That’s why I’ve have a screen cover on my front grille one month after I bought my MYP 2022. I’am sure it isn’t that dirty but glad you showed all of us what a labor intense wrk this is
I dislike videos that aren't transparent. I always try my best to explain details and share my knowledge. I'm not an expert at anything because I'm always learning.
I sitting in a Tesla waiting room, getting this exact thing done for the second time as I watch this. I am out of warranty, so I was wondering how to do this on my own. THANK YOU FOR THIS!
@@SepOn35 they changed me $400 for the disassembly and cleaning of all that. The estimate was a lot more but obviously I didn’t need anything replaced.
Did the cleaning today. What a mess below. Leafes, sigarettes en dirt. Could not get the condensor out of the way because could not slider it because the left hose was blocked by the frame. Thanks for the video. Clear and step by step
This is an EXCELLENT video, George! You've covered every single step really well. My AC is working fine after 30k miles, but once I hit 50-80k I'll save this video for cleaning things out on mine. Cheers!
Thank you for this excellent video! With this help, I did mine today, was really clogged up. Experiences: in the wheel arch, there are 2 more clips at the bottom. If you undo these,you don't neccessarily have to separate the plastic bottom cover.from the bumper,just undo the 4bolts on the aft edge. This way you -have more access to the radiators -don't have the remove the nuts at the bottom of the bumper. These are on a sort of stud, which loosely held in place in the plastic bottom cover,and can easily spin in its place... :( If you undo the total of 4ea 13mm bolts on the front(once the bumper is off), and undo the 8mm bolts (facin aft) that secures the radiator via rubber bushes, than the radiator is practically held only by the hoses,giving you a lot of movement,so the shroud comes out very easy. But must pay attention not to put excess stress on the hoses!!! Again,thanks for the video!!
I heard those mesh grills will bring problems for the Tesla to suck enough air in. I had those on before and somehow the air sound is much louder with these mesh installed. So I removed them last winter.
Thank you for this! Most of the other videos don't go far enough to get things really clean. I picked up my Model 3 with ~170k miles and the radiator couldn't have been more packed with dirt and crud. There was zero airflow at all (I have pictures!) and as a result was the AC didn't work at all, and the fan was always howling trying to cool the car. The last straw was when I showed up to a meeting soaked with sweat. I took an evening off and got this done. Your video clearly explained every step I needed to take (though it made some steps look easier than they ended up being for me.) Now that it's clean, it's working so well. You saved me! (PS. I got a great deal on the car, in part I think, because the AC didn't work!)
@michaelrcolton thanks for your feedback. Because I have worked on cars for over 24 years I tend to forget that I need to explain certain things more clearly because I tend to forget that not everyone understands how certain things come appart.
@@jorgegarcia7005 I think you did a great job explaining. There were some things that were just harder for me probably due to my inexperience. The important thing for me is that you didn't skip anything. I just followed along on my phone, step by step, pausing whenever I needed to catch up.
DO NOT pressure wash them. you will bend the fins and then you will have a very obstructed radiator and condenser. You need to wash it using a soap solution and a hose, regular pressure from the water, not a stream with high pressure. This is true for ALL, not just Tesla. All radiators, condensers, intercoolers, etc.must be washed as I described. Otherwise the thin fins will bend blocking the air.
I would like for you to clean a tesla radiator the way you described and record and post the results. I didn't just decide to do what I did. I have another tesla, which I also cleaned. I started with the simplest way (air) and worked my way up to pressure washing. Then, I decided to make a video with my other tesla and explain how to do it. If you watch the video, you will hear me explain about it pressure washer and the radiator finns.
The pressure washer he used is as weak as piss, it’s a really cheap and gutless unit. I would be more concerned about some of his other dubious work practices.
Great video, very helpful. Did this over the weekend and your video helped big time. Not to mention, mine was WAY dirtier. I'm also at 230k miles, and I've never done this.
Appreciate the detailed video George! Definitely seems better to just remove the bumper for better access to get it clean. Lot of other videos skip that step and can only get it half clean with barely any room to work. Thank you sir!
I just finished doing this to my m3 today before I came across your video . Such a bad design, my radiator was so clogged up that my ac wasn’t working good in these hot Az temps but after cleaning my radiator my fan is quieter and my ac works perfect!
When it's been a year from cleaning, I will be doing an update video on how much it gets dirty. I have 2 model 3. One drives 1000 miles a week, the other about 200 miles. This hopefully shows how dirty it gets and gives a better perspective on when to clean.
GUYS please start using the service menu on the screen i notcied my ac wasnt cooling much and on the energy app it was draining so bad. Im at 80k miles i went on the service menu and it literally said the "air intles " were dirty its crazy how well the car tells the issue but its absolutely horrible how much miles it drains. My car had probably 10x this ampunt of debris i cleaned it up with a long vaccum hose and didnt have too much of an issue after. Use the service menu guys !
@@rickyyo215I think he’s referring to “service mode”. Go to the software tab, press and hold for two seconds on the word “model” where it says “model 3, y, etc, it will ask for a code, type in “service”. That will put it in the service mode the service center uses when they work on your car. You get a lot more in depth systems look, diagnostic, and a lot of other stuff. Oh the cars software measures the airflow coming in and the amount of cooling taking place for whatever the fan and vehicle speed is and gets a rough idea of it being clogged from that dropping below expected values.
Tesla should be required to a full recall of this potentially dangerous design. They literally designed a pocket to collect dirt which blocks the only way the batteries are cooled. Insufficient cooling of batteries can shorten battery life at the least, or battery fire at the worst. A simple reversal of airflow, air intake side of radiators face down, could take care of most of the blockage. Adding Venturi effect or even cyclonic effect air flow before the air gets to the radiators would cause most debris to drop out instead of logging into the radiator.
Full recall - LOL :-). You’re kidding. The condenser and radiator in my ICE car is even harder to clean- a nightmare actually. It’s NOT dangerous - all temps are actively monitored. With it partially blocked you’ll lose some efficiency- that’s it!
