Let's get some perspective: Is your Grenadier AC working as it should?

[G-Man]

Who else's AC is batsh1t crazy and randomly blows hot air one day and cold the next on the exact same setting? I don't think the AC system got the attention it deserved during the 1.2 million miles of road testing, that's for sure. I love my new truck but it's the one thing that drives me nuts on pretty much a daily basis as I fiddle away at the controls and I'm surprised Ineos haven't found a fix for it yet. I gather it's down to sticky solenoid valves or such like and is probably an expensive warranty concern for them.

It would be useful to set up a poll on this forum and get an idea of what percentage and numbers of owners here have flaky AC. This forum must represent a decent amount of the Grenadier owner population, perhaps it would help sharpen Ineos' perspective on the issue if it popped up on every Google search relating to Grenadier AC issues. I don't have the ability to raise a forum poll but maybe @Stu_Barnes would consider it a worthy exercise

 

[anand]

It certainly has a mind of its own. I keep holding on to hope that it can be fixed via software because it is controlled by software. They totally missed the boat by not going old school on the HVAC; my only guess is they thought it would not have been posh enough or something. Mind you the truck doesn't have a visor mirror so it fails the upscale test anyway.

There isn't an HVAC control module that has any diagnosis or codes or anything, so a software patch is unlikely

 

[MTNDOG]

I discovered something this morning - once I was up to temp I set the temp dial to max, fan off, and pressed the auto button. The fan came on but so did the AC snowflake light (which I believe is normal) - but, when I depressed the AC button to turn it off, I heard a flap closing and the same "suction" sound I noticed the other morning. I tried this several times and it happened each time, so does the AC button somehow come into play with the HVAC heat disappointment?

Does the fan turn off as well when you turn off the A/C? I was under the impression that shutting the A/C off in Auto mode would kick the HVAC back into manual mode. My best setting for heat so far is manual mode, direction dial set to face and feet, A/C on and adjust temp and fan speed as needed.

 

[Krabby]

Does the fan turn off as well when you turn off the A/C? I was under the impression that shutting the A/C off in Auto mode would kick the HVAC back into manual mode. My best setting for heat so far is manual mode, direction dial set to face and feet, A/C on and adjust temp and fan speed as needed.

Not sure TBH. Will check on my way home.

 

[Krabby]

There isn't an HVAC control module that has any diagnosis or codes or anything, so a software patch is unlikely

What controls it? It must be all electronically controlled, so is the programming just in the hardware? You just ruined my day BTW.

 

[anand]

What controls it? It must be all electronically controlled, so is the programming just in the hardware? You just ruined my day BTW.

From what I've been told it is all internal in the controls, and that outputs the information to the heater box; there's no separate module that can be accessed/scanned/reflashed/etc.

I will say that an infotainment update on the PTO2s made it appear to become better, but I'm not sure exactly what was changed (early PTO2s one click of the wheel could be 1°F, or it could be 5°F, it literally had a mind of its own)

 

[Tom109]

@Krabby - I set vents to floor, set fan speed, adjust temp dial. This is all in manual with the AC button off. Good heat flow to the floor (but my wife says lacking on the passenger side). I like this best as I can crack two windows if it gets too warm.

 

[Tom109]

What controls it? It must be all electronically controlled, so is the programming just in the hardware? You just ruined my day BTW.

The fact that the whole center cluster is just one PCB is not confidence inspiring.

 

[MTNDOG]

What controls it? It must be all electronically controlled, so is the programming just in the hardware? You just ruined my day BTW.

So wonder if there is a chance the blend doors or whatever are hooked up backwards or out of sync. Like if they are servo driven, the servos were not centered or rested in the correct position when the vent doors were hooked up. Or is something in the wiring backwards like the compass/altimeter in the center stack dim when headlights are off and bright when headlights are on. A/C button on actually means off?

 

[Drifter]

Who else's AC is batsh1t crazy and randomly blows hot air one day and cold the next on the exact same setting? I don't think the AC system got the attention it deserved during the 1.2 million miles of road testing, that's for sure. I love my new truck but it's the one thing that drives me nuts on pretty much a daily basis as I fiddle away at the controls and I'm surprised Ineos haven't found a fix for it yet. I gather it's down to sticky solenoid valves or such like and is probably an expensive warranty concern for them.

