4 day old New Model X - AC failure while on road trip vacation?

[stc215]

I'm writing in hopes community can offer some guidance, as I'm at my wit's end.

Four days ago on June 25th I was delighted to receive my MX Standard Range from the Brooklyn service center. Everything was great. Delivery team worked great to get me to my car on time for both the tax credit cut off and a family trip to Cape Cod for the week.

On Thursday tested the car with a 3 hour round trip drive to CT--everything works great.

On Friday my 5 year old and I take a trip to our first supercharger to Max up to 100 before our long road trip, and enjoyed our the time with the new Dune Buggy update.

Saturday early Am (this morning) we depart on the 300 mile mile trip to outer cape. We take the Navs advice to a single supercharge stop in RI. Everything is great for first 3 hours of the trip, and we supercharge. Enjoy a great early lunch. Walk around.

When we come back to the car, it's adequately full for our need to go the last 2 hours (maybe 65%), but it's really hot inside. When I go to turn on the AC, it just blows hot air. OK--i think, it probably is just cooking the battery. So I reassure my wife and 2 kids that our car is fine and this is just the adventure of an EV.

We get back on the road, but the temperature doesn't cool down. We do a reset while driving (two thumbs on rollers), no change in ac. We stop, take a 10 minute break. Do another reset, no change.

So we decide to go the whole way with Windows down. It's 85, on an interstate, and my infant is wailing, wife giving me the what the heck did you spend 100K on death stare.

We call Tesla, can't make heads or tails of the phone tree. Never find a human (it's Saturday). We write our deliver specialist, who tells us to call roadside assistance. We do that, they say there's nothing they can do but connect us to an open service center in Mt Kisko. We leave a message ,and get no response.

Now we are at a vacation house, 300 miles from home, and 2-3 hours from a service center. We are afraid to drive the car (will battery overheat and catch fire? Will kids melt in summer heat?). We are here for six days. Monday (in 2 days) is day 7 of our return period, but that's only promise we've gotten back from delivery team for a call with a service tech.

How should we handle? Can we demand they rxtend the 7 day return period? Can we demand they fix the AC before our return trip to NYC? Will they bring us a loaner car way out on cape cod?

And what the heck is wrong with my car? I want to love this thing but it's a major nightmare so far.

(Also Raven is super smooth and handles like a dream)

Thanks for your guidance, TMC!

 

[stc215]

Edit--i assumed it was COOLING the battery (not cooking)

Also, I was getting super fast charge at supercharger and am on latest update (I think) 2019.20.4.2 66625e9

 

[jdw]

Aside from a bit of sweating I think your major concern if the AC has failed would be Supercharging. At best, without the battery chiller you might find a reduced rate of charge, at worst, it might not allow charging. Ideally, you could find a lower power source of charging somewhere in Cape Cod just in case. 110V or 240V up to 40A would not normally require battery cooling. If you're there for a few days, you could likely get enough charge to make it to a service center.

You have a great car, a failed AC unit early on is unfortunate, but not a reason to return it. Defective parts usually fail early and after replacement are fine. If you don't like the car, *that* would be a reason to return it.

I can't speak for the SC, but it might be possible they could send a mobile tech out to you if you're there long enough for that to make sense. Roadside Assistance should also be able to do something.

I'm old and was kid *long* before cars even had AC ... they'll be fine

 

[P85_DA]

If your there for a week see if mobile service can come to you

 

[NoSoup4U!]

I’d say continue with Roadside assistance. Tell them THEY need to get the nearest SC on the line. They need to initiate a tow and replacement vehicle. That’s what roadside assistance means. To send you off into voicemail nirvana is unacceptable.
Since you didn’t mention it and it’s so obvious I’m hesitant to ask if you opened the ac menu and tapped the ac button...?

 

[neroden]

I know it will ruin your vacation, but I would drive the car to the nearest service center and tell them to fix it and give you a loaner, or you're returning the car to Tesla on the spot.

If they give you trouble, get it in writing that you've returned it, and return it right then.

Since it's the weekend, I would try calling on Monday morning first. But I'd expect to get the same damn runaround. You don't want to miss the return window, so plan on returning the car on Monday.

 

[Rockster]

I would definitely try to avoid supercharging with a non-functioning AC. Even if the car/supercharger allowed it, which it might not, I would fear for the battery.

Charging on a 120 or 240 outlet while waiting for Tesla to respond could possibly mean you can avoid a flatbed tow. On the other hand, it would be great if Tesla would bring you a loaner and flatbed your X to a service center for you.

Don’t be bummed at this. It doesn’t take much to make an AC system fail. One speck of contaminant accidentally introduced into the lines during manufacturing would do it. The exact same thing happened to a brand new BMW I bought some years ago. They replaced the system in one afternoon and I never had a problem with it again.

 

[Willy3988]

Just curious did you happen to put it in range mode?

 

[r0xx0r]

I ran into the same situation with you last year. Outside was 105F - AC failed.

I ran from Lake Tahoe to Dublin, CA in next day early morning myself to avoid the heat. Jumped into the SC and explained the situation with them. Their service engineer checked my car immediately to see if I had a faulty battery cooling or loosen O-ring. It turned out just an O-ring. They replaced it in 15 minutes. I drove around for an hour then confirmed with them that problem was gone.

So my suggestion is: contact the nearest SC and go there if it is possible. I think supercharging the car is fine. Its fan will be super noisy and the charging rate will be low.

 

[TechVP]

Sorry to hear about this.
I can imagine this is wrenching.

Here is a personal experience I have had at a few intervals. After an overnight see if your experience is the same the next day. Sometimes the AC issue clears up, and the AC will activitate properly when you get in and turn it on the following morning. Should be able to tell right away & not have to drive around to find out. . This is my personal experience with my 2017. A tech told me that sometimes a software glitch can cause the AC experience you described.
But is definitely not normal behavior.