I'd highly recommend to everyone propping the front wheels up on service ramps if you don't have a floor jack. Much easier to get underneath and less bending.
@@jorgegarcia7005The only trouble is- the mesh grille does reduce airflow. I have one and there’s a very significant air flow reduction, so in some ways it’s counter productive.
@@jorgegarcia7005I’m actually thinking of leaving the extra mesh in place- it’s much finer than just the factory louvres, but removing some or all of the insect screen that came with it. It’s the insect mesh which I believe is most of the restriction.
Using a high pressure jet on the thin radiator fins is not recommended as it twists them. Cleaning with a vacuum cleaner then using compressed air seems less destructive.
As addressed in the video, the radiator fins are pretty strong. Not saying that you should get closer than I did with my pressure washer. Additionally, being that this is the second time that I have cleaned one of these, like mentioned in the video, the crud in the fins is basically mud. Also, I'm pretty sure that my air compressor if it was able to get the crud out it would be just as strong as my pressure washer and would bend the fins if you would get too close.
Firstly, thank you for the video, very instructive, not easy to do both the work and video. That said, I would definitely vacuum first (with a brush attachment) because it immediately removes the surface debris, rather than brush it over the rest of the radiator. Seems like it should not get that way in the first place, like there should be an easily removable, cleanable filter. Thank you again for making the job clear.
@kirkdoray3393 I did another video showing all the advice on this cleaning. The vacuum isn't really good for the radiator. Please feel free to see my other video on this cleaning.
That is a LOT of debris,.. I have never seen that much blocking one before. I wonder if it has to do with the air inlet design? I doubt that stuff was picked up while driving... some of those leaves were really large. I wonder if the car is vacuum that up while the car is supercharging.. the fans will be running full speed while the car is not moving. Anything that might be sitting under the car in the parking spot could be sucked up in there. Great job on the video... lots of great details on how to do this.
You make a great point. I will say this. Since cleaning up this, I've been paying attention while driving and I have noticed that while driving cars in front pick up alot of debris. I did place a rag in front of the radiator and it does act like a vacuum and can definitely see it picking up stuff while charging.
@@jorgegarcia7005 Interesting. I wonder if there's any way to mount some kind of mesh screen over the air intake that's under the car. I've seen people do that on the front of the condenser of average cars. That way the debris doesn't actually get embedded in the condenser itself. One other suggestion would be to use coil cleaner. I've used that on my cars and also my AC systems in my house. You can get it at most home improvement stores or online. It's a foaming type cleaner that is supposed to loosen and dissolve organic material. Since you would be able to get access to the condenser easily. You spray it preferably on the back side so that when the foam expands it pushes the debris out the direction that it came in. But even if you spray it on the front it will still kind of squirt out all over the place. Then you just rinse it off with water.
Looks like I killed my main frunk actuator by accidentally spraying it with water when cleaning my radiator condenser. I didn't fail at once. It took a while. When I replaced the actuator I noticed there was water in the unit. A FAFO lesson learned.
In the HVAC industry, they make a niece foam cleaner to spray to the condenser. When you flash w/ water it is best to do it from the opposite to the air flow. Watch a few videos on cleaning air conditioner condenser from a house, same process.
I've cleaned the hvac in my home. Yes, you are correct on the cleaning process. However, my home hvac hasn't had this type of material ran thru it, just dust and fine particulates. The crud in the model 3 was everything from leaves, pebbles, dirt and road grime. A complete different set of elements. I will be doing another tesla soon when I will use the comments on my video to show why I cleaned it the way I did. This wasn't my first one and I tried different things before and this is the best way to clean it.
Excellent video! I’d really like to learn how to do maintenance on my m3 2019 myself but this job… maybe it is too hard … I’d be too scared if for example I’d never be able to put back the bumper half way or something else. If you have more normal stuff to maintain that be very helpful 🙏🏻 I’ll have to put on my mudguards soon.
Great video, thanks 👍- the only thing I’d do different is use an industrial vacuum rather than a brush for part one. I believe that the brush will actually force some of the dirt in to the fins. (People saying how hard this is need to realise that many modern ICE cars are even harder to clean the condenser and radiator, including my 2014 ICE SUV.) I have a mesh guard in front of mine from Alibaba, but I’m not happy with how restrictive it is- probably reduces flow just as much as lots of dirt and leaves I very strongly suspect. HOWEVER it would be nice if Tesla came up with an update to be able to reverse the fans when stationary, - that would actually blow some of the dirt out. Just like the cabin filter, this is a design that could really be improved upon in future models. P.S. I’m guessing you drive on salty roads in Winter, going by the rust on bolts and disc rotors. Our 4.3 year old Tesla M3P has ZERO rust anywhere- thankfully no salt needed on our roads in Winter.
You see, I do this thing called, calculated risk. I first found out how much it would cost to have the vehicle repaired if I messed up. Then i noticed that I could afford messing up and went for it. Lol
Id rather have no frunk and have it draw air higher up from a small hood scoop or a gap between the hood and bumper like a Lexus LFA than have to clean that out every 50k miles
Extremely nicely displayed. However this cleaning is basically process is incorrect. Always clean in the reverse direction. This means that you clean from the inside out.
Meh, I can agree to disagree. I didn't want to be on the floor spraying up and I didn't want to disconnect the ac condensor because the freon is expensive for newer model cars and I also didn't want to go thru tesla to get new coolant and remove the parts for proper cleaning.
I did my friends model 3 and recorded all the different suggestions and explained why I did it the way I did. It's just the best way in my opinion. Once I sit down and stitch the clips together I will post it.
In a future, not far away, when some kid who doesn't have issues tearing things apart gets a model 3 for 10k, he may have an issue with cooling. That's who my video is for. Oh, and for those who currently own them and are not afraid to turn wrenches.
