Hate your HVAC system? This may help.

[KAR120C]

Long post - if you love your HVAC as-is, just skip.

I continue to see posts about the HVAC system in the GX not working well. It's overly complicated, and doesn’t do what you wish it would do.

It can be made to work quite well and behave like you’d expect an auto climate control to work. How? Just turn off the complicated stuff and leave it in basic auto mode. Then its ‘set and forget’.

Here is how I use my 25 OT+ HVAC and it works great now.

SETUP

1. On the main climate screen choose CLIMATE (right above the fan control)

2. From that screen turn the Concierge off. Turn S-flow Off. I turned Eco mode and De-icer off too. Unnecessary.

3. Now, go to vehicle settings and choose Climate

Here you can set the A/C mode to always come on when in AUTO or not come on. Right now it’s cool in my area of the country and I like the windows down. So I leave OFF. When it’s hot in the summer, I’ll probably turn ON. All this does is decide the default for whether AC will always run with AUTO mode.


4. Turn OFF the auto seat and steering wheel heat/cool from the main screen.

Just use them as you need them. If you do want them in Auto mode keep tapping the icon for seat and wheel and it will rotate to AUTO. I just like to use them manually as I need them.

At this point the car runs in a normal AUTO mode. Set temp and it’ll direct the fan and vents as needed.


MANUAL OPERATIONS are readily available if you still need them.

5. You can always select the fan and vent direction from the main screen and it’ll turn off auto mode.

6. You can engage/disengage AC from the AUTO mode as well (and still stays in AUTO)

7. Finally, your max settings are just one click away from the shortcut screen.

Once set, my HVAC works as well as other AUTO climate systems I've had. 99% of the time I only need to set temp and the system does the rest without drama.

Good luck!

 

[ab01]

The challenge I have is S-Flow shutoff only works for the current trip... mostly. Some times it stays off, but mostly comes back on every time. I think the manual says it comes back on after the car is turned off for an hour. I cant find a way to shut s-flow off where it stays off.

 

[KAR120C]

All of my settings stay off. Is your concierge off?

 

[Orzel]

Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial, much appreciated.

 

[climr]

Agree, s-flow turns back on automatically on my car as well. Personally I don’t see how any of the changes you made make a significant difference. All concierge does is turn on the seats/steering wheel heat/cool based on some logic. s-flow is for directing air to only occupied seats. none of those settings should effect the ability of the HVAC system to hit a set point.

If you have a carista, you can actually monitor the interior (measured) temp. I encourage you to do that and you’ll see how wonky the HVAC system is even with the changes you made. It seems to factor in outside temperate too strongly into the equation, not considering greenhouse effect and the actual temperature inside the car. Mine is often 5-10 degrees off. One thing that helped a LOT was ceramic window and windshield tint. The primary issue I have is when it’s ~50 degrees outside, but greenhouse effect makes it 70+ inside, the HVAC system keeps blasting heat like it’s try to predict that the inside temp will fall soon. I’ve measured it with carista up to 77 deg inside with no signs of slowing down with the gauge is set on 70.

I just have to occasionally bump the temp up/down. Annoying, but otherwise love the truck.

 

[KAR120C]

Agree, s-flow turns back on automatically on my car as well. Personally I don’t see how any of the changes you made make a significant difference. All concierge does is turn on the seats/steering wheel heat/cool based on some logic. s-flow is for directing air to only occupied seats. none of those settings should effect the ability of the HVAC system to hit a set point.

If you have a carista, you can actually monitor the interior (measured) temp. I encourage you to do that and you’ll see how wonky the HVAC system is even with the changes you made. It seems to factor in outside temperate too strongly into the equation, not considering greenhouse effect and the actual temperature inside the car. Mine is often 5-10 degrees off. One thing that helped a LOT was ceramic window and windshield tint. The primary issue I have is when it’s ~50 degrees outside, but greenhouse effect makes it 70+ inside, the HVAC system keeps blasting heat like it’s try to predict that the inside temp will fall soon. I’ve measured it with carista up to 77 deg inside with no signs of slowing down with the gauge is set on 70.

I just have to occasionally bump the temp up/down. Annoying, but otherwise love the truck.

YMMV.

