2015 Model S - Remove, Test and Replace Front Louver
I outlined in a previous post how the passenger side louver was broken on the 85D here:
3000+ mile road trip in the 85D
I did not know about these louvers until after the near death of the 85D in the Mojave desert.
After I was home I found the driver side louver was always closed and the passenger side was hanging open and all busted up.
Driver side louver, I never saw it open before the tear-down.
The passenger side was hanging open and broken.
As a guide for removal of the fascia, I used this video primarily:
Tesla Model S bumper removal How To
Getting the S apart and putting it back together was fun but draining. Once I had the fascia off I was able to get to the louvers and clean up the radiators.
Since I did not want to remove the harness completely, I just swung the fascia around toward the passenger side. This was just before I cleaned out all of the bugs, but you can see how clean the driver side condenser is. I was testing to see if I had +12V where I expected it on the louver connectors. Sadly, I popped off the driver side sensor. It went back on with epoxy.
i like $5 fixes instead of $200 fixes, but I was skeptical if the cheap fix would hold up. It didn't. I didn't really expect it to, but the fin gear that i epoxied didn't hold up to the air pressure while driving. My epoxy fix just didn't hack the mission.
However... the $5 fix was well worth it because it proved the sub-system worked. When I had it back together, before going out on the road, everything else was working correctly. I had the mobile charger plugged in and going & the a/c was on in the car in the garage and the fins opened up together like I would have expected. So, that means that I know that the only problem is this busted fin gear. The ~$200 dollar new louver will fix the issue correctly and completely. Knowing that is worth the $5 and a weekend of tearing it apart.
Additionally.... some idiot has had this apart before. As I took this apart, I found missing screws, missing pop-nuts (or whatever they are called), mis-matched screws and bolts, wrong screws, an EXTRA screw that fell out of ?somewhere? that did not match any of the other hardware. Not to get too high on my soapbox but that kind of laziness and sloppiness irritates the **** out of me.
Also, if you read my thread about the trip it still gets me really spun-up that the Tesla service people did not see this when i had it in for service and asked them very specifically to check the car over for problems before the trip. They acted like they were patting a kindergartner on the head when they told me how smart the car was and that they checked the tire pressure for me.
I have a request in to Tesla parts to see how much the passenger louver is and when I can get it. At the Plano TX facility you have to send them an email to request a part. No response back so far after about 72 hours.
I found a few louvers on Fleabay and will probably pull the trigger on those soon since I have little confidence that I will hear back from Tesla.
I will update this thread when I get the part in and get it installed. It might be a couple of weekends until I do.
Hope you find this of some value.
Cheers,
BR
2015 Model S 85D with 51k miles
Side note: While I had the Model S all apart I called the local fire station and asked the fire crew if they had ever seen a Tesla and if they wanted a view of it and the couple of areas that are marked for firemen for rescue purposes. They jumped at the chance, so I had a good number of firemen in my garage that I was able to give my limited knowledge of the Model S to about the cut loop and the rear driver door cut area. They really had no idea about much of the car, so I thought it was a good outing for them to see it.
I outlined in a previous post how the passenger side louver was broken on the 85D here:
3000+ mile road trip in the 85D
I did not know about these louvers until after the near death of the 85D in the Mojave desert.
After I was home I found the driver side louver was always closed and the passenger side was hanging open and all busted up.
Driver side louver, I never saw it open before the tear-down.
The passenger side was hanging open and broken.
As a guide for removal of the fascia, I used this video primarily:
Tesla Model S bumper removal How To
Getting the S apart and putting it back together was fun but draining. Once I had the fascia off I was able to get to the louvers and clean up the radiators.
Since I did not want to remove the harness completely, I just swung the fascia around toward the passenger side. This was just before I cleaned out all of the bugs, but you can see how clean the driver side condenser is. I was testing to see if I had +12V where I expected it on the louver connectors. Sadly, I popped off the driver side sensor. It went back on with epoxy.
i like $5 fixes instead of $200 fixes, but I was skeptical if the cheap fix would hold up. It didn't. I didn't really expect it to, but the fin gear that i epoxied didn't hold up to the air pressure while driving. My epoxy fix just didn't hack the mission.
However... the $5 fix was well worth it because it proved the sub-system worked. When I had it back together, before going out on the road, everything else was working correctly. I had the mobile charger plugged in and going & the a/c was on in the car in the garage and the fins opened up together like I would have expected. So, that means that I know that the only problem is this busted fin gear. The ~$200 dollar new louver will fix the issue correctly and completely. Knowing that is worth the $5 and a weekend of tearing it apart.
Additionally.... some idiot has had this apart before. As I took this apart, I found missing screws, missing pop-nuts (or whatever they are called), mis-matched screws and bolts, wrong screws, an EXTRA screw that fell out of ?somewhere? that did not match any of the other hardware. Not to get too high on my soapbox but that kind of laziness and sloppiness irritates the **** out of me.
Also, if you read my thread about the trip it still gets me really spun-up that the Tesla service people did not see this when i had it in for service and asked them very specifically to check the car over for problems before the trip. They acted like they were patting a kindergartner on the head when they told me how smart the car was and that they checked the tire pressure for me.
I have a request in to Tesla parts to see how much the passenger louver is and when I can get it. At the Plano TX facility you have to send them an email to request a part. No response back so far after about 72 hours.
I found a few louvers on Fleabay and will probably pull the trigger on those soon since I have little confidence that I will hear back from Tesla.
I will update this thread when I get the part in and get it installed. It might be a couple of weekends until I do.
Hope you find this of some value.
Cheers,
BR
2015 Model S 85D with 51k miles
Side note: While I had the Model S all apart I called the local fire station and asked the fire crew if they had ever seen a Tesla and if they wanted a view of it and the couple of areas that are marked for firemen for rescue purposes. They jumped at the chance, so I had a good number of firemen in my garage that I was able to give my limited knowledge of the Model S to about the cut loop and the rear driver door cut area. They really had no idea about much of the car, so I thought it was a good outing for them to see it.
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