Hi all. So we had a cold week with snow and rain. Remote started the car and it ran for the 10 or so minutes. When I got in and started the car I was surprised by a few thengs.

- the seats were not warm, like the heated seats never came on.
- the side mirrors were frozen in the closed mode, like the rear window/side mirror defroster didn't do anything. Now the passenger doesn't fully extend now too, like ice is in the gearing. Hope it's ice and not broken!
- finally the car itself was not nearly as warm as expected (but there are several factors that may be the reason here so not concerned).

The side mirrors are the main issue. Anyone experience this behavior? Thanks!

 

Brrr yup it's been cold.

What's your battery voltage when these issues are happening? 12.5v or 14v? Maybe stuff like heated seats won't work if the alternator isn't in charge mode?

 

Hmmm... Don't know. But I always thought that if the alternator is spinning and the battery is not dead, it's charging. When would the alternator not be in charge mode?

 

Somewhat often actually. If you monitor your battery voltage while driving and see it drop down to 12.5v, that's the alternator shutting off to save fuel.

 

That is interesting. And would explain what I saw that week. Can't say I ever looked at the temperature at startup, and maybe looked it only 3-4 times in the 9 months I have had the car. It's finally getting warmer, but I'll keep an eye on temp now. Thanks for sharing.

 

If I think about it, the car is running just on battery until your physically driving on throttle, but I could be wrong. I'm thinking about old vehicles

 

 

The alternator has a clutch so the pulley can freewheel similar to the AC compressor pulley.

 

Thanks Ghost. That last paragraph of the Ai search results is exactly what I thought remote start would do (aling with burn gas and pollute the air). Mechanic buddy has always had something like this: May just order one.

Back to the original issue. I'm thinking/hoping that thr mirror defrosters and lack of heat were a perfect storm of rain, freezing rain, and single digit temperature. 🤞