Anyone here with experience working on the radiator/coolant leaks?

[dakh]

A buddy borrowed my Y and got unlucky, ran a raccoon over on the highway. The car lost coolant and is saying "Ok to drive but bring to service". Well, nearby "Tesla certified" shops are ready to schedule an appointment in August, so we're pretty screwed. And Tesla says they don't wanna do it, too complicated. So we started tearing into it to see if it's something obvious we can just fix ourselves. So far we got the frunk stuff off and the big black radiator enclosure is somewhat damaged. Nothing too bad, just tweaked a bit and one side has a chunk broken off. None of the visible stuff has any damage that would be an obvious source of a coolant leak.

So I wanna investigate more but I don't want to make any irreversible mistakes. Can we get some Tesla coolant and pour it in to see where the leak is? Can we maybe just use distilled water? If (best case scenario) we find the leak and fix it, can we do what's described here (system bleed) and be good to go, or is it more complicated?

The car has no painted surface damage so it is all just mechanical, and seems so far rather trivial.

With the current Tesla repair setup in Seattle area, I'm pretty tempted to just drive the silly thing into Renton Tesla where I bought it, leave it there and tell them to do whatever the hell they want to do with it, while I go get a car that can actually be repaired this century when needed.

 

[dakh]

One interesting detail: there's coolant in the radiator, but there was definitely a coolant leak from somewhere.

 

[240vPlug]

Repairing myself I would be concerned that if I had to make a warranty claim down the road Tesla may try to deny warranty. If it were me, for piece of mind, I would take it to them. If the car was completely out of warranty (including battery and drive unit warranty) then I might attempt to repair myself depending.

My two cents.

 

[fiehlsport]

Check epc.tesla for the service manuals and part #s. Service mode will be a godsend for bleeding the system now that it lets you do that. Best case scenario if you do the repair well enough Tesla will never know and your warranty should be good.

If you need parts you can just order them using the service section of the app and your service center can acquire them for you.

 

[dakh]

Thanks for the replies! "Take it to them" doesn't work, they actively denied my repair request and sent me to a "certified shop list" which anyone local has "appointments starting August".

We dicked around with this thing for a while and identified one snag that would prevent us from fixing it: to replace coolant one needs to run a certain procedure that requires a Tesla service software to connect to the car to run. We ain't buying one and therefore I'm screwed.

Don't damage your Tesla if you're in Seattle area, you won't be able to use it for 3+ months.

Mine is probably getting replaced by a gas car due to this episode, I understand why this is happening but nevertheless, it is an unacceptable situation.

 

[fiehlsport]

I swear I've seen the coolant bleed function in the Service Mode coolant section... I'm pretty sure you'll be able to DIY this. Don't give up hope yet!

 

[brainhouston]

We dicked around with this thing for a while and identified one snag that would prevent us from fixing it: to replace coolant one needs to run a certain procedure that requires a Tesla service software to connect to the car to run. We ain't buying one and therefore I'm screwed.

Not 100% sure about Y but on legacy S/X service manual tells u to use Toolbox to get bubbles out after coolant replacement but I didn't do it n after few drives bubbles worked themselves out, just had to add coolant few times.
Don't let that stop u.
Many things in Service manuals can be skipped or done differently

 

[dakh]

I swear I've seen the coolant bleed function in the Service Mode coolant section... I'm pretty sure you'll be able to DIY this. Don't give up hope yet!

Not 100% sure about Y but on legacy S/X service manual tells u to use Toolbox to get bubbles out after coolant replacement but I didn't do it n after few drives bubbles worked themselves out, just had to add coolant few times.
Don't let that stop u.
Many things in Service manuals can be skipped or done differently

Yes thank you, I'm aware there's an air bleed procedure accessible from the service menu. I'm talking about a more basic thing though: how to get the coolant into the system? My understanding is if, like in this case, the coolant is lost from the battery contour, the octovalve needs to be put in a certain configuration and the pump activated to get the coolant from the radiator into the contour. And then you run the bleed procedure. The rad is actually full in my car right now (we didn't add any coolant after the accident), but the battery contour is empty. The car still drives but it is speed limited and makes some ugly pump noises since the pump is trying to run on empty.

 

[fiehlsport]

Thanks for explaining the issue, hopefully someone has a solution other than purchasing Toolbox.

 

[brainhouston]

Yes thank you, I'm aware there's an air bleed procedure accessible from the service menu. I'm talking about a more basic thing though: how to get the coolant into the system? My understanding is if, like in this case, the coolant is lost from the battery contour, the octovalve needs to be put in a certain configuration and the pump activated to get the coolant from the radiator into the contour. And then you run the bleed procedure. The rad is actually full in my car right now (we didn't add any coolant after the accident), but the battery contour is empty. The car still drives but it is speed limited and makes some ugly pump noises since the pump is trying to run on empty.

i'm no expert on Y cooling system but when u say "radiator" u mean reservoir tank where u fill the coolant?
every contour in the car is connected to reservoir tank one way or another, when battery needs cooling/heating it will open the valves n air will bleed itself
u might have to drive/charge for a while to do it 100%
if u loosing coolant, level in the tank will drop.
i think original post needs more details like year of the car n which part is broken, how do u tell battery contour is empty, did u have low coolant error...

 

[dakh]

i'm no expert on Y cooling system but when u say "radiator" u mean reservoir tank where u fill the coolant?
every contour in the car is connected to reservoir tank one way or another, when battery needs cooling/heating it will open the valves n air will bleed itself
u might have to drive/charge for a while to do it 100%
if u loosing coolant, level in the tank will drop.
i think original post needs more details like year of the car n which part is broken, how do u tell battery contour is empty, did u have low coolant error...

2020 I have no idea which part is broken, it would require substantial disassembly of the plastic box the rad is in. The car says battery coolant is gone and will not go faster than certain speed (seems variable) due to battery heating up. Also loud high pitch whine, I'm assuming from a coolant pump that runs with a dry circuit. There were puddles of coolant under the car when parked as well, hard to tell exactly where it came from.