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MASTER THREAD: Funny smell inside car

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Over the past few weeks I have noticed a strong sulfur smell with a sudden loss of range on a 90% charge. Typically a 90% charge would give me 470km range, now I get 455km. After doing some research it turns out a sulfur smell could be caused from a boiled over battery. As a matter of fact Tesla had an issue a few years back with bad 12v batteries. I visually checked my model 3 12v battery and did not notice any leaking. Prior to noticing the range loss I reached out to Tesla and they recommended I pay them $90 and they will change my cabin filter, of course I declined but kept my service appointment for another issue (front passenger side loose ball joint / upper control arm squeaking at slow speed).
Has anyone experienced a sulfur smell with a loss of range?
 
After doing some research it turns out a sulfur smell could be caused from a boiled over battery. As a matter of fact Tesla had an issue a few years back with bad 12v batteries.
But the 12V battery has nothing to do with how much range the car has.

Whatever you are smelling, it is unrelated to the main battery that powers the motor.

Based on your signature you have owned your car fo about 10 months. It is well documented and discussed many times on TMC how EV batteries typically lose 1-2% of their original capacity during the first year of ownership. After that, capacity declines at roughly 1%/year. This is normal.
 
But the 12V battery has nothing to do with how much range the car has.

Whatever you are smelling, it is unrelated to the main battery that powers the motor.

Based on your signature you have owned your car fo about 10 months. It is well documented and discussed many times on TMC how EV batteries typically lose 1-2% of their original capacity during the first year of ownership. After that, capacity declines at roughly 1%/year. This is normal.
I understand the 12v battery has no relation to range I was simply stating that the smell had nothing to do with the 12v battery as that was the case with other owners.
 
My guess would be you have a bad 12 V battery. This can make your car continuously charge it, boiling the acid. This causes the smell and would slowly drain your HV battery. I had this smell for awhile before my car told me that the 12 V battery needed service. When the battery was replaced, the smell went away.
 
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I understand the 12v battery has no relation to range I was simply stating that the smell had nothing to do with the 12v battery as that was the case with other owners.

Cannot really tell the 12v isn't the cause of the smell by just looking at it.

Check the voltage of the 12v system when the car is sitting and "running" (inside systems on, etc). Should be around 13.7v I beleive.

Safely disconnect the 12 battery ground and the check the voltage across the battery. That would at least tell if a single cell in the 12v faulted. Should be somewhere around 12v.
 
Cannot really tell the 12v isn't the cause of the smell by just looking at it.

Check the voltage of the 12v system when the car is sitting and "running" (inside systems on, etc). Should be around 13.7v I beleive.

Safely disconnect the 12 battery ground and the check the voltage across the battery. That would at least tell if a single cell in the 12v faulted. Should be somewhere around 12v.
Thanks very much, I will let you know!
 
60 day follow up video shows the ac smell returning back to the car. In my first video I had only used one can of kool-it evaporator cleaner and I did not replace the original Tesla air cabin filters. In this video I use two cans of kool-it and I also replaced my cabin air filters so hopefully this coil cleaning will resolve the ac smell for quite some time.


 
Has anyone been experiencing an occasional rotten egg smell? Service center suggested it was my cabin filters, I changed them, however the smell has not gone away. Smell comes about twice a week and does not last very long. I am unable to link this to anything specific but I have noticed it only happens when im driving. I did read somewhere that it could be signs of the 12v battery failing, which I mentioned to the service center, but the said it cant be that since there is no 12v battery faults logged and the voltage was fine when measured. This smell is NOT THE AC smell, that is more of a vinegar / mouldy smell, this is pure rotten eggs / sulphur.
 
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My fear is its the main battery since I have been noticing range reduction at various charge levels and limited regenerative braking at odd times. Service center says inconsistent range after charging is due to my driving habits affecting the predicted range (after charging) and limited regenerative braking due to battery being to cold.
 
Your service center is flat out lying to you. The display is rated range based on estimated energy available in the battery. How you drive has 0 impact on that (other than if differing driving styles could theoretically impact battery health in some minor way). I would definitely escalate past whomever is flat out giving you false information.

However, if you don't garage your car, you will have varying range listed this time of year due to the cold since the battery voltage will be lower, so the car estimates less energy available. So if you park outside (or your garage is getting cold), that can certainly have an effect. I garage my car, and the colder weather has recently started to cause my estimated range on a 90% charge to drop from 292 to 291 (and when it's even colder, around 290). If it were outside, I would expect large drop offs (10+ miles). We always start to see tons of complaints about battery issues this time of year when mostly it's just because the cars are now sitting in the cold.
 
Sorry. Not a Tesla owner. But does your Tesla have a 12 volt battery for automotive functions? If there is one bad cell the other 5 are getting over charged and yes it smells EXACTLY LIKE rotten eggs.

Good luck. Hope you find the problem.

John.