[Phoenix_Volt]

It was a hot day here in Phoenix. In the last couple of days it was in the 90's. Today, in the low 100's. Yesterday, I could select the 'ECO' mode. Today, I can't; it blinks and 'de-selects'. I can select Fan or Comfort, but not ECO.

Any ideas?

 

[freshcut]

Never seen that yet. We've had several upper 90 days the last couple weeks. I usually stick with comfort setting since eco/auto generally doesn't move enough air for me but I did run eco today at an ambient 98 and had no issues.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

I think it wouldn't let you do that because the BMS (Battery Management System) was calling for maximum cooling for the battery. The battery and cabin use the same AC, just on separate loops.

If you just use the fan on a warm day, you'll notice the air will every once in a while get very cold for a short while (usually with heavy acceleration/regen). That's because the BMS calls for some AC to cool the battery down. If you keep the CC screen on, you'll see the climate power increase when this happens.

 

[Carlysle]

I drove my 2017 around Phoenix (54 miles) yesterday and used both Eco and Max without a problem! All on battery by the way!!
I did notice that after letting it sit in the sun for a while the Adaptive Cruise control would not work until the interior cooled down some.
Yes, it was warm in the low 100's.

 

[plainjoe]

Hello I have seen that exact behavior in my 2014 after the car sat in a really hot garage.

 

[Nebula]

Yeah I can contribute this to the BMS.

 

[canehdian]

I've had it do that sometimes in the winter. Doesn't really correspond to max HVAC draw in that scenario as the car was already preheated from the wall, and battery heat is separate.
Usually resolved itself after a power cycle or two.

Could just be that same bug, and not necessarily anything to do with the BMS using the compressor (after all, you can select fan only and the compressor will keep doing it's thing regardless)
I've also had it acknowledge selection of the circulate/outside air button with the beep/click and flash, but not actually do anything.
Only the hardware 'auto' button on the dash would let me get it back to auto.

 

[baragona]

Hmm..

I've never seen that one in my 2012 or my 2014.

Even on the hottest 118 degree day in Phoenix I was still able to select "eco".

Did you try to pull over and shut the car off (reboot)?

 

[baragona]

Yeah I can contribute this to the BMS.

5 years of driving Volt's in Phoenix and I've never been unable to select eco, even on 118 degree days after leaving the Volt in a hot parking lot in the afternoon.

I doubt the BMS requirements have hit any limit this week compared to those hottest Phoenix summer days. This week has been hot, but still relatively mild for a Phoenix summer.

 

[freshcut]

We had a cooler day today of 96 and was able to drive home in eco without issue. I'm pretty sure if BTM is active it still shouldn't disallow you to choose eco since at that point it just lowers the maximum fan speed but the compressor will still run at sufficient pressure/flow to provide enough cooling for both.

 

[LBJTamsay]

This happens every couple months, see picture. Cannot turn off AC/heater, I just start hitting buttons and a eventually it both will turn off.

 

[novaks47]

Happens to me in my '14 as well. Usually happens in the winter, though it will once in a great while happen in the summer too. Works fine after turning the car off then on. I suspect it's a bug of some sort.

 

[TheBlueFlash]

Have you tested your 12V battery lately? Little GUI glitches like that could be a sign your 12V battery is on its way out.

 

[mmmbarrette]

Volt gen1 2015 can't select eco mode

I've experienced the same issue last evening
Many persons have experienced this issue but no one seems to know what is the real source. Does anyone know? I've been having this problem all the evening, I've restart the car, i've recharge it, I've disconnect the 12v battery but nothing work. But this morning the problem was gone!

 

[Cord]

disconnect the 12v battery is like a computer cold boot and does fix some display glitches or other problems but still a good idea to measure/test the 12 volt battery if you get the problem again.

You may need to drive some on gas to set some pollution flag if you have to do local inspection testing

 

[unimacs]

I had a similar problem recently in our 2012. The only way to get the AC turn off was to turn the fan speed all the way down, - basically turn the climate control system off. As soon as I turned the fan speed up a single notch, the AC would come back on. It didn't matter what I had the temp set at. In fact, if I set the temp up high enough, both the AC and the heat would be on.

An old post suggested that it might have something to do with having auto-defog checked but I turned that off and it didn't fix it. What finally did was manually selecting one of the venting options (floor vs dash vs defog). After that, the AC turned on and off as expected.

The problem hasn't come back for a couple of weeks. I suspect it is some sort of software glitch. It may have been triggered by the fact that auto-defog was on but turning that off by itself didn't clear it.