Overzealous A/C - Anyone else?

[2kwik4u]

And for me it's the first that I've ever just left on auto with no change unless I'm particularly hot. Have you tried a full reset (disco reboot with the flasher button)? Also, I've had to reset/calibrate the vents twice in a couple years.

I'm gonna steal that. "Disco Reboot". Love it. Why do they make the flashers continue while it's rebooting? Neighbors asked me about it the other day, was an interesting conversation on why I was rebooting my truck.

Sponsored

 

[2kwik4u]

And for me it's the first that I've ever just left on auto with no change unless I'm particularly hot. Have you tried a full reset (disco reboot with the flasher button)? Also, I've had to reset/calibrate the vents twice in a couple years.

I can't leave it on Auto. It does weird shit that seems non-sensical. Things liek blowing cold air on the defrost in the winter. Engaging the floor vents in the summer and not the dash vents.

Speaking of the dash vents, I have no idea why they can't just LEAVE THEM ALONE. Every time I get in the truck I have to readjust the damn things. I like a little breeze near my face. Air movement is more important than temperature. Either my body and posture is wildly inconsistent (never been a problem in other cars), or the vents are moving between drives. THEN, they're so absurdly poorly calibrated I have to monkey with them every time to get them back where I want them.

We did have some big temps over the weekend. mid 90's for Buffalo is hot, and we had some higher humidty days. Again, nothing like AZ heat, or southern states humidity, but it was hot for us. We went for Ice Cream mid-day Saturday, and I left the truck A/C set on hold while we were sitting on the picnic tables. Came back to the truck reporting 52deg in the cabin, despite the vents being "red" colored. It felt like a damn ice-box.

I agree with @tjrivian I think it just doesn't know how to "stand down" at a normal temp. Once it decides cool or heat there is no changing it's mind. That's gonna be the setting from then on for the rest of the drive.

I do have dark tint on the windshield and front doors. 20% on doors, 5% "big eyebrow" on windshield. Can't imagine that's rejecting enough heat to make the AC this aggressive though.

 

[SwampNut]

I can't leave it on Auto. It does weird shit that seems non-sensical. Things liek blowing cold air on the defrost in the winter. Engaging the floor vents in the summer and not the dash vents.

Speaking of the dash vents, I have no idea why they can't just LEAVE THEM ALONE. Every time I get in the truck I have to readjust the damn things. I like a little breeze near my face. Air movement is more important than temperature. Either my body and posture is wildly inconsistent (never been a problem in other cars), or the vents are moving between drives. THEN, they're so absurdly poorly calibrated I have to monkey with them every time to get them back where I want them.

We did have some big temps over the weekend. mid 90's for Buffalo is hot, and we had some higher humidty days. Again, nothing like AZ heat, or southern states humidity, but it was hot for us. We went for Ice Cream mid-day Saturday, and I left the truck A/C set on hold while we were sitting on the picnic tables. Came back to the truck reporting 52deg in the cabin, despite the vents being "red" colored. It felt like a damn ice-box.

I agree with @tjrivian I think it just doesn't know how to "stand down" at a normal temp. Once it decides cool or heat there is no changing it's mind. That's gonna be the setting from then on for the rest of the drive.

I do have dark tint on the windshield and front doors. 20% on doors, 5% "big eyebrow" on windshield. Can't imagine that's rejecting enough heat to make the AC this aggressive though.

Sooo...did you do a full reset/reboot and the vent calibration...?

Here's my situation today, it's on auto at 73 and doing fine...

 

[2kwik4u]

Sooo...did you do a full reset/reboot and the vent calibration...?

Here's my situation today, it's on auto at 73 and doing fine...

I do a monthly "Disco reboot". I've had the vents replaced twice under warranty; once for not holding calibration and the second time for failed/grinding stepper motors. I now calibrate them once a month after I do the reboot.

It's just a garbage system, or my truck is a broken POS. Not sure which.

*edit*

If you set the temp to 74deg, and let it sit for 20min. Does it drop to 74, then stay there or continue on to something lower?

 

[SwampNut]

It's just a garbage system, or my truck is a broken POS. Not sure which.

We seem to have a huge number of people with massive recurring issues, and others who don't. QC or changes in hardware vendors...? Dunno. This is the best A/C I've ever experienced, but did have a couple issues with it that they fixed.

 

[SwampNut]

Just had another thought. What temp do you set it to? I had a friend visiting from NY last week, and he set my truck to something insane like 62, then said it didn't get there fast enough or well enough. I almost never set it other than 73, and full auto.

 

[2kwik4u]

We seem to have a huge number of people with massive recurring issues, and others who don't. QC or changes in hardware vendors...? Dunno. This is the best A/C I've ever experienced, but did have a couple issues with it that they fixed.

I've been saying that for awhile, and 100% agree. I've met a couple owners that are like mine and have complete basket cases for trucks. In the shop for a myriad of reasons on a semi-regular basis. I've also met two owners with over 100k miles and less than 3 service visits between them. About the only correlation I can find is the time difference between manufacture and delivery. Mine was built in Dec of '23 and delivered in Sept of '24. In my mind it had QC issues and sat around the factory before being "fixed" and delivered to me. Those that I have met with good to great experiences ordered to a spec, and only had a short time between manufacturer and delivery. I know the time isn't the issue there, but the process of ordering to spec instead of taking from inventory might have some insights into the QC/product issues. All speculation though with a sample size of about 15 trucks on my side.

I'm running a test right now. Just set the truck to 70deg. Started at 84deg, and has dropped to 64deg in about 11min. Currently 77deg and overcast outside, with about 80% humidity. We'll see where it lands when I leave the office here in 15min or so.

*EDIT* - 14min in and the app "turned off" the A/C (The little spinning fan in the app stopped spinning. Internal temp is reading 64deg currently.
*/EDIT*

Also, to be really clear. The A/C works great. It's plenty powerful , and blows quite cold all summer long. It's the thermostat part that doesn't seem to know what it's doing

 

[SwampNut]

with about 80% humidity.

This seems to be a major factor with Rivians. I regularly start with the cabin at 150, and it gets well under 100 in three minutes, and near set temp in five.

Mine is fairly early made, VIN is just over 10k. Don't know how to tell the made/delivered times.

 

[2kwik4u]

This seems to be a major factor with Rivians. I regularly start with the cabin at 150, and it gets well under 100 in three minutes, and near set temp in five.

Mine is fairly early made, VIN is just over 10k. Don't know how to tell the made/delivered times.

Rivian Roamer has my build date. I think it's in the door jamb as well. Mine is VIN 30628, so not too far "behind" yours

Like this:

*EDIT*
This is fun. It thinks it's preconditioning. Wonder if that has something to do with it.

Also this screen shows build and delivery dates.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

In auto mode it's the worst HVAC system I've ever seen in a vehicle. Sometimes it will turn off the compressor the first instant it hits the setpoint and will proceed to blow unchilled air at me. Other times it will continue blowing super chilled air for 10+ minutes after reaching the setpoint. It's impossible to predict what is going to happen.

My experience mirrored yours. The AC didn't work very well in auto. Heat was fine though.

 

[BanditTA]

Just had another thought. What temp do you set it to? I had a friend visiting from NY last week, and he set my truck to something insane like 62, then said it didn't get there fast enough or well enough. I almost never set it other than 73, and full auto.

I’ve only had my R1T for 5 days now FWIW but it seems like 72-73 is just right for optimal cooling without freezing me to death. My prior cars never seemed to stay cold if they weren’t set anything under 70. No issues cooling to that temp quickly for me either.

Sponsored