Hi,
You can diagnose this quite easily. The same thing happened to me. Car was at an accident repair centre and it was sitting for a good while, so that must’ve played a part.
To diagnose, you’ll need to enter the service menu. Follow some instructions on how to get into that.
You’ll then be able to see the diagnostic fault codes, which includes current and historic ones. This is really helpful for intermittent warnings, as it leaves a log.
When you find the one that reflects your warning, it’ll look something similar to the attached image.
For me, this issue was due to low oil from a leaking filter. The warning was “gearbox service recommended”, or something like that.
The warning on the service menu mentioned the oil pump, which threw me a bit and made me think the problem was bigger than it was. But, when you look into the description the fault gives, you’ll see that it actually mentions low oil, which made sense.
This warning reduces the power to the motor and limits the speed. If you keep ignoring the warning, the motor will overheat and it will stop completely. This happened to me last week.
I removed the rear tray and found that indeed, the filter was leaking. My car is 2021 SR+, with 69,000 miles.
Removing the oil filter showed jet black oil, so clearly the power train has been heating up. I didn’t remove the oil pump, as it was fine. Really, I should’ve removed that too and drained all of the oil as it’s only 2 bolts, but I didn’t want to risk damaging the o-ring in the removal process and not having another to replace it with with. It wasn’t leaking so it stayed put!
New filter on, then topped up with oil.
Tesla want you to use KAF1. That’s crap. They want you to use it because nobody sells it and the dealer won’t supply you with it either. So they can stick their KAF1 up their arse.
Most Tesla’s were supplied with Dexron 6 (that I used), or Pentosin 9. I couldn’t see a whole great deal of difference with either, but I believe Pentosin is designed to last longer.
Having said that, after 69,000 miles, the Pentosin hasn’t really lasted well, so using Dexron isn’t going to be any worse. So that’s what I went for.
If you take the oil pump and filter out, then use compressed air on the filler to blow out residue oil. When you refill, it’ll take a little over 2L. If you’re a normal person and don’t have compressed are at home, then just wait for the oil to stop dropping, use some blue roll to wipe the inside of the housing clean and then reinstall.
I topped up until it spilled out. It took about 1L. If you’re going to remove both pump and filter, it’ll take just over 2L.
I test drove the car with everything buttoned back up, but I left the under tray off until I was finished. Made a quick trip down the motorway and back to make sure the warning didn’t come back, looked underneath to check for any new oil then put the tray back on.
Has worked a treat for me, so give this a try.
Tesla wanted £350 to do this for me. I laughed.
I purchased the filter for £14 and spent £18 for 1L of Dexron 6.
Took me around 30 minutes from rolling the car on wheel ramps to test driving, so not a long job at all.
Hope this helps!
If your car still has basic warranty, this will be free. Give it to them to do. If it doesn’t, save the money and do it yourself. £30 and half an hour’s graft is better than £350.
Have fun!
