So I have had my M3 to the dealer twice to try and get rid of a fairly often occurring "sweet" solvent/chemical smell. I don't know exactly what ethylene-glycol smells like, but my guess is this might be it. This is NOT the mildew/mold/dirty sock smell people have had lots of issues with.
I've had my car since April this year (new with 17 miles) and it is a 2018 built in Sept. last year. It sat on a lot for many months before I purchased it. I've smelled this odor occasionally when I first got the car but I honestly thought the smell was coming from outside in the environment, like a local chemical plant. Recently the chemical odor seems to be getting stronger and staying for longer. The smell goes away when I put the car on recirculate. It only happens when pulling in fresh air with the AC.
My first trip to the SC resulted in them doing the standard AC condenser clean out and new cabin air filters... which did nothing for this smell. I just got back from my second trip today. They kept it over a day or two and said they had 6 people, including the service manager and head techs get in the car with full AC on, both inside the shop and outside when it got hot. No one could smell any odors emanating from the vents. They also did a thermal check on the AC (which, from what I understand, just checks the temp of the air coming from the vents) and visually checked for a leak. They said they can't reproduce the smell and the AC should be fine since it's cold air and they don't see any leaks.
While driving back with my family (I live 2.5 hours away from this particular SC), the smell came back after a brief rainstorm on the interstate... it was VERY strong this time. My wife smelled it and my 7 and 5 year old boys smelled it, so at least I know I'm not crazy or severely sensitive to smells. I really don't want to be breathing this in since I'm not sure what it is and it can be nauseating after 10-20 minutes. Turning on recirculate always makes it go away, but I don't think I should have to do that every time I start to smell it.
I'm probably going to try a different SC next that has a much larger volume of business. Has anyone experienced anything remotely like this and were you able to find a remedy? I'm getting desperate to get rid of this odor!
I have also tried to call one of 3 different SCs around me several times to actually talk to a technician with no luck. I can't ever reach a real person from Service. I need to actually talk with a technician who won't just say "oh, it's the standard mold/mildew AC problem... we'll just clean your condenser and replace your filters" because that's NOT the problem. All the SCs near me at at least 2.5-3 hours away.
I've also read in many other places (Tesla official forums, reddit, here) that other people have experienced the same smell that seems to go away when recirculate is on, however, there doesn't seem to be any follow-ups or fixes in these posts.
Thoughts, comments, ideas??
I've had my car since April this year (new with 17 miles) and it is a 2018 built in Sept. last year. It sat on a lot for many months before I purchased it. I've smelled this odor occasionally when I first got the car but I honestly thought the smell was coming from outside in the environment, like a local chemical plant. Recently the chemical odor seems to be getting stronger and staying for longer. The smell goes away when I put the car on recirculate. It only happens when pulling in fresh air with the AC.
My first trip to the SC resulted in them doing the standard AC condenser clean out and new cabin air filters... which did nothing for this smell. I just got back from my second trip today. They kept it over a day or two and said they had 6 people, including the service manager and head techs get in the car with full AC on, both inside the shop and outside when it got hot. No one could smell any odors emanating from the vents. They also did a thermal check on the AC (which, from what I understand, just checks the temp of the air coming from the vents) and visually checked for a leak. They said they can't reproduce the smell and the AC should be fine since it's cold air and they don't see any leaks.
While driving back with my family (I live 2.5 hours away from this particular SC), the smell came back after a brief rainstorm on the interstate... it was VERY strong this time. My wife smelled it and my 7 and 5 year old boys smelled it, so at least I know I'm not crazy or severely sensitive to smells. I really don't want to be breathing this in since I'm not sure what it is and it can be nauseating after 10-20 minutes. Turning on recirculate always makes it go away, but I don't think I should have to do that every time I start to smell it.
I'm probably going to try a different SC next that has a much larger volume of business. Has anyone experienced anything remotely like this and were you able to find a remedy? I'm getting desperate to get rid of this odor!
I have also tried to call one of 3 different SCs around me several times to actually talk to a technician with no luck. I can't ever reach a real person from Service. I need to actually talk with a technician who won't just say "oh, it's the standard mold/mildew AC problem... we'll just clean your condenser and replace your filters" because that's NOT the problem. All the SCs near me at at least 2.5-3 hours away.
I've also read in many other places (Tesla official forums, reddit, here) that other people have experienced the same smell that seems to go away when recirculate is on, however, there doesn't seem to be any follow-ups or fixes in these posts.
Thoughts, comments, ideas??