Tesla: Please fix the stinky AC - here's how with an OTA update

[Schulz1983]

People who say it's never happened to them is not necessarily the same people who have had it happen (sometimes to previous cars they have owned) but claim it's not a design flaw. I think it's hard to claim it's a design flaw if this happens regularly with other cars also (someone pointed to BMW forums). The fact of the matter is the smell is from mold/mildew from the moisture on the evaporator. Depending on the climate you live in, pretty much any AC system may be susceptible to this.

I’m sorry but I simply disagree with this statement. I have been driving for over 15 years and have owned 10 vehicles. This is the first vehicle that I have owned that 4 months after purchase j have this problem. If it were 2 years down the road I would understand needing to clean the coils. I don’t drive in dusty conditions and the car is always garaged in a climate controlled garage.

 

[Schulz1983]

I tried something at work today. I read that mold dies around 130-140 degrees. I usually use climate keeper with either ac or no ac depending on charge. Today I turned it off and just let the car bake. It reached interior temps of 130 degrees. When I got in this afternoon I didn’t get any mildew smell upon starting the HVAC. I’m going to check in the morning as I left the ac on auto when I parked in the garage this evening. Garage is kept at 72 degrees via ac so no high humidity. Will see what that does. I still have original filters and have not had the system cleaned yet. The answer may be to just leave climate keeper off.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I’m sorry but I simply disagree with this statement. I have been driving for over 15 years and have owned 10 vehicles. This is the first vehicle that I have owned that 4 months after purchase j have this problem. If it were 2 years down the road I would understand needing to clean the coils. I don’t drive in dusty conditions and the car is always garaged in a climate controlled garage.

Yeah some people are like you and their Tesla is their first car with the problem, but I've seen in other threads, their Tesla is the only car without the problem.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I tried something at work today. I read that mold dies around 130-140 degrees. I usually use climate keeper with either ac or no ac depending on charge. Today I turned it off and just let the car bake. It reached interior temps of 130 degrees. When I got in this afternoon I didn’t get any mildew smell upon starting the HVAC. I’m going to check in the morning as I left the ac on auto when I parked in the garage this evening. Garage is kept at 72 degrees via ac so no high humidity. Will see what that does. I still have original filters and have not had the system cleaned yet. The answer may be to just leave climate keeper off.

That's fairly important context. If the Tesla is the first car you have that has a feature that is keeping the temperature away from mold killing temps (and even perhaps in ideal mold growing temps, which a bit warmer than room temp), that may play a huge factor in why it's present in the Tesla and not your other cars.

 

[Schulz1983]

Yeah some people are like you and their Tesla is their first car with the problem, but I've seen in other threads, their Tesla is the only car without the problem.

If I can find a fix I’m a happy camper. I will test the no climate keeper thing. If that fixes the issue, no biggie, I will leave it off. Not like I had it on my Grand Cherokee before.

 

[Candleflame]

I’m sorry but I simply disagree with this statement. I have been driving for over 15 years and have owned 10 vehicles. This is the first vehicle that I have owned that 4 months after purchase j have this problem. If it were 2 years down the road I would understand needing to clean the coils. I don’t drive in dusty conditions and the car is always garaged in a climate controlled garage.

the issue here is that it does not seem to be an issue with all cars and noone really knows why.
Even before the drying mode after driving not all cars were affected.

 

[WhiteWi]

I ran AC on auto and don’t use cabin protection. If that helps.

 

[Schulz1983]

After a week of trying no cabin protection I’m happy to report my mildew smell is gone. I haven’t changed the filters or anything outside of no heat protection and just leaving the ac on auto all the time. I think getting the interior up to 130 degrees during the day drys out the HVAC box and kills/killed any mildew. I hope this helps other people.

 

[Sackmonkey]

After a week of trying no cabin protection I’m happy to report my mildew smell is gone. I haven’t changed the filters or anything outside of no heat protection and just leaving the ac on auto all the time. I think getting the interior up to 130 degrees during the day drys out the HVAC box and kills/killed any mildew. I hope this helps other people.

As an automotive engineer who also worked many years on HVAC systems, I can tell you that all cars are susceptible to this smell. It's a combination of many factors, which several people have mentioned. In addition to your local climate/weather, vehicle usage patterns, even the angle of the ground you tend to park on, it's also dependent on the quality of the evap drain design, and the quality of the evaporator itself. Higher end units are better at shedding water, and can even be made with coating on the metal that reject the water and lets it drain with lower blower levels. Once you have mold, it's much harder to get rid of than preventing it in the first place, so I'm glad to hear that my '21 M3P is probably fine.

I worked on the original GM afterblow algorithm, and I'm sure Tesla adopted the timer delay to turn on the blower after the customer has left the car so as to prevent customer confusion/complaints. (that why we did it that way)

 

[Schulz1983]

As an automotive engineer who also worked many years on HVAC systems, I can tell you that all cars are susceptible to this smell. It's a combination of many factors, which several people have mentioned. In addition to your local climate/weather, vehicle usage patterns, even the angle of the ground you tend to park on, it's also dependent on the quality of the evap drain design, and the quality of the evaporator itself. Higher end units are better at shedding water, and can even be made with coating on the metal that reject the water and lets it drain with lower blower levels. Once you have mold, it's much harder to get rid of than preventing it in the first place, so I'm glad to hear that my '21 M3P is probably fine.

