Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

“Unable to charge - Service required”

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hi guys,

I picked my model 3 up in March, and other than minor issues it’s been the best car I’ve had. This morning though, I got in the car. My commute is 2.5 miles, so I don’t charge every night. The battery was sat at 39% last night. Plan was to charge tonight when I’m home.

Other than charging every few nights I think I’ve used superchargers 3-4 times so not a regular user at all.

anyway, I got in the car to this error. Tried a reset. nothing.

I wasn’t able to try out the charger as I was running late for my 12 hour shift. Anyone ever experienced this and how likely is this going to be a headache? I can’t get to the SC tomorrow, even if they can get me in. Thankfully with 37% I should be good getting to work tomorrow then onto the SC Tuesday without charging.
CA755B73-84B5-4AB6-80AF-D706D4655468.jpeg
 
Shame. Well, raise a service call and with any luck they’ll login to the car remotely to diagnose it for you before having to goto the service centre. You could also try the roadside assistance number to get a quick diagnosis.
Didn’t think of roadside assistance. Might try them now. I’ve managed to get a mobile appointment Wednesday. The next appointment at Leeds SC is Friday, but I don’t think I can wait that long without having it looked at. See what Wednesday brings.
 
Have a look here... Not charging! **FIXED**

If you are getting these warnings when the car is not plugged in, its most probably the cause.

If you phone roadside all they can see is that there is an issue between the charging port and the charger and tell you to try another charger.

that’s right, it came up without anything plugged in. The car hasn’t been plugged in for around 3-4 days. Never ‘greased’ or left the charger socket exposed. Didn’t even realise greasing was a thing :confused: I’ll try my charger when I’m home. It’s sleeping for at least 10 hours now so see if that rectified it too
 
that’s right, it came up without anything plugged in. The car hasn’t been plugged in for around 3-4 days. Never ‘greased’ or left the charger socket exposed. Didn’t even realise greasing was a thing :confused: I’ll try my charger when I’m home. It’s sleeping for at least 10 hours now so see if that rectified it too

Read the whole thread so that you can get an understanding. the fix is in there. It will take you the best part of not even two minutes to sort. Just make sure the base of the seat is pushed well back (kind of tucked under the upright side/back rest) otherwise it won't lign up with the locking tabs as to lock it in when you are finished. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Smog
Read the whole thread so that you can get an understanding. the fix is in there. It will take you the best part of not even two minutes to sort. Just make sure the base of the seat is pushed well back (kind of tucked under the upright side/back rest) otherwise it won't lign up with the locking tabs as to lock it in when you are finished. :)
Ahhh I’ve just managed to watch the video with a few spare minutes. I’ll give this a try tonight and see where I get ( as long as the Yorkshire rain doesn’t get in the way). I’ll still keep my mobile technician booked in though as a backup
 
Ahhh I’ve just managed to watch the video with a few spare minutes. I’ll give this a try tonight and see where I get ( as long as the Yorkshire rain doesn’t get in the way). I’ll still keep my mobile technician booked in though as a backup

BTW. Dont do this with the charger plugged in (thats how i did it). When you open the car you will see that the screen comes alive and if you still have this fault it will be displaying... Just pop open the rear seat and maybe just by gently wriggling/pushing down on the connector, the message will come and go as you look at the screen. Just unplug the connector, examine the pins for anything abnormal and plug it back in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Smog
BTW. Dont do this with the charger plugged in (thats how i did it). When you open the car you will see that the screen comes alive and if you still have this fault it will be displaying... Just pop open the rear seat and maybe just by gently wriggling/pushing down on the connector, the message will come and go as you look at the screen. Just unplug the connector, examine the pins for anything abnormal and plug it back in.

thanks for that! Home around 5ish so will give it a go tonight and see how I get on
 
Obviously there is a module in the port itself and the car is not communicating with it appropriately, there for also breaking communication as for demand for the cager when plugged in. In this state, the charger detects that it plugged into the car, just that there is no demand to supply.

Obviously there is still ways to go as far as connecting an obd scan tool or in this case, Tesla remotely connect to the car to the same effect as to read faults. Ideally, it should tell them that there is no communication to the port but instead, they will telly you have a problem with your charger (even though you haven't plugged it in and you've tried both the wall charger and the granny charger)... I was on the phone for ages trying to explain this and that the odds of both chargers failing at the same time is very slim (unless of course there is something wrong with the car)

This takes me back a bit to where Ford diagnosed a bad turbo (I was adamant that this wasn't the case but reluctantly replaced it not through them with a used unit)... the car was 24k miles and 4 years old. Fault in the end was the wring loom. On hindsight I should of just let them get on with it as it still cost me about the same as the new turbo and more grief.

My brother also had a bad turbo diagnosed and fitted from VW at the expense of a cracked injector :confused:
 
UPDATE:

So after my 12 hour shift, despite two soft restarts not solving the issue, after sleeping for 12 hours it vanished.

I got home, plugged her in, and without trouble charged to 80%.

I left the appointment I’d scheduled to see how it went today. This morning I got a text saying the part was ordered around 09:30, and then 45 mins later got a text saying that following further diagnostician they can see the fault had self resolved.

I called Stockport (where the appointment was) and Alan was fantastic. Explained the error auto-ordered a new ECU for the charger, but now it resolved the visits wasn’t necessary unless I really wanted to attend to have it looked at.
I said how I need my car this/next week so I’ll monitor then call/text them back with any issues.

even though it self resolved, service support was excellent to say the least.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roy W. and tess19
I'm not a fan of faults that fix themselves.
True words, but at the minute I’m flat out with work and can only make appointments in between night shifts. I’m not in a position to leave the car for a few days to be inspected if no fault indicated or obvious fix to be made. #spoiler alert# I was told to expect a recall anyway within the next week or so, see my other thread for details

Il echo that.

Albeit the op should of noticed the warning on the screen gone before plugging the charger in. None the less, its a card to keep on your sleeve next time it happens if it does...a bad connection is prone to arc and weld/heal itself...

the error was not when I plugged in/charged. It came up when the car had slept for 10 hours, without a charge or connector. I drove 3 miles, then it slept again and resolved. At no point did I open/use the charger to create or resolve the error