It’s for people like me! I grew up working on cars with my mechanic dad. I also took auto mechanics in high school. It’s super helpful. I WILL be doing this. Also possible adding some kind of screen in front of the intake to keep out the larger junk. It’s like a vacuum cleaner for the street.
@@DaronHoward your cooling system is different. My 2019 doesn't have a super manifold. You can see the model y video I made. That has the same system as yours.
It will be cool if Tesla adds a self clean feature for the radiator/condenser coils. Imagine connecting either air or water supply to an external easy-to-reach port and a sweep and wash cycle is initiated. That will be awesome and a game changer.
@@nobodydoingunimportantthings These Tesla guy are motivated geniuses. I bet they can do it in ingenious cost, parts and space saving ways like they've done with octovalve, supermanifold, gigcasting, and the recent cooling beam. 😌
Make sure to remove both horns. One bolt it holding each and once connector on each. Not mentioned in video that I could see. Although he did also remove them.
Look like filter modification is needed to prevent any of that going in -- and figure out whenever you drive and stop Tesla's -- it should have the fan to blow the junk off the filter somehow and continue to function without any manual work.
Hi George, I really appreciate for such an in-depth video. This really helps to understand how to service the radiator. One question, I wonder if doing power wash like that might cause the water damage on the sensitive electrical parts around the radiator. What parts do you think one needs to watch out when using pressure wash like you did? to prevent electrical damage.
I personally didn't see anything that you should be concerned with. Just like any vehicle you should exercise caution, but since these connections are already sealed and safe from the elements a bit of water shouldn't cause any problems.
Hi bro What is there purpose off this I know I love my car to be close as perfect as possible. Is this a must service to Carry out. Or Was there any issue? Love your videos brother
@JOE.DANCEN just remember to test an area first and don't get too close and keep the flow of water straight. Too close or sideways pressured water can bend your fins.
Thanks for the video! I cleaned mine out last night. It was a pain and I really don't want to ever do that again haha. Your video was a great guide. I appreciate it!
Thank you for the excellent video! Would have never suspected. Is this the same horrid design to clean the Model Y, S and X? I would hope by now Tesla engineers would have fixed this for the Model Y and refreshed S/X. What frustrates me is the complicated TUD (Total Unintended Disassembly, to adapt a term from SpaceX) required to just clean the A/C condenser and battery radiator. If regular (should inexpensive and quick) cleaning is not done, chaos will ensue. Failed expensive parts or worse. Have an idea…. For everyone seeing this video with X checkmark, say something to Elon and Tesla accounts. Adding this video link to the post. Let’s get them to have a redesign. Cleaning should take few minutes. Not hours, with risks of damaging components. Wonder if Highland model is fixed?
@@ThinkAndLetThink there is no excuse for this crap. None. Elon Musk (chief engineer), knew about this early. So did his engineers and lap dog supposed engineers. They do not give a rip that most Tesla owners (who will not take their car apart like this video) will guarantee have to pay $1200 for Tesla service to clean this up. Since the video, I bought a clever Chinese designed grill replacement. Hope the quality will be good. It has various methods to foil leaves, seeds, ground up road trash debris from entering. However, will not protect from dirty road rain water from being sucked up into this cooling system. I took my bore scope with extension to reach the radiators. So far, I am lucky to not have debris up there. Except……. Already dirty road rain water has begun to coat all the radiators cooling grid with dried dirt. Not good….
What year is this Tesla, mine is 2018 with over 105k miles, just took to Tesla for 100k miles but I doubt they did that, is the same process for the 2018 to clean the radiator? Great video btw.
Hi I have the the message Parking sensor maybe obstructed clean the sensors or ensure proper in installation after they wrap my car pink color; how can I fix that problem
Hello, nice video, good explaned, but using the pressure washer is dangerous to bend al the small plates. I have done it one time with the radiator of a honda motorcycle, and it bended al the plates.
@jorgegarcia7005, Thanks so much for this video. I've also watched the other one where you put people's comments to the test. Great stuff. I plan on doing this with my 3 this week. My driveway is not level, so I plan on taking everything apart in the garage first. Then move the car out to the driveway to do the cleaning. My question is - is the car drivable at this point? I don't think it needs to be jacked up either for the cleaning process, right?
@@jorgegarcia7005 so I'm stuck at the removing the fan shroud part. There are 2 horns right above the fan shroud that are blocking it, so I need to figure out how to remove those first.
That's the older Model 3 without the heat pump, right? Because then it should't have a climate condenser because it gets its environment energy from the coolant. That update could make this cleaning step obsolete :)
Great video! It is a shame takes so much work to clean condenser, but I guess everything is a compromise. Car might not be so pretty or aerodynamic if condenser was easy to clean...
What about pressure-washing from the BACK of the radiator? Grit comes in from the front, so spraying from the back forces the grit out 180 degrees from the way it got in there. Of course, I don't know how easy this would be, but when I do this with dirty rugs from my house (hang them up and spray from the back) it seems to get the grit out more easily.
@@jorgegarcia7005yeah, a friend and I did this on his 3 a month before your video. Really wish we’d seen it before! :-) getting to the back would have been a LOT more disassembly. We ended up cleaning it up with a light brush, some foaming radiator cleaner, and non-power washer water spray (because we were worried about shoving crud further into radiator). This is a SUPER helpful video - wish I could give you 10,000 likes!
After doing this I got an error message that says “Climate keeper unavailable due to system fault”. I suspect it’s because I didn’t put the car in service mode. Now I need to make an appointment with Tesla. I will keep everyone updated on what the issue is.
@db3837 this error message typically comes after a windshield replacement, however, I would make sure that you plugged in all connections unplugged during the cleaning process. Typically in the past the issue has also been a software issue, you can try a soft reset and if that doesn't work, you can try a hard reset. Both procedures are outlined in the onboard users manual.
Just bought a used one from my friend and has about 68k miles now. How often should this be done? The AC is cooling great now. Any other signs that it may be clogged?
