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Auto Climate calibration seems really dumb


i20sailor

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Situation:

Outside temp: <80F, car has been sitting in the sun, so inside temp 90F+, Climate set to 68F on Auto.

 

HVAC blower will not go over 50%. Car takes for ever to cool off. Need to use "Max Air" to cool off car, but when I revert back Auto, temp setting stays at "LO" so I need to go the Climate Screen to set temp back to desired 68F.

 

If outside temp is >80F, then blower will go over 50% on Auto.

What on earth are the Ford engineers thinking?? What does the outside temp have to do with getting the inside of the car to the set point as quickly as possible? Every other car I own would go to full fan speed and recirc regardless of outside temp.

 

My GM cars also reduce fan speed when a call comes in. Really nice feature.

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Maybe it is going to full speed. When you go to 60 (max cool) it also goes to recirculate which makes the fan sound like it's going faster but it's really not. Next time try bumping up the fan speed manually and see where it is set and if you can increase it.

 

It goes by the ambient air temp. Perhaps it *feels* hotter to you because the seats and steering wheel are hot.

 

I just turn my temp down to 60 if I want rapid cooling and then put it back to 70 or 72 when it's comfortable.

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... Need to use "Max Air" to cool off car, but when I revert back Auto, temp setting stays at "LO" so I need to go the Climate Screen to set temp back to desired 68F...

Intuitively, at least from my perspective, when I hit Max and hit it again after cooling down and given that Auto is still on, I would expect the temperature to go back to my set temperature, not stay at LO.

 

I fail to see why this would be by design. But then, that's just me.

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i20sailor...I would take it in and have them check it. I double checked mine today and ours definitely is using full fan speed with recirc in auto. I started the car and it was in auto and fans were kicking hard, then hit max AC and no difference other than changing temp to Lo, switching back to auto the fans stayed the same but as mentioned by cv27 the temp stayed at Lo which is kind of dumb.

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i20sailor...I would take it in and have them check it. I double checked mine today and ours definitely is using full fan speed with recirc in auto. I started the car and it was in auto and fans were kicking hard, then hit max AC and no difference other than changing temp to Lo, switching back to auto the fans stayed the same but as mentioned by cv27 the temp stayed at Lo which is kind of dumb.

 

What was your outside temp? Does our recirc light turn on when in Auto Mode (I don't think mine has ever done that). I've already complained about this to my dealer various times. They agreed that it was strange, but could find nothing wrong. Story of my life with this car.

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I think it was in the upper 80's and I don't think the recirc light came on. I think it did light up when I hit max AC though but no change in airflow...at least not that I could tell by sound levels or feel. Funny thing is after posting the message above mine did as you describe. So it must be some function of outside/inside air temps. Not really sure what to make of it but wonder what is actually controlling the system. I know in the past with 2.11 a few times the MFT glitched out bad and we had no heat or any control of the system. If the MFT is actually controlling the system and not just relaying set points to another controller then maybe some of this is just MFT quirks.

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I think it was in the upper 80's and I don't think the recirc light came on. I think it did light up when I hit max AC though but no change in airflow...at least not that I could tell by sound levels or feel. Funny thing is after posting the message above mine did as you describe. So it must be some function of outside/inside air temps. Not really sure what to make of it but wonder what is actually controlling the system. I know in the past with 2.11 a few times the MFT glitched out bad and we had no heat or any control of the system. If the MFT is actually controlling the system and not just relaying set points to another controller then maybe some of this is just MFT quirks.

 

You're on the right track, the MFT just sends the command signals to the RCCM module. The software in the RCCM module commands the system on what to do. Ford is trying to balance the attributes of climate comfort with the annoyance of the fan noise. They figure (based on years of customer feedback) when it's not that hot out, people get upset when the fan is really loud. It's not a lack of attention to detail, it's actually too much attention to detail.

 

Personally I can't stand the noise of the fan on full speed (in any car). I'd much prefer it to take just a bit longer to cool down if it can do it quietly.

Edited by Waldo
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Yeah I am the opposite...I can't stand the heat. I am one of those people that rarely wears a coat in the winter so I am a bit more cold tolerant but the heat just makes me insane. I would much rather have the fans cranking away and get the temp down as fast as possible. To me it is all about the area under the curve...sure the fan is annoying but if the fan is on high it will cool down quick and then back off. So I am only in a hot and loud environment for a short time. But if it does have the flow I am hotter for a lot longer. Again personal preference but I can't believe too many people would prefer to sit in a hot car longer especially if they are dressed for work and get all swampy.

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Situation:

Outside temp: <80F, car has been sitting in the sun, so inside temp 90F+, Climate set to 68F on Auto.

 

HVAC blower will not go over 50%. Car takes for ever to cool off. Need to use "Max Air" to cool off car, but when I revert back Auto, temp setting stays at "LO" so I need to go the Climate Screen to set temp back to desired 68F.

 

If outside temp is >80F, then blower will go over 50% on Auto.

What on earth are the Ford engineers thinking?? What does the outside temp have to do with getting the inside of the car to the set point as quickly as possible? Every other car I own would go to full fan speed and recirc regardless of outside temp.

 

My GM cars also reduce fan speed when a call comes in. Really nice feature.

I really like the fact that the climate control can kick in full force and cool that car off. I don't like the fact that it works at the most odd times.

Getting in and starting the car is an adventure. Not only the MFT adventure but the climate control is sporadic.

When the cabin is scorching hot, the climate control can act anemic.

When the cabin is tolerable, climate control sometimes freezes me out of the car.

 

The algorithm used to kick the HVAC into MAX is flawed.

 

Oh. I also noticed the bug where the system will not go back to your auto temp settings when you turn MAX off.

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