Large amount of white foam/insulation blocking driver air vent, what is this?

[NguyenA1]

I bought a used 11.2016 Model S. I have the premium upgrade package which includes HEPA Air Filtration System.

The left driver air vent has barely any air flowing through it. I shined a flashlight in there to look and see this white, foam insulation type of material blocking the insides.

Has anyone had an issue like this? Not sure if I have any tools skinny and long enough to try to pull it through and get rid of it, but I'm concerned if insulation is from somewhere else in the ac system and this could be showing theres a problem else where? Maybe I should leave it in there and have the service center take a look in case that foam/insulation is from something and that might make them think about.

Or perhaps the previous owner stuck this in his air vents on purpose to reduce the air flow from the driver side??? That would seem absurd since the person could direct the air vent up and away.

 

[FatherTo1]

That doesn't seem right at all. The car should still be under warranty, right? Make an appt and have the SC check it out.

 

[Cripps]

Mine is not like that. Doesn’t look right at all.

 

[EV-Fixme]

That should not be there, it's pretty accessible once the vent is removed.

 

[rooter]

Don't listen to them.

That's a proprietary organism that Tesla puts into the coil which eats away anything organic in the vents to clean them. Normally it's done and disappears before the car leaves the factory.

Be sure to not disturb it and let it do its work. And FOR GOD'S SAKE, don't touch it!!

 

[rooter]

(Hint: Tesla is going to charge you for that. And any warranty in the dash is gone)

 

[odguy]

That's a new one. If under warranty have Tesla deal with it. If not I believe there are tutorial for removing the vent you can find online if you are comfortable doing that.

 

[rooter]

lol, Silicon Desert marked my post Disagree. He'll regret that when the truth comes out

 

[cypho]

Could it ba a rodent nest? If so my big concern would be what part the rodents destroyed to harvest the white stuff they built their best out of.

I've seen numerous reports of rodents eating wires and building nests on the battery.

 

[dark cloud]

“Honey, I’m getting a huge draft in here”
“ I’ll take care of that with some spray foam; it worked great around the windows of the house”

Bizarre.
If that car was not bought from Tesla and the op takes it to service there will be a charge to clean it out.
If it was a Tesla cpo I don’t think one of the 70 quality checks is checking ducts for spray foam, but they must have checked the a/c for output.

 

[RIB-JIG]

if its loose & you just want it gone, not analyzed,
break it up with knife or similar,
pull it out with twisted coat hanger;
suck out smallish pieces with strong vacuum...?

 

[Battpower]

I wish we could hear the real story behind this!

Owner related -
Rodents: doesn't look chewed up enough. Turning on air to vent you'd soon know by the smell and debris all over the car interior.

Drafts: that's a candidate. Imagine an owner Googling 'draft in my Tesla'. Quite a few fixes involve spraying expanding foam around the source of the draft. (even though likely for a different model)

Rattles:?? Hardware store conversation about fixing rattle in old truck with expanding foam..... 'hey, I've got a rattle in my air vent.... '

Bad smell: do certain vents have greater tendency for condensation build up / bad odours?

Broken louvres on outlet: trying to reduce airflow.

Uneven airflow: trying to balance between outlets.

Broken duct: maybe attempt to dismantle went wrong and the foam is holding stuff together / trying to bridge a gap?

Tesla related -
@rooter 's proprietary organism.

Range update: Reduce energy used moving air through ducts by reducing airflow.

Footwell heating upgrade: force more air to Footwell vents to heat feet better.

 

[whitex]

Looks like some insulation somewhere in the vent system was dislodged, then the air just blew it towards the vent where it was stopped by the vent grates. Could be an animal of some type, or some material failure.

 

[Battpower]

Looks like some insulation somewhere in the vent system was dislodged, then the air just blew it towards the vent where it was stopped by the vent grates. Could be an animal of some type, or some material failure.

Can't really tell if it's balled up wool, filter material or expanding gap-filler foam.

Looks like quite a large amount to have somehow come adrift and get blown along inside the duct.

