Charge port issue

[DirectorDisch]

Good Afternoon,

I picked up my '21 Model 3 Extended Range AWD last Friday. Up until today, I've used the Superchargers up the road from me, as well as my Mobile Charger at my house with no issues.

Today I went to the Supercharger, and the plug wouldn't lock into the car. It just kind of hung there. When I got home, I plugged in my mobile connector, the lock clicked a bunch of times, and the T was flashing yellow. Got a message saying,"Limited Charging. Charge cable may not be plugged securely into the vehicle." I've tried unplugging and replugging a number of times, but it just keeps doing the same thing. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Rocky_H]

Yeah, I suspect the port is a bit of a tight fit, and the handle is not going in all the way, so the locking pin can't get into the notch on the handle to lock it in. So it will throw the orange light with a warning and usually reduced current. Here are some threads for reading about this.

Gen2 HPWC charging cable tight fit in charge port

Early model chargeports

Limited Charging Message

I need to do what? Jiggle the plug like an old toaster?

Trying to understand charging behavior and app error message

blinking orange light while charging

 

[DirectorDisch]

Thanks! I've got it working at home. Still interested in why the supercharger wouldn't connect at all. That was very strange. It just hung there and the car didn't react at all.

 

[JCtx]

It happened to me once too. My solution was to push the plug harder, until I consciously feel it hitting the bottom of the port, and problem solved. When releasing, I also heard of issues (I haven't had any though), so what I do now too is push the plug first, then click on the button (leaving it pressed), then pull it out, and release the button. If you don't release the button, the latch locks almost immediately, and could catch you pulling hard, and possibly damaging the locking mechanism. So better to keep the button depressed. Pushing on the plug first, assures the latch won't have any tension on it, therefore releasing easily. Hope this helps somebody .

 

[DirectorDisch]

It happened to me once too. My solution was to push the plug harder, until I consciously feel it hitting the bottom of the port, and problem solved. When releasing, I also heard of issues (I haven't had any though), so what I do now too is push the plug first, then click on the button (leaving it pressed), then pull it out, and release the button. If you don't release the button, the latch locks almost immediately, and could catch you pulling hard, and possibly damaging the locking mechanism. So better to keep the button depressed. Pushing on the plug first, assures the latch won't have any tension on it, therefore releasing easily. Hope this helps somebody .

Thanks! Will try this the next time I'm up by the Superchargers. I think, having only had the car a week, I'm definitely nervous about breaking stuff, so the idea of adding some force was a bit scary.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Still interested in why the supercharger wouldn't connect at all.

One possibility is that a “charge port deadfront” plastic bit (from another vehicle) was stuck in the Supercharger handle. They tend to break off and get stuck in the handle if the “donor” vehicle hasn’t had the warranty replacement done and sideways pressure is applied to the charge handle. You can apparently knock the offending piece out of the handle with the right technique but I’ve never encountered it myself.

Of course, if you tried more than one Supercharger station with the same result, that would pretty much rule that out. You also would have (maybe) noticed the handle did not seat all the way. The transient problems at home suggest maybe something on the car side.

 

[DirectorDisch]

I tried two superchargers, then had the issue with my home charger and my tesla mobile cord. I haven't been back to the Superchargers since that day, but the home charger is working fine. I'm wondering if maybe there was ice in my charge port. We've had a decent amount of snow lately, and I don't believe my '21 M3 has the heated charge port.

 

[mk677]

Good Afternoon,

I picked up my '21 Model 3 Extended Range AWD last Friday. Up until today, I've used the Superchargers up the road from me, as well as my Mobile Charger at my house with no issues.

Today I went to the Supercharger, and the plug wouldn't lock into the car. It just kind of hung there. When I got home, I plugged in my mobile connector, the lock clicked a bunch of times, and the T was flashing yellow. Got a message saying,"Limited Charging. Charge cable may not be plugged securely into the vehicle." I've tried unplugging and replugging a number of times, but it just keeps doing the same thing. Anyone have any experience with this?

call service, the receptacle is faulty. something like this happened to me and they came to my house and installed a new on, took about 15 minutes

 

[DirectorDisch]

call service, the receptacle is faulty. something like this happened to me and they came to my house and installed a new on, took about 15 minutes

I have a service appointment scheduled for this Thursday, at my house. My only fear is, now that the thing is working fine, I'm going to be wasting their time.

 

[GPinzone]

There is (was?) a recall over the little black plastic spacers in the charge port coming loose and getting stuck in the charging cable. You may not notice since your charging cable works fine in your port. However, if you try to use that charging cable with a different car, it's not going to fit right. Check the supercharger cable to see if there's somebody's plastic spacer stuck in there.