Dual Blower fan retrofit

[drewski]

I liked the idea of better IP rated fans and the reports of lower PEM & Motor Temps with the Dual Blower fan which was a warranty upgrade for cars in colder climates and paid upgrade elsewhere.

I couldn't source the parts from Tesla because my SC didn't try. This was the "dedicated Roadster SA" as indicated by the new Roadster specific service email

them: "If it's not on the upgrade webpage, it's not available. did you want the Battery 3.0? It's the only upgrade still available"
me: "It's there, but says 'Sold Out'"
them: "Oh, right"
me: "Berkeley got me a Roadster car cover, which isn't on the website any longer"
them: "Maybe you should talk to Berkeley about these other items"​

I found the fan and sway-bar on a Canadian parts Roadster posted on TMC.

I saw questions on the Eibach part number for the sway-bar and didn't see answers so here it is

​

Removing the bottom panel, you find a mix of rusted (10mm) and stainless (8mm) bolts. Whatever Tesla found at the hardware store?

The original fans have a short plastic "plenum" before connecting to the ductwork leading to the PEM & Motor. The new blowers don't have any plenum.

The fan lock nuts are 13mm. The sway bar bushings have 10mm bolts and the nuts at the end link are 17mm. These end nuts were very rusted and a PITA to remove.

One of the reducers to the ducting is rubber and the other is plastic with 4 studs in between. These need to be removed to install the new fan as there's no room because of the centrally located fan motor.

I used an oscillating tool. Make sure you have a blade rated for metal and touch up any scuffs / scratches in the paint as this part of the frame is steel.

I'm installing the JdeMO after this. The instructions say to remove the rubber & plastic reducers / manifolds to mount the JdeMO bulkhead and then refit them through the openings in the new bulkhead. I decided to do an install similar to @Stefan T and skipped that by chopping the JdeMO bulkhead into 3 pieces. We'll see if I regret this decision later!

The JdeMO parts act as the spacers under the sway-bar bushings so remove those before re-installing. Here's the final install of the fan and sway.

The blowers are smaller than the original in size, but because of the design (no plenum) they hang down a little lower so I will need to install some spacers where middle & rear bottom panels attach. This was part of the original upgrade where Tesla used what looked to be high density foam strips.

 

[ML Auto]

Isn't there a software upgrade needed when replacing the two fans with one? Since there are different warning codes for each of the two fans, I'm not sure what what is going to happen when the car unable to control them independently.

 

[drewski]

Isn't there a software upgrade needed when replacing the two fans with one? Since there are different warning codes for each of the two fans, I'm not sure what what is going to happen when the car unable to control them independently.

From what I was reading, it wasn't definitive on a firmware update needed or not.

Before I proceed with more JdeMO stuff, maybe I'll go for a spin and see what happens . . .

 

[gregd]

Besides the PEM firmware, also understand how the PEM connector gets wired. At one point, my car's 1146 errors were "traced" to a "wiring error" in that cable. No clue as to who did it, what the error was, or what the wiring needed to be. I'm guessing the two outputs are wired in parallel to feed the one motor, but that's just a guess.

Of course, the errors returned a year later, hence "traced" is in quotes...

 

[drewski]

No issues . . . yet . . .

I wonder if they forked the firmware for the dual blowers (2 versions needed to be updated depending on fan config), or any new / current FW version has code to work with either original or dual blowers.

 

[gregd]

No issues . . . yet . . .

I wonder if they forked the firmware for the dual blowers (2 versions needed to be updated depending on fan config), or any new / current FW version has code to work with either original or dual blowers.

I believe they should. Or if not forked, at least configured for the presence of the upgrade.

The reason is for when the PEM needs a lot of cooling, but the motor doesn't, or the reverse. I've seen both situations often. I expect (have not verified) that the old firmware would just pump out current to the one set of pins for the motor needing the juice. With the upgrade (and presuming that the upgrade wires both fan cables together at the PEM), there's just the one motor, so all the current for the now-larger motor will be pushing through a single set of contacts instead of being distributed over both. I expect that will quickly lead to burned contacts.

The firmware's behavior should be to drive both of the original motor ports at an equal level, splitting the load between the sets of pins. What it really does, however, is anyone's guess...

 

[Stefan T]

I think the upgrade is one of the reasons for the pin in the connector burns
it only let out power to one the pins depending on if it is the motor or the PEM that need cooling
and than over load the pin

 

[drewski]

I believe they should. Or if not forked, at least configured for the presence of the upgrade.

The reason is for when the PEM needs a lot of cooling, but the motor doesn't, or the reverse. I've seen both situations often. I expect (have not verified) that the old firmware would just pump out current to the one set of pins for the motor needing the juice. With the upgrade (and presuming that the upgrade wires both fan cables together at the PEM), there's just the one motor, so all the current for the now-larger motor will be pushing through a single set of contacts instead of being distributed over both. I expect that will quickly lead to burned contacts.

The firmware's behavior should be to drive both of the original motor ports at an equal level, splitting the load between the sets of pins. What it really does, however, is anyone's guess...

There's a Y-cable that wires the cables together at the fan, not at the PEM.

From a few threads on PEM connector issues and this dual blower set up, it didn't appear that the firmware splits the load because of the higher draw motor, but each connector powers as before which has increased connector failures with burned pins, as Stefan mentions.

