Leaking battery coolant <500 miles in! [Update: not coolant, just water]

[cabiodsl]

Wife's model 3 is leaking blue battery coolant with less than 500 miles on the clock. Picked it up at 150 miles, so shes only put about 300 miles so far. Pulling away from garage tonight we noticed large puddles and dried blue scum underneath. Its probably been at it for days. Shes been away at work for two weeks and only really been driving it for one week! Hasn't hit anything, no dents or scrapes on the front. But looking at the pics of the coolant system underneath it looks like there are plenty of leak points. Another annoying but allegedly unrelated issue is the radiator air intake vent vanes underneath the frunk constantly open and close when off in the garage. this is at 50F ambient temp and hours since last drive. We were told that is normal by the service tech?

Everything else is fine so far and its a blast to drive. Shame since we really needed it next weekend, now its looking like a tow on monday...

 

[T34ME]

Wife's model 3 is leaking blue battery coolant with less than 500 miles on the clock. Picked it up at 150 miles, so shes only put about 300 miles so far.

Was this car a resale?

 

[cabiodsl]

No we picked it up brand new from the Santa Barbara CA store 3 weeks ago

 

[PoitNarf]

Yikes! Hope you get a quick resolution to this. Please post back when you have more info on the problem and resolution.

 

[Trevor B]

No we picked it up brand new from the Santa Barbara CA store 3 weeks ago

150 miles on a brand new car???

 

[run-the-joules]

150 miles on a brand new car???

Yeah that's surprisingly high, to the tune of 30 times what mine had…

 

[K-MTG]

Mine had 9 miles...150??

 

[outdoors]

18 for mine. 150 seems

 

[jomo25]

Yes, ours had 13 at pickup.

Curious, what VIN#?

 

[Jdcorbitt3]

Ours had 7.

 

[RyanS]

150miles seems high for a new car. Unless Tesla sales guys took it out for a few joy rides before you got there.
What's your VIN number? I wondering if there are any correlations between problem cars with certain manufacturing period. I hope it is not about quantity vs quality issue

 

[cabiodsl]

Ok I'm going to say there was no quality issue here. What it looks like after pulling the car out this morning was that there were clear puddles underneath forming on top of an OLD PUDDLE OF DRIED WIPER FLUID. So the car must have been generating some condensation in some way, but it was clear. NOT BATTERY COOLANT! However we are going to drive the car a bit today and park in a different spot to confirm no blue leaks. Also rechecked the paperwork and there was 50 miles on the car not 150.

 

[DR61]

Could be condensation from the climate control vent tube. The AC removes humidity from the interior and it condenses and is drained under the car.

 

[redan]

Also rechecked the paperwork and there was 50 miles on the car not 150.

All new Teslas say 50 miles on the paperwork - but I'm not aware of any new ones that come with that many. As you can see up thread, it's commonly 5 - 15.

 

[TexasEV]

Wow, lots of jumping to conclusions there by the OP. Maybe next time don’t be so definitive about a problem until you’re sure of what’s happening?

MOD— please edit the thread title

 

[ℬête Noire]

Wow, lots of jumping to conclusions there by the OP. Maybe next time don’t be so definitive about a problem until you’re sure of what’s happening?

While very much true:
1) I've got a little sympathy for "I love my new baby......WHAT'S HAPPENING TOO MY NEW BABY!"
2) There was probably new going on here they weren't used to happening because they're used to ICE? ((I know that it's only supposed to be only "previous owners" and Tesla/SpaceX employees but there's enough known wiggle room that there are already currently new-to-EVs Model 3 out there.)) Perhaps the AC condenser was engaged for some automatic heat management stuff, M3 is going a lot of stuff automatically the driver/passengers don't even consider.

 

[rabar10]

Mod note: tweaked thread title.

Welcome @cabiodsl! Glad to hear that there is likely no issue with your car. As @ℬête Noire pointed out, completely understandable for brand new owners to be hyper-sensitive to potential or perceived issues, especially with the reporting bias found on online forums like TMC (fewer people would join to simply report receiving their car with no issues, than join to report a potential problem).

How are you/your wife finding everything else with M3? First impressions?

 

[FSDTester#420]

While very much true:
1) I've got a little sympathy for "I love my new baby......WHAT'S HAPPENING TOO MY NEW BABY!"
2) There was probably new going on here they weren't used to happening because they're used to ICE? ((I know that it's only supposed to be only "previous owners" and Tesla/SpaceX employees but there's enough known wiggle room that there are already currently new-to-EVs Model 3 out there.)) Perhaps the AC condenser was engaged for some automatic heat management stuff, M3 is going a lot of stuff automatically the driver/passengers don't even consider.

^ exactly this ^
First reaction is - OMG what the heck is wrong with my car. Post in the font of all knowledge to get some feedback stat!
Next reaction - oh, that's not too bad after all
Next reaction - ok, how on earth do I edit my post subject
last reaction - wow, these guys aren't very nice or helpful, I'll look for help elsewhere next time

 

[Dr. J]

Ok I'm going to say there was no quality issue here. What it looks like after pulling the car out this morning was that there were clear puddles underneath forming on top of an OLD PUDDLE OF DRIED WIPER FLUID. So the car must have been generating some condensation in some way, but it was clear. NOT BATTERY COOLANT! However we are going to drive the car a bit today and park in a different spot to confirm no blue leaks. Also rechecked the paperwork and there was 50 miles on the car not 150.

Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear it's nothing serious.

 

[WileyTheMan]

last reaction - wow, these guys aren't very nice or helpful, I'll look for help elsewhere next time

Seriously. While this is a public forum and one must expect unfiltered feedback, it's disheartening to see that.