Black MCU, many features unavailable on towing road trip

[ohmman]

We are currently on a camping trip with our Airstream. While charging at the Supercharger in Williams, CA, the MCU went black and air conditioning became unavailable. additionally, the 12v accessories outlets front and back became dead, turn signals stopped working, odometer stopped working, energy consumption unavailable, display brightness reads -5% but the IC remains very bright, and other oddities. I attempted all resets:

Scroll wheels, no brakes
Scroll wheels with brakes
Top two steering wheel buttons

I did these during the charging session, while not charging, with and without the trailer hooked up. Tesla didn’t answer phone calls. I did as much research as I could in 100F temperatures and checked the following fuses:

They were all intact.

Is this the dreaded MCU failure? Any other ideas for troubleshooting?

We made it to camp but obviously the rest of our trip is in jeopardy as I continue to assess the stability of the vehicle. Cell device is very spotty but I’ll be checking in as I can. Thanks in advance!

 

[MXLRplus]

Rats.

Ideas. Check all fuses If you have an ohmmeter best. Reseat them. See if power is avail at the MCU fuse (gnd to one side of exposed fuse test points). If there is no power getting to the fuse see if there is any wire connectors that might have become disconnected. Disconnect 12v power (both batteries when applicable) for 30 minutes. Prayer.

In lieu of an ohmmeter, you can often swap the fuse into the cigar lighter fuse slot and see if you get power there, or make a test light out of a flashlight and a screwdriver.

 

[bhorn]

Check all fuses If you have an ohmmeter best.

If @ohmman doesn't have an ohm meter handy, then I don't know who would.

Seriously though, I hope the MCU starts working again. That's a major bummer on your vacation.

 

[ohmman]

I have an ohmmeter. Don’t dare think otherwise.

 

[ohmman]

I haven’t had an opportunity to fiddle with things yet. We leave Shasta tomorrow and I will have more time/internet/electricity at our next stop so I plan to work on it there. Thanks for the responses.

 

[gaswalla]

yeah... that sure looks like the the emmc failure. Very inopportune timing.
You probably can supercharge, and keep on going.
A couple significant issues are: no turn signals, inability to use nav and supercharger data to plan your next stop, and no ability to charge your phones (esp since you';re away from home)

 

[cpa]

I know how much you and your family were looking forward to this festive and fun camping trip in the mountains and parks of California.

I know zipola about these matters; only what I read on the interwebs. But I think much of the failure of this MMC (whatever that is) is from Tesla's poor design of the content thereon. At least that is the consensus appearing on other threads on this site.

Good luck, Ohmman, and all the best.

 

[verygreen]

call Tesla and ask them?

They have special reporting from mcu units that are about to fail and that are experiencing early failure signs.

Of course in their infinite wisdom they decided that showing those signals to end user in form of warnings is somehow undesirable.

 

[ohmman]

You probably can supercharge, and keep on going.
A couple significant issues are: no turn signals, inability to use nav and supercharger data to plan your next stop, and no ability to charge your phones (esp since you';re away from home)

We have charging in the camper and solar to keep those batteries topped up, so we are fine there. Turn signals bother me the most, especially when trailering. Having no backup camera is also surprisingly awkward due to the visibility of the X. And my 12V is used to display the camper’s rear view, so I’ve lost that as well.

call Tesla and ask them?

I’ve tried twice so far. The first time I was on hold for 2 hours, and the line dropped. The second time I held for 30 minutes and gave up on them.

 

[pilotSteve]

wow, such unfortunate timing! I am scheduled in two weeks to have my late 2016 S90D’s MCU1 updated. Sad it’s impacting your holiday trip but a good reminder to all fellow MCU1 owners to get ‘er done! Now!

 

[henderrj]

My MCU also died recently. I found I got much better response by doing a service request and waiting for the text from them.

I also must, sadly, report that my car has already been in the shop for a week and a half. They still don't have the replacement MCU. They also told me that the MCU2 is theoretically available now, but only theoretically. Since mine's an AP1 car I didn't think it was worth it anyway. if anyone has thoughts on that I'd love to hear them. For now they are telling me they should have the replacement MCU in by next week. Good thing I got a loaner!

 

[MyJoule]

When mine died, we dropped the car off at the service center - that way the system noted it as a "car down" and they were able to get priority shipment of the replacement, since they are on back order- Still took almost a week to get the car back. Because we have more than one Model S, we didn't ask for a loaner, but we also have to worry about the next one failing now- It's almost $1600 for the replacement.

 

[gaswalla]

I highly recommend @EV-Fixme for this issue- Tony has mentioned that they have service available in Northern California as well.

Also, your charge rate at the camp site may be drastically reduced (2 kw)... that is common in this situation

 

[EV-Fixme]

Yes this is mcu failure. your fuses are not blown. Do you happen to be camping in the OC area?

Are you still covered by warranty?

If so you can try pulling the mcu fuse and waiting a couple minutes before plugging the fuse back in. You may get the mcu to come on one more time.

However if your not under warranty, one more time could increase the chances you loose the certs.

I hear Tesla is back ordered on MCU1's for months now.

 

[henderrj]

It's almost $1600 for the replacement.

The current price is 1100 plus tax. Came to 1300 something where I live. Like my son says, they're probably trying to reduce the pain to a level where people won't join a lawsuit or some such thing. Don't know if this was true before but at least they are now offering a 4-year warranty on the MCU.

 

[bhorn]

Don't know if this was true before but at least they are now offering a 4-year warranty on the MCU.

Not any more:

Touchscreen and Media Control Unit: 2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first
Vehicle Warranty​

 

[henderrj]

Not any more:

Touchscreen and Media Control Unit: 2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first
Vehicle Warranty​

That's if you purchase the part from them and put it in yourself. Of course it's only verbal, but the rep told me that it would come with a 4-year warranty. When I get the paperwork I'll let you know!

 

[EV-Fixme]

@ohmman Dont try to pull the fuse or negative until your ready to go home. Once you remove the power to reset the system in attempt to bring back the MCU, the HVAC will have a good chance of not starting until MCU is back on.

 

[scottf200]

@ohmman Dont try to pull the fuse or negative until your ready to go home. Once you remove the power to reset the system in attempt to bring back the MCU, the HVAC will have a good chance of not starting until MCU is back on.

Thoughtful of you to help with various post of advice (certs, etc). However, from the opening remarks it sounds like they don't have A/C as it is.

While charging at the Supercharger in Williams, CA, the MCU went black and air conditioning became unavailable.

 

[KentuckyX]

Turn signals bother me the most, especially when trailering.

Are you sure the turn signals aren't actually working? I've had multiple MCU "unsolicited resets" while driving and although the climate controls and charger port functions were non-operational during the short blackout, the turn signals (even though I couldn't hear them) and AP were still functional. I actually documented this behavior in a YouTube video a year or so ago.