2010 Roadster Suddenly Bricked

[skaul01]

I have a 2010 Roadster and upgraded the big battery in 2018. From that point, it was driven fairly regularly and was plugged into 50amp with the original Tesla Roadster charging cable. Over the last year, I likely only drove it a few times. I remember checking it back around Dec '23-Jan '24 timeframe and all was well. Then in April, I sent my son to put the new registration in the glove box. He said it wouldn't open and the car wouldn't unlock. Sure enough, I go check and it's dead. Is there anyway to try to jump start it? There are some items I need to get out of my garage, but I need to move the Roadster to get them out. Not sure what I can do at this point. Also, if any of you are in the San Francisco/Bay Area, which Tesla service center services Roadsters? I used to take it to Palo Alto but when I called a few weeks ago, the Sunnyvale service center employee said only certain Tesla service centers work on Roadsters. Any information you all can provide would be HUGELY appreciated. This Roadster doesn't even have 30K miles on it

 

[smorgasbord]

Open the charge port door and wait a few minutes, then try unlocking and opening the doors. Opening the charge port door will start charging the 12 volt battery, which powers the locks and electric door latches.

 

[skaul01]

I will try this right now. Thank you so much!

 

[skaul01]

Open the charge port door and wait a few minutes, then try unlocking and opening the doors. Opening the charge port door will start charging the 12 volt battery, which powers the locks and electric door latches.

How long should I leave the charge door open? I opened it and left it open for about 10 minutes but no change.

 

[gregd]

Simply opening the door should wake the car up, but if the battery is flat that's not going to be enough. If somehow the computer has crashed, I think "flapping" the door open / closed about a half dozen times can sometimes reboot it, but the one time I tried it nothing happened.

There's a key-only mechanical unlock on the underside of the driver's door, about in the middle. That should get you into the car. Tapping on the display screen might wake it up, or you might have to get under the passenger side dash and reboot the computer by disconnecting / reconnecting the cables. But all that needs a good electrical supply from the battery, and we don't know what shape that's in.

On the 2.x cars, the 12v system should be constantly held at a "float" voltage by the Auxiliary supply in the main battery. Once in the car, you might check the voltages at the fuse panel on right of the passenger dash, or open the hood and check the 30 amp fuse on the passenger side that feeds the 12v battery. Normally I'd suggest to measure the voltage between it and ground, but the chassis isn't grounded on the Roadster, and I can't think of a source for "ground" off hand. You might remove the fuse and see what the voltage is across the two terminals as a start, at least for some data. If you have a 1.5, the 12v system just runs from the main pack's first two sheets, through a DC-DC inverter. Beyond that, I'm not sure how it behaves.

 

[skaul01]

Simply opening the door should wake the car up, but if the battery is flat that's not going to be enough. If somehow the computer has crashed, I think "flapping" the door open / closed about a half dozen times can sometimes reboot it, but the one time I tried it nothing happened.

There's a key-only mechanical unlock on the underside of the driver's door, about in the middle. That should get you into the car. Tapping on the display screen might wake it up, or you might have to get under the passenger side dash and reboot the computer by disconnecting / reconnecting the cables. But all that needs a good electrical supply from the battery, and we don't know what shape that's in.

On the 2.x cars, the 12v system should be constantly held at a "float" voltage by the Auxiliary supply in the main battery. Once in the car, you might check the voltages at the fuse panel on right of the passenger dash, or open the hood and check the 30 amp fuse on the passenger side that feeds the 12v battery. Normally I'd suggest to measure the voltage between it and ground, but the chassis isn't grounded on the Roadster, and I can't think of a source for "ground" off hand. You might remove the fuse and see what the voltage is across the two terminals as a start, at least for some data. If you have a 1.5, the 12v system just runs from the main pack's first two sheets, through a DC-DC inverter. Beyond that, I'm not sure how it behaves.

This is super helpful - thank you! Ok, this might be a stupid question, but how do I know if I have a 2.0, 2.5, etc version Roadster?

 

[gregd]

This is super helpful - thank you! Ok, this might be a stupid question, but how do I know if I have a 2.0, 2.5, etc version Roadster?

Hope it helped, and that you'll be back on the road soon.

The easy way to tell which car you have is by what you have in the cabin. If it has a shift lever and a tray for a "glove box", it's a 1.5. The 2.x's use buttons for selecting the drive / reverse / park modes. 2.0's have a single-DIN in-dash "radio" (AV/Nav) unit and round vents above; the 2.5's have the taller double-DIN radio and half-round vents. Some of the 2.0's had their dash upgraded to the double-DIN unit (wish mine had...), but in terms of the battery and power electronics, all the 2.x's were the same. There were also some Sport versions of the 2.x's made, which had a more powerful drive motor and upgraded suspension (shocks, mostly).

 

[Tex EV]

This is super helpful - thank you! Ok, this might be a stupid question, but how do I know if I have a 2.0, 2.5, etc version Roadster?

2.0 -> VIN 501 - 963
2.5 -> VIN 964+

There are some interior differences and major exterior differences (2.5s got revised front bumper and rear diffuser). But some later 2.0s received 2.5 parts, making it harder to identify visually.

 

[Lou B]

This sounds like the 12v battery could be bad.
When was the last time it was changed?

 

[gregd]

This sounds like the 12v battery could be bad.
When was the last time it was changed?

I don't think a bad 12v battery would cause the symptoms seen. The car should still wake up with the charging door being opened even without a 12v battery even being present..

 

[skaul01]

This sounds like the 12v battery could be bad.
When was the last time it was changed?

The 12v battery was changed in late 2017, and it's only been driven about 1500 miles since then.

 

[gregd]

The 12v battery is only "used" briefly (few seconds) whenever the key fob Unlock button is pressed, which I believe is more of a pre-drive selftest than an actual use. Otherwise, it just sits there being held at 13.8v by the APS. Measuring the 12v battery's voltage could be instructive about the health of the power system.