Can anyone provide feedback on the extended service plan 057 Tech offers? I love the idea of it and I can’t find anything negative about the company. Only issue I have is I have been trying to get in touch with them for a week now by calling and leaving couple of online contact tickets with no luck. If it wasn’t for that, I would have already pulled the trigger. I only want feedback from those that have dealt with the company personally and not just what you heard. Thanks, and I look forward just hearting from you!
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057 Technology extended service plan
- Thread starter Stormy7
- Start date
We've been pretty swamped on the phone side and haven't been able to keep up at some times during the day lately. Our phone staff ends up on calls from open to close. Although, I'm not sure why you wouldn't have gotten a response to a support ticket, though, unless it was somehow flagged as spam. We've been pretty well caught up there.
Feel free to DM me your ticket # and I'll have someone look into it.
Feel free to DM me your ticket # and I'll have someone look into it.
Thank you! I’m new to all this and couldn’t figure out how to DM you before or I would have. Let me dig a little deeper. Appreciate the response!
@wk057 Do you guys have any operations in bay area? My 2012 Tesla Model S P85 threw a bms_u018 error and Tesla says they need to replace the HV battery pack and sent a quote for a remanufactured pack. No info on what went wrong. Just last year, after an OTA update overnight, the car threw multiple warnings in the next day when I tried to head to work, and I had to get the car towed to Tesla Fremont SC. They said RDU had to be replaced (out of warranty). Now 11 months later, I'm sitting on another huge repair quote for battery pack replacement. Oh, I have just 69k miles on the odo.
We do not, and I have a post somewhere around here where I ranted about why we don't and probably never will...
We can usually beat Tesla's pricing, even when factoring in cross-country two-way transport... but not always.
Tesla's refurbished packs are reasonably priced, but I've found them to be unreliable long term in a lot of cases, unfortunately.
We can usually beat Tesla's pricing, even when factoring in cross-country two-way transport... but not always.
Tesla's refurbished packs are reasonably priced, but I've found them to be unreliable long term in a lot of cases, unfortunately.
Thanks. I can't spend that kind of money right now even on reman, let alone a new one. I spent $10k just 10 months ago for RDU replacement and infotainment upgrade. Right now charging stops at 90 miles, I will live with it for a while until I'm able to afford a replacement. Just hoping and praying that the car doesn't stop charging.
Question: Will doing a full factory reset brick the car?
The issue will get progressively worse, and could completely stop working anytime (could be days, could be months). Any time I talk to someone with one of the "Maximum Charge Level Reduced" messages, my suggestion is always to just use whatever remaining drivability the car has to get it to where it can be repaired, be that driving to a service center or loading on a car hauler to us... because once it stops driving (and it will stop driving at some point), pretty much all costs go up (towing and other handling required to deal with an inoperable car).
Unfortunately.
There's usually two reasons for these errors: A real CAC/SoC imbalance (from one or more truly degraded cell groups) or a perceived CAC/SoC imbalance (from faulty hardware). Both are usually due to water/moisture ingress causing corrosion, and the former is actually more common (as in, unrepairable).
In both cases, the BMS attempts to use what information it does have available from sources it believes are OK (ie, sense wires that don't appear to be corroded or have higher than expected resistances). It can then estimate the actual values for the groups it doesn't have clear data for and uses this as a secondary data point with a high safety margin (by reducing the maximum charge level allowed).
It will still always have to accept if either data point suggests a major fault, however. For example, once a corroded sense line finally completely dislodges, the BMS will get very sporadic readings and it has no way to be 100% sure it's safe to ignore these readings and must shutdown the car for safety.
When a cell group has a reading error, the alternate methods are used to estimate its value based on other available data. However, these methods introduce an inherent error by nature of their calculations which increases as the severity of the actual error grows. This error eventually compounds exponentially over time, causing the estimated value to deviate further and further from the true value as the actual true value deviates further from the rest of the pack. This is worse still, since the BMS can not apply any corrective action, like balancing, to a group when estimating since that mechanism may or may not cause further issues. At some point, the estimate will become so inaccurate that it falls outside the acceptable safety margin range, resulting in a maximum allowed charge of zero.
Usually this will be accompanied by additional errors once the car decides to shutdown. There won't be any warning prior, however.
So yes, in short, it is temporary. In older firmware (maybe pre-2018-ish) the car would have already shutdown entirely. This is really a limp-to-get-it-fixed mode of a sort and should be used for that purpose.
I'm too distressed to learn all these details. Wish I'd known and researched about this online. I understand battery packs could go wrong no matter how low the miles are, but it's too hard for me to believe that something like an RDU can magically fail after an OTA update at 63k miles and couple of months after warranty expired and I have to spend $8k out of pocket. My understanding is RDU & battery packs are the most expensive major parts in Tesla and both are supposedly last for few hundred thousand miles. I also understand that batteries degrade over time, even if the car is not being used that much. But RDU?
