[Brad P]

The air conditioning in my car stopped working again. After about 15 to 20 minutes the compressor stops blowing cold air. Its been repaired two times before. I will be taking it for repair for the 3rd time. When can I lemon the car?

I wrote a version of my experience below in reply. I do think all these problems due to leaky "charge port valve." I am inquiring about a possible recall or a way to fix all 14! valves.

 

[dcdrive]

The mechanic said the I-Pace AC unit has 14 valves compared to the average of 2 on most gas cars. I asked why this was and he said he didnt know. <...> What I see is an electric engine that is relatively much lower maintenance and moving parts to gas cars -- why not make the AC abnormaly complex and filled with abnormalities, wrought with "issues"?

It's using single AC unit to be cooling multiple modules, including cabin, battery, motors, electronics, so valves are needed to redistribute appropriately. Same thing like OctoValve unit in Tesla MY which Munro called one of the most essential inventions there.
In ICE cars, anything outside the cabin you just don't care, temperature-wise. And BTW, they don't have control valves as a norm, only single "expansion valve" (orifice), everything else is done by managing air flow. So hard to tell which "two" the mechanic is talking about.
But still no controversy here.

 

[gtquan]

My air con stopped working today. Car was outside most of the day at an amusement park. Turned on preconditiong 5 mins before leaving. Ran ac while waiting about 15 mins for rest of family. Seemed out but started blowing warm air after starting to drive. Couldn't get any cool air the whole 50 min trip home. With ac off the air seemed colder. Will check try again tomorrow.

 

[dcdrive]

Seems I have AC issue too, different scenario though: after the car is sitting on charger overnight, unplugging and driving in the morning, sometimes AC doesn't kick in, just blowing outside air. "AC" indication is on, and "Max AC" only enables recirculation and goes full fan. Tried exiting / locking / restarting no success.
Few times happened already, and never in different circumstances.
Given all software issues observed, whoever written that code should be banned from profession together with the management two levels up.

 

[pcst]

Given all software issues observed, whoever written that code should be banned from profession together with the management two levels up.

Yep, the problème is that devs and the 2 steps above them never actually saw a car.

 

[electric-beagle]

I think the AC issue is electro mechanical rather than software related.

The iPace AC is complex because it also controls battery temperature as I understand it.

There is a known issue that the bolts used to secure the AC pipes when factory built are too long and presumably do not tighten properly (or are prone to expansion) allowing the AC gas to partially or fully escape, these need to be replaced with the new shorter versions.

In addition due to the AC design, there are multiple valves in the system all representing potential leakage points. When AC gas escapes the resulting gas isn't enough to sustain chilled air (assuming the leak is not that serious all gas escapes) and becomes overwhelmed as the heat exchanger freezes (as I understand things). Regassing without understanding the cause of the leak will not fix the root cause of the problem which will repeat.

Ironically mine is in today for a fix for the AC and as it is cooler weather now in the UK the air is holding chill for longer, so I get cold air for circa 40 mins rather than the 15 to 20 mins on hot days that I used to have. This implies to me that there is some AC gas left in the system and it copes better now it is not having to work so hard but in very hot weather the impact is really clear.

 

[gtquan]

The AC is back working again this morning on a short drive. Will update if the problem happens again.

 

[dcdrive]

@electric-beagle Seems you have completely different issue. Can you elaborate about too long bolts though ? Any official SB ?

And double-checked with my wife - seems my estimate of "few times" was quite conservative. As per corrected info, it's closer to 50% chance (!) that it fails in the morning right after unplugging.

 

[electric-beagle]

The AC is back working again this morning on a short drive. Will update if the problem happens again.

Mine is like this on a short drive it's fine on a long drive it is quite problematic. How long it takes to stop working seems dependant on the outside temperature

 

[electric-beagle]

@electric-beagle Seems you have completely different issue. Can you elaborate about too long bolts though ? Any official SB ?

And double-checked with my wife - seems my estimate of "few times" was quite conservative. As per corrected info, it's closer to 50% chance (!) that it fails in the morning right after unplugging.

After it has been charging it is likely to have been cooling the battery so if one or more of the valves are not working correctly it may manifest then.

Yes there is a service bulletin it was reported elsewhere on this board that's how I know about it, it isn't clear if it applies to all cars or just some.

