Automatic Climate Control always on with car start

[Hatchman]

A new issue has come up.  Over the past 4 days, every time we turn the car on / start the car, the automatic climate control comes on.  We always turn the air conditioning / climate control off before every shut down so the car will not have to start while powering the air conditioner and associated compressor and fan during the start, but no matter what we do, the air conditioner always comes on MAX AC at our last temperature setting with the Automatic climate control.  This happens no matter if it is 60 or 90 degrees out, and 5 seconds to 15 hours between start up/ shut down, so temp or time doesn't seem to affect it, it just does it every time.  

 

Any one else had this problem and any way around it? 

 

Thank you for the advice!

[wab]

A new issue has come up.  Over the past 4 days, every time we turn the car on / start the car, the automatic climate control comes on.  We always turn the air conditioning / climate control off before every shut down so the car will not have to start while powering the air conditioner and associated compressor and fan during the start, but no matter what we do, the air conditioner always comes on MAX AC at our last temperature setting with the Automatic climate control.  This happens no matter if it is 60 or 90 degrees out, and 5 seconds to 15 hours between start up/ shut down, so temp or time doesn't seem to affect it, it just does it every time.  

 

Any one else had this problem and any way around it? 

 

Thank you for the advice!

 

Maybe your system is getting ready to crash and re-boot.

 

Our Entertainment quite (voice commands worked) nav was lost,  for 3 days.

Then about 10 minutes in to a drive the, black screen of death, a few minutes later ALL was well.

[fotomoto]

This is not meant as an answer to your issue but turning the a/c off to lessen the start up load is old skool thinking.  In fact in auto mode, the a/c will slowly ramp up its speed and not blast you with hot air.

[zhackwyatt]

A new issue has come up.  Over the past 4 days, every time we turn the car on / start the car, the automatic climate control comes on.  We always turn the air conditioning / climate control off before every shut down so the car will not have to start while powering the air conditioner and associated compressor and fan during the start, but no matter what we do, the air conditioner always comes on MAX AC at our last temperature setting with the Automatic climate control.  This happens no matter if it is 60 or 90 degrees out, and 5 seconds to 15 hours between start up/ shut down, so temp or time doesn't seem to affect it, it just does it every time.  

 

Any one else had this problem and any way around it? 

 

Thank you for the advice!

I had a similar experience when I switched the Remote Start to the bi-directional system.  The dealer didn't reprogram the new one completely and the Climate was doing odd things.  Took both keys to them so they could reset something completely and it solved the problem.  Now the climate always starts to what it was when I turned the car off.

[Hatchman]

This is not meant as an answer to your issue but turning the a/c off to lessen the start up load is old skool thinking.  In fact in auto mode, the a/c will slowly ramp up its speed and not blast you with hot air.

 

Mine seems to go full old skool hot air blast right off the bat. 

[Hatchman]

Maybe your system is getting ready to crash and re-boot.

 

Our Entertainment quite (voice commands worked) nav was lost,  for 3 days.

Then about 10 minutes in to a drive the, black screen of death, a few minutes later ALL was well.

 

Yes, we had the Nav/Entertainment lock up and quit on us once, after the reboot all has been well since. 

 

 

I had a similar experience when I switched the Remote Start to the bi-directional system.  The dealer didn't reprogram the new one completely and the Climate was doing odd things.  Took both keys to them so they could reset something completely and it solved the problem.  Now the climate always starts to what it was when I turned the car off.

 

Yes, sounds like a trip to the dealer and a reprogram is in order.  

[zhackwyatt]

Mine seems to go full old skool hot air blast right off the bat. 

Mine goes full blast for A/C (takes only a couple seconds to get cold air).  For heating it waits for the car to warm up before starting the fan.

[fotomoto]

Mine goes full blast for A/C (takes only a couple seconds to get cold air).  For heating it waits for the car to warm up before starting the fan.

 

Well, I should have clarified.  It will ramp up to full blast IF the temperature difference is great enough.  

[Hatchman]

I fixed it.  The trick was to go to the Climate control screen, turn it off from there, and then turn the car off with the Climate screen displayed (not Nav, or Entertainment, etc).  

