Has anyone repaired cooling louvers?

[airborne spoon]

I am just trying to verify the operation of my center louver. I'm not convinced it's opening fully as I hear a little thump which I believe happens when it is trying to move. From what I understand I need to take off the front bumper cover (done that before....not too hard) and then the center louver should be visible. Is that your understanding?

Yes once the bumper is off you'll be able to look in from the side to see the center louvers and feel them if they are loose and broken or not, (mine had one of them broken so it was just flapping around in there). But a way to check without pulling stuff apart is to turn on the ac high, once the fans are blowing on full blast you should be able to stick the back of your hand in front of the center area on each side and feel if air is being pulled through.

 

[dmwahl]

@airborne spoon Can you give a basic explanation of how to remove the side louvers? My passenger side one is broken, the lower flap seems to have come loose or broken and as a result all 3 are stuck open all the time. The driver side one seems to be fine, usually closed but I did notice it open once, I believe when I turned the AC on (?)

 

[whitex]

@airborne spoon Can you give a basic explanation of how to remove the side louvers? My passenger side one is broken, the lower flap seems to have come loose or broken and as a result all 3 are stuck open all the time. The driver side one seems to be fine, usually closed but I did notice it open once, I believe when I turned the AC on (?)

To remove the louvers you need to remove the front bumper skin. I've only done that on the pre-refresh Model S, but I suspect same is true of the post refresh one as well. Few screws, bunch of clips IIRC.

 

[airborne spoon]

@airborne spoon Can you give a basic explanation of how to remove the side louvers? My passenger side one is broken, the lower flap seems to have come loose or broken and as a result all 3 are stuck open all the time. The driver side one seems to be fine, usually closed but I did notice it open once, I believe when I turned the AC on (?)

Follow the directions in the manual. Click on the previous step in step 1 till it goes back to the beginning. It's pretty easy to do the side ones, the middle one requires removal of the radiator which is a PITA.

Motor - Active Louver - Front Fascia (Remove and Replace)

 

[Zuikkis]

BTW it's easy to find just the motor from ebay:

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It seems impossible to find new ones, though. Tesla is only selling the whole assembly.

Edit: I think it's the same part for the center louvre as well, and by the photos it looks like the it might be possible to replace the motors without removing the radiator..

 

[KalJoMoS]

On this quick list the front underhood apron is the plastic panel that covers car nosecone/cars emblem and you do not need to remove wheels to release that cable shown on photo #5 (it’s been sketched to show clear view). I needed only to release that cable harness and one clip right above cooling ventilator, mine is with nosecone. And I had two metal screws that secured this undershield and chin spoiler, two rear-one red arrows on photo #2.
After that both louvers are just to unscrew and repair/replace.

 

[dmwahl]

Thanks for the help, I ordered the right louver assembly from Tesla, $160 plus tax. Cheaper than the used ones on ebay. In my case 2/3 of the louvers themselves are broken, I can hear the motor turning and the remaining louver moves a little so I think the motor may be OK but the assembly includes everything.

Side note, anyone else notice that Tesla spells "louver" like the famous museum on the parts catalog for the left/right assembly but correctly for the center one?

 

[dmwahl]

Did this over the weekend, took me about 90 minutes all in. Really not hard, removing the frunk made it a lot easier to get at the bumper wiring connector although in theory you can get at it without removing the frunk. There were a ton of leaves, dead bugs, cigarette butts, and sand in the side that was stuck open and almost as much in the driver side. They were packed in so tight that the radiators are probably double the effective size now. I loosened (but didn't remove) the shrouds around the radiators to make them easier to clean out.

Also found out that the silver trim pieces on the louver "grill" are separate parts, I missed that and had the whole front end back together before noticing and had to take it apart again. Would have gone faster if I didn't have to basically do it twice.

 

[quickstrike12]

Mine are still working fine, but your picture and write up make me want to open mine up just to clean out the years of crap I’m certain is in there.

 

[dmwahl]

@quickstrike12 I get the impression that Tesla tried to fully optimize the airflow through those radiators rather than adding some "leakage" to allow crud to drop out naturally. The opening in the shape of the louvers was about the only free space and even then you can see some of the leaves and junk. The area behind the black shroud was almost entirely packed with stuff, mostly leaves because there's nowhere for it to go. If it wouldn't just drop down into the "engine" bay I'd consider cutting out a slot in the shrouds to let the stuff drop out.

In general it seems that certain parts of the car had the "A team" of engineers working on them (like the powertrain) while others got the "B team" like the radiator design and some of the fit and finish stuff. Still love the car but it's clear that some parts got a lot more attention than others.

 

[houstonian]

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

One of my replaced cooling louvers failed a few weeks ago compromising the HVACs ability to cool the car. Tesla replaced the failed part under the limited new part warranty (from the initial replacement of the cooling louvers last year).

 

[Ghosty]

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.

Hi Sara,

I just had an identical experience with similar issue. I brought in my car, after getting a message through Tesla app to bring in car if AC was not working. I did that and the rep who attended was unusually hostile. I have no idea why she conducted herself in such a manner. The manager stepped in and conducted himself like all my previous experiences with Tesla service - very polite, friendly, and professional.

With that said, I did just get a message from Tesla that they ordered this part for my service: ASY FR END DUCTING WITH HORNS, MS2; Part #: 1058073-00-B. I am out of warranty by 10k miles. I did inform manager that I previously attempted to have this resolved, as my car sounded like a Jet Engine often - now I realize this was likely due to faulty Louvers resulting in overheating battery which explains the very loud jet engine like fan (an opinion, not definitive) - however I was discouraged from making appointment at that time due to the overwhelming service work. They offered, at that time, an appointment months later.