 

[gtquan]

My A/C has cut out two more times now. It seems to occur after it's been working for about 20 mins. Today after my morning commute, left work after 2 hrs and it worked for 20 mins then I could feel the humidity building up in the car. I've also noticed that when it's not working, the loud fans that spin up when the car has stopped moving are not running. Stopped at Canadian Tire to shop for 20 mins and the ACs working again / fans spinning. Only other correlation is the 3 times it's happened it's been extremely hot and humid. Read somewhere about ice building up in a condenser?

 

[electric-beagle]

My A/C has cut out two more times now. It seems to occur after it's been working for about 20 mins. Today after my morning commute, left work after 2 hrs and it worked for 20 mins then I could feel the humidity building up in the car. I've also noticed that when it's not working, the loud fans that spin up when the car has stopped moving are not running. Stopped at Canadian Tire to shop for 20 mins and the ACs working again / fans spinning. Only other correlation is the 3 times it's happened it's been extremely hot and humid. Read somewhere about ice building up in a condenser?

So this is likely to be (as it was for mine also where the AC effectively stopped working after 20 mins and was weak in those 20 mins), an issue of lack of gas in the system. Somehow the AC gas has at least partially escaped and is insufficient to provide continual AC.

The solution is to regas the system which solves the core problem but if you have a leak then it will happen again and again so there is a need to address both symptom (lack of gas) and cause (the leak). There is a service bulletin to address a problem with hose bolts which could be one possible cause (if not already fixed). However you may have a damaged hose or valve or something which also could result in an AC gas leakage.

 

[Ayepace]

If the system is low on refrigerant, it will expand too much and thus pull too much heat out of the air. This causes icing on the evaporator. This will block air flow. There's also a temperature sensor there that will signal the AC system to be shut off due to this condition.

So, you could have low refrigerant, faulty refrigerant pressure sensor, and/or a faulty temperature sensor.

Low refrigerant means there's a leak. There are three bulletins about leaks. One for the pipe-condenser connection bolt too long (add a washer), one for pipes-compressor bolts too long (replace bolts) and one for faulty valves where refrigerant is added and pressures checked (replace valves inner parts - like the core parts of a tire valve).

 

[gtquan]

If the system is low on refrigerant, it will expand too much and thus pull too much heat out of the air. This causes icing on the evaporator. This will block air flow. There's also a temperature sensor there that will signal the AC system to be shut off due to this condition.

So, you could have low refrigerant, faulty refrigerant pressure sensor, and/or a faulty temperature sensor.

Low refrigerant means there's a leak. There are three bulletins about leaks. One for the pipe-condenser connection bolt too long (add a washer), one for pipes-compressor bolts too long (replace bolts) and one for faulty valves where refrigerant is added and pressures checked (replace valves inner parts - like the core parts of a tire valve).

Thanks for the info from the two of you. Will have it taken in to the dealer when I get a chance.

 

[dcdrive]

If the system is low on refrigerant, it will expand too much and thus pull too much heat out of the air. This causes icing on the evaporator.

Does it mean that dumping a bit of a refrigerant will result in lower evaporator temperature ? Have another car which doesn't blow as cold as it used to, after AC compressor replacement (and I know there's no leak).

 

[bruintoo]

My A/C has cut out two more times now. It seems to occur after it's been working for about 20 mins. Today after my morning commute, left work after 2 hrs and it worked for 20 mins then I could feel the humidity building up in the car. I've also noticed that when it's not working, the loud fans that spin up when the car has stopped moving are not running. Stopped at Canadian Tire to shop for 20 mins and the ACs working again / fans spinning. Only other correlation is the 3 times it's happened it's been extremely hot and humid. Read somewhere about ice building up in a condenser?

This was the problem with the A/C in my car. The very last repair (which I hope finally fixed it after two previous tries) was a leaky valve in the compressor.
-Ben

 

[gtquan]

I was browsing the UK forum. There was a reply there about the AC and battery cooling system linked to the same software. If the AC is not working, the battery cooling system may not be working properly either - the author said he had permanent damage to his battery from this. Does this make sense?

 

[dcdrive]

the author said he had permanent damage to his battery from this. Does this make sense?

Technically - yes, practically - unlikely.
Interesting to know what's the basis for such claim.

 

[gtquan]

Just got the car back from the dealer. The report says they "found leak on outlet pipe from condenser, replace O rings on pipe, reinstall pipe vacuum and charge system, update hvac module road test vehicle checks out okay". So not sure if this will be a permanent fix or it will eventually leak out again. They didn't mention anything about bolts being too long as has been discussed.

 

[john35967]

i just bought a used i pace first off ac problems no cold air at all i was told that when this happens they are going to change the wire harness they said they have to drop engine to replace wire harness