 

Now the climate control stays off when we start up, no matter what screen was displayed, like normal.  

 

Thank you all for the help and advice!  Hope this helps someone, someday. 

[Bill-N]

I fixed it.  The trick was to go to the Climate control screen, turn it off from there, and then turn the car off with the Climate screen displayed (not Nav, or Entertainment, etc).  

 

Now the climate control stays off when we start up, no matter what screen was displayed, like normal.  

 

Thank you all for the help and advice!  Hope this helps someone, someday. 

 

Cool.  (Pun intended).

[salsaguy]

but shouldn't the manual buttons/knobs work the same as the soft digital buttons on the climate screen and duplicate/mirror the functions ?

it's good you fixed it but to me it seems not right if that's the way it's programmed. many like old school buttons/knobs not touch screen.

[Hatchman]

It most definitely should work and turn off and stay off during start up from the old style buttons.  But it is working now, I can turn it off from the old style buttons and it stays off on the re start.   

 

Well, one thing is different, every time we turn it on, it is set on a different temperature, usually 74 /74 even if we turned it off at another temperature setting. It used to always turn on at the last temperature setting before it was turned off. 

[fotomoto]

I'm not trying to downplay Hatchman's issues but coming from another car that didn't have good old buttons and dials for the HVAC controls I was so glad to see the CMax had them.  I've yet to use the touch screen panel for HVAC other than to look at it initially.  I could have the same issues and not know it simply because I only use the dials and rarely touch them since it usually stays on Auto/74F/recirc.

Edited May 29, 2013 by fotomoto

[salsaguy]

foto - you might want to switch it from recirculate to the fresh air nonrecirculate mode every so often to not get you sick as its not good to just breath in old expended air which is full of CO2 (carbon di-oxide)

 

Edited (corrected CO to CO2 carbon dioxide)

Edited June 2, 2013 by salsaguy

[fotomoto]

foto - you might want to switch it from recirculate to the fresh air nonrecirculate mode every so often to not get you sick as its not good to just breath in old expended air which is full of CO (carbon monoxide)

 

Reference please.

[ScubaDadMiami]

I always have my systems on recirculate.  I've gone cross country and back, that way, but not yet in my not-even-a-week old C-MAX.

 

If I am out in an area without many cars, I have occasionally allowed "fresh" air to come in.  My problem comes when I forget to turn the control back to recirculate, and then I enter traffic.  Talk about your CO!  It is like putting the tailpipe of the car in front of you into the air intake.  You get every bad odor, too.

 

I guess it all depends on where you live and drive.

[Noah Harbinger]

foto - you might want to switch it from recirculate to the fresh air nonrecirculate mode every so often to not get you sick as its not good to just breath in old expended air which is full of CO (carbon monoxide)

 

Um, where exactly do you think this carbon monoxide is coming from? Unless you've got a pre-cat exhaust leak with a path into the cabin… which really should be covered by your warranty. 

[salsaguy]

See here:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-air-recirculation.htm

 

specifically:

"If not well designed and maintained, air recirculation systems might aggravate respiratory conditions and lead to the spread and concentration of air contaminants. In enclosed areas — most quickly in small ones such as in the passenger compartment of a car — dangerous carbon monoxide levels can develop if fresh air is kept completely blocked from entry for an extended period of time. To deal with this potentially serious problem, many car manufacturers add carbon dioxide detectors as safe-guards to their air recirculation and conditioning systems."

 

Not sure if the CMax has the detectors or not as its not a luxury car but a modern one so....anyone want to ask their dealer/Ford tech? And if they did what would it display? I dont think there is any warning light that would come on in the dash.

 

 

and here:

http://carbuzzard.com/2012/01/carbon-monoxide-kills-staying-safe-in-your-car/

specifically:

"Keeping the heater fan running maintains a positive pressure inside the car so that air flows out rather than seeps into the car. Resist the temptation to run the heater/air conditioner in recirculation mode (the button or knob is identified with a symbol of the outline of a car with a “u-turn” arrow). It may conserve heat but it can also keep carbon monoxide in the car.