It would be useful to set up a poll on this forum and get an idea of what percentage and numbers of owners here have flaky AC. This forum must represent a decent amount of the Grenadier owner population, perhaps it would help sharpen Ineos' perspective on the issue if it popped up on every Google search relating to Grenadier AC issues. I don't have the ability to raise a forum poll but maybe @Stu_Barnes would consider it a worthy exercise

I never use auto for the AC as it goes nuts. Manual control I always get the heater come on when starting the car after being parked for a short time. Have to turn the AC on to stop it. I have also had the AC on with cold air out the front vents and heater on full in the rear! Could only stop it by turning the engine off for 5 mins and restarting.

 

[Tom109]

Has the default hvac idle position ever been identified? Meaning: if the vehicle is off/locked for days and you start the engine with all hvac items in the off position, what position are the flaps?

I think it’s the front vents. But this would be good to know as a standard starting point for heat & AC.

 

[simonpa]

My vehicle may have suffered from a limited number of HVAC problems as detailed in this particular forum and some rectified by themselves others by the usual
trick of ' put the vehicle to bed ' you 'sleep for the night' and in the morning the problem has magically gone away !
However a few didn't and a visit to my dealer Portsmouth Ineos revealed that the aircon unit needed to be recharged as low on refrigerant gas.
Now all done and a lot lot better - thank you to Sean and team.

 

[StevieJ]

Who else's AC is batsh1t crazy and randomly blows hot air one day and cold the next on the exact same setting? I don't think the AC system got the attention it deserved during the 1.2 million miles of road testing, that's for sure. I love my new truck but it's the one thing that drives me nuts on pretty much a daily basis as I fiddle away at the controls and I'm surprised Ineos haven't found a fix for it yet. I gather it's down to sticky solenoid valves or such like and is probably an expensive warranty concern for them.

It would be useful to set up a poll on this forum and get an idea of what percentage and numbers of owners here have flaky AC. This forum must represent a decent amount of the Grenadier owner population, perhaps it would help sharpen Ineos' perspective on the issue if it popped up on every Google search relating to Grenadier AC issues. I don't have the ability to raise a forum poll but maybe @Stu_Barnes would consider it a worthy exercise

Hi G-MAN
No problem with mine. But I live up in The Lake District England. Most of us here never heard of air-con, ha! Maybe you should move to cooler climes. Joking aside, you should allways get a competent engineer/service/Grenadier company that service lots of different vehicles specially all the new ones with all their fancy electronics. You need to discuss this with them directly. Ineos can't diagnose an electronic problem from a distance. I don't know where you are based, but if you had a problem with your heart and you contacted your Doctor, he or she would tell you to visit your medical clinic for tests to diagnose the problem. Every vehicle in the world is assembled by 'bods' (robots&manual workers) made up of components from thousands, and I mean thousands of different manufacturers. Start thinking logically and with common sense is always my advice. Best of luck.

 

[Nocrays]

I never use auto for the AC as it goes nuts. Manual control I always get the heater come on when starting the car after being parked for a short time. Have to turn the AC on to stop it. I have also had the AC on with cold air out the front vents and heater on full in the rear! Could only stop it by turning the engine off for 5 mins and restarting.

Yep sounds like mine (an early 2024 build).

Need to have the temp control biased one way or the other to get something reasonable.

As you say auto is nutz. Fan flat out - a seemingly random temp.

Like other have said it needs constant attention.

Woukd be great to have the hvac details to understand it. I believe there may be two fluid circuits and if they are not 100% bled then it’s anyone’s guess how it will perform.

 

[Clark Kent]

Yep sounds like mine (an early 2024 build).

Need to have the temp control biased one way or the other to get something reasonable.

As you say auto is nutz. Fan flat out - a seemingly random temp.

Like other have said it needs constant attention.

Woukd be great to have the hvac details to understand it. I believe there may be two fluid circuits and if they are not 100% bled then it’s anyone’s guess how it will perform.

Spitballing here, but I think the auto fan thing is because the HVAC is trying to get a read on the current cabin temperature so it knows what adjustment to make to get to the set temperature, i.e. it's a (laggy) closed loop climate control system. It's coded to set the fan at maximum speed to create a strong airflow and generate a cabin temperature change. I suspect the HVAC sensor is behind the small round grille next to the left side mount of the passenger grab handle. Being a wagon, there is a large cabin volume to cool/ heat before the sensor sees a change in temperature so the system is slow to respond and the fan runs for a long time to produce an effect.

It would be interesting to set the auto temp at LOW, then after the fan kicks in shoot a blast of freeze spray towards (but not into) the sensor and see if the HVAC responds. If my theory holds up the fan speed should drop because the HVAC assumes the cabin temperature has dropped. I'll try that test when next able.