Yes they do. Tesla’s cost is 140 dollars I’ll rather pay for them to do this on my 2021 model S refresh. No way that I would take off a bumper and dismantle a car and then try to put it back together correctly. Good for him 😊
Why would we pressure wash it in the direction debris went at the condenser. This will make debris trap in there deeper and harder to remove. Can we blow air or water in the opposite direction?
I own 2 teslas. Unfortunately I haven't had any real problems with my teslas to work on them allot. For example, I replaced the brake, rotors on one of them simply because the rotors were rusty, the pads were like new and the car has 90k miles. I also decided to swap the wheel bearings simply because of the mileage and I started to hear a wheel bearing sound but I believe that it was because I have tracked the car a bit too hard. Lol
Your loss actually. 🤷♂️ I’ve owned a lot of cars in the last fifty years, and always done all my own mods and maintenance. The Tesla is streets ahead of everything else I’ve ever owned, AND far less maintenance too.
I am at 200k miles and I just found so much crud in mine. I found cigarettes butt's and even a small dead bird. Gross. Thisnis definitely my problem with my AC. Plugged up super bad.
It can, I started far away from the radiator and brought it close enough to remove the grime. I also kept the stream straight and not at an angle. My pressure washer is only 1600 psi, and I can get my hand about 5 inches away from the nozzle before it hurts. I have had other pressure washers that have triple the power, I wouldn't use those.
I purchased one from Amazon and installed it on my y performance and the watt/ hour per miles went from 305 to 440 plus! Fit and finish was excellent but I returned it back to Amazon because of its poor efficiency.😮
I don't even own a Model 3, but I appreciate how thorough you were here!
That’s why I’ve have a screen cover on my front grille one month after I bought my MYP 2022. I’am sure it isn’t that dirty but glad you showed all of us what a labor intense wrk this is
Do you have a link and maybe some details how you got it on? Thx
@@Twigy_22find grille cover on AliExpress. Installation is double-sided tape and clips
Great video with all the details and actual work. Sometimes videos like this don’t show the difficulties and tricks. You showed it all! Thank you.
I dislike videos that aren't transparent. I always try my best to explain details and share my knowledge. I'm not an expert at anything because I'm always learning.
I sitting in a Tesla waiting room, getting this exact thing done for the second time as I watch this. I am out of warranty, so I was wondering how to do this on my own. THANK YOU FOR THIS!
How much did it run u? I'm also out of warranty
@@SepOn35 they changed me $400 for the disassembly and cleaning of all that. The estimate was a lot more but obviously I didn’t need anything replaced.
@@Twigy_22 thanks for the info
I’m at 200K and definitely have to do this on my M3. Thank you for the detailed video.
Did the cleaning today. What a mess below. Leafes, sigarettes en dirt. Could not get the condensor out of the way because could not slider it because the left hose was blocked by the frame. Thanks for the video. Clear and step by step
This is an EXCELLENT video, George! You've covered every single step really well. My AC is working fine after 30k miles, but once I hit 50-80k I'll save this video for cleaning things out on mine. Cheers!
And make sure you are a good mechanical
@@deanle604 Why?
Thank you for this excellent video!
With this help, I did mine today, was really clogged up.
Experiences:
in the wheel arch, there are 2 more clips at the bottom. If you undo these,you don't neccessarily have to separate the plastic bottom cover.from the bumper,just undo the 4bolts on the aft edge.
This way you
-have more access to the radiators
-don't have the remove the nuts at the bottom of the bumper. These are on a sort of stud, which loosely held in place in the plastic bottom cover,and can easily spin in its place... :(
If you undo the total of 4ea 13mm bolts on the front(once the bumper is off), and undo the 8mm bolts (facin aft) that secures the radiator via rubber bushes, than the radiator is practically held only by the hoses,giving you a lot of movement,so the shroud comes out very easy. But must pay attention not to put excess stress on the hoses!!!
Again,thanks for the video!!
Good job bro I did mine on at 217000 miles and was fully clogged. By watching this video everything went smooth. Good job
Thanks for your feedback.
Great video! I need to replace my front bumper, so this will definitely be one those “while you’re in there” kinda of jobs! Thanks!
Wow when you popped that open and all that crap fell out I thought what a terrible design. Thanks for the video :)
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with no stone unturned. Really appreciate it!
There are aftermarket mesh grills which help keep most of that stuff from collecting on the radiator/condenser.
Nice, good to know.
I heard those mesh grills will bring problems for the Tesla to suck enough air in. I had those on before and somehow the air sound is much louder with these mesh installed. So I removed them last winter.
@@noperge8280 Can you share link to such filters?
@@noperge8280are you referring to the ones sold by rpmtesla website that go on the front grille or the intake vent that's leads into the cabin?
Thank you for this! Most of the other videos don't go far enough to get things really clean. I picked up my Model 3 with ~170k miles and the radiator couldn't have been more packed with dirt and crud. There was zero airflow at all (I have pictures!) and as a result was the AC didn't work at all, and the fan was always howling trying to cool the car. The last straw was when I showed up to a meeting soaked with sweat. I took an evening off and got this done. Your video clearly explained every step I needed to take (though it made some steps look easier than they ended up being for me.) Now that it's clean, it's working so well. You saved me! (PS. I got a great deal on the car, in part I think, because the AC didn't work!)
@michaelrcolton thanks for your feedback. Because I have worked on cars for over 24 years I tend to forget that I need to explain certain things more clearly because I tend to forget that not everyone understands how certain things come appart.
@@jorgegarcia7005 I think you did a great job explaining. There were some things that were just harder for me probably due to my inexperience. The important thing for me is that you didn't skip anything. I just followed along on my phone, step by step, pausing whenever I needed to catch up.
@@michaelrcolton nice. That was my intention.
DO NOT pressure wash them. you will bend the fins and then you will have a very obstructed radiator and condenser. You need to wash it using a soap solution and a hose, regular pressure from the water, not a stream with high pressure. This is true for ALL, not just Tesla. All radiators, condensers, intercoolers, etc.must be washed as I described. Otherwise the thin fins will bend blocking the air.
