AC odor removal and cleaning

[RandomJohnny]

Just a fyi for those getting confused about this coming from something stuck in the intake----that is not what this is in general. You may have something there causing a different smell but that is not what the majority in this thread are describing.

What we are dealing with here is "dirty sock syndrome". It often plagues residential heat pumps in areas of high humidity. If you google DSS you will see it is the same problem and smell we are getting in our model 3s (and that happens to many other cars but usually after a longer period of time).

I think the design of having the filter so close to the evaporator is making this happen much quicker than a normal car. just a guess.

 

[plasmo]

Just a fyi for those getting confused about this coming from something stuck in the intake----that is not what this is in general. You may have something there causing a different smell but that is not what the majority in this thread are describing.

What we are dealing with here is "dirty sock syndrome". It often plagues residential heat pumps in areas of high humidity. If you google DSS you will see it is the same problem and smell we are getting in our model 3s (and that happens to many other cars but usually after a longer period of time).

I think the design of having the filter so close to the evaporator is making this happen much quicker than a normal car. just a guess.

^^This.
I think the primary problem to the stinky smell we are experiencing is due to the evaporator/filter area... and not the air intake (otherwise my Lysol should have fixed the problem, which it didn't). I'm still waiting for my filters to change them out. I just got my Klima-cleaner from Amazon.

 

[mmccking]

This is happening to me too. Must be a common problem after 1+ years of model 3 ownership!

See this other thread too AC odor removal and cleaning

Uh, same thread as the one you're reading...

I was lazy, tried the "run the system on high heat for 20 minutes" trick and pleasantly surprised and carefully optimistic to find that it worked!

 

[akidesir]

My Model 3 is about 1 year old and the ac smell is horrible. I called Tesla and they are charging me $185 to replace the cabin filters and do the evaporator cleanup. Is everyone that is not cleaning this themselves, also paying this at the SC?

Seems absurd to me..

I wonder if you get the service done at Tesla if they even spray or put anything on the evaporator. When I booked my appointment they wanted me to wait 45 mins. I said forget it and just bought the two filters and did the service myself.

 

[Az_Rael]

I have switched my cabin overheat to fan only. I tried this earlier, but it didnt reduce the smell, and temps were high enough I was concerned about the screen. But seeing the foam and having recently replaced my filters, I figure every little bit will help to dry the system out.

Temps are getting upwards of 130 degrees with fan only, but oh well. Hope we aren't here in 2 years complaining about bubbles and failed adhesives on our center screens like what is currently happening in the S world.

 

[brkaus]

Uh, same thread as the one you're reading...

I believe the threads were merged by moderators.


Anyway, when I stopped in the service center last week to purchase filters, I was told they were out. But they would do a cleaning and replacement for the cost of the filters.

Just got my estimate - roughly -
$87 labor - mobile service
$50 parts ("Kool It" cleaner + filters)

Seams reasonably fair for a mobile service. But I'm going to cancel and do it myself. Hopefully they can put my name on the filters at the service center and I can pickup. I've already purchased the cleaner & have the panels off.

Can use the savings to get the cool borescope

 

[PoitNarf]

Finally got around to doing this. It was harder than I expected, had to contort my body into some interesting positions to disassemble everything. Sprayed the cleaner as best I could and then ran the fan for a while before putting the new filters in. The old filters were pretty dirty with a bunch of debris in them as well. I’ve had my 3 since late March 2018 so I guess this is to be expected after 17 months of use. Hopefully this is a lasting fix.

Here’s a comparison between the old filter (right) and the new one (left):

And here’s a closeup on some of the debris that got caught in the filter:

 

[reefkid]

I just got this text from our Tesla SC (Jacksonville):

For the AC smell, we have an AC odor removal procedure we can perform that involves a chemical cleaning of the evaporator and cabin filter replacement. We have run out of cabin filters and the chemical for cleaning the evaporator and do not have a resupply ETA. Since we do not have the filters and chemical, we can not perform the service at your appointment time. I would like to place your service appointment on hold and we will reach out to schedule once we have these items allocated for your vehicle. Please respond that you understand.​

I see someone above couldn't get filters either. Hard to believe something as basic as a filter would be unavailable for a car with 225k on the road.

 

[Atari2600]

Temps are getting upwards of 130 degrees with fan only, but oh well. Hope we aren't here in 2 years complaining about bubbles and failed adhesives on our center screens like what is currently happening in the S world.

Cleaning your evaporator area is cheaper and easier than replacing your screen and other random stuff especially after 4 years or 50,000 miles. I have mine on fan only but I normally park in garages regardless where I go. I guess I can monitor my car and turn the AC on manually if it gets that hot but I'll probably just turn the AC option back on because I don't want it that hot in my car.

 

[Az_Rael]

Cleaning your evaporator area is cheaper and easier than replacing your screen and other random stuff especially after 4 years or 50,000 miles. I have mine on fan only but I normally park in garages regardless where I go. I guess I can monitor my car and turn the AC on manually if it gets that hot but I'll probably just turn the AC option back on because I don't want it that hot in my car.

