Sanity check model 3 vents

[khyros]

Hi

So I have a very puzzling situation with my model 3 A/C vents. I simply think they don't work on the driver's side. Look at this attached photo. The red dot designates where I can feel air coming from. No matter what leftwards setting I have, air is always coming left-bottom. Thing like when you split the flow and have it pointed up, the funny thing is that I get a flow of air coming bottom-left and another top-right. Complete nonsense.

I have tested the passenger side and it works as expected, up means up, down means down, left-right, it all works.

Please tell me I'm not crazy!!

 

[GRiLLA]

How can we determine if your are crazy or not from this ?

Sounds like there may be a something inhibiting the flow of air from the vertical flow on the left side, you should jsut about be able to tell if there is air coming out. The movement is achieved by intersecting two airflows, one horizontal and one vertical, the result being lower and higher results, if you look at the vent you'll see the separate outlets for air.

I'm not sure how to measure leftness.

 

[davidmc]

Try/do the toilet paper test.

Tape some long (7inch.....) strips of paper to the vent positions and then move the position on the screen around and see where they point.

Hopefully may be of some help

 

[khyros]

I mean I set the auto A/C off and set the flow to max, so I was able to pretty accurately determine the flow of air but I can definitely try the "toilet paper" test

 

[Jason71]

I mean I set the auto A/C off and set the flow to max, so I was able to pretty accurately determine the flow of air but I can definitely try the "toilet paper" test

there have been several accounts of people saying they could not get the flow high enough though mainly on the model Y.
never seen this before though. Could be something blocked or jammed. if its definitely not just the steering wheel blocking it then it seems like a service request. Nice diagrams BTW

 

[Jason71]

If you look at this description of how it works the default for the air is down it is the "bleed vent" that forces it up.
So this suggests that there is insufficient air coming out of the bleed vent on the left. maybe the bleed vent is jammed right so is not influencing the air direction on the left allowing it all to spill down

 

[khyros]

so I put this up last March and hte situation seems worse now - so much so that I'm taking it to a SC.
I just spent a few days with a rented Model Y in germany and I was blown away by how well the vents worked in that car - so obviously something is off with mine. Not crazy

 

[azulejo]

I have what is perhaps a similar problem with my 2018 M3. The passenger vents move in appropriate directions. The driver vents move, but they are out of sync with the representation on the screen. The vertical adjustment seems to be OK, but the left-right is not. To get air to come straight out, you need to move both streams all the way to the left. If they are adjusted to straight, the flow goes toward the back of the screen. It makes it very difficult to adjust because I also have to turn fan to high in order to easily feel where the air is blowing. I have looked to see if there is a way to recalibrate, but can only come up with factory resetting the car.

 

[Cnixon]

Hi, I am starting to think this may have something to do with the gap where the horizontal air comes out. On passenger side I can get my finger in but on drivers side I cannot. The smaller height increases the air speed and makes it harder to control (vertical bleed) and makes the air follow the shape of dash...down to my knees.

My car is in SC next week for this problem.

 

[Adopado]

so I put this up last March and hte situation seems worse now - so much so that I'm taking it to a SC.
I just spent a few days with a rented Model Y in germany and I was blown away by how well the vents worked in that car - so obviously something is off with mine. Not crazy

Don't forget to take some toilet paper with you ...

 

[my3nme]

I have a 2019 M3 P- and I don't know if anyone else is getting the same behaviour? The AC seems to get directed away from the drivers face when going around corners!

I'm not sure when this started happening but I'm going to be doing some more testing before booking the car in to the SC before my warranty runs out.

 

[khyros]

so according to Tesla there's nothing wrong with my vents. He blamed it on the steering wheel being on the way - which is funny seeing as I checked a Model Y (LHD, in Germany) and the flow was perfect. Can't believe this is a RHD design defect? I think I'll ask a mate of mine with a M3 to check it out in his car.

 

[Overworked]

There was a post somewhere here a few months ago pointing out that a panel behind the air vents was incorrectly placed in some MIC models that restricted the upward flow

 

[pdk42]

Why don’t you pull the dash trim panel off and take a look? It’s a very simple job - 30s max; and very easy to refit.

 

[ChrisSFoot]

This is the exact problem I was having with my car which the service centre have now fixed. Details here: Late 2021 onwards MIC Model 3s Have poor/faulty air conditioning from factory