Driving with “recirc” on will also cause the windows to mist over, making outward visibility difficult, and although fogged-over windows might have advantages at the drive-in, even that probably isn’t worth dying for. A casual chat certainly should not have cost the lives of three young women"

 

 

Its not a good idea to use recirculate 100% of the time

[salsaguy]

Yes if there is a smoky old car in front of you, you will not want the fresh air to come in so recirculate makes sense there, until you get around them

[ScubaDadMiami]

It sounds to me like the authors of these sources are confusing carbon monoxide, CO, with carbon dioxide, CO2.

 

CO comes from incomplete combustion from the ICE.  Only if there is a leak in the exhaust path would there be any realistic consideration of what enters a healthy vehicle, not to mention that the C-MAX produces even less.

 

CO2 is produced when the body consumes oxygen from the air we breathe.  It's a waste product that we exhale with every breath.  If the interior cabin is completely sealed, and no new air arrives into the cabin from outside, this would absolutely lead to hypercapnia, a build up of CO2 in the body that can be fatal at extremes.

 

I am no engineer, but I am going to suppose that the cabin is not completely sealed to the point where this buildup occurs in our C-MAX.  Otherwise, you could drive in deep water without it leaking in.  I have no idea if the C-MAX introduces absolutely zero new outside air to the cabin when running on recirculate.  So, there may already be something engineered into the air flow, even when with recirculate active, and it may already consider that there could be five occupants in the vehicle.

 

To me, I would be a lot more concerned about exhaust fumes entering the cabin than I would about a build up of CO (unless you have exhaust issues or don't maintain your vehicle) or CO2.  Hey, anything is possible, but I'd like to see confirmed reports of this happening in recent models cars that are moving down the roadway when this happened.  (Reports of episodes involving people sleeping in running cars during snowstorms, etc. don't count.)

Edited June 2, 2013 by ScubaDadMiami

[salsaguy]

Sorry yes I meant Carbon Dioxide from breathing you own old stale air which lacks the nutrients your body/ lungs need to not go unconscious.

I fixed my original reply post

Edited June 2, 2013 by salsaguy

[fotomoto]

Yes, a car is not a pressurized vessel like an aircraft certified for high altitude flight or spacecraft.  The chance of CO poisoning or even high levels of CO2 is nearly impossible.  Exceptions are well known:  running the vehicle in an enclosed space (garage) or when the tail pipe becomes very constricted (parked in snow or mud).  A moving motor vehicle running recirculation mode has basically zero chance of dangerous buildup of either gas.   A simple plastic flap is put in front of the outside air intake.  It's not like it's hermetically sealed or something. 

 

No need to believe me because if there was even the remotest of possibilities, lawyers would make sure you'd see TONS of warnings in the owners manual or they would install built in timers.  There are none of either.

 

It sounds to me like the authors of these sources are confusing carbon monoxide, CO, with carbon dioxide, CO2.

 

 

I am no engineer, but I am going to suppose that the cabin is not completely sealed to the point where this buildup occurs in our C-MAX.  

[Noah Harbinger]

Ah, well, I always leave the fan on at least on a low speed blowing in outside air, if only to make sure humidity doesn't build up. 

[wab]

foto - you might want to switch it from recirculate to the fresh air nonrecirculate mode every so often to not get you sick as its not good to just breath in old expended air which is full of CO2 (carbon di-oxide)

 

Edited (corrected CO to CO2 carbon dioxide)

Recirculate would turn off after a few miles on our 02 BMW and 08 Lincoln.

I would usually turn it back on especially if it's over 100*.

 

I can't convince a friend that the reason his windows fog up is because he leaves recirculate on all the time.

I get in and he's wiping the windshield, I turn recirculate off and watch the windows clear.

He says uuh thanks, but that little yellow light is back on the next morning.

 

Every once in a while I like to mess with his mind.

I get in make sure he's watching and turn it off then back on. :hysterical:

[fotomoto]

I can't convince a friend that the reason his windows fog up is because he leaves recirculate on all the time.

I get in and he's wiping the windshield, I turn recirculate off and watch the windows clear.

 

Recirc without a/c will build up humidity.  Was his a/c off?  Auto mode will select a/c to clear windows.