Noise coming from back seat battery vent

Did you buy new? What total miles does the car have? Or is 34k the total? Do you have dogs that sit on the back seat. Is the rear fan vent covered up by accident? Are you running the a/c hard? Does the noise sound like an old hairdryer? Or could it be the a/c compressor at the front? That can make a loud buzzing noise when on full. It is said it draws about 4kw from the 1.5 kwh battery. Mine buzzes even more when the a/c gas is low.

 

did they report specifically about the cleanliness of the fan? or just 'everything normal'? a lot of testing is done electronically, and not taken apart and visually inspected, which is time consuming and would unlikely be free.

 

if it concerns you, i would either diy it per the thread here, or take it to a mechanic willing to disassemble it with you looking on. i don't think there is anything else back there to make a hair dryer noise while you're driving. it could be that the fan is running at a higher speed than in the past which might indicate a warmer battery and potential problem going forward. keep in mind, dealers look fore trouble codes, they don't have time to try an diagnose a problem outside their computer parameters.

 

I'd invest in a cheap ling hemostat off of eBay or $5 from Harbor Freight and a thin powerful LED flashlight like those that you get free with a coupon from Harbor Freight.

Make sure the fan is off and regularly snag the hair and debris with the hemostat.

 

I really suspect the Las Vegas 110 degree heat is causing the fan to come on more often. You seem to just now seem to notice the fan more. If you are concerned about the dog hair, ask the dealer to do a "HV battery fan cleaning", shouldn't be more than 1 hours worth of labor. It has nothing to do with the vents, it's the actual fan itself. If dog hair collect on it, it will not function as well, thus maybe the reason why it's constantly on, louder because it's not working properly from dog hair. Just a guess though......

 

What a great dealer, definitely not your typical stealership type of operation.

 

If I were you I would stay with that dealer. He is a good one.

 

Be curious to see if they do find the fan clogged up with fur. If it was, then that's your problem. If it isn't, then hmmm maybe the heat.

 

If it's the fan, and they get it cleaned, trying putting some coarse weave filter material at the inlet, from now on. With a bit of wrenching you can tuck it in behind the grill, looks cleaner. Or on the outside. With a dog in the car there will be a lot of hair floating around.

 

I agree; it's the dog hair in the fan that needs to be cleaned.

 

I noticed when getting a gen 3 after having a gen2 that the gen2 has a tube going from the traction battery right to the 12v battery and pout of the car, on the gen 3 the tube is gone, now the spare tire area is included in the air circulation, and I noticed a lot more noise when driving, I put sound deadening around the spare and it's less noticeable, I like the hemostats to unclog the fan idea

 

Getting down to the fan yourself is a moderately easy DIY. The main issue is the $#%&*!! fasteners holding the hatch flooring to the top of the battery. Gentle prying with various trim piece type pry bars will get it off, hopefully without breakage. You can leave 75 % of them off at re-assembly, the floors still plenty secure. And when you get down to the fan, it's still tough to get it right out. I left it in and just looked at it (ours was clean). I think with tools like the above, plus some compressed air, you could clean it in-place.

 

The contrast between these two fans indicates the damage dog hair in the fan can do;

BEFORE


AFTER

 

give that dealer a shout out so others can enjoy being treated like a human being!