 

[NguyenA1]

You guys are a riot! Especially rooter ha!

it doesn't seem like gap-filler foam, its reminds me of the insides of a stuffed animal or some kind of wool.

@RIB-JIG good idea about using a coat hanger. I could probably use the coat hanger wire, and put a small hook on the end to start pulling that stuff through the vent.

This is a pre-owned that I bought through tesla so it is under warranty. Just got it about a month ago. I don't mine removing it myself but I want to figure out what the source of it is, so thats kind of why I want to leave it in there so that Tesla will take a look at it and maybe click in their head saying, oh thats material from such and such part of the car.

My older infiniti jx35, I once got in it and got all sorts of brake light malfunction warnings when i started the car. I opened the hood and found a nest with wire and twigs. After some investigation, found that the assumed rodent chewed off a section of the abs sensor wire, chewed off some of my wiper fluid tubing, and some of my chirstmas lights wire and made a nest under my hood.

The history of this Tesla car is interesting though. It was delivered from oceanside, CA. I wonder how they stored this car... Or if the previous owner was crazy.

When I first had it, in the first week, there were constant little black ants we'd find. After a couple weeks, we see a little black ant periodically instead of every time we got in the car. In the hood, when you opened it up, you could hear things falling down and rattling inside the hood. I had my car in service a week ago(forgot to bring up the ac vent and didn't do a visual check) for other issues, and I did list rattling of something falling inside the hood as a concern. They used air to blow out as much stuff and they found twig and acorns in the hood. I thought okay... Maybe the previous owners had kids and being genius's that kids are, maybe their kids stuck acorns in the tiny holes/slots where the hood bottom and top are welded together. BUT you guys talking about rats, ughhhh, didn't cross my mind that rodents or something may have been the cause of acorns and twigs in the hood, and now this "foam" or wool or whatever is something from the same animal...

I tried looking in the forum and there is no adjustment for air power on the vents, so I thought it may be a possibility that the previous owner stuck animal stuffing or wool in that airvent to restrict air flow so driver side, side air vent doesnt blow on the person as hard...

 

[Battpower]

My money just put down for Rodents.

When I lived in San Diego, had several mice residencies in my Lotus Elan. Can't believe how long it took me to join the dots at that time. I would report back to Tesla ASAP, make sure your have it written down that it's a continuation of what they've already looked into.

Have a look in the cabin air filter. That wool may be sound deadening material.

If it is rodent related, imo it would be very much to your advantage to get it straight if this happened while the car was with you or Tesla. If it's certain that it hasn't happen since you took ownership, then just report back to Tesla that they still have delivery issues to resolve, and maybe aim to have them give the car a very detailed check for other damage.

If you think its down to you, maybe do some general inspection under frunk, air filters etc.

 

[cypho]

Mouse infiltrated Model 3

 

[Battpower]

Last night when I went to grab my charging adapter from the glove box, there was a ball of insulation in the glove box and I swear I saw a little mouse scurry away. Can't see any other damage, but obviously this insulation came from somewhere.

Anyone know where this insulation can be from or what purpose it can be serving? If the mouse is somewhere between the frunk and the glove box, I don't know how to check for additional issues. Already got deterrents and traps in the car, but obviously paranoid.

Worth bringing to service center at this point, or will I look crazy? Wondering if they can easily do a quick damage check. Below pic is from another person I saw posting the same thing.

View attachment 469220

That picture is identical to one of my Lotus Elan nests! Chewed up my license paperwork, stained the handbook..... Then moved on to the air vents!

Tried filling the car with mothballs..... Which seemed to help keep the mice out, but sure made the car less enjoyable to drive.

 

[Kandiru]

As stated above, rodents until proven otherwise.

 

[rooter]

No, no, no, there is absolutely nothing inside the dash that looks like that.

The previous owner decided to do a 'modification' and used spray foam to quiet a rattle, but didn't take into account that it continues to expand. When it went out of control he dumped the car out of fear.

When Tesla finds that they will void your warranty for anything inside the dash and charge to to clean it. Better not take it to them until you remove the IC and clean all that out.

Ah'm just tellin' ya...