MikeChicago
Member
You mean Grade A + Organic hypocrisy. Not the non-organic, half-baked, wanna-be-hypocrisy those pesky Brits are cranking out
Agh... I did it again.
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Model 3 maintenance
- Thread starter exlatccatsa
- Start date
You mean Grade A + Organic hypocrisy. Not the non-organic, half-baked, wanna-be-hypocrisy those pesky Brits are cranking out
Agh... I did it again.
I would guess they probably do, Hepa filters filter much smaller particles so logic says as dirt and grime gets in they will clog up quicker and restrict airflow, hence the prefilter, the trim top for the intake and the bonnet seal to reduce the crud getting in there, annual change as they are pretty cheap anyway.
Are people changing filters because itās recommended or because they were causing odours in the car? I had mine changed after 2 years but they werenāt causing a smellā¦ another 2+ years have passed and no problems so I was thinking of leaving them meantime.
kelvin 660
White SR+ with LFP battery
Well I changed mine at 2 years, 20,000 miles and they were quite black and dirty compared to the new ones I fitted. I didn't have any bad odours but it's such a small cost to change them, why not do it!
My filter change a few weeks ago was the first change since the car was new, Its a March 2020 - but only covered just under 10K miles, I wasn't having any odour issues and was simply because i ordered the bonnet seal, the air intake grille with a pre- filter and decided to just do the entire air intake system.
I've seen the filters costing up to Ā£40 but the website I was on had these filters for just Ā£12 - for the pair - so added them to my order. I had to wait a couple of weeks or so for delivery as the items were from China. (they are probably fake hepa filters but has to be better than the clogged up filters i took out)
Foxsbiscuits
Member
I bought mine second hand and it had 90k on the clock so I checked the filters -
Top are the old ones, literally caked in grime.
Bottom are the Blueprint replacements off eBay.
Huge improvement to the airflow and subsequently the defrost function. My door handles, mirrors, and charge port all unfreeze in about 15 mins.
Usage will determine condition, I probably won't need to change mine for many years as I do low mileage.
Surprisingly, even with the old clogged ones, I didn't get the funky smells others have described so I'm not sure what exactly causes that.
Top are the old ones, literally caked in grime.
Bottom are the Blueprint replacements off eBay.
Huge improvement to the airflow and subsequently the defrost function. My door handles, mirrors, and charge port all unfreeze in about 15 mins.
Usage will determine condition, I probably won't need to change mine for many years as I do low mileage.
Surprisingly, even with the old clogged ones, I didn't get the funky smells others have described so I'm not sure what exactly causes that.
The smells are reported to be from the filters getting damp, the air intake is completely open, just inside the bulkhead is the fan, those who have their fans on high and travel through very wet weather or those that swill their car down with a bucket of water or wash the car using lots of water - It runs down the screen on to the plastic that covers the air intake - the high suction of the fan pulls water droplets in and throws the water onto the filters. There is a video on youtube where a model 3 owner mounted a camera inside the air intake and filmed the water being drawn in.
If the fan is turned off then a louver closes and seals of the air intake, During normal rain being swiped down the screen by the wipers with the fan on low or medium no water gets drawn in.
This was the reason i fitted the prefilter, the air box cover and the weatherstrip across the underside of the bonnet.
If the fan is turned off then a louver closes and seals of the air intake, During normal rain being swiped down the screen by the wipers with the fan on low or medium no water gets drawn in.
This was the reason i fitted the prefilter, the air box cover and the weatherstrip across the underside of the bonnet.
Foxsbiscuits
Member
So even though I don't have this problem it interests me.
Over here they're saying it isn't actually the filters that smell, that water might be getting trapped somewhere else. Mystery...
JWLV
Member
I bought my M3LR just a few weeks ago from Hertz. When I turned on the AC, it has a nasty odor. So I immediately ordered a cabin filter with carbon from Amazon. There are dozens of manufacturers so I just picked the cheapest one that contains activated carbon. It was $10.97 with 2-day delivery. I installed it as soon as I got it. The old ones that I pulled out was disgustingly dirty. Some of the dirt fell in the slot as I was pulling the filter out. There's no way I could get in that slot to pull out the rest of the dirt. So I just left it in there and installed the new filters. The bad odor is gone! Smells fresh and clean!
