little Roadster mysteries

tonybelding · Mar 28, 2015

Those little things that still puzzle me after having the car for a couple of months. . .

I never did figure out what that thing was that I found stuffed behind the passenger seat. Re: What is this thing??

I think the interior light in my Roadster is installed backward. When I tilt it forward, it shuts off. When I tilt it back, it lights up -- nicely illuminating the rear window, but the rest of the cabin not so well. Based on common sense plus my reading of the owner's manual, this seems to be opposite of how it's supposed to work. I asked the guys at the service center, but they assured me that "the way it works is counter-intuitive". They also claimed they checked another Roadster, and it worked the same as mine. So is it the manual (and common sense) that's wrong here?

Why does the rear compartment -- outside of the gasket-sealed trunk space -- collect so much dust? Sheesh! Even short drives on seemingly non-dusty paved roads put a layer of dust on the PEM, ESS and the top sides of the wheel wells. Driving over a dirt road really poured it on. By comparison, the front of the car, under the hood, doesn't collect dust at all.

Is the battery cooling system really supposed to be this noisy? The intensity varies, but over the last few days it's had a few episodes of really buzzing. Today somebody was asking me about the car. . . "Does it have a four-cylinder backup generator?" "No, it's all electric." "Then what's that sound coming from the back?"

AEdennis · Mar 28, 2015

tonybelding said:
...
Is the battery cooling system really supposed to be this noisy? The intensity varies, but over the last few days it's had a few episodes of really buzzing. Today somebody was asking me about the car. . . "Does it have a four-cylinder backup generator?" "No, it's all electric." "Then what's that sound coming from the back?"

The loudest part for our car is when it is plugged in and starts to charge. It uses the PEM and is LOUD

ecarfan · Mar 28, 2015

tonybelding said:
Why does the rear compartment -- outside of the gasket-sealed trunk space -- collect so much dust? Sheesh! Even short drives on seemingly non-dusty paved roads put a layer of dust on the PEM, ESS and the top sides of the wheel wells. Driving over a dirt road really poured it on. By comparison, the front of the car, under the hood, doesn't collect dust at all.

I can understand why the top of the ESS and PEM gets dirty, as there is no seal around that area in contrast to the seal around the trunk space opening. But like you I have been surprised by how clean the front area under the hood stays. Maybe it is because the front cooling fans suck in air with so much force that all the loose dirt and dust is pulled past those surfaces and pushed back around the motor, ESS, and PEM?

gregd · Mar 28, 2015

AEdennis said:
The loudest part for our car is when it is plugged in and starts to charge. It uses the PEM and is LOUD

It's noisy when charging in a cool environment. If it gets warm enough (seems to do this pretty easily), then the Air Conditioning kicks in. Then it's LOUD.

spaceballs · Mar 28, 2015

tonybelding said:
... Is the battery cooling system really supposed to be this noisy? The intensity varies, but over the last few days it's had a few episodes of really buzzing. ...

if you notice the water pump being noisy make sure your topped off for coolant.

sethr · Mar 29, 2015

My light is backwards from the manual, too. I don't use it, so I never asked if it can be turned around.

If you are hearing more noise than usual from the rear fans, check that there isn't some debris in the fans - I get that from time to time. Amazing how much extra noise a leaf or two can make as it spins around in the fan housing. Those fans are blowing all that dust you noticed, too. Air pulled from outside is pushed by the fans through the PEM, out at the top. Some owners have put in filters - do a search, there is at least one thread on the subject in this forum.

I don't have anything like your mystery object in my Roadster (a 2.5). No idea on that.

supersnoop · Mar 29, 2015

When I purchased a used BMW 760, I found some strange parts in the trunk. Eventually, I identified them as a rear bumper insert from a Mini Cooper. I have no idea why they were in my trunk. I'm going to say that those extra parts are completely unrelated to you car.

tonybelding · Mar 29, 2015

sethr said:
If you are hearing more noise than usual from the rear fans, check that there isn't some debris in the fans - I get that from time to time.

Where are these fans, anyhow?

sethr · Mar 29, 2015

tonybelding said:
Where are these fans, anyhow?

You can see them by looking in between the back of the rear wheel and the fender, (there's one fan on each side):

If you have some sort of grabber, you can pick junk out of there pretty easily. I have a whole lot of sand in there, I have to vacuum that out. Our roads are still a mess here, as you can see.

hcsharp · Mar 29, 2015

tonybelding said:
Those little things that still puzzle me after having the car for a couple of months. . .
...
Why does the rear compartment -- outside of the gasket-sealed trunk space -- collect so much dust? Sheesh! Even short drives on seemingly non-dusty paved roads put a layer of dust on the PEM, ESS and the top sides of the wheel wells. Driving over a dirt road really poured it on. By comparison, the front of the car, under the hood, doesn't collect dust at all.

We live on a dirt road in the summer and I usually have about 1/4" of dirt on top of my rear pan by the end of September. And the door sills? If it rains they are covered with a thick layer of mud. If it's not raining they are covered with a thick layer of dirt. Every day.

tonybelding said:
Is the battery cooling system really supposed to be this noisy? The intensity varies, but over the last few days it's had a few episodes of really buzzing. Today somebody was asking me about the car. . . "Does it have a four-cylinder backup generator?" "No, it's all electric." "Then what's that sound coming from the back?"