I'm using the level 2 by chargepoint at work to charge the car which stops at 90 miles. Tesla service said in their text message that "the BMS detected one or several cells that exhibit a weak short pattern". They also said that the quote is for the exact 85kwh remanufactured battery pack. I noticed that the Supercharging has slowed down significantly over the past year and SC says they can't guarantee any improved supercharging rates. They said the reman pack don't have newer cells which can charge as fast as the newer vehicle.
Honestly, s*** happens. These are cars, and things will break.
The large drive units are the worst from a reliability standpoint and have been completely phased out by Tesla. They improved a lot with the later revisions, but if you had an older car that never had an in-warranty replacement (likely with the low mileage), then you probably had an old unit with problems waiting to happen.
As for the battery, I've personally replaced or repaired an appreciable percentage of battery packs from 2012-2014 vehicles. They have minor design issues that lead to unpredictable long term viability.
In short, the OTA updates have nothing to do with anything failing. In fact, without the latest OTA updates, similar pack and motor issues can leave you completely stranded.
The large drive units are the worst from a reliability standpoint and have been completely phased out by Tesla. They improved a lot with the later revisions, but if you had an older car that never had an in-warranty replacement (likely with the low mileage), then you probably had an old unit with problems waiting to happen.
As for the battery, I've personally replaced or repaired an appreciable percentage of battery packs from 2012-2014 vehicles. They have minor design issues that lead to unpredictable long term viability.
In short, the OTA updates have nothing to do with anything failing. In fact, without the latest OTA updates, similar pack and motor issues can leave you completely stranded.
I called and spoke to EVsRepublic here. The Tech advisor was patient and explained the options to me:
Option # 1. They will try to do a 'software rebalancing' given the low miles on the car and the bms_u018 indicates imbalance of cells. He said this usually happens when lot of supercharging is done. I exclusively supercharge once a week as I don't have the option to charge the car at home. $5850. They won't charge if it doesn't work and will adjust it towards the below options. 6 months warranty and if it happens again, they will adjust this towards any of the following options.
Option # 2. Identify, repair/replace the faulty cells in the original pack. $7500 including parts & labor. 1 yr/10k miles warranty
Option # 3. Replace the original pack with the remanufactured pack (what Tesla offered). Reman packs, according to him, will have 80%-85% of original capacity. $9700 including parts & labor. 1 yr/20k miles warranty (Tesla's quote is $15k but with 4 yrs/40k miles. warranty)
Option # 4. Replace the original pack with a 'used one' that was never opened/touched/broken down - Used packs will have 85%-90% of original capacity. $10700 including parts & labor. 1 yr/20k miles warranty.
Comparing Tesla's quote, it's 30% cheaper (option 3), but warranty is only for 1 year/20k miles vs Tesla's 4 yr/40k miles. I am going to ask if they can provide extended warranty for 4 years for some additional cost. Even if I'm able to save couple of grands, it's still a lot of money for me.
Option #2 cannot be done. Even Tesla attempted their hand at repairing / replacing modules and end result is the replaced module grows more and more out of range of the entire pack no matter how well it's matched when replaced. That would be the second pack in the post below.
Has your car shut down before it hits zero?
I'm sure the car started the "charge soon" warnings a while before the shut down. It was probably even limiting, showing the dotted line, the power available. But when the charge gets that low all it takes is pressing the accelerator a little too much to drop the voltage and cause a shutdown. If...
teslamotorsclub.com
The fact that they even suggest option 2 means they don't know what they're doing and should probably be avoided.
Edit: Oh, and option 1 is BS also. There is no "software rebalancing" either. The pack will balance itself when idle if it's an imbalance issue. BMS_u018 is not that kind of imbalance.
Had to come back to this... man, not going to lie: Reading those "options" actually made me angry and I couldn't let it go.
There's so many places taking complete advantage of people in the EV space it seems and it's super irritating to me. It's especially bad when I end up cleaning up after them, too. I've serviced at least a dozen cars now that have had completely botched service done at places claiming to be able to do cheap repairs on battery packs. I won't generally name such places, but if they're saying they can replace a module, cut out a cell, or some other butcher job on a pack as a "repair", then they're probably in that group.
I'm fully aware that not everyone is able to get all of the information they need to understand this, and I never blame or shame victims of scammers for being taken advantage of. But it's especially annoying when someone I've pretty directly given advice to pointing out that such "repairs" a) do not work, and b) show that the people offering them are unqualified to work on these things.... and they do it anyway.... and then X months later come back because they still need real service.
I've actually had someone pretty much cuss me out the other day over this. I explicitly told them the alternative non-option they were looking into was guaranteed to damage their car and that I would not be able to help them for a reasonable price later on if they went that route. I didn't hear anything for something like 7 months. Then they call in, pretending like no one at 057 had spoken with them, gives their VIN, our notes come up clearly suggesting they went with a pack-butcher "repair" sometime last summer. We explain that such a core pack isn't acceptable for any of our replacement or upgrade services, they initially lie and say they never did anything of the sort and have been waiting to get it fixed (despite saying moment earlier that it just happened). I eventually personally get on the phone, explain the situation, clearly recognize and recall them from previously, and they eventually admit that they went another route and paid some other company $6000 to basically just break their pack. That company won't do jack for them now, and now he wants me to honor an estimate range given 7 months ago before their core pack was made useless... Sorry, that's not how it works.