I will eventually get to opening the front area as the above video showed. Seems like a lot of work so I'm putting it off.
I will eventually get to opening the front area as the above video showed. Seems like a lot of work so I'm putting it off.
Another maintainence tip.
I think I've found the reason for my rear brakes/discs not working properly and ending up rusting.
I took off the caliper and hangers today to have the discs skimmed on Saturday.
I was watching a YouTube video a couple of days ago in preparation (I wasn't signed in and can't find it again, sorry) I noticed the presenter paid specific attention to the small spring clips either end of the brake pads.
Having the carrier off and being able to analyze how they interacted with the pads made me realise that although I had been greasing the pad lugs, there was another bit which needed greasing which was restricting the movement of the pads.
I've pictured one of the small clips which fit at the ends of the pads.
The end nearest has a rectangular box section which fits on to the brake carrier.
The pad lugs slide along these and are held off the disc by a small spring arm you can see sticking up from the left.
What I discovered from the video was that it is essential that when reassembled that the pads can slide freely and get pushed back from the disc by the small spring. Mine weren't. They were sticky and not moving, this despite me cleaning and regreasing them.
The answer to the problem lies in the small spring with the 2 round holes on the far side of the clip in the photo.
The pads slide on this point of contact and it's just beyond the area I had been greasing on the pad lugs. This small contact point was providing enough resistance, even when greased, to stop the pads moving freely. The answer was to bend the spring in situ, very slightly, no need for a lot of pressure, so that it wasn't restricting the pads from moving, allowing them to move with only the pressure from the spring arm.
Of course I won't be able to prove this for about 6 months until I see how clean, or not, my rear discs stay but I think this just might be the answer.
I think I've found the reason for my rear brakes/discs not working properly and ending up rusting.
I took off the caliper and hangers today to have the discs skimmed on Saturday.
I was watching a YouTube video a couple of days ago in preparation (I wasn't signed in and can't find it again, sorry) I noticed the presenter paid specific attention to the small spring clips either end of the brake pads.
Having the carrier off and being able to analyze how they interacted with the pads made me realise that although I had been greasing the pad lugs, there was another bit which needed greasing which was restricting the movement of the pads.
I've pictured one of the small clips which fit at the ends of the pads.
The end nearest has a rectangular box section which fits on to the brake carrier.
The pad lugs slide along these and are held off the disc by a small spring arm you can see sticking up from the left.
What I discovered from the video was that it is essential that when reassembled that the pads can slide freely and get pushed back from the disc by the small spring. Mine weren't. They were sticky and not moving, this despite me cleaning and regreasing them.
The answer to the problem lies in the small spring with the 2 round holes on the far side of the clip in the photo.
The pads slide on this point of contact and it's just beyond the area I had been greasing on the pad lugs. This small contact point was providing enough resistance, even when greased, to stop the pads moving freely. The answer was to bend the spring in situ, very slightly, no need for a lot of pressure, so that it wasn't restricting the pads from moving, allowing them to move with only the pressure from the spring arm.
Of course I won't be able to prove this for about 6 months until I see how clean, or not, my rear discs stay but I think this just might be the answer.
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Those discs aren't worth saving IMO but I'd be interested to see how they look after skimming and how much they have to take off.
The biggest problem you have with keeping your brakes in good condition is where you live. I bought a car for spares many years ago. It has spent most of its life in Aberdeen and was an absolute rust bucket. Every nut and bolt was rusted on and the brakes looked like yours!
Make it loose and the pads may rattle. The pads will be forced back by naturally by the slight runout of the rotor, and forced onto the disc but the piston which easily has enough force to overcome that slight friction.
Theyre not loose, just not stuck. As the guy explained in the video when they're properly lubricated they should be able to move back from the disc just by the power of the spring arm. With the caliper removed, he said you should be able to squeeze the pads onto the disc, let go and they should retract about 2mm.
I imagine if that's the case it would get dirty and stop retracting very quickly. Typically disc brake pads don't self retract (the piston may slightly which allows the pads to move back with rotor runout) - 99% of all vehicle's brakes work this way. Your rotors certainly don't look the way they do because the pads aren't retracting and are constantly rubbing against them - it is lack of contact that has allowed them to corrode.
