12v battery horror story

[TheSocey]

I’ve had my model 3 for 9 days today and I came out to my car at lunch time to find that it wouldn’t go into drove or reverse. Noticed there was a warning stating something about the 12v battery being drained. Put it on a jump pack, warning went away, but the car then said something about “please wait while all systems start”. Performed a hard reset, waited 30 minutes.

Long story short, my car is now 2.5 hours away at the Dublin service center awaiting diagnostic. Although everything is covered under Warrenty, this is now my only car. Thankfully they gave me a loaner.

I guess something could have happened with a new gasoline car as well, but man it really put a bad taste in my mouth... hopefully this is the only issue I have.

I’ll update when I get my car back, hopefully it won’t be too long.

 

[Puddles]

Fresno is closer to you, and they never seem too busy.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I’ve had my model 3 for 9 days today and I came out to my car at lunch time to find that it wouldn’t go into drove or reverse. Noticed there was a warning stating something about the 12v battery being drained. Put it on a jump pack, warning went away, but the car then said something about “please wait while all systems start”. Performed a hard reset, waited 30 minutes.

Long story short, my car is now 2.5 hours away at the Dublin service center awaiting diagnostic. Although everything is covered under Warrenty, this is now my only car. Thankfully they gave me a loaner.

I guess something could have happened with a new gasoline car as well, but man it really put a bad taste in my mouth... hopefully this is the only issue I have.

I’ll update when I get my car back, hopefully it won’t be too long.

Um, er, where's the horror? Something went wrong and they're looking at it. You're putting miles on their car and presumably not being (further) inconvenienced. Seems like a pretty decent experience given that something went wrong. Of course, we'd all prefer that nothing ever go wrong, but life isn't like that.

 

[Vaillant]

FWIW, the 12v battery in my Volt died in the first year I had it, too. So, it’s not a Tesla specific issue.

Good luck!

 

[SSedan]

Infant mortality (failure of new) of parts is always a possibility, sucks when it happens to your vehicle.

I had a rental minivan once that I was the first renter of, at 135miles the transmission died puttering around Venice FL with an infant in the car so I was not exactly being abusive. Something went wrong in the assembly process.

 

[Msjulie]

Audi camshaft split in 2 at less than 2k miles, on the Garden State Parkway in NJ. That was a real horror show, Audi kept my car just a few hours short of triggering the lemon law (30days) ! And the flatbed and the grumpy shop wheenie thinking somehow I caused engine failure and the wretched rental box I had to drive from NJ to Boston with a kitten and a kid blah blah blah


Good luck, you'll love your 3 when it comes back, they are fun to drive and pretty great cars all around.

 

[TheSocey]

I received a text message this morning from the Tesla Service Center stating the following

"Good morning. I will be proactively adjusting the completion date for your vehicle, as it appears we will not be meeting the original completion date of today. I will reach out later if I have an update to provide."

I wrote back asking if the car has had a diagnostic yet and was told that it had not.

I am extremely frustrated at this point. I just want some answers as to when I can have my car back. Maybe just run a diagnostic and see if there are parts that need to be ordered...

I'll keep you all posted.

 

[TheSocey]

I hope no one minds me venting on here... hopefully this information will be useful for someone someday.

I called and messaged the service center yesterday. Didn’t receive a answer when I called. A few hours after I messaged I received a message back saying that the techs replaced the 12v battery and although it was dead, that didn’t fix the issue. It’s now in what they call a “deeper diagnosis” but they can’t provide a timeline as of yet.

There’s a small comfort knowing that they’re actually working on it now. Hopefully I’ll have a timeline soon...

 

[jkoya]

Thanks for the update and glad to hear you got a loaner. Was your car towed to the Dublin SC ?

 

[badiban]

That sucks, sorry you have to go through this on a new car. Hopefully the SC will have good news for you soon. Which TM3 trim do you have?

 

[TheSocey]

Thanks for the update and glad to hear you got a loaner. Was your car towed to the Dublin SC ?

Yes. Towed to Dubline Service Center on 3/5/20. Been there ever since...

That sucks, sorry you have to go through this on a new car. Hopefully the SC will have good news for you soon. Which TM3 trim do you have?

LR AWD (non-performance)

 

[Bet TSLA]

Yes. Towed to Dubline Service Center on 3/5/20. Been there ever since...


LR AWD (non-performance)

So what kind of loaner did they give you? Glad to hear they are making progress. It will be interesting to learn what sort of new car immediate failure this turns out to be.

This is Tesla, so expect their communications to be really bad, but they'll take good care of your car.

 

[TheSocey]

So what kind of loaner did they give you? Glad to hear they are making progress. It will be interesting to learn what sort of new car immediate failure this turns out to be.

This is Tesla, so expect their communications to be really bad, but they'll take good care of your car.

No kidding! Communication is terrible!
They gave me a 2016 Model C 75. They lock out Autopilot and cruise control so you cant use them through. It's a nice vehicle, but I like my car WAAAAAAAAAAAY more.
They also make it to where you can only charge to 80%, which barely got me home. Driving around town is fine, but the drive back to Dublin has me a little scared.

 

[Bet TSLA]

No kidding! Communication is terrible!
They gave me a 2016 Model C 75. They lock out Autopilot and cruise control so you cant use them through. It's a nice vehicle, but I like my car WAAAAAAAAAAAY more.
They also make it to where you can only charge to 80%, which barely got me home. Driving around town is fine, but the drive back to Dublin has me a little scared.

You mean a Model S? Yes, they tend to lock out AP because many people that get the cars don't know how to use it safely. Most of the times I've gotten a loaner it's been that way. Sometimes they say the top speed will be 80, but I've never found that to be true.

Never heard about limiting charge to 80%. Are you sure? I've never seen that, or even heard of it. The supercharger in Manteca should make it easy to get to Sonora regardless.

 

[TheSocey]

Sorry, I meant Model X.

As far as the charging capacity.... When you try to increase the battery slider on the "Charging" screen, it won't let you move it.

Maximum is about 170 miles which is enough for around town but it's not actually 170 around here. The trip back from Dublin left me below 20% and I was VERY careful.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Sorry, I meant Model X.

As far as the charging capacity.... When you try to increase the battery slider on the "Charging" screen, it won't let you move it.

Maximum is about 170 miles which is enough for around town but it's not actually 170 around here. The trip back from Dublin left me below 20% and I was VERY careful.

Model X. Wow! They almost never give out those as loaners. You're lucky to have the chance to do an extended test drive. Whether or not you like it all that much, it's great to get the experience.

Don't be careful. Just stop and supercharge at Manteca. It's painless. I've never heard of anything like an 80% charging restriction. That's very strange. Unless they told you explicitly to expect this, I'd check with roadside assistance. At least get an explanation.

 

[TheSocey]

Got my car back on 3/23/20. SA said that it was something to do with the power conversion system.

Other than my car being covered in bird crap and tree sap when I got it back, everything appears to be ok.... But ill probably never park with the front windshield facing the sun again!

 

[Bet TSLA]

Got my car back on 3/23/20. SA said that it was something to do with the power conversion system.

Other than my car being covered in bird crap and tree sap when I got it back, everything appears to be ok.... But ill probably never park with the front windshield facing the sun again!

That's a long time for a simple fix. And a pretty vague description. What does the invoice say? How many miles did you put on the loaner?

 

[Qbenjamin]

Very rare to get an X as a loaner.

 

[TheSocey]

Invoice is attached.

I didn’t really pay attention to miles on the loaner. Maybe 50mi/day?