Oh, and I find out later in the conversation that Tesla won't accept their core either, due to "modifications", and wanted a $20,000 core charge on top of the normal replacement costs. Ouch.
Anyway, I wish there was something I could do to get through to every single Tesla owner that there is no cheap repair for these issues in 99% of these cases. The BMS is very good at its job, and if it says there's an issue then there's probably an issue. Resetting things helps nothing, and there's no software fix for any of these problems despite claims to the contrary.
Your options are: replace the pack.
That's pretty much it. (I've got one other potential option in the works that might work out in maybe 30% of cases to save someone a few bucks getting their car back on the road, but it's still expensive, not the best option for most, and not something anyone else is pulling off, frankly.)
Option 2 was never a fix, and has been proven over and over that it can't be done. It at best kicks the problem down the road a few months. I guess that's great if you're a con-artist and want the car to seem usable to flip it or something and screw the next owner, but not great if you actually want something fixed. (Yes, I've had a few customers who have had this happen to them, sadly. Free of charge I pulled logs for them showing what was done to the car, and at least one of them is suing the seller of the car now. So don't do this. I'll help the victims of such fraud go after you and I'll do it for free.)
And good Lord, $5850 for "software rebalancing" ... that's got to be the worst scam in this space I've heard to-date. And I've seen a lot of people get screwed over the years by companies claiming all sorts of nonsense. But damn, that just boils my blood.
Seriously, just run away from those "options". I'm not even trying to push my own stuff here, because I don't think it's the best option in your particular case. Just go to Tesla, get the refurb pack, and move on. Either that, or put the car up for auction and cut your losses. Just please don't let some company talk you into giving them money for a non-fix, and probably shouldn't give any money to companies that suggest a non-fix at all.
There's so many places taking complete advantage of people in the EV space it seems and it's super irritating to me. It's especially bad when I end up cleaning up after them, too. I've serviced at least a dozen cars now that have had completely botched service done at places claiming to be able to do cheap repairs on battery packs. I won't generally name such places, but if they're saying they can replace a module, cut out a cell, or some other butcher job on a pack as a "repair", then they're probably in that group.
I'm fully aware that not everyone is able to get all of the information they need to understand this, and I never blame or shame victims of scammers for being taken advantage of. But it's especially annoying when someone I've pretty directly given advice to pointing out that such "repairs" a) do not work, and b) show that the people offering them are unqualified to work on these things.... and they do it anyway.... and then X months later come back because they still need real service.
I've actually had someone pretty much cuss me out the other day over this. I explicitly told them the alternative non-option they were looking into was guaranteed to damage their car and that I would not be able to help them for a reasonable price later on if they went that route. I didn't hear anything for something like 7 months. Then they call in, pretending like no one at 057 had spoken with them, gives their VIN, our notes come up clearly suggesting they went with a pack-butcher "repair" sometime last summer. We explain that such a core pack isn't acceptable for any of our replacement or upgrade services, they initially lie and say they never did anything of the sort and have been waiting to get it fixed (despite saying moment earlier that it just happened). I eventually personally get on the phone, explain the situation, clearly recognize and recall them from previously, and they eventually admit that they went another route and paid some other company $6000 to basically just break their pack. That company won't do jack for them now, and now he wants me to honor an estimate range given 7 months ago before their core pack was made useless... Sorry, that's not how it works.
Oh, and I find out later in the conversation that Tesla won't accept their core either, due to "modifications", and wanted a $20,000 core charge on top of the normal replacement costs. Ouch.
Anyway, I wish there was something I could do to get through to every single Tesla owner that there is no cheap repair for these issues in 99% of these cases. The BMS is very good at its job, and if it says there's an issue then there's probably an issue. Resetting things helps nothing, and there's no software fix for any of these problems despite claims to the contrary.
Your options are: replace the pack.
That's pretty much it. (I've got one other potential option in the works that might work out in maybe 30% of cases to save someone a few bucks getting their car back on the road, but it's still expensive, not the best option for most, and not something anyone else is pulling off, frankly.)
Option 2 was never a fix, and has been proven over and over that it can't be done. It at best kicks the problem down the road a few months. I guess that's great if you're a con-artist and want the car to seem usable to flip it or something and screw the next owner, but not great if you actually want something fixed. (Yes, I've had a few customers who have had this happen to them, sadly. Free of charge I pulled logs for them showing what was done to the car, and at least one of them is suing the seller of the car now. So don't do this. I'll help the victims of such fraud go after you and I'll do it for free.)
And good Lord, $5850 for "software rebalancing" ... that's got to be the worst scam in this space I've heard to-date. And I've seen a lot of people get screwed over the years by companies claiming all sorts of nonsense. But damn, that just boils my blood.
Seriously, just run away from those "options". I'm not even trying to push my own stuff here, because I don't think it's the best option in your particular case. Just go to Tesla, get the refurb pack, and move on. Either that, or put the car up for auction and cut your losses. Just please don't let some company talk you into giving them money for a non-fix, and probably shouldn't give any money to companies that suggest a non-fix at all.
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