Access front Radiator / Leave & Dirt removal

[nickdinardo]

How can I access my Model Y radiator to clean accumulated Leaves and Junk off of it? Is it easily accessible from ‘Removing the Frunk’ or ‘Removing the bottom/underneath guard’ or ‘Removing the front grill’ or ’HOW???”
Do not like having substantial material build up on the radiator as it is definitely reducing the efficiency of the cooling.
Really appreciate any help and expertise on the Model Y as I cannot find anything related. Thanks, Nick

 

[Chuibaka]

Look like you will have to remove a bunch of things in the frunk and front bumper if you want to thoroughly clean the condenser and radiator. There a few YouTube videos on the subject.

 

[israndy]

This one is pretty good:

It's not a Y but very similar construction, I'm going to be doing this to my car soon

 

[Iron]

Barring special circumstances, I doubt any of these MYs are old enough to have accumulated enough dirt to warrant such a cleaning. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix.

 

[israndy]

My TM3 had a solid 2-inch thick mat between the two radiators of cigarette butts and pine needles and leaves and other crud. The radiator for the battery had sand and dirt completely filling the spaces between the fins in the radiator. So maximum radiator blockage, yet zero warnings from the car to clean it out. The only evidence of a problem was that when I stopped at a Supercharger my car made a dramatic noise when the car hit about 50% charge and again when unplugging. Other car's fans at the same time were almost unnoticeable over the racket my car made. I talked to the Service Center and they said the only thing they can do is a repair, they can't do a cleaning, so they would only replace the radiator if it needed such cleaning.

 

[BitJam]

Gjeebs recently showed an easy way to clean the radiator/condenser.

10 Simple Tesla Maintenance Steps for Increased Efficiency

 

[israndy]

All he did is cleared above the AC radiator, in my car that was fine, it was the gap between the two radiators that was completely clogged, and the fins on the big radiator below the AC radiator that were plugged with dirt and sand. I almost think it might be easier to wash the bottom radiator from below, hosing thru the fan would initially allow wet dirt to drop thru the radiator until it was clear to the other side and then would allow spray between the two radiators after the bottom one was clear and hopefully wash all the debris down the front of the bottom radiator where it could be hosed out of the lower body panels.

Just drive up on a set of ramps and remove the fabric cover under the front motor area, it's plastic on new models and metal if you did that upgrade. It's just a few bolts and it drops away exposing the suspension and radiator fan. Now spray gently so you don't bend the fins of the radiator and don't expect to stay dry as it's all gonna fall back on you. If it really has a hard time coming clean you could use that condenser cleaner foam spray that I have seen people spray from the top to loosen the dirt.

Gonna have to try that on mine.

 

[MattH]

All he did is cleared above the AC radiator, in my car that was fine, it was the gap between the two radiators that was completely clogged, and the fins on the big radiator below the AC radiator that were plugged with dirt and sand. I almost think it might be easier to wash the bottom radiator from below, hosing thru the fan would initially allow wet dirt to drop thru the radiator until it was clear to the other side and then would allow spray between the two radiators after the bottom one was clear and hopefully wash all the debris down the front of the bottom radiator where it could be hosed out of the lower body panels.

Just drive up on a set of ramps and remove the fabric cover under the front motor area, it's plastic on new models and metal if you did that upgrade. It's just a few bolts and it drops away exposing the suspension and radiator fan. Now spray gently so you don't bend the fins of the radiator and don't expect to stay dry as it's all gonna fall back on you. If it really has a hard time coming clean you could use that condenser cleaner foam spray that I have seen people spray from the top to loosen the dirt.

Gonna have to try that on mine.

Please report back how this method goes, sounds promising. thx

 

[israndy]

May be a while, I just bought an MX and will probably play with it a while, and the weather has changed to cold weather, so probably not the same priority of getting the cooling system cleaned out. Now I wanna know what people have done with keeping their MX radiator clear.

 

[MattH]

May be a while, I just bought an MX and will probably play with it a while, and the weather has changed to cold weather, so probably not the same priority of getting the cooling system cleaned out. Now I wanna know what people have done with keeping their MX radiator clear.

I saw this, similar cleaning