I would like for you to clean a tesla radiator the way you described and record and post the results. I didn't just decide to do what I did. I have another tesla, which I also cleaned. I started with the simplest way (air) and worked my way up to pressure washing. Then, I decided to make a video with my other tesla and explain how to do it. If you watch the video, you will hear me explain about it pressure washer and the radiator finns.
Could buy a can of ac condenser cleaner . Soak it and then rinse with hose . Definitely need a cleaner on those fins and not high pressure water .
The pressure washer he used is as weak as piss, it’s a really cheap and gutless unit. I would be more concerned about some of his other dubious work practices.
Good advice❤
@@rsoul7282you’re dubious
Great video, very helpful. Did this over the weekend and your video helped big time. Not to mention, mine was WAY dirtier. I'm also at 230k miles, and I've never done this.
Nice! I'm glad to hear that my video was of help to you.
@@jorgegarcia7005 big time, thank you
Mine is 150 k miles
Just wanted to to check are you on original battery and drive unit ?
Appreciate the detailed video George! Definitely seems better to just remove the bumper for better access to get it clean. Lot of other videos skip that step and can only get it half clean with barely any room to work. Thank you sir!
I just finished doing this to my m3 today before I came across your video . Such a bad design, my radiator was so clogged up that my ac wasn’t working good in these hot Az temps but after cleaning my radiator my fan is quieter and my ac works perfect!
When it's been a year from cleaning, I will be doing an update video on how much it gets dirty. I have 2 model 3. One drives 1000 miles a week, the other about 200 miles. This hopefully shows how dirty it gets and gives a better perspective on when to clean.
Do I have to out my car into some kind of service mode before I attempt this??
@@DrakeKC no.
GUYS please start using the service menu on the screen i notcied my ac wasnt cooling much and on the energy app it was draining so bad. Im at 80k miles i went on the service menu and it literally said the "air intles " were dirty its crazy how well the car tells the issue but its absolutely horrible how much miles it drains. My car had probably 10x this ampunt of debris i cleaned it up with a long vaccum hose and didnt have too much of an issue after. Use the service menu guys !
Where in the service menu does it say anything about AC?
@@rickyyo215I think he’s referring to “service mode”. Go to the software tab, press and hold for two seconds on the word “model” where it says “model 3, y, etc, it will ask for a code, type in “service”. That will put it in the service mode the service center uses when they work on your car. You get a lot more in depth systems look, diagnostic, and a lot of other stuff.
Oh the cars software measures the airflow coming in and the amount of cooling taking place for whatever the fan and vehicle speed is and gets a rough idea of it being clogged from that dropping below expected values.
@@tylermills79 thank you
Great video George, very detailed nice workmanship like to see that.. Good job.
Thanks
👍 note: it’s easier to remove the bumper together with the lower valence as an assembly.
I noticed this when removing my rear bumper. Lol a definite plus.
Thanks for documenting the cleaning etc. I will look forward to doing mine in a few years time.
Tesla should be required to a full recall of this potentially dangerous design. They literally designed a pocket to collect dirt which blocks the only way the batteries are cooled. Insufficient cooling of batteries can shorten battery life at the least, or battery fire at the worst.
A simple reversal of airflow, air intake side of radiators face down, could take care of most of the blockage. Adding Venturi effect or even cyclonic effect air flow before the air gets to the radiators would cause most debris to drop out instead of logging into the radiator.
I believe that reverse air flow should be a thing while supercharging. But great point.
Full recall - LOL :-). You’re kidding. The condenser and radiator in my ICE car is even harder to clean- a nightmare actually.
It’s NOT dangerous - all temps are actively monitored.
With it partially blocked you’ll lose some efficiency- that’s it!
I'd highly recommend to everyone propping the front wheels up on service ramps if you don't have a floor jack. Much easier to get underneath and less bending.
i love to bend baby ..it feels good :)
My lower back thanks you for your words of wisdom. Too true, when doing this sort of work where the less your body needs to overextend, the better.
Great video!
It might be a good idea to put a mesh over the intake opening to aviod any future large contaminants from entering the radiator.
I will be getting a mesh grill. They are available for sale from the aftermarket.
@@jorgegarcia7005The only trouble is- the mesh grille does reduce airflow.
I have one and there’s a very significant air flow reduction, so in some ways it’s counter productive.
I believe that. Will see about using it during fall and removing during summer and see how it impacts the car.
@@jorgegarcia7005I’m actually thinking of leaving the extra mesh in place- it’s much finer than just the factory louvres, but removing some or all of the insect screen that came with it. It’s the insect mesh which I believe is most of the restriction.
Thanks, great job done and you go where other youtubers stop. Keep.it up
Using a high pressure jet on the thin radiator fins is not recommended as it twists them.
Cleaning with a vacuum cleaner then using compressed air seems less destructive.
As addressed in the video, the radiator fins are pretty strong. Not saying that you should get closer than I did with my pressure washer. Additionally, being that this is the second time that I have cleaned one of these, like mentioned in the video, the crud in the fins is basically mud. Also, I'm pretty sure that my air compressor if it was able to get the crud out it would be just as strong as my pressure washer and would bend the fins if you would get too close.
Firstly, thank you for the video, very instructive, not easy to do both the work and video. That said, I would definitely vacuum first (with a brush attachment) because it immediately removes the surface debris, rather than brush it over the rest of the radiator. Seems like it should not get that way in the first place, like there should be an easily removable, cleanable filter. Thank you again for making the job clear.
@kirkdoray3393 I did another video showing all the advice on this cleaning. The vacuum isn't really good for the radiator. Please feel free to see my other video on this cleaning.
great video! I used to use nubrite cleaner to clean my 20yr old car's radiator, worked a treat
The only aluminum cleaner that I have used that works great is napa aluminum brightener. The others are weak compared to how they were years ago.