I couldn't get happy with the concierge. Sent air to the wrong places and constantly over-cooled or over-heated.

Mine is now wonky-less as set. S-flow always stays off. Maybe I got lucky. Temp stays nice and even once the set-point is reached. I rarely have to move the temp control more than a couple of degrees and that is mainly because of where the sun is.

Like I said, if you're happy with your HVAC ignore my post!

 

[KAR120C]

The challenge I have is S-Flow shutoff only works for the current trip... mostly. Some times it stays off, but mostly comes back on every time. I think the manual says it comes back on after the car is turned off for an hour. I cant find a way to shut s-flow off where it stays off.

I saw that in the manual, too, but it reads very strangely. I wonder if that only happens in conjunction with another setting and I somehow hit the sweet spot.

 

[kscarrol]

Hmm, first thing I did was exactly as the OP described, concierge off, s-flow off etc. All settings have remained unchanged. I find the auto performs well, no real complaints but we’ll see once the temp rise.

 

[ab01]

All of my settings stay off. Is your concierge off?

Yes. concierge is off, but S-Flow comes back on.. seemingly after the truck is off for an hour.

 

[Dustin]

Long post - if you love your HVAC as-is, just skip.

I continue to see posts about the HVAC system in the GX not working well. It's overly complicated, and doesn’t do what you wish it would do.

It can be made to work quite well and behave like you’d expect an auto climate control to work. How? Just turn off the complicated stuff and leave it in basic auto mode. Then its ‘set and forget’.

Here is how I use my 25 OT+ HVAC and it works great now.

SETUP

1. On the main climate screen choose CLIMATE (right above the fan control)
View attachment 10203

2. From that screen turn the Concierge off. Turn S-flow Off. I turned Eco mode and De-icer off too. Unnecessary.

View attachment 10204

3. Now, go to vehicle settings and choose Climate

View attachment 10205

Here you can set the A/C mode to always come on when in AUTO or not come on. Right now it’s cool in my area of the country and I like the windows down. So I leave OFF. When it’s hot in the summer, I’ll probably turn ON. All this does is decide the default for whether AC will always run with AUTO mode.


4. Turn OFF the auto seat and steering wheel heat/cool from the main screen.

View attachment 10206


Just use them as you need them. If you do want them in Auto mode keep tapping the icon for seat and wheel and it will rotate to AUTO. I just like to use them manually as I need them.

At this point the car runs in a normal AUTO mode. Set temp and it’ll direct the fan and vents as needed.


MANUAL OPERATIONS are readily available if you still need them.

5. You can always select the fan and vent direction from the main screen and it’ll turn off auto mode.

6. You can engage/disengage AC from the AUTO mode as well (and still stays in AUTO)

View attachment 10207

7. Finally, your max settings are just one click away from the shortcut screen.

View attachment 10208
View attachment 10209


Once set, my HVAC works as well as other AUTO climate systems I've had. 99% of the time I only need to set temp and the system does the rest without drama.

Good luck!

Same for me. My climate control works fantastic and I just set the temp as needed and everything works great.

 

[Dustin]

The challenge I have is S-Flow shutoff only works for the current trip... mostly. Some times it stays off, but mostly comes back on every time. I think the manual says it comes back on after the car is turned off for an hour. I cant find a way to shut s-flow off where it stays off.

S-flow defaults to 'On' but you can take it to the dealer and they can make the S-flow default to 'Off.' I had that done along with a few of the other dealer only configurations.

 

[KAR120C]

I don't understand why S-flow stays off for some of us, but won't for others. I dug through the manual and it says that S-flow will not automatically turn back on if it detects the rear seats are in use. My rear seats are not in use, but I did notice that the rear seatbelt warning light comes on and stays on after startup (no chimes) and will stay on for about a minute after I start driving. Does that mean the sensor thinks there is something in the rear?

For those whose S-flow is staying off, does your vehicle show something in the back seat? Do you have anything sitting on the back seat? I'm wondering if that is the difference.

 

[FJMainiac]

I follow all those steps and my AC will still come on when I do not need it to. Not a major complaint, just seems almost impossible to get fresh outdoor air in when outside/cabin temp are comfortable. Its too smart for me...