0543 is not feeling well...

[ML Auto]

It sounds like the cooling hose from the fan fell off the bottom of the PEM. Its only secured with a cable tie. If that is the case, whoever did the service should be paying for the repair and for your hassle.

 

[skadax]

Update, just got home from work.

View attachment 242392

Battery temps seem normal considering (as @thefortunes mentioned) ambient temps have been 90-100F lately.

Texas is totally messed up when in comes to Tesla because our dealer lobby is so insanely tied into state law. I spoke with one of the service managers at the Dallas SC at length about this. There is a mile of red tape around them servicing a vehicle since it is illegal for them to sell vehicles in TX so I am not mad at them for this whole "owner on record" thing. It is a terrible situation for both me as a customer and them as a service center, but it is one we must live with for now. They are going to try to expedite updating the records to only 2 business days.

The service manager is well versed in Roadsters and when I gave him all the info he said it seems clear that the fan's continuous running is neither helping nor hurting anything. It's obviously not working at cooling the PEM but it probably isn't causing the heat either and it would take a week minimum for the fans to take my battery anywhere near a depleted state. I'm tired of listening to them so I went ahead and inhibited APS. Going to watch temps closely to make sure this doesn't have an adverse affect on things.

Not much else to say or do for now, I'm guessing I won't be getting into the SC until Tuesday at the earliest. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, especially @DeedWest for taking my call and offering some advice and @thefortunes for jumping in so quickly and being the logical voice that states the obvious "call and ask for a roadster tech doofus" (not what he said but that's what I got from it and I appreciate it! haha). I will keep posting as things happen.

For what it's worth it took Tesla 2+ years to update their owner record with my roadster which I bought certified pre-owned directly through them! I know this may be unusually long but they did service my car all along. I just had to explain every time that I was indeed the true new owner.

As others have noted this does sound like an issue of something having happened during the last service like the cooling duct, and they should take care of this for you. Keep us posted.

 

[hcsharp]

It sounds like the cooling hose from the fan fell off the bottom of the PEM. Its only secured with a cable tie. If that is the case, whoever did the service should be paying for the repair and for your hassle.

I was gonna suggest the same thing. I've also had Tesla clean and replace the PEM without connecting the fan manifold box to the bottom of the PEM. The tech in that case thought of it at the last minute and reached under and snapped it into place. This is a good possibility if it was just serviced.

 

[hsull8915]

Quick update. Props to customer service for pushing the transfer through a little faster than originally promised. Towed her in today. Hate to leave it here, but feeling very grateful that the Dallas SC has given me an S to drive.

Apparently the whole SC is in CA for training so they are running on a hodgepodge crew from Austin and Houston this week. They were super nice, but he was very candid that my car is going to be here a while.

Regular crew returns Monday so probably no more updates until then. Bye for now 0543

 

[hsull8915]

Got some frustrating updates from the SC today... "PEM will need to be replaced along with the fan for the PEM." I requested a call and about 5 hours later got one from the Advisor and Technician. I'll spare you all the back and forth but here's the essentials of the conversation:

The technician told me that "the PEM was cooked from overheating."
When I asked for some greater detail on what actually failed he said, "well, it won't pass any power through or take a charge."
::sigh::

Ok, so what caused the failure? "I don't know, walk me through what happened." I explained what happened and he replied, "must have been a charging issue." Right, but I told you I wasn't charging yet because it's on a timer...
this is where I started getting noticeably frustrated.

So, did the fans fail? "No, it's running but not adequately cooling. You have the old setup where you have two fans, one for the PEM and one for the Motor. That's why we included it for replacement, the upgrade is one big fan that does both so this doesn't happen again." This is completely contrary to what I understand to be the truth but instead of arguing I ask how long he's been with that service center and how many roadsters he has diagnosed. "2 years with Tesla, I don't work at this SC I am filling in, and a few roadsters."

At that point I just shut the whole thing down. I told them not to order any parts, and that I wanted a second opinion from the tech and service manager that @DeedWest recommended to me (and that I asked for to begin with, but they are in CA doing training).

If this sounds like anything less than complete incompetence and throwing parts at a problem they don't understand to someone here, please let me know.

 

[ion_1]

Very sorry to hear about your PEM issues, many of us are on our second one.
Regarding the fan, the upgrade is a single centrally mounted motor with two cage fans
located to the left and right of the motor. This was the upgrade on my car after the PEM was toasted.
with the previous owner. My car went through two sets of the old style fans before that.
(I'm not saying your PEM is toast, there may be other explanations which I am sure others will suggest).

With the fan upgrade I can push (highway/backroads) the car in high humidity, 102 degree ambient followed by being stopped in traffic. I have yet to ever see the PEM enter the yellow zone. Fan seems decent, it may be worth the cost,
especially in Texas. It's loud, but lovely to hear...

Hope the issue with the PEM turns out to be something minor.

 

[ion_1]

I reread your post, it seems that you allude to he fact that you do already have the upgrade in #543 and the tech may be mistaken. That would be great!

