Dusty roads

[Eberhard]

I have to add some additional information. The heat sink of the charger gets his cooling air via bypass from the PEM cooling fan. This means, even when you drive, you will receive all dust in the charger heat sink, blocking the heat exchanger. Because its in the bypass, when blocked, all air will go to the AC-Inverter heat sink, no change to cool down the charger unit. I will be able now to flush back the charger heat sink by compressed air.

[strider]

I understand the need for the cooling system and would not have it otherwise, but the very loud noise it makes when hot is one of the minor annoyances of the car. I dislike loud noise, and the louder the worse. I like silence.

I expect this to one of the major improvements w/ Model S. Since the PEM, Motor, and Battery are all liquid-cooled it shouldn't need the volume of air to keep things cool. Also having to fit the Roadster w/in the Elise chassis perhaps caused some packaging issues and sub-optimall fans and placement were used. All part of the joy of being on the cutting edge!

[daniel]

... All part of the joy of being on the cutting edge!

And "joy" is indeed the word to describe driving the Roadster.

[wycolo]

Yes, you can select 'search thread' and enter your search term there.

Indeed, there it is! Thanx.

[wycolo]

You have the old style fans and they will replace those for you if you live in a humid climate. (hcsharp opined).

Vin 764 has dual fans labelled _powertrain 2.0 rev AA_ they are original issue. Tesla Shop in Denver has the replacement (a single motor unit) so I made an appointment for next week. After a pause, called them back. Turns out that single-fan replacement was going to set me back the cost of a Mobile Power Connector, which in fact I could really use right now. New item NOT part of a recall campaign, *not* a freebee. Ok, fair enough, I'll wait for an error code to pop up on the screen, or perhaps something more drastic even. Yesterday's run brought the fan(s) to life, but they purred nicely. Tesla-think: arid climate operation not really so bad for the blowers since moisture is required to build up crud on the squirrel cage; dust itself doesn't really stick. Can't fault that logic.

One cure would be to drive it like a jet fighter, always xx yards ahead of the sonic boom.
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[Eberhard]

drive your roadster 10km on a winter road with salt. thats enough.

[hcsharp]

drive your roadster 10km on a winter road with salt. thats enough.

I predict that will be enough to kill the new fan too.

[wycolo]

Noisy, out of balance PEM fan on 2.0 vin 764:

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[wycolo]

Just to update my experience, the local Tesla Shop had the new twin-fan motor in stock, plus the modified anti-roll bar, as well as the "panel blower surround R2.0" which was the exact one for my 2.0 Roadster. There are different 'panel surrounds' for each of the Roadster models. So I immediately flat-bedded my Roadster to the Shop for a complete cleaning and the full blower upgrade. I was shown the 'panel surround' at the shop, but unfortunately did not think to take a photo. Having now inspected the surround with strong light it seems to be a very effective first step toward solving the dust-in-PEM problem. It is sealed to the pan with foam strips, but the 4 bottom corners are purposely opened to allow water, etc to drain out by gravity. The size of these openings is approx 3/8in. Also there are 2 gaps where the roll bar enters- less than 1/8in clearance around the bar perhaps. All around the top edge there is a varying gap amongst the castellations. Presumably this is where the bulk of the cooling air enters the box. Knife-edge filtering as it were.

Now, the box could easily be sealed up with expanding foam, to block all the openings just described. Then a 4in dia hole drilled in the trunk floor. Then air filters in some sort of housing could be fabricated. Filter elements are readily available for Olds Oddessy, etc 'cabin air filter'. You get a pair of filters for $16-US. STP-CAF1704. These filters are made for heater blowers, so are more appropriate for this application than are piston driven intake filters which may create more back-pressure. Having brought the air intake up and into the trunk, now we have to let outside air into the trunk. In my Roadster, however, the trunk is already quite dust-free, so nickel-sized holes could be drilled into either side adjacent to the latches, and routed into the filter housing.

But rather than continue with all this, I think I'll just stay off dirt roads whenever possible and see how much of a dust problem exists in 12 months time when the PEM is removed and cleaned out. Possibly there will not be much of a problem if the new fan surround does its job well. Even though the drought continues hereabouts, showers and sprinkles are happening daily, which drives the dust back into the surface. Tesla's solution might prove effective.
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