Has anyone repaired cooling louvers?

[sara94]

Tesla says my cooling louvers need to be replaced because they don't open when they are supposed to. I have seen my cooling louvers open occasionally so I'm not sure what the issue is. They were pretty rude at the service center. I asked them what the issue was since I have seen the louvers physically open (even if they don't open at the right time) and this was their response:

"I'm not sure what you're asking me but I'm telling you there is a fault in the louvers and they need to be replaced."

Is there a repair solution other than simple replacement? My car is very loud at superchargers and under high AC loads and usually the louvers are never open. The only time I have seen them open is when I have turned on AC for the first time and the louvers cycled. The servos are getting power because when I press on the louvers they are firm and don't want to open.

 

[Gtech]

Maybe the car measures a resistance that is little off to the desired value and throw an error but in your case that doesn't mean that your louvers are broken. Could be corrosion inside the connector or to high/low internal resistance of the louvers.

Not 100% sure since I don't have all documentation yet.

 

[whitex]

Does your car open the louvers immediately after plugging it into AC charger? All the Model S I even had, always cycle the louvers (open and close) on initial plugging in of home charger (HPWC or MC). I only know this because for me it was a reliable way to reset them when I was installing my radar/laser detector and pulled the front bumper off a few times to install the necessary pieces. It is possible that the servo motors are fine but their position sensor is bad, or some other fault. I would also check the wiring/plugs too if you have access.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

Does your car open the louvers immediately after plugging it into AC charger? All the Model S I even had, always cycle the louvers (open and close) on initial plugging in of home charger (HPWC or MC). I only know this because for me it was a reliable way to reset them when I was installing my radar/laser detector and pulled the front bumper off a few times to install the necessary pieces. It is possible that the servo motors are fine but their position sensor is bad, or some other fault. I would also check the wiring/plugs too if you have access.

Thanks for your post. I hadn’t seen mine open for a while, so out of curiosity I watched the louvers after I plugged into AC charging. I heard a “thunk” from the front bumper area (like something was jammed) but saw no louver movement. I wonder how long they have been defective???

I need to pull the bumper cover off this weekend for other reasons but I’ll check out the louvers at the same time.

 

[Natuglen]

I also have this loud knock when the louvers operate, though on appearance they open and close fine. Service center says to me that there is a second set of these further back which are throwing an error. In any case it’s going in for repair in a couple of weeks.

 

[mrjedistud]

I was hearing sand rattle around when the fan kicked in a while back. Thankfully Tesla repaired under warranty.

 

[captjoemcd]

I had all 3 replaced under warranty because they didn't seem to be opening when I thought they should. Fan sounded super loud and the louvers were closed. They did a test and all 3 failed the test so they replaced them.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I also have this loud knock when the louvers operate, though on appearance they open and close fine. Service center says to me that there is a second set of these further back which are throwing an error. In any case it’s going in for repair in a couple of weeks.

I made a few more observations the last few days and sometimes they do in fact open and close, quietly, when I plug in to AC. So perhaps the knock is from somewhere else.

 

[Natuglen]

Just got mine replaced today. That remedied the loud knocking.

They did a thermal test which the Center and RH Active Louver failed and needed to be replaced.

Parts replaced:
ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE RH (1007269-00-F) - $239
ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE CTR (1007256-00-K) - $385

Total cost $1,136 - covered by ESA.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

Just got mine replaced today. That remedied the loud knocking.

They did a thermal test which the Center and RH Active Louver failed and needed to be replaced.

Parts replaced:
ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE RH (1007269-00-F) - $239
ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE CTR (1007256-00-K) - $385

Total cost $1,136 - covered by ESA.

Hmmm I haven’t looked at the center louver. I’ll let you know what I find

 

[odguy]

Does your car open the louvers immediately after plugging it into AC charger? All the Model S I even had, always cycle the louvers (open and close) on initial plugging in of home charger (HPWC or MC). I only know this because for me it was a reliable way to reset them when I was installing my radar/laser detector and pulled the front bumper off a few times to install the necessary pieces. It is possible that the servo motors are fine but their position sensor is bad, or some other fault. I would also check the wiring/plugs too if you have access.

Do you have to start the charge before it cycles, or just plugging in? I tried both but stayed closed either way.

 

[richrootes]

Mine open/close after plugging in the cable regardless

 

[houstonian]

Replaced all three louvers on my Jan 2017 S75D with ~102k on the clock earlier this week.

Noticed the AC was running weak at the start of summer here in Houston. It still cooled but struggled to keep up when it had not done so prior. Also noted the fans were running close to "supercharging" levels when a) not supercharging and b) cooling the car to the low 70's/high 60's - again something the car had not done so prior. About 2½ years ago I noted similar symptoms when my Intake Actuator (1139238-00-A) failed so when I dropped off the car at the Service Center I asked them to check it out.

Tech looks into it, verified the Intake Actuator was operating properly but did confirm the left hand louvre and the "middle" louvre were not calibrating properly. I okayed the replacement and asked them to proactively replace the right hand louvre too under the assumption if two of the three components had failed, the 3rd's writing was on the wall. The replacement parts used were:

(center, $190, failed) ASY FR END DUCTING WITH HORNS, MS2 (1058073-00-B)
(left, $260, failed) ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE LH MS2 (1057851-00-I)
(right, $260, proactively replaced) ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE RH, MS2 (1058007-00-J)

Labor came to $214.50. 1½ or 12,500 mile warranty, whichever comes first.

