It is sweaty outside as this is summer. Shall I tell you something even more sweaty? The climate keeper is unavailable due to a system fault! But don’t be hesitated. Let me share all the steps I followed to overcome with my last year summer diaries.

A few days ago, my friend noticed that the air conditioner (AC) in his Tesla car started spinning on its own, didn’t work at all, or decided to work, jumped up and spun on its own, and turned into legroom. The default system also received a message saying, climate keeper not working due to system fault.”

climate keeper

But I didn’t care much until my own story was the same:

I purchased the Tesla Model 3 last September and didn’t need to use the pre-warming feature or the AC very often. As the weather got colder, I tried using the app’s pre-warming and seat heaters, which worked sometimes and didn’t. I opened a service ticket and was told it was a known software bug that would be resolved. As the winter progressed into freezing temperatures and various software updates to the car arrived, the problem persisted. In January, the only way to pre-warm was to leave a door slightly cracked open, which defeats the purpose of pre-warming.

It’s manageable in the garage at home but not in public parking. I reinstalled the system (hold both buttons, foot on the brake and both buttons, power off using the system, and wait 2 mins, stayed). I tested it while charging and not charging while driving versus not driving, while on LTE versus Wi-Fi while using a different phone, reinstalling the mobile app, disabling other services etc., all in vain. No luck, even after reading as many posts about it as I can.

But can it happen? So, I did a complex study regarding the climate keeper issue in Tesla and came along with the following ideas.

Using the app to activate climate control (temperature and seat heaters) after the car has been parked and put to sleep works, but only once. It will respond to commands to activate the climate control system and adjust the temperature and seat heater.

The climate control automatically turns off after about 30 to 40 seconds, and the app displays the off state. This is crucial because you might miss the symptom if you exit the app and assume that the climate control is functioning.

The error message” climate keeper unavailable “seems to be after any further attempts to activate the climate control through the app.

Additionally, the climate control from the car and the mobile app function flawlessly in this scenario if any door is left slightly open, a driver is seated, or the vehicle is being driven.

After driving, if the car is parked, it may occasionally function typically right away, but it will most definitely not function normally once the car has gone to sleep.

The climate control screen displays the message “Climate keeper unavailable due to system fault” a short while after the car has been put in park. The error message appears even though the airflow and heating are working correctly.

After driving a few hundred yards, the message vanishes and does not reappear until the car is parked again. This is once more hidden unless the climate screen is used frequently, and it does not significantly affect how well the system works.

It persisted in bringing up the issue with Tesla through more cases and eventually was asked to conduct an Air Conditioner system diagnosis.

Some tips for diagnosing an air conditioning system without examining the refrigerant pressure;

  1. Put the airflow at ten and the system temperature on HIGH while seated in the car to ensure the air conditioning is not on.
  2. Turn all three vents to the ON position (floor, face, and windshield)
  3. Switch off the system.
  4. Set the FAN to 1, quickly lower the temperature to LOW (lowest setting)
  5. Direct the air only toward your face (away from your feet and windshield),
  6. Turn ON recirculation.
  7. Turn the fan up to 10 now, and place your hands back in front of the air vents.
  8. Wait to see if you feel cold air coming out, as the air will be warm but not hot and start to cool.
  9. If the air does not become freezing in about a minute, there is a problem with the air conditioner. Do you feel the cold air pulls, not just cool air?

I scheduled a visit to The Tesla service advisor immediately the service facility after I explained this to him.

There was zero refrigerant in the air conditioning system. All the refrigerant had leaked out because of a faulty seal in one of the AC lines. I’m unsure if this developed over time or was designed that way from the start. However, it took them around 4 hours to identify the problem, resolve it, and recharge the system.

I switched the climate on and off multiple times after fixing the system and tested the app at the service center.

For the first time in my memory, I could see the arrows that indicate airflow turned BLUE when the temperature was set to LOW, indicating that the Air Conditioner was ON. It also did not turn off after a short period. I have no idea if I had ever used it before, but it seemed new to me.

Other things which I’ve noticed,

I noticed included my side view camera fogging up once or twice on frigid days (below zero degrees). The reason it would defog was due to this problem.

The frustrating part of this situation was how long it took Tesla to diagnose the problem and how many online forms just stated “Climate keeper unavailable due to system fault” as a warning that should go away. It was evident that the system’s creators intended to alert the user that there was a problem that needed to fix. Not as good as if the Air Conditioner button can press without any errors and the error messages and symptoms vanish while driving. One might believe that the Air Conditioner has been operating all along.

The climate control system performs a system check and, if any component has failed, behaves as it did, according to the Tesla service technician. To this end, others have talked about various sensors on the car’s Heat ventilation and Air conditioning system (HVAC system) going wrong and needing to replace.

In contrast, in my case, there was no refrigerant in the Air Conditioner line, the problem was with HVAC, and above is how I got through it. Don’t get frustrated even if Tesla says, “climate keeper unavailable due to system fault,” Keep on trying.

Also, I came across with the following:

  1. When you use the mobile app to turn on the climate control system, it automatically shuts off after two hours or when the charge level falls to 20%. Charge the car and turn your climate control preference back on in the mobile app to keep the cabin cool or warm for longer.
  2. If the warning of climate keeper appears, the Media Control Unit (MCU The touchscreen computer that manages entertainment, navigation, and other non-essential vehicle operations) should be restarted first (hold both scroll wheels down until the screen turns black), after which the car should be powered off and left to go into a deep sleep for a few hours.
  3. Reduce the fan speed manual process if the climate control system is too loud.
  4. The air conditioning compressor cools the Battery in addition to the interior. As a result, even if you turn off the air conditioning, the compressor may still start up during hot weather. This is typical, given that the system’s top priority is to keep the Battery cool. So, it can operate at its best and maintain durability.
  5. Even when not in use, Tesla sometimes makes a whining noise or the sound of moving water. These noises are typical and happen when the internal cooling systems activate to support various vehicle functions, such as conserving the low-voltage Battery and regulating the high-voltage Battery’s temperature.
  6. Close all windows and check that the exterior grille in front of the windshield is free of ice, snow, leaves, and other debris to ensure that the climate control system functions effectively.
  7. When you first turn on the air conditioning in highly humid conditions, a slight amount of fogging on the windshield is average.
  8. When parked, a small pool of water frequently forms. The excess water created during the dehumidifying process drains below.
  9. When the car is parked, the fan may activate to vent the cabin to lower the temperature inside during hot weather. This happens only when the Battery’s charge level is greater than 20%.

Finally, don’t think much as each and every notice appears for a reason. 

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