 

[gregd]

 

[drewski]

View attachment 496047

I did find this doc.

Looks like I need to get an option changed in the firmware, but any firmware version after 4.5.2 works with both fan versions.

 

[gregd]

I did find this doc.

Looks like I need to get an option changed in the firmware, but any firmware version after 4.5.2 works with both fan versions.

Ok, that makes sense, and is good news. Now the problem will be getting access to that software tool, as it appears that this is not something one can configure from the VDS. The technician at my local SC said that most of the old Roadster tools are no longer available, even to them, so I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps your SC has better archives than mine.

 

[drewski]

Ok, that makes sense, and is good news. Now the problem will be getting access to that software tool, as it appears that this is not something one can configure from the VDS. The technician at my local SC said that most of the old Roadster tools are no longer available, even to them, so I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps your SC has better archives than mine.

I'll see what my local SC says.

I'm reasonably close to Fremont. You'd think they'd have the old tools?

 

[gregd]

I'll see what my local SC says.

I'm reasonably close to Fremont. You'd think they'd have the old tools?

Yeah, you'd hope so. The Tech basically said that when they upgraded all the systems and tools, the Roadster stuff wasn't ported forward. They are left with almost nothing Roadster-related, not even able to charge without Henry's CAN-SR adapter. At least they have one of those now (didn't for a few years).

So someone basically needs to find an old PC/laptop with a floppy drive that still works, the requisite cables, and of course the disks.

 

[drewski]

Berkeley SC says they can do this; they have the latest firmware disc

. . . but are not sure what to charge. They are checking with HQ, but guessed it would be 1hr labor (same as what they charge for new firmware update?) . . . $200!

To save money (aka recycle/reuse), I repurposed the high density foam I found around the lithium battery I took out to make room for the lower hanging fans

 

[DanielFriederich]

The Molex connector at the PEM (the very right one, 4 Pin) is known to get burned easily after the fan conversion. The 2 pairs of cabling are connected together at the connector at the fan motor. Inside the PEM on the PCB they are separated. After I went into a lot of trouble with a burned pin I exchanged the whole plug with one which can stand the drawn amps...

 

[drewski]

Sooo . . . I finally got my roadster under my name in the Tesla system (only took 4 months) and made an appointment to get this configuration flag updated for the dual blower part.

The SC didn't know what to charge so consulted with the mother ship.

They were originally thinking it would be the cost of a firmware update (1 hr labor), but they will need to "certify" the installation before changing the flag, which is basically charging me the labor for the installation which is just under $500!

DIY smackdown!

 

[X.l.r.8]

That’s robbery.

 

[drewski]

saved by the JdeMO!

so to "certify" they wanted to remove and re-install the fan and sway . . . to make sure i torqued them properly and charge me un-needed labor.

the JdeMO I have was in the way down there. so they said i needed to take my car, remove the JdeMO, bring it back and they would "certify" and I could re-install the JdeMO when done.

also, don't bring my car back to them (Berkeley SC) . . . bring it to Dublin SC since they are in the Roadster Service Center program.

at this point, i said it was all ridiculous, since they weren't going to offer any warranty for any of it for the cost and PITA process.

the service advisor said they discussed with the Regional Service Manager who was in town yesterday and this is what they were told.

i asked for the Regional Manager to contact me, which he did a couple of hours later.

i described the situation, why i installed the parts myself, instead of having the SC do it and what exactly was involved (R&R a dozen bolts / nuts). he told me the situation wasn't exactly what he had been told earlier and would check in with the Berkeley SC this morning.

i got an email from the Service Advisor this afternoon saying if I signed a Release of Liability form they would change the configuration flag without touching the installed parts and not go through this "certification" process . . . and i wouldn't have to go to Dublin SC to have this done.

ahh, the joys of Roadster Ownership with Tesla's "improved service"!!

all's well, that ends well?

 

[gregd]

Very interesting! Yes, good outcome.

Question: What are the borders of the "regions" they speak of? I am north-east of the Rocklin SC, and wonder if Rocklin is in the same region as Dublin (they are about 100 miles apart). I.e., do they have the same "regional manager"?

I wasn't aware of this escalation path. It would have been handy a few times over the past few years, where they had to defer to "the factory". Looks like we may have an advocate somewhat closer to home.

 

[drewski]

Very interesting! Yes, good outcome.

Question: What are the borders of the "regions" they speak of? I am north-east of the Rocklin SC, and wonder if Rocklin is in the same region as Dublin (they are about 100 miles apart). I.e., do they have the same "regional manager"?

I wasn't aware of this escalation path. It would have been handy a few times over the past few years, where they had to defer to "the factory". Looks like we may have an advocate somewhat closer to home.

he said he covered "Northern California" i'm not sure which SC that covers exactly.

i do have his name & phone #. i can PM that to you.

also, i'm wondering if this Config Flag setting is what needed to be changed when you were having 1146 errors when you first had this done?

i remember a post where the ranger or tech said some "wiring harness" issue, or something like that, but the cable looks like a pretty simple Y.

it's probably too early to tell, but i've had a bunch of #1146 errors on every drive since i installed this and didn't have any on the drive back from the SC