@@jorgegarcia7005 thanks! added this to my radar
That is a LOT of debris,.. I have never seen that much blocking one before. I wonder if it has to do with the air inlet design? I doubt that stuff was picked up while driving... some of those leaves were really large.
I wonder if the car is vacuum that up while the car is supercharging.. the fans will be running full speed while the car is not moving. Anything that might be sitting under the car in the parking spot could be sucked up in there.
Great job on the video... lots of great details on how to do this.
You make a great point. I will say this. Since cleaning up this, I've been paying attention while driving and I have noticed that while driving cars in front pick up alot of debris. I did place a rag in front of the radiator and it does act like a vacuum and can definitely see it picking up stuff while charging.
@@jorgegarcia7005
Interesting. I wonder if there's any way to mount some kind of mesh screen over the air intake that's under the car.
I've seen people do that on the front of the condenser of average cars. That way the debris doesn't actually get embedded in the condenser itself.
One other suggestion would be to use coil cleaner. I've used that on my cars and also my AC systems in my house. You can get it at most home improvement stores or online. It's a foaming type cleaner that is supposed to loosen and dissolve organic material. Since you would be able to get access to the condenser easily. You spray it preferably on the back side so that when the foam expands it pushes the debris out the direction that it came in. But even if you spray it on the front it will still kind of squirt out all over the place. Then you just rinse it off with water.
Only Tesla has an electric car! 👏👍🇧🇷 Nice vídeo.
Wow, didn't know that it collects large amount of stuff!
Looks like I killed my main frunk actuator by accidentally spraying it with water when cleaning my radiator condenser. I didn't fail at once. It took a while. When I replaced the actuator I noticed there was water in the unit. A FAFO lesson learned.
In the HVAC industry, they make a niece foam cleaner to spray to the condenser. When you flash w/ water it is best to do it from the opposite to the air flow. Watch a few videos on cleaning air conditioner condenser from a house, same process.
I've cleaned the hvac in my home. Yes, you are correct on the cleaning process. However, my home hvac hasn't had this type of material ran thru it, just dust and fine particulates. The crud in the model 3 was everything from leaves, pebbles, dirt and road grime. A complete different set of elements. I will be doing another tesla soon when I will use the comments on my video to show why I cleaned it the way I did. This wasn't my first one and I tried different things before and this is the best way to clean it.
The imbed dust and cotton wood is normal around here, the rinsing from the back does help a lot. @@jorgegarcia7005
Excellent video!
I’d really like to learn how to do maintenance on my m3 2019 myself but this job… maybe it is too hard … I’d be too scared if for example I’d never be able to put back the bumper half way or something else.
If you have more normal stuff to maintain that be very helpful 🙏🏻
I’ll have to put on my mudguards soon.
THanks ... I'm afraid that I'll need to get my cleaned as well. I see why you need to remove the bumper now ... since there are two pancaked together.
Great video, thanks 👍- the only thing I’d do different is use an industrial vacuum rather than a brush for part one. I believe that the brush will actually force some of the dirt in to the fins.
(People saying how hard this is need to realise that many modern ICE cars are even harder to clean the condenser and radiator, including my 2014 ICE SUV.)
I have a mesh guard in front of mine from Alibaba, but I’m not happy with how restrictive it is- probably reduces flow just as much as lots of dirt and leaves I very strongly suspect.
HOWEVER it would be nice if Tesla came up with an update to be able to reverse the fans when stationary, - that would actually blow some of the dirt out. Just like the cabin filter, this is a design that could really be improved upon in future models.
P.S. I’m guessing you drive on salty roads in Winter, going by the rust on bolts and disc rotors. Our 4.3 year old Tesla M3P has ZERO rust anywhere- thankfully no salt needed on our roads in Winter.
Staubsauger mit Möbelpinsel vorne dran ist da besser zum reinigen.
Not even my car, and i was nervous the entire video. I was afraid it wouldn't all go back together. 😭😂
You see, I do this thing called, calculated risk. I first found out how much it would cost to have the vehicle repaired if I messed up. Then i noticed that I could afford messing up and went for it. Lol
@@jorgegarcia7005 I like it 😂
Id rather have no frunk and have it draw air higher up from a small hood scoop or a gap between the hood and bumper like a Lexus LFA than have to clean that out every 50k miles
And how do you put it back together after just a simple job is clean up the radiator. After watching your clip. I don’t think Tesla is on my list
Excellent video Man. You could work on my Tesla anytime!
Extremely nicely displayed. However this cleaning is basically process is incorrect. Always clean in the reverse direction. This means that you clean from the inside out.
Meh, I can agree to disagree. I didn't want to be on the floor spraying up and I didn't want to disconnect the ac condensor because the freon is expensive for newer model cars and I also didn't want to go thru tesla to get new coolant and remove the parts for proper cleaning.
@@jorgegarcia7005If you had a hoist, it may be possible to get in from behind. For the average guy- I don’t think so. 😢
I did my friends model 3 and recorded all the different suggestions and explained why I did it the way I did. It's just the best way in my opinion. Once I sit down and stitch the clips together I will post it.
Who is this video intended for? The average Tesla owner wouldn't even think of doing this!
In a future, not far away, when some kid who doesn't have issues tearing things apart gets a model 3 for 10k, he may have an issue with cooling. That's who my video is for. Oh, and for those who currently own them and are not afraid to turn wrenches.
It’s for people like me! I grew up working on cars with my mechanic dad. I also took auto mechanics in high school. It’s super helpful. I WILL be doing this. Also possible adding some kind of screen in front of the intake to keep out the larger junk. It’s like a vacuum cleaner for the street.
It’s for people like me who’d rather spend a few frustrating hours as insurance to help protect a $10k+ battery.
4:28 the center one wants to spin you need to pry down on the washer to create tension while unscrewing it and tightening.
That's exactly what I did. Don't remember if I mentioned it.
Thanks so much this video was great detail.