I should note last fall I hit a piece of nasty road debris requiring minor body work, replacement of the front bumper, and realignment of the AP radar array. Can't but help wonder if the impact from the road debris (which hit the car almost dead on at the left hand side where the radar sensor sits behind the bumper) knocked out the two louvres and I only caught the fault due to the weakness in the AC and high fan volume in the summer when it started to get hot.

Also asked for the old parts too. Might try to see if I can get them fixed or just eBay them to someone who can.

Just got mine replaced today. That remedied the loud knocking.

They did a thermal test which the Center and RH Active Louver failed and needed to be replaced.

Parts replaced:
ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE RH (1007269-00-F) - $239
ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE CTR (1007256-00-K) - $385

Total cost $1,136 - covered by ESA.

@Natuglen - interesting to see you did a similar repair but different part numbers and costs. Guessing it's related to a different generation build of your S? Also any concerns about the Left Louvre failing?

 

[zimeon]

Replaced all three louvers on my Jan 2017 S75D with ~102k on the clock earlier this week.

Noticed the AC was running weak at the start of summer here in Houston. It still cooled but struggled to keep up when it had not done so prior. Also noted the fans were running close to "supercharging" levels when a) not supercharging and b) cooling the car to the low 70's/high 60's - again something the car had not done so prior. About 2½ years ago I noted similar symptoms when my Intake Actuator (1139238-00-A) failed so when I dropped off the car at the Service Center I asked them to check it out.

Tech looks into it, verified the Intake Actuator was operating properly but did confirm the left hand louvre and the "middle" louvre were not calibrating properly. I okayed the replacement and asked them to proactively replace the right hand louvre too under the assumption if two of the three components had failed, the 3rd's writing was on the wall. The replacement parts used were:

(center, $190, failed) ASY FR END DUCTING WITH HORNS, MS2 (1058073-00-B)
(left, $260, failed) ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE LH MS2 (1057851-00-I)
(right, $260, proactively replaced) ASY, ACTIVE LOUVRE RH, MS2 (1058007-00-J)

Labor came to $214.50. 1½ or 12,500 mile warranty, whichever comes first.

@Natuglen - interesting to see you did a similar repair but different part numbers and costs. Guessing it's related to a different generation build of your S? Also any concerns about the Left Louvre failing?

Did you get any error messages or was it just the noice?

 

[KalJoMoS]

I noticed that both side louvres where constantly open on mine (someone had mended repair works on front bumper, I’m second owner) and never had “moved”. So after bumper removed and verified both side broken off the rotating pole (the middle fin is attached to the motor), I managed to fix them to motors and now they operate again. It was interesting that Tesla’s thermal check before my fix never indicated that there is a problem...
Oh, and no errors on dash.

 

[houstonian]

Did you get any error messages or was it just the noice?

No error messages I saw. Belive the tech mentioned he saw an error message on his end.

 

[airborne spoon]

I just changed all 3 of my louver assembly's last weekend. The 2 on the sides are pretty easy and only took a few minutes. The middle one took a little longer as i had to figure out how to remove it and there is a lot of stuff attached to it. Now that i know how to do it i could do the middle one faster. The trick is you have to remove at least one side of the radiator and swing it out of the way as there is not quite enough room to squeeze it out behind the damn thing.
My louvers weren't opening and it was causing the battery to overheat. I wasn't sure if the louvers were broken or if what controls the louvers was broken so i took it to Tesla and they diagnosed everything and said it was just the louvers that were broken so i bought the parts from them that day. Now that they are installed whenever i get out of the car and the AC is on i stick my hand in there and sure enough they open and close like they are supposed to. 2014 S P85D 93,000 miles
Parts price in pic below for your reference.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I just changed all 3 of my louver assembly's last weekend. The 2 on the sides are pretty easy and only took a few minutes. The middle one took a little longer as i had to figure out how to remove it and there is a lot of stuff attached to it. Now that i know how to do it i could do the middle one faster. The trick is you have to remove at least one side of the radiator and swing it out of the way as there is not quite enough room to squeeze it out behind the damn thing.
My louvers weren't opening and it was causing the battery to overheat. I wasn't sure if the louvers were broken or if what controls the louvers was broken so i took it to Tesla and they diagnosed everything and said it was just the louvers that were broken so i bought the parts from them that day. Now that they are installed whenever i get out of the car and the AC is on i stick my hand in there and sure enough they open and close like they are supposed to. 2014 S P85D 93,000 miles
Parts price in pic below for your reference.

View attachment 578255

So you could remove the center louver without completely removing the radiator? Good to know.

 

[Rockwell]

Give us a call and we can help you get it repaired. 833.EVFIXME

 

[airborne spoon]

So you could remove the center louver without completely removing the radiator? Good to know.

I mean when I pulled the hose on one side I still had to collect like a gallon or two of fluid into my bucket. So the rad is half removed and there is only a hose clamp on either side so it would only take an extra minute to take off the rad entirely.

But I only took of the one side as it was 110°f inside my garage and I was trying to do things as quickly as possible.

If anyone does a louver repair it's pretty easy and I can easily answer any questions about the process.