Currently, the three front louvers on the driver side seem to always be closed. They don't open. The top two front louvers on the passenger side are also closed. The larger, bottom louver on the passenger side is opened and it looks like the louver is hanging/broken? But it is opened.

Ultimately, whether they will extend the warranty to cover it or not, I'm not too concerned. It is something that must be fixed as I can't use my car with this heatwave (cabin temperature reaching 122+ degrees with windows opened!).

 

[KalJoMoS]

Currently, the three front louvers on the driver side seem to always be closed. They don't open. The top two front louvers on the passenger side are also closed. The larger, bottom louver on the passenger side is opened and it looks like the louver is hanging/broken? But it is opened.

What do you mean by “three front louvers on drivers side” and “top two front louvers on the passenger side”? They are one unit so they seems to be not operating as needed on your car. If they cycle to open or close then you can’t count which one on one side is moving and which is not. They are either closed or open leaving this opened hole totally open or closed.
Usually you should see them cycle if you come close to the car and the fob will unlock it. They will perform a full cycle few seconds after unlocking...

 

[broncoremy]

What do you mean by “three front louvers on drivers side” and “top two front louvers on the passenger side”? They are one unit so they seems to be not operating as needed on your car. If they cycle to open or close then you can’t count which one on one side is moving and which is not. They are either closed or open leaving this opened hole totally open or closed.
Usually you should see them cycle if you come close to the car and the fob will unlock it. They will perform a full cycle few seconds after unlocking...

When I read the post I assumed the reference was to the 3 flaps on the louver. There are 3 movable flaps on each louver.

 

[broncoremy]

With that said, I did just get a message from Tesla that they ordered this part for my service: ASY FR END DUCTING WITH HORNS, MS2; Part #: 1058073-00-B. I am out of warranty by 10k miles. I did inform manager that I previously attempted to have this resolved, as my car sounded like a Jet Engine often - now I realize this was likely due to faulty Louvers resulting in overheating battery which explains the very loud jet engine like fan (an opinion, not definitive) - however I was discouraged from making appointment at that time due to the overwhelming service work. They offered, at that time, an appointment months later.

This part number reference is for the center louver that shrouds the main radiator. I bet your car is running very hot if this has failed. The 2 fans in that shroud (I assume they are fans) are the loudest on my car, as well.

It looks like this:

The opening louver portion of this is to the left and right. The fans (If they are fans) are in the 2 holes toward the middle. The 2 electric motors sitting on the top look just like the electric motors on the left and right active louvers.

Currently, the three front louvers on the driver side seem to always be closed. They don't open. The top two front louvers on the passenger side are also closed. The larger, bottom louver on the passenger side is opened and it looks like the louver is hanging/broken? But it is opened.

This is similar to what I see on my 85D, the left or driver louver is closed every time I look. The right or passenger louver is busted and hanging open. These are separate items from the part Tesla gave you above.

 

[broncoremy]

Please forgive my last posts, 1) for taking up space in this thread while I am learning and 2) after a little more digging I do not believe those are fans in that 1058073-00-B assembly. I assumed they were because there was a great deal of fan noise near those 2 items in the middle when I had mine apart. Are those really the horns for the car as it says in the title for the part? Probably so.

 

[KalJoMoS]

Yes, they’re. If your car’s horns fail then the only way to repair is to get this part out. And in your post before that these flaps do not move individually, they have a linkage at the back and they should move all at the same time. If this is not the case then the mechanism is broken and situation is similar as you have described with your car. I urge you to change this busted passenger side louvers as they are the only protection from debris flying around your car. Right behind the louvers are condenser cores (LH and RH) and if these will get hit by a stone or something then your refrigeration system will leak and yous AC can’t cool/warm your cabin.
I just had a service visit as my passenger side was leaking and it was not pleasant to drive in this extreme heat. Mine started to leak this spring and initially I was not able to warm up the car. Part that was changed was RH condenser core (6007613-00-B) and full amount of refrigerant R1234YF.

 

[KalJoMoS]

So I finally get to it and took both louvers off the car. Last time I did the repair without any photos as I needed the car back on road so now I had a bit of time. Here are the fixes that I made last time, both side had broken of from the shaft/pin that pivots by the motor. As both had different fracture on it, I had two solution.

On the right side I was able to drill a hole in that pin to use a screw for extension for the shaft/pin as this might be stronger repair. But as it turned out the initial damages was too bad as this side did not fixed as the intention was. Unfortunately that fix did not secured it to the pin, although it did closed if car was stationary and looked fine outside...

So now I managed to get broken RH unit from States and exchange only the broken blades. If you remove the motor then you can easily put them in a bucket of hot water and simply wash the dirt off. It is also convenient if you need to remove or reinstall new, unbroken blades from the unit, hot water helps them to be bend so it allows you to release one end of the blade...

You also know that the lovers have decorated cover on the outer side so be careful not to brake them off. They are attached to the unit by single screw, which one of them can only be reached if the motor have been removed.

Also use only stainless steel fixtures as they are open to the elements. Now I need to find proper one for the left side.

 

[richrootes]

Great pictures - so it looks like the central fin is driven, which has levers on to actuate the one above and below it

Good luck with your search

 

[Jasper7821]

I have a question, when I wen to the dealer just to chitchat after I bought a 2014 P85+, they remoted into my car and said everything was looking fine except one of the louvers for battery cooling wasn't working. They couldn't tell without looking into it if it was stuck open or closed. He said in the AZ desert, if it's stuck open it's fine. But if it's stuck closed, he said I should get in there and manually open the louver.
I got a OBD reader, and from the louver readings, (if it's even the correct louver) does it look like it's open or closed? In the diagram, he said it's the driver side louver. Not the ones on the bumper, the plastic housing is #6 1038059-00-A P/N ASSY, DUCTING FR END RR RH
Thanks