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A bad week - Drive Unit Need Service

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No later than the Model S battery needs replacing - the Model X comes up with Drive Unit Needs Service (i.e. replacing). It is only three months old and driven by the wife who treats it like a baby.

Tesla have ordered a replacement.

Having a bad week :(

In the big scheme of things - it is comparable to the issues we had with the BMW 5 Series and Land Rover Discovery that preceded them. The BMW spent 3 of its first 12 months at the BMW Service Center and the Discovery made me nervous every time we would get the service bill.
  • Model S (2 years) - 3 door handles required replacing (all under warranty). Rim required replacing (not Tesla's fault). Battery requires replacing (under warranty).
  • Model X (3 months) - 2 seats require replacing (delivered with small rips). Drive Unit requires replacing (under warranty.
 

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Reactions: cwerdna
Not holding my breath. Have been waiting for the replacement seats for three months and I expect a similar time frame for the battery and drive unit. Hopefully sooner but I imagine limited by the logistics of sea transport.

I have asked if they can throw in a free 2''' hitch for the Model X for the inconvenience :)
 
As a minor update:

Model X was taken in for service and (I believe (wife took the car in)) the drive unit replaced - fairly uneventful. No noticeable difference in driving.

Interestingly the drive unit error message actually disappeared a couple of weeks prior to the service appointment with a firmware update but Tesla still took it in for service.
 
Look at it as an opportunity.

Unlike other manufacturers, with Tesla you're probably going to get an upgraded component as a replacement. My MX is going in for front drive shaft replacements due to high vibrations on hard acceleration, especially severe on high suspension setting. Negligible on low setting.

Replacing a DU etc on an EV is nothing like swapping a DU on an ICE. My 2002 Landcruiser Turbo diesel had an engine replaced at 5000kms. That meant a long engine where all the things like fuel pump, turbo etc were swapped over to the new engine. All this was due to a small crack in the head near a welch plug. The motor was getting water in the oil. My dad bought this car off me and has had it for the last 9 years and it's done almost 300k kms.

It's frustrating yes but at least in Melbourne you have a great service centre. Over here in the west we've only just got our very own new service tech and still need a bona fide Tesla service centre. It will come.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: aaron0k
As a minor update:

Model X was taken in for service and (I believe (wife took the car in)) the drive unit replaced - fairly uneventful. No noticeable difference in driving.

Interestingly the drive unit error message actually disappeared a couple of weeks prior to the service appointment with a firmware update but Tesla still took it in for service.
The drive unit replacement is a one man operation I was told by the senior service adviser here in Sydney.