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0543 is not feeling well...

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Got home from a glorious commute last night (rained yesterday in North TX so the temperature was down to 80!) and plugged in as normal. I have a charge timer so that the fans don't drive my wife crazy while having dinner etc. so it wasn't charging yet.

I convinced her to go on a ride (big accomplishment, she does not like small cars lol) and when we went into the garage I realized the fans were running full blast and the charge port was flashing red. Low and behold, the PEM overheated and now the car won't do anything. After cooling the PEM down, the error codes have been reduced to:

915: Powertrain Problem Restart When Safe
920: Charging Problem
1141: Powertrain Problem Service Required

I called the Dallas Service Center, "Call Roadside."
Called Roadside, "Call customer service" (owned the car less than a week, not the owner on record)
SO now my beautiful Radiant Red Roadster gets to sit lifeless in my garage for 3-5 business days while they update records.

Anyway, if anyone has suggestions of anything that I should be doing/trying in the meantime (or perhaps something I did wrong or should have done to prevent this) they would be greatly appreciated. I will keep you posted on what happens.
 
I doubt anyone can make use of any of this but FWIW here's the sequence of events according to debug mode

8/17 10:10pm: 1087 - DMC FW: Line Current or Voltage Offset Too Large warning

8/17 10:15pm: 1121 - DMC FW: PCS Current Offset Too Large warning
8/17 10:15pm: 1061 - DMC FW: Line OverCurrent warning

8/17 11:29pm: 915 - DMC HW: PhaseC Bias UnderVoltage fault
8/17 11:29pm: 911 - DMC HW: PhaseB Bias UnderVoltage fault
8/17 11:29pm: 907 - DMC HW: PhaseA Bias UnderVoltage fault
8/17 11:29pm: 903 - DMC HW: PhaseC OverCurrent fault
8/17 11:29pm: 902 - DMC HW: PhaseB OverCurrent fault
8/17 11:29pm: 901 - DMC HW: PhaseA OverCurrent fault
8/17 11:29pm: 920 - DMC HW: Line OverCurrent fault

8/18 7:04am: 1141 - DMC FW: Pole Power
8/18 8:38am: 933 - DMC FW: Line OverCurrent Fault (This one just keeps refreshing)


Bums me out because it looks as if I could have maybe avoided the fault if I would have realized something was wrong and unplugged between 10:10pm and 11:29pm...
 
You mentioned this is a new roadster ... and from your logs it might be a problem with the charger (as opposed to the car). Have you tried to reduce the charging current? Dial it way down to 8A or so and see what happens. You might also want to watch the VDS screen when it starts charging to see what the voltage is (it's displayed in lower corner while charging). Might just be a problem with your power lines.
Sorry to hear about your problems.
dan.
 
You mentioned this is a new roadster ... and from your logs it might be a problem with the charger (as opposed to the car). Have you tried to reduce the charging current? Dial it way down to 8A or so and see what happens. You might also want to watch the VDS screen when it starts charging to see what the voltage is (it's displayed in lower corner while charging). Might just be a problem with your power lines.
Sorry to hear about your problems.
dan.

Hey Dan, appreciate the suggestion and condolences! That would certainly be good news if this is a charger setup issue and did not harm the car but the pit in my stomach says that is not the case. I had the current dialed down to 24a to accommodate the plug we already had for our Nissan LEAF. I just tried dialing it all the way down (seems that 12a is the lowest it will go) just to see if it would even entertain the idea of charging, but at this point it won't do anything. I guess that is because it is in Fault mode?

Fans are still running, presumably to continue cooling the PEM which is currently sitting at 59 degrees C. Fortunately I am just above 50% charge so I'm hoping the fans won't be able to deplete the battery over the next few days. I hate that I have to wait on the transfer of ownership to get Tesla to do anything, but nothing I can do about that I suppose.
 
New cause for concern... PEM temp is now up from 59C this morning to 61C... How is this thing getting hotter with the fans running all night and morning?

IMG_1273.JPG

@DeedWest and I are wondering if the car is somehow heating itself up and if I should do something before I leave for work (like inhibit APS?) instead of letting it sit here and cook itself... Thoughts please? :(
 
Sounds to me like you may have some blockage(s) in the PEM or ducts between the fans and PEM.

I don't know if @DeedWest has done his own PEM cleaning, but if I were you I would probably pull the PEM to cool it myself via compressed air while blowing out the fans and ducts.

This is a good thread DIY: Roadster 2.5 PEM cleaning - step by step to follow. It is fairly easy but a little time consuming (especially the first time).
 
@hsull8915 I am surprised the ownership transfer is holding up your ability to get service. It took me more than 4 months from time of purchase to get Tesla to recognize me as owner because the seller took that long to get us the car's title and Tesla won't add it to your "My Tesla" page without the title in your name. In the meantime though I had no problem taking it to my Tesla service center and getting it serviced. The first thing I did after purchase was get an "annual service" to make sure everything was in working order since it had not been serviced while it was for sale (or sitting waiting to be for sale) for more than 1 year. I recommend you call your local service center right away and arrange to either drive it there if the car drives or have it towed. From your garage pic and posts it looks like this is your first Tesla so you likely do not know your service advisor yet -- get to know them, they will be your main contact for all questions and problems. Unless this is under warranty by Tesla, you will have to pay for service yourself anyway, so it shouldn't matter that Tesla recognize you as the owner.
 