I do put up a slivered windshield protector and have the Tesla mesh roof shade plus 70 3M ceramic all around except the windshield. So it doesn't get direct sunlight. I can also vent the windows to keep temps closer to ambient. Which I may add to the mix.

I do miss my pano roof on the S. Would always just vent it in hot weather, made a huge difference.

I really really hate AC odors, and so far I haven't gotten a fix to last more than a week. So I will chance the long term effects. Odds are I will have sold the car before they happen.

 

[asus389]

Is there really a concern for the car getting too hot while parked without “cabin overheat protection” turned on with AC? It seems like nearly every other car on the road doesn’t have this feature and they all have screens and are fine. Is this a necessity? Or just a nice to have?

 

[Az_Rael]

Is there really a concern for the car getting too hot while parked without “cabin overheat protection” turned on with AC? It seems like nearly every other car on the road doesn’t have this feature and they all have screens and are fine. Is this a necessity? Or just a nice to have?

We don’t know yet for the 3. But Tesla is blaming “sunlight exposure” on the yellow banding happening to the S and X screens right now (which is ridiculous). But it does show they have had issues on the vehicles in the past. Maybe they corrected the design issue on the 3? Only time will tell. Yellow screen? Force Tesla to Replace it!

I also don’t know that other cars have as large of screens as Teslas do.

 

[PoitNarf]

What’s with all of the talk about the touchscreen in the car? I thought this thread was about foul odors coming from the AC.

 

[Az_Rael]

What’s with all of the talk about the touchscreen in the car? I thought this thread was about foul odors coming from the AC.

Sorry, just discussing the possible trade offs of not using cabin overheat (or using fan only) to prevent smells now and potentially causing screen issues later due to heat exposure

 

[Zoglog]

My Model 3 is about 1 year old and the ac smell is horrible. I called Tesla and they are charging me $185 to replace the cabin filters and do the evaporator cleanup. Is everyone that is not cleaning this themselves, also paying this at the SC?

Seems absurd to me..

This is hilarious. They said mine would cost $300+
Why is the cost fluctuating so much.

I think this is happening to enough people that we should continue to make noise until they do the right thing to cover it.
I live in a very dry climate so this shouldn't be happening at all. Debris isn't an issue since my car is garaged most of the time.

Side question. Has this problem really been solved by a software update or can we expect this to manifest every year?

 

[Atari2600]

This is hilarious. They said mine would cost $300+
Why is the cost fluctuating so much.

I think this is happening to enough people that we should continue to make noise until they do the right thing to cover it.
I live in a very dry climate so this shouldn't be happening at all. Debris isn't an issue since my car is garaged most of the time.

Side question. Has this problem really been solved by a software update or can we expect this to manifest every year?

If the fan runs and really does dry it out after AC use I think it will happen less often. Does that mean 12 months or 3 years? Who knows.

I'm hoping the Chlorine Dioxide I used kills everything since it is supposed to work for 4 weeks. Other products seem to be rather hand wavy on how they kill things that cause smells. I think a really powerful ozone device coupled with heat would be another viable method - this is my plan B.

 

[Az_Rael]

I think this is happening to enough people that we should continue to make noise until they do the right thing to cover it.

One other option is to file an arbitration case against your warranty. The process is fairly simple and Tesla pays the costs. This post describes the process: Yellow screen? Force Tesla to Replace it! The folks in that thread have been making things quite painful for Tesla with most of them winning their arbitration cases.

 

[XLR82XS]

Side question. Has this problem really been solved by a software update or can we expect this to manifest every year?

Will a software update that turns off the compressor before the car is parked and locked know when you're going to stop and leave the car for any period of time? I think there's something to the foam surround people are talking about here. To me it's a design issue.

 

[RandomJohnny]

To those who used kool-it or had their SC use kool it - how long before the smell from it went away completely?

After kool it from SC my AC now has the following smells - vomit, vinegar, mint, or nothing. It was only vinegar or nothing before kool it. Today it has been very rainy humid. Car smells like mint without evening turning ac on, then when I turn it on the mint smell is stronger than it ever has been. My model was serviced for this 2 weeks ago. Only evap cleaned (they were out of filters)

Anyone know when the smell completely dissipates? I have kilma and will be doing it myself when i get ahold of some filters but want to make sure the kool-it smell is gone first.

 

[Az_Rael]

To those who used kool-it or had their SC use kool it - how long before the smell from it went away completely?

After kool it from SC my AC now has the following smells - vomit, vinegar, mint, or nothing. It was only vinegar or nothing before kool it. Today it has been very rainy humid. Car smells like mint without evening turning ac on, then when I turn it on the mint smell is stronger than it ever has been. My model was serviced for this 2 weeks ago. Only evap cleaned (they were out of filters)

Anyone know when the smell completely dissipates? I have kilma and will be doing it myself when i get ahold of some filters but want to make sure the kool-it smell is gone first.

The last SC cleaning mine did (I assume Kool-it) the fragrance went away within a couple of days. But the SC changed my filters that trip. Maybe they accidentally soaked your old filters in that stuff?