Walked by the front of my Tesla and........

[Gixx1300R]

Walked by the front of my Tesla this morning. The vents for the radiators were open and I saw a lot of debris inside. I tried to use a shop vac but it wasn't working so I decided to remove the front bumper. This is what I found. I couldn't believe the amount of dirt and debris that was caked in there. Clearly there needs to be a slotted area below the radiator to allow dirt that fall.

 

[berkeley_ecar]

Wow, very impressive. Shouldn't cleaning out this crud be part of the routine annual maintenance visit?

 

[Gixx1300R]

Wow, very impressive. Shouldn't leaning this crud out be part of the routine annual maintenance visit?

I am not sure, My Model S is a 2013. I purchased it from a Private seller so I don't know what was done before I purchased it

 

[roblab]

Looks like he took it off-roading and parked it outside alla time. Oh, and maybe drove it into the ocean a couple times. Mine has never looked like this in 3 years of ownership.

 

[Evoforce]

Oh, I recognize that car now! That's the one that my landscaper used to use as his modified leaf vac. Please, I don't want the leaves back...

 

[Nikki's Dad]

Gross.

 

[Russell]

I think the previous owner liked to drive through piles of leaves.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

What lovely debris catchers. It almost looks like they were designed to do this, that area has a bowl shape. I wonder what mine looks like...

 

[Lasttoy]

This is not funny. I will take my nose off just as soon as i get back from next trip. I bet mine id full, 5 yrs, 110k miles.
Thanks for heads up.

 

[artsci]

When I swapped out the old nose cone fascia for the facelift I found a similar collection of debris. It’s an issue for the facelift versions as well, so I’ve made this a personal annual maintenance task. I agree it should be part of Tesla’s maintenance routine when cars are brought in for service.

 

[drklain]

Any videos/instructions on how to remove a facelift nose to do this cleaning?

 

[Modeler]

I don’t see a problem. Yes, there is some debris accumulated that maybe covers 5% of the radiator. It can’t possibly be presenting a functional problem.

 

[ElectricTundra]

A lot of the radiator fins look bent which can reduce cooling capacity. Wouldn't be a bad idea to comb them. A bit surprised they are that bent on this aged car, does it have really high mileage?

 

[mrElbe]

Same experience here when I took the cover off last summer to correct a pushed in sensor. Will remove it again for a good spring cleaning.
No, they do not clean this during the expensive service.

 

[Gixx1300R]

When I swapped out the old nose cone fascia for the facelift I found a similar collection of debris. It’s an issue for the facelift versions as well, so I’ve made this a personal annual maintenance task. I agree it should be part of Tesla’s maintenance routine when cars are brought in for service.

I would be interested in seeing what other Tesla owners find if they remove the front fascia. My Model S has 90,000 miles as a reference. The original owner was a corporation located in Philadelphia

 

[Don85D]

I haven't investigated this yet but perhaps a shop vac with a custom extension will remove the leaves. I too am not that worried about leaves as they breakdown to dust eventually and the rad area is vertical so it would take a lot of debris to make any heat transfer difference.

Still, adding this to an annual maintenance makes sense. I know that debris accumulating under the liner of my old pick up truck caused premature rusting in the box but that may not be a concern here. I now pull the liner off the truck once a year.

 

[cantanko]

I'm always surprised when people are surprised by this kind of thing. There are no filters or screens over any of the vehicle openings with the exception of the cabin air inlet. You're driving this thing on roads with loose gravel, leaves, plastic; in fact all sorts of detritus, and some of it is bound to get caught up in the vents, guides, scoops etc.

Not at all a Tesla-specific problem, but I do agree that if the vehicle is particularly prone to it, then it should be part of the vehicle's service regimen. A conscientious mechanic checks for this sort of thing as part of their job, but if the car's only being serviced 'by the book', it's probable this kind of thing will go un-noticed.

Also, leaves breaking up into dust implies dry environment. Over here in the UK due to the copious amounts of water that either falls from the sky or hovers around in the air, I've found they generally just become compost and do their best to corrode their way through anything due to the acidic nature of the leaves. Ho hum...

 

[Tesseract]

Exact same issue with my 2013 MS. I saw a great spot on here about removing the bumper with some pictures as a guide. I was able to lay a moving blanket down and fairly easily remove the bumper. I should have taken pictures. The amount of debris inside was surprising. A lot of tiny gravel and leaves. Enough that a shop vac was needed to get it all out.

 

[Gixx1300R]

Exact same issue with my 2013 MS. I saw a great spot on here about removing the bumper with some pictures as a guide. I was able to lay a moving blanket down and fairly easily remove the bumper. I should have taken pictures. The amount of debris inside was surprising. A lot of tiny gravel and leaves. Enough that a shop vac was needed to get it all out.

Glad to hear that Tesla owners are checking this issue.

 

[camthehombre]

Not to revive an old thread, but I just noticed this on my car the other day. Tons of the radiator fins are bend. Did anyone notice any difference when it comes to superhcharging or anything? With some recent posts about the charge taper changing, I wonder if lack of battery cooling from the radiators has anything to do with it.