My radiator looks totally different. Have a 2022 M3 Long range. Also, my radiator cover has a chord attached to it, and the chord connects to wires
@@DaronHoward your cooling system is different. My 2019 doesn't have a super manifold. You can see the model y video I made. That has the same system as yours.
Can you do a video on the changing of air filters, & cleaning to prevent smell from the AC for the Tesla model 3 & Y? Thanks
I just did this with my friends tesla. Lol I should have recorded it. I will be doing a model y soon. I'll record that one as they are the same.
Great video! But How does all that garbage get in there? The car seems super sealed up really well? Tooth Flosser and reflectors? wtf?
It will be cool if Tesla adds a self clean feature for the radiator/condenser coils.
Imagine connecting either air or water supply to an external easy-to-reach port and a sweep and wash cycle is initiated. That will be awesome and a game changer.
That would be a waste of space and an unnecessary cost given that this is needed very rarely.
@@nobodydoingunimportantthings These Tesla guy are motivated geniuses. I bet they can do it in ingenious cost, parts and space saving ways like they've done with octovalve, supermanifold, gigcasting, and the recent cooling beam. 😌
Well done perfect job! next time you may get the stones out by sewing needle. How often do you need to do this?
Both of my model 3 were at 50k+ miles. And using a needle would take too long. I believe that what I did is good enough.
Make sure to remove both horns. One bolt it holding each and once connector on each. Not mentioned in video that I could see. Although he did also remove them.
Awesome video! Thank you for sharing this.
there are special combs that you can buy to straighten those bent radiator fins.
The way these fins are designed, you can't use a comb to straighten them.
@@jorgegarcia7005 aren’t they just regular radiator fins? Search Google for radiator comb. There are plenty of radiator combs to choose from.
Look like filter modification is needed to prevent any of that going in -- and figure out whenever you drive and stop Tesla's -- it should have the fan to blow the junk off the filter somehow and continue to function without any manual work.
Hi George, I really appreciate for such an in-depth video. This really helps to understand how to service the radiator. One question, I wonder if doing power wash like that might cause the water damage on the sensitive electrical parts around the radiator. What parts do you think one needs to watch out when using pressure wash like you did? to prevent electrical damage.
I personally didn't see anything that you should be concerned with. Just like any vehicle you should exercise caution, but since these connections are already sealed and safe from the elements a bit of water shouldn't cause any problems.
Great video. Thank you for showing.
Super mechanik,super video. 👍👍👍
Hi bro
What is there purpose off this
I know I love my car to be close as perfect as possible.
Is this a must service to Carry out. Or
Was there any issue?
Love your videos brother
Thank you for the video. Great job. Why arent you use the hose from the backside? That way you push dirt out instead of in....any thought on that
@JOE.DANCEN there's no room to do this from the back without removing the condensor, and I don't have a freon recovery machine.
Thank you. I am going to try to use the 90 degrees nozzle on my karcher.
@JOE.DANCEN just remember to test an area first and don't get too close and keep the flow of water straight. Too close or sideways pressured water can bend your fins.
@@jorgegarcia7005 thanks. Will use the lowest power on the cleaner. Will soak it in cleaner before low power hose it down
Thanks for the video! I cleaned mine out last night. It was a pain and I really don't want to ever do that again haha. Your video was a great guide. I appreciate it!
Thank you for the excellent video! Would have never suspected. Is this the same horrid design to clean the Model Y, S and X? I would hope by now Tesla engineers would have fixed this for the Model Y and refreshed S/X. What frustrates me is the complicated TUD (Total Unintended Disassembly, to adapt a term from SpaceX) required to just clean the A/C condenser and battery radiator. If regular (should inexpensive and quick) cleaning is not done, chaos will ensue. Failed expensive parts or worse.
Have an idea…. For everyone seeing this video with X checkmark, say something to Elon and Tesla accounts. Adding this video link to the post. Let’s get them to have a redesign. Cleaning should take few minutes. Not hours, with risks of damaging components.
Wonder if Highland model is fixed?
Proper design requires balancing a lot of competing goals. Is ease of cleaning important? Of course, but it's not the only thing that's important.
@@ThinkAndLetThink there is no excuse for this crap. None. Elon Musk (chief engineer), knew about this early. So did his engineers and lap dog supposed engineers. They do not give a rip that most Tesla owners (who will not take their car apart like this video) will guarantee have to pay $1200 for Tesla service to clean this up.
Since the video, I bought a clever Chinese designed grill replacement. Hope the quality will be good. It has various methods to foil leaves, seeds, ground up road trash debris from entering. However, will not protect from dirty road rain water from being sucked up into this cooling system. I took my bore scope with extension to reach the radiators. So far, I am lucky to not have debris up there. Except……. Already dirty road rain water has begun to coat all the radiators cooling grid with dried dirt. Not good….
What year is this Tesla, mine is 2018 with over 105k miles, just took to Tesla for 100k miles but I doubt they did that, is the same process for the 2018 to clean the radiator? Great video btw.
You need to be very careful with that pressure wash as to no damage fins.
Totally went over that in the video. But a great point.
Good job mate !
Hi I have the the message Parking sensor maybe obstructed clean the sensors or ensure proper in installation after they wrap my car pink color; how can I fix that problem
Remove the wrap from the sensor.
Hello, nice video, good explaned, but using the pressure washer is dangerous to bend al the small plates. I have done it one time with the radiator of a honda motorcycle, and it bended al the plates.
I made another video explaining how and why I use the pressure washer.
@@jorgegarcia7005could you please send the link to the other video? 🙏🏻
th-cam.com/video/nsc7Wn4R55U/w-d-xo.htmlsi=5XyOhy-yOCSFwvHz
Wow
How did it end up so many leaves inside radiator…😮😮😮
Awesome....you good thanks for the time and energy....
Is it a good idea to use matching radiator comb to remove trapped beads before force air / water cleaning?
excellent video thank you
great video! is this the same procedure for Model Y?
Yes
Awesome vid! What are the years of your Model 3s ?