 

[hsull8915]

Very sorry to hear about your PEM issues, many of us are on our second one.
Regarding the fan, the upgrade is a single centrally mounted motor with two cage fans
located to the left and right of the motor. This was the upgrade on my car after the PEM was toasted.
with the previous owner. My car went through two sets of the old style fans before that.
(I'm not saying your PEM is toast, there may be other explanations which I am sure others will suggest).

With the fan upgrade I can push (highway/backroads) the car in high humidity, 102 degree ambient followed by being stopped in traffic. I have yet to ever see the PEM enter the yellow zone. Fan seems decent, it may be worth the cost,
especially in Texas. It's loud, but lovely to hear...

Hope the issue with the PEM turns out to be something minor.

Thank you for the reply ion! You are getting at something that is important to me.

I wrote that post for two reasons, one was to vent (so thank you everyone for giving me a platform to do so). The other was to verify my understanding of the fan upgrade. I was under the impression that a single fan assembly was the original design and that the two separate fans, one for the PEM and one for the Motor, was the upgraded design. That was a key point for me in determining whether that technician really knew much about Roadsters, can someone else please verify in greater detail? Thanks everyone for your support and contributions!

 

[ion_1]

The original was two separate fans, the upgrade was a centrally mounted motor with 2 fan cages run in tandem (I know, the upgrade may not sound logical). Here's a picture. Cage fans on either side of the centrally mounted motor which drives them and the associated roll bar. Hope this is helpful :

 

[hsull8915]

The original was two separate fans, the upgrade was a centrally mounted motor with 2 fan cages run in tandem (I know, the upgrade may not sound logical). Here's a picture. Cage fans on either side of the centrally mounted motor which drives them and the associated roll bar. Hope this is helpful :

View attachment 243620

Thanks again Ion! That is definitely not what 543 currently has. I was under there looking at it last week and it was two distinctly separate units. I am completely fine with paying for the fan upgrade if it means I get better cooling, especially in TX summers.

Still hoping that they can diagnose and fix the PEM rather than just replace it. We shall see.

 

[Roadster]

How much modification, if any, is needed to convert the separate fans to the dual unit? Looks like SPAL sells Double Wheel units direct-to-consumer here so perhaps that's one item you can DIY? Though... knowing TM, it's probably a custom item, right? @ion_1 do you have the P/N?

 

[Jonathanm]

If I remember correctly doesn't the sway bar have to be changed for different shaped fan motor housing?

 

[DeedWest]

Great to see some clarification regarding the standard fan and upgraded fan setup. From what it sounded like, the technician had the descriptions backward, but perhaps he didn't.

Now you've all got me wondering if I have the dual fan setup...

I know it's beating a dead horse, but THIS is the type of retrofit I feel should (have) been offered for free by TM.

 

[ion_1]

How much modification, if any, is needed to convert the separate fans to the dual unit? Looks like SPAL sells Double Wheel units direct-to-consumer here so perhaps that's one item you can DIY? Though... knowing TM, it's probably a custom item, right? @ion_1 do you have the P/N?

I believe it is:
ASY,BLOWER FAN,SINGLE UNIT MOTOR
PEM (1003208-00-A)

based on the repair ticket I have.

 

[ion_1]

If I remember correctly doesn't the sway bar have to be changed for different shaped fan motor housing?

This is correct, new roll bar. There is a much earlier thread with pictures and description of the install. I will check for it later tonight if someone doesn't post the link by then.

 

[ion_1]

Great to see some clarification regarding the standard fan and upgraded fan setup. From what it sounded like, the technician had the descriptions backward, but perhaps he didn't.

Now you've all got me wondering if I have the dual fan setup...

I know it's beating a dead horse, but THIS is the type of retrofit I feel should (have) been offered for free by TM.

I believe if you were under warranty and had a chronic heat issue it was offered for free. But just as with peeling headlights, etc, after warranty you may have to pay for it. I was impressed that Tesla went through the engineering and developed the upgrade,
it was a good one.

There was also a fan shroud upgrade that helps direct the HVAC cooling fans over the condensers.

 

[gregd]

There were always two fans, but they went from two small motors driving them independently to one larger motor driving them both. That increased the net air volume, but (warning!) the increased current load is pushing the PEM's fan connector contacts to (or beyond?) their limits. Make sure that connector is well seated, and that the contacts are firm and clean.

I'm on my second PEM because that connector failed, though fortunately, the PEM itself didn't fry. Replacing the PEM with a used / refurbished one, and new connector pins on the wiring harness was the fix. Mostly, I only paid for labor, as I think my car was the debug car for the root analysis. If you start getting 1144 or 1146 errors, that's where to look.

 

[ion_1]

This is correct, new roll bar. There is a much earlier thread with pictures and description of the install. I will check for it later tonight if someone doesn't post the link by then.

Ok, here is the nice post and pics from @cinergi
in PEM, motor gets too hot -- fans failed

there are nice pics of the two smaller original fans vs the single motor tandem cage fans of the new unit.
Also you can see the modified roll bar and the entire box shroud
.

 

[Stefan T]

Spal 014-AP74/LL-22 is the part number on the fan

 

[Roadster]

Yup, that it! Some better stock photos below pulled from here.