised me to leave the system in AUTO at 70F degrees for the rest of the drive and that worked. It wasn't as warm as I would have liked but it was tolerable and got us home safely. If your car is having issues, that might work for you while waiting to get fixed. I've also heard discussions online about louvers in the front grill getting frozen open with slush/ice which seems like a plausible cause to me and certainly inline with the conditions I had in Idaho so that could also be the cause. Might be worth getting down on your knees and looking through the front grill to see if your car is doing that.

My take is there are probably a variety of contributors which is why it wasn't detected until the "perfect storm" of conditions appeared. Tesla seems to be giving this the highest priority and I'm very happy with them. I don't think people should be angry or try to pressure them via gov intervention. They are doing the best they can to fix cars as quickly as possible. I've certainly had much worse problems / experience with legacy brands such as BMW & Chevy so this is par for the course of vehicle ownership.

I agree with you, when that happened me I called the support hotline and the person was on the line with me for 30 minutes trying reboots, powers, temp settings, etc... And we can definitely see that they're working on the issue.

 

[rypalmer]

I've also heard discussions online about louvers in the front grill getting frozen open with slush/ice which seems like a plausible cause to me and certainly inline with the conditions I had in Idaho so that could also be the cause. Might be worth getting down on your knees and looking through the front grill to see if your car is doing that.

Agreed, and tried that on Wednesday. Beyond trying warm water at the car wash, and some time spent indoors defrosting, the weather has warmed up above freezing today so it would seem this trick will not work for me.

 

[antikido]

Quick update: 30.7 didn’t fix the issue either

 

[BR666T]

Quick update: 30.7 didn’t fix the issue either

That's too bad. I assume from your forum join date that you have a 2020 Tesla. Those are known to have hardware issues.

 

[antikido]

That's too bad. I assume from your forum join date that you have a 2020 Tesla. Those are known to have hardware issues.

Too bad, especially for me who lives in Russia without official Tesla service as well as opportunity to travel to any EU country due to COVID restrictions
it's 2021 (restyling) LR, delivered in late December 2020. They are known to have hw issues, but surprisingly I didn't experience any until this winter (previous winter was approximately same -10-20 temperatures outside)

 

[thinger]

Tesla fixed first car here Finland.
Not mine. General diagnostic was that now hw issues detected and fixed with sw updates. Upcoming sw should also make it better.
Nothing was changed or extra insulation.

So on here Tesla is saying this is only sw issue.

 

[rypalmer]

Tesla fixed first car here Finland.
Not mine. General diagnostic was that now hw issues detected and fixed with sw updates. Upcoming sw should also make it better.
Nothing was changed or extra insulation.

So on here Tesla is saying this is only sw issue.

I'm somewhat skeptical of this since I am on the latest FW version already. But if we look at this tracker, it seems another update (2021.44.30.8) is pending.

 

[mat1990dj]

Oh my…

 

[thinger]

I'm somewhat skeptical of this since I am on the latest FW version already. But if we look at this tracker, it seems another update (2021.44.30.8) is pending.

Same here. Still getting cold when made heating or leawing warm hall.

 

[obliojim]

Tesla heat pumps failing in extreme cold due to firmware issue, here's how to help prevent it while a fix is developed

Many parts of Canada are currently experiencing record cold temperatures, with some regions dropping to below -40°C (-40°F). The extreme cold has resulted in a number of Tesla owners reporting their heat pumps are failing, […]

driveteslacanada.ca

 

[Bytor]

Just happened to me today. Preconditioned cabin before our trip and everything worked great as per usual. 10 minutes in and heat no longer worked and message that climate keeper unavailable due to system fault. M3 2018 LR. Tried to reboot and nothing. Booked service for Monday. -30 windchill in Mississauga.

 

[Stirfry]

Not very confidence inspiring. I'm debating not accepting delivery until this is sorted (feb2 - mar2).

I am not interested in live testing a bunch of patches while it is -20C or lower.

 

[thinger]

Just happened to me today. Preconditioned cabin before our trip and everything worked great as per usual. 10 minutes in and heat no longer worked and message that climate keeper unavailable due to system fault. M3 2018 LR. Tried to reboot and nothing. Booked service for Monday. -30 windchill in Mississauga.

You have different heating, on this case you have own electric heater. Maybe it's broken.

Then we have got another fix done in here Finland.
They changed AC compressor and updated software. Also supermanifoild was changed.

 

[Tony_YYZ]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1482464666643316741

Someone in Russia did a teardown on a failed heatpump from a Model Y.

 

[Kimppikoo]

I would seriously consider all information coming from Russia. They are one of the biggest oil producers in the world and there is no official Tesla resales.

 

[Tony_YYZ]

I would seriously consider all information coming from Russia. They are one of the biggest oil producers in the world and there is no official Tesla resales.

The folks there who import their own Tesla's and have to fix them themselves or at third party shops. It's not all propaganda.

 

[Wonderland]

this heat pump issue is rly aggravating. It’s the first time I hated my car lol. It was -40 on a 30 min drive home and it rly sucked! This was before the 2 updates but I haven’t had rly cold temp since the updates. Also the device center recommends to use auto which is more efficient.

 

[rypalmer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1482464666643316741

Someone in Russia did a teardown on a failed heatpump from a Model Y.

This seems like my issue exactly. Here's what mine sounds like:

https://imgur.com/a/4IVjMGn

 

[denverag03]

I'm in Colorado with a July 2020 MYLR and the heat pump has always worked great. Yesterday got a VCFRONT_a531 error. The SC's estimate says they are going to replace both the compressor and super manifold. That seems intense. The heat is still working somewhat (I'm not sure exactly how 'bad' it is).