After being away from my MS for a week, strange residue on interior hard plastics.

[huntjo]

"Some" is almost one out of four according to a recent poll. And the source of the mold is a fix Tesla has applied for pano creek (piece of cloth). Not sure where you got leakage from?

Moisture leakage was assumed by others further up thread, as a moist environment is necessary for mold growth. I have not seen this occur personally so I didn't mean to imply I completely understand the cause. And yes I have seen the high percentage of those poll respondents, but I agree with Brian that 30 people is a large percentage of 120 polled, but my point was that it is not every car. It is some cars. And as you pointed out it seems to be related to this extra piece of felt that most people don't have. Is that harboring the mold spores themselves? Is it retaining too much moisture? I don't know these answers.

 

[Knobby]

I haven't driven my car for a month because I've been out of the country. It's been cold here, down to -20 at night, maybe -15 in the garage. This morning I preheated the car for 20 min, when I opened the door, I saw this wet, oily, substance on the door panel, just above the speaker. Weird.

I also noticed it on the passenger side.

By the time I got to work, 1/2 hour later, it had spread to cover the entire door panel.

By the time I went home every hard plastic surface was covered in it. Gross. What the H3LL is it? Some in this thread have suggested it's some conditioning substance, but I've never applied anything. Anyone else besides OP experience this horror? It's not on the seats. or dash materials. It is on the cup holder armrests and the seat backs. It seemed to progress rapidly from a small area near the speakers, to all the surfaces. That suggests that whatever triggered it must have started in the morning. Maybe the warming from preheat, r somehow the use of the climate system??

 

[morbot]

Your case seems much more extreme in the results, but you also had more extreme cold for longer duration it seems.

Given your description that it was oily it almost certainly is some sort of treatment product that was applied to the interior that is reacting poorly to the extreme cold. The OP's patterning which also reminded me of mold (although that wouldn't be likely) could also be crystalization patterns, how it's branching out from central points. If your car was left out longer & colder, it seems to have reacted everywhere.

I'd reach out to the service center with your pictures for a few reasons:
1. Let them know they have a problem with whatever they are using reacting to the cold
2. If it is factory installed treatment product... is it safe for skin contact when it becomes moist like this?
3. If this is a factory installed treatment product that froze, does it need to be re-applied for proper care of the interior?

 

[dan-l]

This is most likely condensation, and, in the OPs case, a surface that was not perfectly clean. Those surfaces just happen to be the most hydrophilic and the spotty appearance is from an impurity "seeding" the surface similar to how a raindrop begins its life. If it feels oily, but later dries on its own, it's not oil. Just clean the affected surfaces and you should be fine!

Knobby - my guess is that your mats or carpeting is a little wet, and the heat is warming them up while your doors remain cold. If you turn on recirculation and crank it to HI you could probably use your car as a sauna

 

[Rheazombi]

wow OP! You had the EXACT same thing I did! I was going to make a thread about it, but since it went away after a few days, I kinda forgot all about it.

Here are some photos I took of it:

I got the car in August, 2014. Never saw this happen until Jan 2, 2015 and haven't seen it since.

At the time I noticed it on Jan 2, the car probably hadn't been alone for much time because I drove it around on New Year's.

Interestingly, the weather for the preceding few days is listed on Weather Underground as: Dec 30: 26°F, Dec 31: 25°F, Jan 1: 28°F, Jan 2: 36° F. ...So 3 consecutive days of below freezing temps, then the day I noticed it is the first day above freezing. Dunno if any of this is related. It also has not really been above freezing the past month here in Boston. Who knows if it will reappear in the Spring.

We had the car detailed in October where they cleaned the interior, but nothing between then and January. Hope this helps add some data points to this strange mystery!

 

[Hilbert]

It is not mold, as mold needs time to grow before it gets visible.

It is caused by moist.
I got it just after having opened the door, while it was snowing. The snowflakes were fine as dust, and just a thin powder came into the car. Therefore I did not dry it off. A little while afterwards the surfaces looked exactly like yours. After some days it suddenly had gone - and it looked like new again.

Moist can also be created by condensation of air on colder surfaces - probably your case.

As I have never seen this in other cars, it might have something to do with the product used from the factory, as nothing has been applied since new.

Hopefully we will not see it again after applying a proper vinyl care, but I will talk to Tesla about i by next service.

 

[Knobby]

It's that time of year again. Spring and the oily residue reappears like clockwork. BTW it is not mold.