Cabin Filter Replacement at 29k Miles

[Medved_77]

Started to smell a faint damp sock smell so changed the cabin filters for the first time. Done 29k miles over 3 1/4 years in a low pollen, low pollution area of Scotland.

Here's the state of them, to be fair, I've seen worse:

The filters didn't smell too bad, so cleaned the A/C condenser whilst there (thinking that may be holding the smell) with some Liqui Moly 4087. It's a spray can, used about 150ml of the 250ml and using the nozzle attached, sprayed over the grills where the filters sit:

Left that to sit for 10 minutes, then ran the heating on full blast for 10 minutes, then the aircon on full for a further 10 minutes. I removed some parts of the air intake to allow for better air flow:

I was prepared to remove and clean the entire assembly, but it was clean of debris, helped by the net/filter that I placed on top of the intake just after I bought the car.

I caught the waste from under the car, expecting it to be a brownish colour, but that came out clear too. Probably not worth using condenser cleaner at this point, maybe again in 5-6 years time.

Replaced the original cabin filters with some Basenor "OEM" versions as Tesla didn't have them in stock, they look identical so I'm sure they'll be fine.

Put the car back together again, can't smell anything funky now.

That was the most maintenance I've done to the car so far. About an hour in total of which 30 mins was waiting around for the condenser to heat/cool.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Useful info, thanks.

That was the most maintenance I've done to the car so far.

EVs will never catch on, eh?!

 

[Avendit]

I had the garage do a water test of the brake fluid this week too, don't forget that! These service items are really mounting up!

I also have ~30k miles and a set of filters in the <deep voice>underboot</> to fit due to damp socks smell.

 

[Medved_77]

I had the garage do a water test of the brake fluid this week too, don't forget that!

Way ahead of you!

Brake Fluid Health Check Service

The owners manual states under 'Service Intervals': Brake fluid health check every 2 years (replace if necessary) or, if the vehicle is used for towing, replace the brake fluid every 2 years. My car is almost 3 years old so figured I should get this done. Reading further on in the...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Jason71]

Started to smell a faint damp sock smell so changed the cabin filters for the first time. Done 29k miles over 3 1/4 years in a low pollen, low pollution area of Scotland.

Here's the state of them, to be fair, I've seen worse:

View attachment 949584

The filters didn't smell too bad, so cleaned the A/C condenser whilst there (thinking that may be holding the smell) with some Liqui Moly 4087. It's a spray can, used about 150ml of the 250ml and using the nozzle attached, sprayed over the grills where the filters sit:

View attachment 949585

Left that to sit for 10 minutes, then ran the heating on full blast for 10 minutes, then the aircon on full for a further 10 minutes. I removed some parts of the air intake to allow for better air flow:

The condenser is the thing that sits at the front of the car to shed the heat from the coolant once it has been compressed. I am not saying that keeping it debris free is not a good idea and will be good for the efficiency but it cannot affect the smell since the air that passes over it does not enter the cabin.

Do you mean you cleaned the evaporator which is the element that actually cools the cabin air? Those are normally not that accessible can you get to it while the filters are out?

 

[Medved_77]

The condenser is the thing that sits at the front of the car to shed the heat from the coolant once it has been compressed. I am not saying that keeping it debris free is not a good idea and will be good for the efficiency but it cannot affect the smell since the air that passes over it does not enter the cabin.

Do you mean you cleaned the evaporator which is the element that actually cools the cabin air? Those are normally not that accessible can you get to it while the filters are out?

I probably meant the evaporator. It's the metal grills that sit immediately behind the air filters, accessed from the footwell. You can't see it as it's deep in the hole where the air filters are, but poked my phone camera in there to get a picture whilst the filters were out and sprayed the surface blindly with a long hose attached to the cleaning spray.

This site seems to use the terms condenser/evaporator interchangeably however the Tesla service section does refer to it as the evaporator:

https://www.teslamodel3wiki.com/how-to-clean-ac-condenser-on-tesla-model-3/

 

[Jason71]

I probably meant the evaporator. It's the metal grills that sit immediately behind the air filters, accessed from the footwell. You can't see it as it's deep in the hole where the air filters are, but poked my phone camera in there to get a picture whilst the filters were out and sprayed the surface blindly with a long hose attached to the cleaning spray.

This site seems to use the terms condenser/evaporator interchangeably however the Tesla service section does refer to it as the evaporator:

https://www.teslamodel3wiki.com/how-to-clean-ac-condenser-on-tesla-model-3/

Liquid is a low energy state, gas is a high energy state so when a gas condenses to a liquid it sheds heat energy so the surroundings get hot thus condenser = hot.
On the other hand evaporating a liquid into to a gas requires an input of heat energy to "power" the phase change. So an evaporator sucks heat from the surroundings as the liquid passes through it and changes from a liquid to a gas. Like when you spray an aerosol and the can gets cold. so evaporator = cold

 

[Billbrown1982]

Mines just hit 30k...I did get it served by a ranger at 2 years and didn't bother to ask to see the filter...kind of wish I had.

Got a weird issue that has cropped up this week though where my car thinks its running out of screenwash all the time, even though its full.

Booked in, got given an arbitrary date of a tuesday in July, so I'll have to reschedule that to a day I'm not actually working but they have messaged me to say parts are on order....

If that's the worst thing that breaks on my car I think I'll be very happy.