Here is one additional tip I did by chance last year about May time and it brought my AC back online. I used the mobile app to change the Climate from on to off. Then back on again.
Worth toggling it from high temp to max cool once or twice if you are idle, sitting waiting for an answer from the service techs. At the time I did it while inside the X and it helped me once when I had the wife in the car; similar situation with that face

Stay in touch w/ the SC / 24 hour roadside assistance, as that is what they are there for. Insist they have a tech remote into your X & check the logs. That is something they can do as long as your X has cell coverage. That will be a good first step to diagnosis.

Hope something from all of your responses yields a resumption of your vacation.

-TechVP

 

[jebinc]

Any chance you accidentally put it into manual mode and were only running the fans? I ask as I made this mistake upon leaving the SC after taking delivery on the first day... I was dismayed and called the delivery specialist. He told to put it auto mode and set the temperature to what I liked and report.... Well, needless to say, the issue was one of "Operator Error"...

 

[Terthen]

Definitely see if you can at least get a mobile service technician out to evaluate your car. You may need to keep calling the SC on Monday until you can talk to someone and I would try every department (parts, anything to talk to an actual person)

Definitely feel your pain with dealing with the car and having wife and crying baby not happy with you.... I would consider threatening to return the car Monday. Might be worth being at the SC and if they can’t fix it, just return it on the spot.. but honestly if you are there for a week, I would prob consider driving myself the 2-3 hours to SC, hope they can fix it, then drive it back and enjoy the rest of the vacation.

If all else fails tweet Elon

 

[stc215]

I’d say continue with Roadside assistance. Tell them THEY need to get the nearest SC on the line. They need to initiate a tow and replacement vehicle. That’s what roadside assistance means. To send you off into voicemail nirvana is unacceptable.
Since you didn’t mention it and it’s so obvious I’m hesitant to ask if you opened the ac menu and tapped the ac button...?

Yes, I should have clarified. We read manual, made sure AC was on. Tried everything! Thanks for responding!

 

[stc215]

Just curious did you happen to put it in range mode?

No we did not use range mode and made sure that it wasn't on when the AC stopped working.

 

[stc215]

Any chance you accidentally put it into manual mode and were only running the fans? I ask as I made this mistake upon leaving the SC after taking delivery on the first day... I was dismayed and called the delivery specialist. He told to put it auto mode and set the temperature to what I liked and report.... Well, needless to say, the issue was one of "Operator Error"...

Thanks for responding, yes ac was on and we tried setting temperature LOW

 

[stc215]

Sorry to hear about this.
I can imagine this is wrenching.

Here is a personal experience I have had at a few intervals. After an overnight see if your experience is the same the next day. Sometimes the AC issue clears up, and the AC will activitate properly when you get in and turn it on the following morning. Should be able to tell right away & not have to drive around to find out. . This is my personal experience with my 2017. A tech told me that sometimes a software glitch can cause the AC experience you described.
But is definitely not normal behavior.

Here is one additional tip I did by chance last year about May time and it brought my AC back online. I used the mobile app to change the Climate from on to off. Then back on again.
Worth toggling it from high temp to max cool once or twice if you are idle, sitting waiting for an answer from the service techs. At the time I did it while inside the X and it helped me once when I had the wife in the car; similar situation with that face

Stay in touch w/ the SC / 24 hour roadside assistance, as that is what they are there for. Insist they have a tech remote into your X & check the logs. That is something they can do as long as your X has cell coverage. That will be a good first step to diagnosis.

Hope something from all of your responses yields a resumption of your vacation.

-TechVP

Thanks--all helpful. I let the car rest for the night (while on a trickle charge) and still no AC. The system is just acting like a fan blowing ambient our outside air (depending on the circulation setting enabled)

I also tried the mobile app trick. No difference.

 

[JenkinsEar]

Since you didn’t mention it and it’s so obvious I’m hesitant to ask if you opened the ac menu and tapped the ac button...?

Echo that - our MX occasionally turns the AC off on its own - no apparent reason that I can divine. Fan and vent settings remain the same.

 

[Krazaak]

It's unfortunate timing for sure, but it's probably an easy fix. Returning the car over failed AC is definitely the nuclear option and going to be a mildly annoying process, especially if you otherwise enjoy the car. Yesterday and today are probably the worse days to be trying to get a hold of a person at a service/delivery center because it's the end of the $3,750 tax credit.

I'd recommend using the executive escalation option option through the tesla.com site, emailing [email protected] and try calling the service center directly to either get somebody to bring you a rental and take your car back, send mobile service, or arrange for you to come in and swap out for a rental.

 

[CarlK]

ISince you didn’t mention it and it’s so obvious I’m hesitant to ask if you opened the ac menu and tapped the ac button...?

If your steering thumb wheel is set to control the temperature it will turn AC on or off is you press it even for other purpose like ended a call. It has happened to me all the time although it would be too obvious to not notice. But then again you never know.

 

[stc215]

It's unfortunate timing for sure, but it's probably an easy fix. Returning the car over failed AC is definitely the nuclear option and going to be a mildly annoying process, especially if you otherwise enjoy the car. Yesterday and today are probably the worse days to be trying to get a hold of a person at a service/delivery center because it's the end of the $3,750 tax credit.

I'd recommend using the executive escalation option option through the tesla.com site, emailing [email protected] and try calling the service center directly to either get somebody to bring you a rental and take your car back, send mobile service, or arrange for you to come in and swap out for a rental.

Thanks this is route we are taking Monday morning--talk to a person and sort something out and get on with our vacation!

Thanks everyone for great advice--very helpful!