Yes I agree about the lack of contact.. but my pads were contacting the disc and not retracting properly hence the limited points of contact to the disc as proved by the witness marks on the disc. I'm presuming that irregular contact got exacerbated and led to the rust forming and not being removed. Well see what happens in 6 months or so, but hopefully that has solved the partial.contact on the discs.
My car is coming up to 4 yrs old - just last week took it for its second MOT - 1 month early - no problems. no advisories, and more importantly not a single fault since new.
This Spring/Summer i intend to do a complete brake service, clean and lubricate because they have never been touched, the disks look OK but obviously until they come off I cant see the full picture. The disks in the pictures - they look a little sorry for themselves but most of that is cosmetic and would clean up, skimming is a good way to refurbish and ensures there is no runout - so perhaps the best way to do it, and of course there are minimum thickness limits you can skim to so they will remain safe and fit for purpose.
However, many many years ago (70s) - when i left school I was an apprentice motor mechanic, obtained my City & Guilds and left the trade in my 20s, but always kept my hand in - and in the garages back in those days we tended to repair things rather than replace and some of those old mechanics knew a thing or two about making things good without throwing a parts bin at the car, In those days extracting the most money out of people wasn't anyone's focus.
For disks specifically, we would clean them up, check for run out with a dial gauge and if OK refit and the method we used was simple and cheap. A flat surface - at home I use a concrete paving slab, a full sheet of coarse emery paper and a bottle of paraffin (white spirit is also ok).
Lay the Emery on the surface, pour paraffin over it and simply keep rubbing the disk over the paper. Its not a super quick job but it cleans them up superbly, for the hat side of the disk we used a very thick piece of straight metal and had the emery wrapped around it - then applied that like you would use a file - working our way around the entire circumference.
On very old disks where there was a lip on the very outer edge created by disk wear a air drill with a rotary coarse disk was used to remove it. of course it wasn't a quick process but became a job for the apprentices whilst the mechanics got on with the rest of the job.
Nowadays people tend to determine the condition of something solely by the visual appearance and elect to fit new parts - and there is a good reason for this to be fair, Fitting a new part is a lot quicker - so less labour time and very little chance of having a "come back job", but for home use the very worst is the disks are not salvageable and you have to source new disks.
This Spring/Summer i intend to do a complete brake service, clean and lubricate because they have never been touched, the disks look OK but obviously until they come off I cant see the full picture. The disks in the pictures - they look a little sorry for themselves but most of that is cosmetic and would clean up, skimming is a good way to refurbish and ensures there is no runout - so perhaps the best way to do it, and of course there are minimum thickness limits you can skim to so they will remain safe and fit for purpose.
However, many many years ago (70s) - when i left school I was an apprentice motor mechanic, obtained my City & Guilds and left the trade in my 20s, but always kept my hand in - and in the garages back in those days we tended to repair things rather than replace and some of those old mechanics knew a thing or two about making things good without throwing a parts bin at the car, In those days extracting the most money out of people wasn't anyone's focus.
For disks specifically, we would clean them up, check for run out with a dial gauge and if OK refit and the method we used was simple and cheap. A flat surface - at home I use a concrete paving slab, a full sheet of coarse emery paper and a bottle of paraffin (white spirit is also ok).
Lay the Emery on the surface, pour paraffin over it and simply keep rubbing the disk over the paper. Its not a super quick job but it cleans them up superbly, for the hat side of the disk we used a very thick piece of straight metal and had the emery wrapped around it - then applied that like you would use a file - working our way around the entire circumference.
On very old disks where there was a lip on the very outer edge created by disk wear a air drill with a rotary coarse disk was used to remove it. of course it wasn't a quick process but became a job for the apprentices whilst the mechanics got on with the rest of the job.
Nowadays people tend to determine the condition of something solely by the visual appearance and elect to fit new parts - and there is a good reason for this to be fair, Fitting a new part is a lot quicker - so less labour time and very little chance of having a "come back job", but for home use the very worst is the disks are not salvageable and you have to source new disks.
It's really not the springs that caused your problem. If the discs weren't being swept fully as you say by seeing witness marks, it's because they weren't bedded properly in the first place. I've seen this countless times.
I'd like to see the state of the pads from face on and side on and I hope you're putting new pads in after the discs are skimmed?
Yep, New pads in tomorrow evening if it doesn't get too cold.. already -4 here at 2330 tonight.
