Maybe this helps. I'll report back once I've reinstalled the hepa filter as I'm out of town for a bit.
Took it out, vacuumed each crevice really well with a crevice tool, sprayed with Nextzett 96110515 Klima-Cleaner Air Conditioner Cleaner from Amazon deep into each crevice on the dark side and worked it in. Let that sit for an hour. I used at least half of the can and forced it into the material with some compressed air.
Then baked the filter for a couple of hours at 250 deg in the oven (make sure to but it on a clean rack or the white side of the filter will soak up any grease, which happened to me). Because of the grease I washed the white side with a carpet cleaner applied to the stsins then rinsed with hot water. Back in the oven and now it's sitting in the house waiting for my return.
In the meantime I took a 14x20 inch pleated air return filter (white with wire mesh) I had laying around and slid it into the filter housing mounted back into the car. I perfectly fits in there. Two little gaps were still on each side at the top but I stuck a a bit of foam/sponge in there. The way that filter bends in the housing perfectly presses it against the opening. This works absolutely perfect btw! Not sure if I'll even but the old filter back...anyway. The old Hepa filter smells perfectly fine and all the 'abuse' didn't hurt it at all it seems, but I'll see once it's installed again. I'll report back then.
It definitely is the dark side btw that smells, as someone above already mentioned. If my old filter still smells I'll just cut the dark filter out of the frame and hot glue a cut-to-size, top of the line house air filter in its place. They cost about 50 bucks, with charcoal layer. I could just buy a new hepa filter but I refuse to give Tesla 500+ dollars for a filter that won't survive one summer in the NC humidity. $150..no problem. I'll buy one every year but that $500 is rediculous.
On another note. There is no way that Tesla does not know where that sour smell comes from. It's typical Tesla BS for them to give you the runaround of replacing the cabin filter only or doing some ionizing at best.
Just state that you'll need a new hepa filter every year in the manual, and upfront when you sell a car into a humid climate. It's not that hard to manage expectations.
Ok..enough of that. I'll report back.
Took it out, vacuumed each crevice really well with a crevice tool, sprayed with Nextzett 96110515 Klima-Cleaner Air Conditioner Cleaner from Amazon deep into each crevice on the dark side and worked it in. Let that sit for an hour. I used at least half of the can and forced it into the material with some compressed air.
Then baked the filter for a couple of hours at 250 deg in the oven (make sure to but it on a clean rack or the white side of the filter will soak up any grease, which happened to me). Because of the grease I washed the white side with a carpet cleaner applied to the stsins then rinsed with hot water. Back in the oven and now it's sitting in the house waiting for my return.
In the meantime I took a 14x20 inch pleated air return filter (white with wire mesh) I had laying around and slid it into the filter housing mounted back into the car. I perfectly fits in there. Two little gaps were still on each side at the top but I stuck a a bit of foam/sponge in there. The way that filter bends in the housing perfectly presses it against the opening. This works absolutely perfect btw! Not sure if I'll even but the old filter back...anyway. The old Hepa filter smells perfectly fine and all the 'abuse' didn't hurt it at all it seems, but I'll see once it's installed again. I'll report back then.
It definitely is the dark side btw that smells, as someone above already mentioned. If my old filter still smells I'll just cut the dark filter out of the frame and hot glue a cut-to-size, top of the line house air filter in its place. They cost about 50 bucks, with charcoal layer. I could just buy a new hepa filter but I refuse to give Tesla 500+ dollars for a filter that won't survive one summer in the NC humidity. $150..no problem. I'll buy one every year but that $500 is rediculous.
On another note. There is no way that Tesla does not know where that sour smell comes from. It's typical Tesla BS for them to give you the runaround of replacing the cabin filter only or doing some ionizing at best.
Just state that you'll need a new hepa filter every year in the manual, and upfront when you sell a car into a humid climate. It's not that hard to manage expectations.
Ok..enough of that. I'll report back.
