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Thoughts on cabin carbon filters?
- Thread starter Carbonfiber
- Start date
When you replace the cabin air filters it is also a good practice to clean the AC evaporator coil since it is located inside the filter housing and you have already disassembled the trim to access the cabin air filters.
I used this one: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002Z2MKO/
I used this one: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002Z2MKO/
Isn't the filter upstream of the evaporator? If so why would the evaporator get dirty?
It kills the nasties in the evaporator chamber. It’s not necessarily dirt/dust but stuff that grows in the humid area.
I’m trying the puralator one with fabreze in our 3. And foaming it again.
Activated Carbon is supposed to remove odors. The bad stuff is supposed to attach to pores on the surface of the carbon. I personally don’t notice a difference in other applications, or if so, it doesn’t last long (air filter in cat litter box room). I don’t believe I’ve tried in a car.
I would stay away from any aftermarket cabin air filters that claim to be high efficiency particulate air [filter] (HEPA) type filters. There were reports of the Tesla Model 3, Moidel Y HVAC blower motor being damaged when HEPA type filters were used as replacement cabin air filters for the OE cabin air filters. (This caution does not apply to the Tesla Bioweapon Defense system that now comes standard on the Tesla Model Y. The Bioweapon Defense HEPA filter is large filter located at the air intake.)
I ordered expensive ones, cheap ones, and ones in between. Its NOT the filter that smells but no vendor will tell you this including Tesla. Save yourself money and buy the cheapest carbon embedded ones. The smell is coming from a place where you can't clean easily probably post coil area. I have ran filter-less and the smell is still there as a short term experiment. I have snaked a camera to check the coil and pre filter area to make sure there isn't leaves, grass, seeds, pollen, etc.
I have cleaned with 1:10 bleach solution, coil cleaners recommended here, and Lysol into the running system but NOTHING works as the smells comes back within a week and sometimes if I'm lucky couple of months.
AGAIN its not the cabin filters. WORSE engineered system by Tesla in terms of customer vehicle experience ever. This IMO is a design fault and should be fixed/recalled. I'm probably inhaling black mole spores at this point. One 100% solution to this nightmare we are seriously considering is buying a new Tesla now that FSD can be swapped to a new one.
60F (15.5C) to 80F (26.6C) and 60% relative humidity or higher, not in direct sunlight, and you've got the perfect conditions for mold and mildew spores to start to grow. The mold and mildew feed on organic matter including dust, dirt, leaf debris and pollen. Mold and mildew growth is what causes the foul odors in the HVAC system of modern automobiles (not only Tesla vehicles.)
The foaming AC evaporator cleaner products are formulated to kill any mold and mildew, clean the coil and housing and then drain out the bottom of the evaporator coil / cabin air filter chamber. Most vehicles have a tube so the AC condensate water can drain. Sometimes the tube can become clogged necessitating cleaning out the tube. The Tesla Model 3, Model do not have a drain tube for the AC condensate. The condensate drains directly out through a hole or holes in the bottom of the evaporator coil housing onto the ground. After using the AC evaporator coil cleaner products about 1 cup of the used product will drain from the filter housing.
I am no good about cars so don't take this as an advise, just my 2-cents worth
(1) 'They' say :replace cabin filter very 2 yrs? IMO it should be (a) smell related (b) mileages related... not yrs related,
(2) I changed my 1996 MB E-320 cabin filter once since 1996
(3) I change my 1996 MB E-320 Mobil-1 every 10-12K miles from day one, it's still going strong
I am pretty sure there are video clips showing how to replace 2023 MYLR on Utube somewhere. If U car pros have some great one Please share
Enjoy your car. I enjoy my MYLR every time I drive (BTW I still enjoy driving my '96 MB)
(1) 'They' say :replace cabin filter very 2 yrs? IMO it should be (a) smell related (b) mileages related... not yrs related,
(2) I changed my 1996 MB E-320 cabin filter once since 1996
(3) I change my 1996 MB E-320 Mobil-1 every 10-12K miles from day one, it's still going strong
I am pretty sure there are video clips showing how to replace 2023 MYLR on Utube somewhere. If U car pros have some great one Please share
Enjoy your car. I enjoy my MYLR every time I drive (BTW I still enjoy driving my '96 MB)
iamnid
Active Member
I've gone through quite a few cabin filters between our Model 3 and Model Y. I usually just buy the regular ones. I DID once buy some more expensive ones that had little carbon balls visible on one side -- those didn't make any difference.
I second the suggestion of the foam spray -- I've done that a couple of times now too.
I second the suggestion of the foam spray -- I've done that a couple of times now too.
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