Car bricked, help!

[Zodiacchris]

Hi guys,
My aircon compressor started making coffee grinder sounds a few days ago and then died. It still tried to start up when charging but didn’t run. Got an appointment with the Sydney SC for Monday, that’s 250 miles away.
Charging was still working till this morning, when I prepared for the journey, but the 2016 70D stopped after 4%@ 54% and bricked. Over half an hour I lost all systems but managed to put her into tow mode before the screens went blank.

With 65K miles she’s out of warranty and Tesla just quoted $2000 for towing to the SC. Looking at getting a car trailer and towing her down. Just almost got run over by my own car pulling her out of the garage, amazing how heavy she is when rolling on a tiny incline.

Anyway, these are the last messages I got on shut down:

Car needs service, Unable to start

Car unable to drive, Voltage to low

There was a third one but I can’t recall, it was a bit of a rush and I’m thoroughly frazzled at the moment.

Could this just be the 12Volt battery and it died because of the compressor or does this look like the HV battery? Only had this puppy since May and new to Tesla dramas...

Thanks!

 

[Zodiacchris]

Also, how long does it stay in tow mode? Can only get a trailer for tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Puddles]

Sorry, I gots no info, but I’m sorry to hear .

Good luck and I hope it’s just the 12v.

 

[MP3Mike]

Also, how long does it stay in tow mode? Can only get a trailer for tomorrow afternoon.

If the 12v battery died it will stay in tow mode forever. (It needs the 12v to apply the parking brakes.)

My guess is that the AC compressor "grenaded" throwing metal throughout the system which caused a HV isolation issue such that the HV pack can no longer be "turned on". That would mean that the 12v battery would die in fairly sort order. (An hour or two with the car on?)

I think it costs ~$6-8k, USD, to get replace the AC system. (New AC compressor, condenser, evaporator, drier, flush the system, etc.) It could have blown out the DC-DC converter as well which could be another ~$2k.

Do keep us up to date on what it turns out to be.

 

[Zodiacchris]

Hello again,

Hooked her up to 12Volts and the screens came alive with same error messages. The one I couldn’t remember was

Power reduced, Vehicle systems shutting down.

Could not get car out of towing mode, brake pedal hard as a brick and won’t shift into gear. So closed her up again and got on the phone again to find a tilt tray towing company as sleeping beauty is to heavy for a normal car trailer. Found a company to transport the thing to Sydney on Monday for $800, a bit better.

I already have a quote to get the aircon system replaced for $3,500 US, lines, condensers, compressor and all. Add towing and maybe the AC converter and next summers holiday has just ridden into the sunset...

So next question, how do I winch a model S arse end up a tilt truck? Where can the winch cable be attached?

I dearly hope that with all this at least my HV battery has died, I was down to 196miles at 100% indicated and never saw much more than 55KWH usable on the 70D. So maybe that will get sorted, too, can always dream, can’t I?

 

[Akikiki]

Does not sound bricked.

 

[Zodiacchris]

Yeah, I guess technically it’s not bricked if the door handles still work but to be quite honest, that is a bit of a technicality as it is as mobile as a brick and as much use to me at the moment...

This morning I got something out of the car which was sitting in the driveway with bricks in front of the wheels when it started up again, all error messages gone, yay!

Charged to 85%, cancelled tow truck and started heading for the SC in Sydney. Made it all the way to the Supercharger at Heatherbrae, 150 miles south. Plugged in, charged for 5 minutes, error messages and warning sounds erupted and the car shut down again. Dead screens and all, but managed to get tow mode in.

Currently waiting for the tow truck to take us to the SC 100 miles south, at least its $200 cheaper than if I’d towed from home.

 

[Akikiki]

Sounds like you know that bricked means the HV battery is so dead for all practical explanations its beyond charging. Yours does not sound like that. So I believe if you were to call the SC and say your car is bricked, they might just hang up on your. Understand? Worse possible thing to say to them. If I were you, I would simply explain it as "my center console MCU is dead, - I think". And let them figure it out from there.

That does not address getting it to the SC, but you don't want to unnecessarily paint it with the worse possible color. Understand?

 

[Akikiki]

Keep us updated. Very interesting situation. I hope for you that the fix is simple and cheap. Good luck.

 

[micheldb]

Best of luck! Not sure which year / model you have but I hope it's something covered under warranty (sounds like it might be under the 8 year battery / drive unit). Keep your towing receipt just in case as you might be able to get refunded if that's the case.

I'm also curious to know what it is so keep us in the loop as you find out more.

 

[Zodiacchris]

Hi guys,

Getting the 70d (January 2016) onto the tilt truck was a bit of an effort, boy is it hard to turn the steering without the electrics! Luckily the yard at the SC in St Leonards/Sydney wasn’t locked so we dumped the car there and got a room at a local motel we could walk to.

It got pushed into the workshop the next morning and even though the mechanics initially thought that there was something substantially wrong with the car it did turn out to be the compressor after all. The bearings had gone causing a short circuit on the HV side of the compressor which in turn made the CPU shut the car down to protect the main HV battery. The manager said they hadn’t seen this sort of failure before. Luckily the compressor had not spewed fragments into the aircon system and a straightforward compressor replacement, re-gas and reboot solved the problem for a total charge of AU$2,200 (US$1,550). They also replaced my 12V battery and did a few upgrades including passenger airbag replacement and front axle bushings (plus alignment) free of charge, washed it and I was on my way home by 4pm.

Despite all the drama in the lead up I feel I got of lightly $ wise despite the US$700 for towing and am very happy the way the SC handled this. Plus I can’t believe how smooth and quiet my aircon is now with the upgraded type of compressor, it was always humming loudly and now it is hardly audible at all.

What can we learn from this? We shouldn’t take for granted that the car will still drive if the aircon fails, while it can still charge without the compressor the failure can glitch the HV system of the car leaving one stranded. Maybe head for the SC (preferably one in Australia) when the grinding starts...

 

[Akikiki]

Well, I am so glad for you that it was not a more serious problem that could have resulted in HV battery replacement. I see your SC has now gained some useful experience with what it is and what it is not. And that's good for customers they support. But I won't be taking my S in to the Australia SC anyway. We've got one a mite closer, mate.