Radiator duct cleanout. (battery coolant system)

[CoolColo]

I’m having the same problem as you. I get 250 kW and the fan kicks on like a jet engine and it drops to 60kw. On a trip back from Vegas the car actually capped my speed at 50mph and even wouldn’t charge until I let it cool for 20 min…

Finally I looked at my grill and from the bottom of the car and the radiator is complexly caked with dirt Little Rock’s and bugs. Gonna make a complete guide to cleaning it soon. And also show the results.

You might want to have your car checked further - my symptoms continued after cleaning the radiator, so I took it in for service. The entire "super bottle" and heat exchanger failed diagnostic testing and were replaced.

 

[kgvickers]

I remotely enabled the AC which allowed me to look into the intake vent after it opened and fortunately I barely have any debris on the coils. I assume my silly grill is doing its job.

I've added a few pictures of my less than stellar installation.

 

[M109Rider]

I remotely enabled the AC which allowed me to look into the intake vent after it opened and fortunately I barely have any debris on the coils. I assume my silly grill is doing its job.

I've added a few pictures of my less than stellar installation.
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Unfortunately, you can’t tell if the radiator is plugged with debris, by looking in the front vent. What you see is the top radiator, and the debris get behind it. So it could be plugged still. Only way to know is taking things apart. Not a very small job. You really can’t clean it, properly at all, until you take the frunk tub, front bumper, and radiator shroud off.
If you really want to clean it well, you also need to take the front bumper mounts off the frame. Seems like that’s the only way to take the radiator shroud completely apart for a proper clean.
You can be careful and get an 80% job done without taking the bumper mounts off. But the bumper needs to go, or you can’t lift the shroud high enough to do a good clean.

 

[kpanda17]

Some days ago I came across a video about someone who was inspecting his radiator

So that made me wonder, how dirty is my radiator. I bought this Tesla 2nd hand and when I replaced the cabin air filters there was like a ton of leafs and dead bugs in it.
The car has 65.000 km on it and it is a 2019 model 3.

Since it is winter right now and I dont supercharge alot I dont really worry much about the coolant part of the car.. but it will get summer eventually and I will supercharge one day.

So i let the car run and the front grill opend up and I took a look inside, just a few leaves and a rock where lying on the bumper infront of the radiator.. but I did not see a lot of debris. Of to a good start.

So I removed to interal frunk and managed to slightly open te radiator housing / duct and between te 2 radiators and behold, there was like a ton of cooked up debris in there.. like litterly stuck. I guess it would have made the coolant part of the battery pack a bit worse. It was a lot worse then on the video displayed there.

I managed to get a long flexible soft stick and poke it around a bit between the two radiator (be carefull not to bend the radiator fins), after poking it around I flushed from the top down with water. Still alot of debris would not budge at all....

Anyone know how to remove the plastic housing so I might be able remove or move the top radiator and give it a good clean with a soft brush?

I might be overthinking things but isent this a big design flaw that there is no way for the debris to get out from the ducting?
It is basicly a closed ducting and everything getting in there is bound to stay there forever... stuck between the two radiators to rest there for all eternity.

I read early in my Tesla owning journey about grill mesh inserts to prevent debris from entering t into the radiator and areas under/inside rhe MY and M3

Best $50 spent

 

[pnwadventures]

I read early in my Tesla owning journey about grill mesh inserts to prevent debris from entering t into the radiator and areas under/inside rhe MY and M3
View attachment 956248

Best $50 spent

Where did you buy this?

 

[kpanda17]

Many options
Front Grill Mesh Grille Grid Inserts for Tesla Model 3 2017-2023 Air Inlet Vent Grille Cover for Stopping Leaves Rocks and Insects https://a.co/d/aXMKF0s

 

[MattH]

Many options
Front Grill Mesh Grille Grid Inserts for Tesla Model 3 2017-2023 Air Inlet Vent Grille Cover for Stopping Leaves Rocks and Insects https://a.co/d/aXMKF0s

I read early in my Tesla owning journey about grill mesh inserts to prevent debris from entering t into the radiator and areas under/inside rhe MY and M3
View attachment 956248

Best $50 spent

How long have you used this now? Any negative impact that you can discern from having it? I feel like this is a problem very few people know about until it’s too late… I think I’ll order a grill, only have 6k miles

 

[israndy]

You might want to have your car checked further - my symptoms continued after cleaning the radiator, so I took it in for service. The entire "super bottle" and heat exchanger failed diagnostic testing and were replaced.

I wonder if this is something that we can look at by putting the car in diagnostics mode while we charge

 

[kpanda17]

How long have you used this now? Any negative impact that you can discern from having it? I feel like this is a problem very few people know about until it’s too late… I think I’ll order a grill, only have 6k miles

Nothing negative
In fact with every wash, I’m picking out a few pieces of debris from the protectors
That debris would have been imbedded under and inside critical areas of rhe vehicle
The debris is especially prevalent in the fall with leaves on the road