Service troubleshooting masterclass

I recently had service in Natick Mass for a very bizarre HVAC problem where the front vents would intermittently cut out while driving, which was only remedied temporarily by turning the HVAC off and back on again. The tech wizards there managed to figure out the problem and fix it and now my HVAC is perfect. I very much doubt this fix would apply to anyone else’s vehicle so don’t go call service asking them to take apart a wiring harness to test resistance in an individual wire, but I just wanted to share how good these guys are at finding and fixing problems. See the service details…

Interesting. Every once in a while after waking from sleep and starting to drive, the AC compressor will not work and all i get is hot air via fan only and at a lower fan speed. This has happened about 3 times since March but it tends to correct itself after a few (very hot) moments of driving. It was in for service recently for a suspension creak and i forgot to mention the AC issue because it's so infrequent.

Miami_Lucid_Man said:

Interesting. Every once in a while after waking from sleep and starting to drive, the AC compressor will not work and all i get is hot air via fan only and at a lower fan speed. This has happened about 3 times since March but it tends to correct itself after a few (very hot) moments of driving. It was in for service recently for a suspension creak and i forgot to mention the AC issue because it's so infrequent.

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Check to see if you have cold air coming out of the windshield vents. I find it sometimes cools the screen before cooling me.

Bunnylebowski said:

very bizarre HVAC problem where the front vents would intermittently cut out while driving, which was only remedied temporarily by turning the HVAC off and back on again.

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Interesting. My HVAC glitch has been that immediately upon start up, when the HVAC kicks on because it was left on when I shut down, it sometimes revs in overdrive— super loud— but that is always rectified by shutting off the AC and then back on again right away, at which point it settles in at the lower setting that it’s on. (I never actually checked to see if air is coming out of the vents; it’s so alarming that I always just toggle it off right away)

In the winter, with the HVAC on the heating mode, it happened more often than not. In summer, when I’m cooling, it’s only happened a few times.

I’ve added this to my list of things for Service to check, but so far there’s nothing pressing enough for me to make an appointment at Natick (90mi away), after seven months of ownership!

borski said:

Check to see if you have cold air coming out of the windshield vents. I find it sometimes cools the screen before cooling me.

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Yeah I know what you’re talking about. Things different. It’s like barely a fan blowing and blowing fan only. Weird. I’ll probably bring it up if I remember to next March for 1 year.