Both are 2019. One with 90k miles, the other with 60k.
@jorgegarcia7005,
Thanks so much for this video. I've also watched the other one where you put people's comments to the test. Great stuff. I plan on doing this with my 3 this week. My driveway is not level, so I plan on taking everything apart in the garage first. Then move the car out to the driveway to do the cleaning. My question is - is the car drivable at this point? I don't think it needs to be jacked up either for the cleaning process, right?
There's a video where a guy took off parts to see when a model 3 wouldn't run. I believe that it should, but I'm not 100% sure.
@@jorgegarcia7005 Thanks for letting me know, Jorge. I'll be trying it out today and will let you know if it runs.
@@jorgegarcia7005 so I'm stuck at the removing the fan shroud part. There are 2 horns right above the fan shroud that are blocking it, so I need to figure out how to remove those first.
That's the older Model 3 without the heat pump, right? Because then it should't have a climate condenser because it gets its environment energy from the coolant. That update could make this cleaning step obsolete :)
Great video! It is a shame takes so much work to clean condenser, but I guess everything is a compromise. Car might not be so pretty or aerodynamic if condenser was easy to clean...
What about pressure-washing from the BACK of the radiator? Grit comes in from the front, so spraying from the back forces the grit out 180 degrees from the way it got in there. Of course, I don't know how easy this would be, but when I do this with dirty rugs from my house (hang them up and spray from the back) it seems to get the grit out more easily.
I didn't have a way to spray it from behind.
@@jorgegarcia7005yeah, a friend and I did this on his 3 a month before your video. Really wish we’d seen it before! :-) getting to the back would have been a LOT more disassembly. We ended up cleaning it up with a light brush, some foaming radiator cleaner, and non-power washer water spray (because we were worried about shoving crud further into radiator).
This is a SUPER helpful video - wish I could give you 10,000 likes!
After doing this I got an error message that says “Climate keeper unavailable due to system fault”. I suspect it’s because I didn’t put the car in service mode. Now I need to make an appointment with Tesla. I will keep everyone updated on what the issue is.
@db3837 this error message typically comes after a windshield replacement, however, I would make sure that you plugged in all connections unplugged during the cleaning process. Typically in the past the issue has also been a software issue, you can try a soft reset and if that doesn't work, you can try a hard reset. Both procedures are outlined in the onboard users manual.
add a debris guard to the front of that cover part... probably custom
не вредна ли мойка высокого давления для вентилятора охладения которы находится под радиатором?
Just bought a used one from my friend and has about 68k miles now. How often should this be done? The AC is cooling great now. Any other signs that it may be clogged?
I noticed that before while supercharging my fans would run harder than now.
That looks like a lot of work. I'm surprised to see that much dirt in there. Good design / Bad design. I've never had this problem with my ICE cars.
Indeed they should definitely move those air intake a little higher or change the angle or something to reduce the amount of road debris.
So, how do I prevent this from happening? Put a mesh in front?
Do anyone know if tesla service does this and how much they charged
Yes they do. Tesla’s cost is 140 dollars I’ll rather pay for them to do this on my 2021 model S refresh. No way that I would take off a bumper and dismantle a car and then try to put it back together correctly. Good for him 😊
Why would we pressure wash it in the direction debris went at the condenser. This will make debris trap in there deeper and harder to remove. Can we blow air or water in the opposite direction?
I made a video showing why you want to use a pressure washer.
@@jorgegarcia7005my question is about the direction of flush and not about pressure wash or not.
Great video
Thank you for the video I have a certificate in auto mechanic and I very much appreciate enjoyed your video, Do you work on Tesla a lot.
I own 2 teslas. Unfortunately I haven't had any real problems with my teslas to work on them allot. For example, I replaced the brake, rotors on one of them simply because the rotors were rusty, the pads were like new and the car has 90k miles. I also decided to swap the wheel bearings simply because of the mileage and I started to hear a wheel bearing sound but I believe that it was because I have tracked the car a bit too hard. Lol
Nice video!!!
Me be like, I'll just pay them to do it. Not my cup a tea. Lol
George, were you having a problem with something overheating or did you just see it needed cleaning?
I was trying to see why I was using alot of energy with the ac.
Thanks for the reply. @@jorgegarcia7005
I don't own a Tesla, nor do I want one... but I'm a total gear head. I enjoy watching car videos. 😂
Your loss actually. 🤷♂️ I’ve owned a lot of cars in the last fifty years, and always done all my own mods and maintenance.
The Tesla is streets ahead of everything else I’ve ever owned, AND far less maintenance too.
Can the radiator be washed from the back side? Might blow out more junk.
Did the owners manual state this is user serviceable part?
My ownership of the vehicle states that I am able to do whatever I want with it. Lol
I am at 200k miles and I just found so much crud in mine. I found cigarettes butt's and even a small dead bird. Gross. Thisnis definitely my problem with my AC. Plugged up super bad.
That preasure jet will not bent the radiator fins ?
It can, I started far away from the radiator and brought it close enough to remove the grime. I also kept the stream straight and not at an angle. My pressure washer is only 1600 psi, and I can get my hand about 5 inches away from the nozzle before it hurts. I have had other pressure washers that have triple the power, I wouldn't use those.
You forget to show in video the car still function like before.
good
Any thoughts of adding a screen to stop bugs/ leaves from getting into condenser?
Some companies sell a screen for the grill.
I purchased one from Amazon and installed it on my y performance and the watt/ hour per miles went from 305 to 440 plus! Fit and finish was excellent but I returned it back to Amazon because of its poor efficiency.😮
You are a brave person! Tesla cleaned the leaves out for me because the fan was making noise 😮
The mesh screen keeps bugs and dirt out, BUT reduces airflow a lot, so not really such a great idea. 😢
Puoi chiudere il portatile invece che lo lasci aperto sotto la scrivania, per favore?
Where is the radiator fan? I didn't see it
Behind the radiator.
Where is this condenser fan?
Under the radiator