I worked on the original GM afterblow algorithm, and I'm sure Tesla adopted the timer delay to turn on the blower after the customer has left the car so as to prevent customer confusion/complaints. (that why we did it that way)

I can tell when the after blow is working when I have it parked in the garage. I knew it worked but was still getting the smell. Only thing I could think of was the ac cycling on and off for the cabin protection. I personally think the cycling of the ac during a hot day makes the funky smell start. The humid air (I’m in MO) paired with it continually coming on to lower the car a few degrees was creating the smell. I don’t know if I actually had mold/mildew. I just knew when I first turned on the hvac it smelled horrible. Since turning off the cabin protection the smell has went away. I’m currently at almost 10k miles and 5 months of ownership. I had an appointment set with Tesla to check it out (and charge me to change the filters and use the cleaning stuff $129) but I cancelled it. Maybe the cabin overheat protection is a way for Tesla to make more money?

 

[qdeathstar]

Welp. I had a Ford, an Oldsmobile, a Subaru, a Land Rover, and now a Tesla. Guess which one has a smell. Fiancee has had two subarus. I've been in brands from Ferrari to Dodge models from the 70s to today. Only this car has this problem.

Hilariously, it seems everyone here is totally willing to let Tesla suck at something they can design around. They can do everything in the world, but somehow drying coils is beyond them so why bother.

As for me doing something different? I run the HVAC system in auto mode literally all year at the same temperature. There's nothing for me to be doing. Sounds more like a "known problem" since Tesla has an official procedure and they were offering free cleaning, but they aren't interested in developing a solution. Probably too busy taking existing features away from new buyers to care.

you always got something to complain about. I bet your a great friend.....

 

[Jejunjm]

I tried something at work today. I read that mold dies around 130-140 degrees. I usually use climate keeper with either ac or no ac depending on charge. Today I turned it off and just let the car bake. It reached interior temps of 130 degrees. When I got in this afternoon I didn’t get any mildew smell upon starting the HVAC. I’m going to check in the morning as I left the ac on auto when I parked in the garage this evening. Garage is kept at 72 degrees via ac so no high humidity. Will see what that does. I still have original filters and have not had the system cleaned yet. The answer may be to just leave climate keeper off.

Most yeasts and molds are heat-sensitive and destroyed by heat treatments at temperatures of 140-160°F (60-71°C).

 

[JBT66]

I’ve had this in a 3 and Y. Both AZ cars dry as heck but still stinky. I did the AC cleaner and filter replacement it helps for awhile. Just did the clean and replace in the Y hope it works..

 

[Jejunjm]

I’ve had this in a 3 and Y. Both AZ cars dry as heck but still stinky. I did the AC cleaner and filter replacement it helps for awhile. Just did the clean and replace in the Y hope it works..

If it happens in dry az it's a defect (happened in mine in Arizona at 1k miles)

 

[Schulz1983]

If it happens in dry az it's a defect (happened in mine in Arizona at 1k miles)

I’ve had this in a 3 and Y. Both AZ cars dry as heck but still stinky. I did the AC cleaner and filter replacement it helps for awhile. Just did the clean and replace in the Y hope it works..

Do you use cabin overheat protection?

 

[Jejunjm]

Do you use cabin overheat protection?

I did, it's off now

 

[Mattopotamus]

After a week of trying no cabin protection I’m happy to report my mildew smell is gone. I haven’t changed the filters or anything outside of no heat protection and just leaving the ac on auto all the time. I think getting the interior up to 130 degrees during the day drys out the HVAC box and kills/killed any mildew. I hope this helps other people.

I will have to give this a try. I had my filter replaced ~2 months ago because of the funky smell, and I noticed it again this week.

 

[ODWms]

I was having the smell for about a week. I ordered the cleaning kit, plus the interior and frunk filters. As soon as they showed up, the smell went away. I think it was due to my changing the settings on the HVAC, as some here had recommended. Been about 2 months with no return of the smell. I still have the cleaning stuff and filters just in case.

 

[Schulz1983]

I will have to give this a try. I had my filter replaced ~2 months ago because of the funky smell, and I noticed it again this week.

Mine is only 4 months old and had the smell. It started maybe 2 months ago but I ignored it for a while. It always reminded me every time I turned the ac on lol

 

[Schulz1983]

I was having the smell for about a week. I ordered the cleaning kit, plus the interior and frunk filters. As soon as they showed up, the smell went away. I think it was due to my changing the settings on the HVAC, as some here had recommended. Been about 2 months with no return of the smell. I still have the cleaning stuff and filters just in case.

Are you doing auto, or turned off the cabin protection as well?