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If the battery is not overheated (requiring the pump to run to keep things stable), can't you just unplug the car and let it cool down on its own? My car's never gotten that hot, but I think the fans only run if the battery is hot, not the motor or PEM, when the car is unplugged and left alone (doors closed, etc) to go to sleep.
 
Hmm... and battery 36°C after sitting in the garage without charging.... something must drawing a lot of power. Or the measurements are simply wrong. Is the PEM and ESS feeling warm if you touch it?
Battery at 36C in Texas may not be unreasonable as it would cool VERY slowly (since ambient temp is probably above 30C).

IIRC the HVAC will not kick on for battery cooling until battery temp hits 40C.
 
I agree with Viv, there's no reason you can't get service. You've been driving this car a week presumably with insurance, registration, and potentially pink slip (title)... you can prove you are the owner, and your service money is green.

Some other things to try while waiting to get to service or a roadster tech on the phone:

- cycle the charge port door -> open and close ~12 (?) times to reset VDS and potentially other items
- with trunk open, place several frozen gel packs (or ice bags w/beach towel) directly on top of PEM for brute-force cooling without getting water everywhere
- air con the garage (open door to house?)
- use a separate box fan to blow over/under the back of the car
 
@hsull8915 I am surprised the ownership transfer is holding up your ability to get service. It took me more than 4 months from time of purchase to get Tesla to recognize me as owner because the seller took that long to get us the car's title and Tesla won't add it to your "My Tesla" page without the title in your name. In the meantime though I had no problem taking it to my Tesla service center and getting it serviced. The first thing I did after purchase was get an "annual service" to make sure everything was in working order since it had not been serviced while it was for sale (or sitting waiting to be for sale) for more than 1 year. I recommend you call your local service center right away and arrange to either drive it there if the car drives or have it towed. From your garage pic and posts it looks like this is your first Tesla so you likely do not know your service advisor yet -- get to know them, they will be your main contact for all questions and problems. Unless this is under warranty by Tesla, you will have to pay for service yourself anyway, so it shouldn't matter that Tesla recognize you as the owner.
I had a similar situation when I sold my Model S. Due to governments being crap, it was 39 days from day of sale til update of the records of ownership at Tesla. I surely hope the buyer didn't have any issues getting service during that time, and if I was a buyer, I wouldn't put up with that being an excuse not to get service if the only allowed shop would refuse to repair my car because of government paperwork being slow. I'd find a way around it. (Limited power of attorney, etc. come to mind.)
 
Update, just got home from work.

IMG_1275.JPG

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.
 
Some other things to try while waiting to get to service or a roadster tech on the phone:

- cycle the charge port door -> open and close ~12 (?) times to reset VDS and potentially other items
- with trunk open, place several frozen gel packs (or ice bags w/beach towel) directly on top of PEM for brute-force cooling without getting water everywhere
- air con the garage (open door to house?)
- use a separate box fan to blow over/under the back of the car

I already had a box fan on it but did not think to air con the garage. Both of our cars are EVs so no harm in leaving the door to the house open. Did that overnight along with leaving APS inhibited to kill the fans and when I got up this morning essentially no changes. Temps are at M - 32C, PEM - 56C, Batt - 33C. I still just don't see how the PEM is holding so much heat but at least it's out of the yellow now.

I agree with @thefortunes . I recall this happening to my car and the PEM needed a good cleaning...

Many have suggested the PEM needing cleaning (including the service manager I spoke with) but the annual service was just done a week ago. Is it possible to have sucked up some leaves or something that would cause a blockage immediately?
 
That would be unusual. One would assume they cleaned the PEM but I would double check on that. The other possibility is that when they cleaned the PEM they loosened one of the cables that connects to the PEM so that it is not working properly. I'm not a mechanic but I do think that can happen!
 
Edit to previous update:
Reset the VDS and temps updated to M 27C, PEM 41C, B 32C. Maybe since APS was inhibited it couldn't update? I don't know if that's how that works, but either way that's much improved.

So, new question for the group. When this whole thing started the other night with a "System too hot, shutting down" message I popped the trunk and put my hand on both surfaces in front of the storage space just out of curiosity. Neither was anything more than warm to the touch, it certainly was not burning hot. I never thought anymore of it but now after that reset showed a huge drop in temp, I'm wondering if maybe these readings have been inaccurate the whole time and that's why I've had blasting fans with supposedly no decrease in PEM temp. Does anyone have experience with a PEM at 60C+ and know if it should have been hot to the touch?

Not that it makes much of a difference I suppose, it's faulted so my only choice is to have it towed to the SC but just wondering. Thanks again for all the support folks, you all are the best!
 
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I'm sorry to hear about all this and I hope you can get it in for service soon.

It does sound like you need a PEM cleaning. Maybe also check the coolant level? I think about a year or two ago I noticed via OVMS my battery was not cooling. It turned out the battery coolant level was low due to a cracked reservoir and leak in the tubing. Tesla replaced both under Goodwill and it solved my issue.

I'm not saying that's the case here, but just something to consider.

Good luck and I hope this is fixed soon!