Auto Climate Control Operation, MFT

[billford]

I think I may have a climate control problem, but I'm not sure.

 

I have my auto climate control set to 72 degrees.

 

On a cold day, the heater fan turns on high, hot air comes out of the vents and the car warms up.

As the interior temperature approaches 72, the heater fan slows down to low speed and the air temperature out of the vents turns from hot to luke warm.

As I keep driving for the day, the interior of the car keeps getting warmer, the interior temperature increases to 80 to 85 degrees while the climate control is still set to 72, there is still luke warm air coming out of the vents and the fan speed is still on low.

If I decrease the climate control setting to 70, then cool air will come out of the vents and the interior of the car will cool down.

 

It seems to me that the climate control system has the ability to heat, cool, change the fan speeds, knows where my desired temperature is, but it fails to hold that desired temperature.

I don't know if the outside temperature has any affect on the way the system works.

 

This is not a big issue. I just turn the system off if it gets to warm. But I'm just wondering, if this sounds like normal operation, or do I have a problem? Also, Is the heater fan supposed to turn off at the desired temperature or does is it supposed to keep running on low speed?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hybridbear]

Auto climate control will never turn the fan completely off. Our car will adjust and begin blowing cool air as needed without changing the temperature. Perhaps there is an issue with the cabin air temp sensor in your car.

[Waldo]

When you say "vents", do you mean the ones in the middle of the instrument panel, or the floor and defrost vents? It rarely will use the IP vents for heating, so if it's coming out of there most of the time, I'd say something is wrong.

 

But the actual temperature setting really isn't intended to numerically match the cabin temperature, it's just a guide. 72 is meant as the average temperature setting where most people will be comfortable, but you may just prefer a cooler than average temperature. If you just leave it set at 70 all the time, are you comfortable?

As hybridbear stated, the system will never turn off completely and yes it does use outside temperature as well as sunload, inside temperature and inside humidity as inputs to determine what to do.

[acdii]

Sounds to me that the temp sensor is off. I found that mine will kick on AC if it gets too warm, even in winter. Annoys the crap out of me when it does, I suddenly get this cold air coming out the vents. I check power draw and sure enough the compressor is running.

[corncobs]

It does that even when it's colder outside. Yesterday while driving home we had to set the temp to 74*F in order not to blown cold air onto our forearms. Outside temps about 62*F.

 

System on Auto no AC and it's very uncomfortable at setting 72*F. Ever since the comment about the light sensor also being tied in to the climate control I'm very suspisious that this not working right.

[billford]

I have a friend who works at a Ford dealer, he scanned the car for codes, none. Then we let the car sit for 4 hours in a shaded area with the windows down. All the temperature sensors, interior and exterior, read the same within 1 degree of each other. Then the interior of the car was warmed up. Turned the car off for 10 minutes to let the interior sensors stabilize. All the interior sensors read the same. There is no sensor problem.

 

If I set my house temperature to 72F, it can vary from about 70 to 73F, which is totally acceptable. But the car temperature slowly increases to almost 90F. Seems like a software issue to me...

 

Maybe when more people complain about it, there will be a software update.

 

Maybe instead of calling it "automatic climate control", they should call it "semi automatic climate control"

[hybridbear]

The interior temp/humidity sensor is located just below & to the right of the steering wheel.

Edit: here is a picture of the sensor location

Edited August 16, 2015 by hybridbear

[mwr]

I think I may have a climate control problem, but I'm not sure.

 

I have my auto climate control set to 72 degrees.

 

On a cold day, the heater fan turns on high, hot air comes out of the vents and the car warms up.

As the interior temperature approaches 72, the heater fan slows down to low speed and the air temperature out of the vents turns from hot to luke warm.

As I keep driving for the day, the interior of the car keeps getting warmer, the interior temperature increases to 80 to 85 degrees while the climate control is still set to 72, there is still luke warm air coming out of the vents and the fan speed is still on low.

If I decrease the climate control setting to 70, then cool air will come out of the vents and the interior of the car will cool down.

 

It seems to me that the climate control system has the ability to heat, cool, change the fan speeds, knows where my desired temperature is, but it fails to hold that desired temperature.

I don't know if the outside temperature has any affect on the way the system works.

 

This is not a big issue. I just turn the system off if it gets to warm. But I'm just wondering, if this sounds like normal operation, or do I have a problem? Also, Is the heater fan supposed to turn off at the desired temperature or does is it supposed to keep running on low speed?

I just now saw this thread. All I can say is my 2015 FFH with MFT maintains quite good temperature control, My prior car, a 2005 Subaru, did not so one of the things I really like about my FFH is how the climate contol works so well. I know it's not much help, but it sounds to me like there's a problem with the climate control in your car.

[billford]

I didn't update the original post, but there was a software update a while ago that fixed the problem.

[talmy]

We keep ours at 71º and Auto year around (except when we need the defrost!) and it has been working great. Best automatic climate control we've ever had in a car. If yours isn't doing the same I'd suspect something is wrong.