Just to clarify, the loud sound coming from the back is not battery cooling, except for the circulator pump. The battery cooling makes a lot of noise at the front of the car where the air conditioning fans are. Around here you never hear that noise in the winter.

Be mindful of the sound of your rear cooling fans (which cool the PEM and motor). I've had three of them replaced under warranty. The bearings go bad easily as you can imagine with all the dust blowing around. If it gets real noisy it might be a sign that your bearings are going. If you don't have the snow dam you should be able to reach in there and spin them easily by hand. If the bearings are bad they will spin hard.

ecarfan · Mar 29, 2015

So here's a Roadster "mystery" to me: I've noticed little bits of dirt/grit on top of my passenger side door sill after a drive. This is with the windows up and driving solo (so passenger door was not opened before, during, or after the drive) on paved and reasonably well maintained roads and highways in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Could that indicate that the door seal along the lower edge is not doing its job?

m0rph · Mar 30, 2015

My "mystery": Every now and then, I suddenly find a layer of strange dust on top of my dash.. I'm sure it was not there a few hours before so it happens very suddenly. My car was detailled just 2 weeks ago and now my dash looks like I didn't clean it for a year :S

The front area is kept clean by the fans I think. Sometimes, when I just start charging, it really blows a cloud of dust over the rest of the car. I sometimes think it can be related to my own mystery, but during winter my top is always on, so maybe the front fans blow that hard that it reaches the interior of the car somehow.

Chillout · Mar 30, 2015

All of these mysteries should get a spot in the Wiki.

My mysteries:
- Several unused cables in the headlight area.
One is used for Side markers on the non-Euro version. The other is probably there for foglights that never came.

- Unused USB connectors on the left side of the dashboard.
There is an operational USB port on the right side, but there's one on the left as well... although that one doesn't do anything.

- The spoiler was not connected with all 4 bolts, only 2.
Probably someone at the factory was lazy

- The arm that holds the hood is wrong
It is just wrong...mirrored 180 degrees from what it actually should be like.

- Locking the car when you've just closed the door: surprise...
just try it

Habious · Mar 30, 2015

Chillout said:
- The arm that holds the hood is wrong
It is just wrong...mirrored 180 degrees from what it actually should be like.

OK, I didn't want to say anything...I thought it was just me to that was too dumb to figure this out.

The arm that "holds up the hood" on my 2.5 just flat-out doesn't work. It's either too long, the wrong shape, etc.

There's a very nifty little notch in the hood that looks like it's perfectly made for the arm to go into except...there's no way to get the arm into it unless I bend the hood forward past its breaking point!

ecarfan · Mar 30, 2015

I think that is the case for all Roadsters, according to a Tesla service person I spoke to. My 1.5 has the same hood stay issue that you describe.

dhrivnak · Mar 30, 2015

ecarfan said:
So here's a Roadster "mystery" to me: I've noticed little bits of dirt/grit on top of my passenger side door sill after a drive. This is with the windows up and driving solo (so passenger door was not opened before, during, or after the drive) on paved and reasonably well maintained roads and highways in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Could that indicate that the door seal along the lower edge is not doing its job?

the sound proofing stage 2 adds a rubber gasket that greatly reduces grit on the sills. But I hear it is now hard to get installed as it takes a lot of scarce labor. It s daunting for a do it yourself as you need to drill at least 4 holes in the bottom of the door which is permanent.

bart513 · Mar 30, 2015

There is someone who sells a DIY kit that works great to keep most of the grit away from the sills. PM me for more info.

JohnGarziglia · Mar 30, 2015

sethr said:
If you are hearing more noise than usual from the rear fans, check that there isn't some debris in the fans - I get that from time to time. Amazing how much extra noise a leaf or two can make as it spins around in the fan housing. Those fans are blowing all that dust you noticed, too. Air pulled from outside is pushed by the fans through the PEM, out at the top. Some owners have put in filters - do a search, there is at least one thread on the subject in this forum.

Here is the posting on that subject which I did about one year ago. I am pleased to report that after installing the plastic mesh around the fans, I have not experienced a recurrence of unbalanced fans to date (and here's hoping it stays that way as fan vibration is quite annoying as well as likely leading to premature bearing failure): PEM / Motor cooling fan filter

m0rph · Mar 31, 2015

Habious said:
The arm that "holds up the hood" on my 2.5 just flat-out doesn't work. It's either too long, the wrong shape, etc.

There's a very nifty little notch in the hood that looks like it's perfectly made for the arm to go into except...there's no way to get the arm into it unless I bend the hood forward past its breaking point!

Mine works fine here..

Chillout · Mar 31, 2015

can you take a picture of that?

little Roadster mysteries

Active Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Member

CPO Roadster #1089

Tesla Roadster #334

Active Member

CPO Roadster #1089

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Active Member

#1243

Member

Member

Similar threads