Charge port not opening

[morningstar]

This is mostly just venting, but if anyone has any ideas that I can try to correct this, I'd appreciate it. I went out to my garage tonight to plug my car in and the port would not open. I tried the button on the charging cable. I tried pressing on the door itself. I tried pushing the icon on the touchscreen. None of it worked. I saw I had a software update available so I went ahead and installed that hoping that it would work again after the reboot, but it did not. So I went into the app to request service and found that the first available appointment isn't until the 10th. I took the appointment, but the car will be very dead by then if I can't get it charged. Any ideas to get this charging port open?

 

[BrandX]

Try to gently get a finger under the bottom of the charge port door and pry it open. It should pop open after you put a small amount of force into it.

 

[N54TT]

Quick search would show that this is a somewhat common issue.
Charge Port Door Not Working - Not missing the chip

Your charge port door likely needs to be replaced. You can manually open/close until it gets replaced.

 

[morningstar]

This morning I decided to try and pry it open and got it open. Then it wouldn't close. LOL! So I had to force it to close too, but now it's functioning normally again so I'm charging the car and we'll see how it does. I'm not replacing it if it's just going to be an intermittent issue that I can fix by prying the thing open myself. Unless it's still in warranty. How long is the warranty? I guess I should look into that.

 

[Knightshade]

Warranty is 4 yr/50k miles.... and as mentioned there's a manual release in the trunk too (though it's insanely cheaply done, basically a bit of thin string)

 

[RayK]

Warranty is 4 yr/50k miles.... and as mentioned there's a manual release in the trunk too (though it's insanely cheaply done, basically a bit of thin string)

Wait? Does the manual release open the charge port door? I thought it was only to release a locked charging connector from the port. I guess I'll have to finally fish out the release wire in my trunk and test it out.

 

[Knightshade]

Wait? Does the manual release open the charge port door? I thought it was only to release a locked charging connector from the port. I guess I'll have to finally fish out the release wire in my trunk and test it out.

You might actually be right that it only releases the lock I'm not positive... I only recall having read there WAS a manual release in the trunk before I got my car- then when I got it I thought it would be a good idea to learn where it was so I did... observed "Wow, that's crappy/cheap as hell, hope I never have to actually use that and hope the string does not break" and never touched it again.

Apologies for the confusion if I was mistaken about it.

 

[RayK]

I'll give it a try this afternoon. I'm intrigued by the possibility that the manual release does open the door. My own car lost the trapizoidal thingamabob many months back so I can't open the door by pressing on it (should have remembered this item since I just had mobile service out to my house last week). I've been using the main screen to pop open the door when I charge and so far so good.

 

[GtiMart]

I believe the flimsy string in the trunk only unlocks a cable... But there's nothing like trying

 

[N54TT]

This morning I decided to try and pry it open and got it open. Then it wouldn't close. LOL! So I had to force it to close too, but now it's functioning normally again so I'm charging the car and we'll see how it does. I'm not replacing it if it's just going to be an intermittent issue that I can fix by prying the thing open myself. Unless it's still in warranty. How long is the warranty? I guess I should look into that.

If you read the thread I linked….what you’re experiencing are tell tale signs your door is failing. It will probably work for a bit and then stop working again…manually opening and closing might get it to work again…repeating the cycle. But it’ll start failing more and more frequently…until it completely stops working.

The pull tab in the trunk people are mentioning is the release for the charging wand….if it gets stuck in the port...not for the charge door.

 

[DanL3]

If you read the thread I linked….what you’re experiencing are tell tale signs your door is failing. It will probably work for a bit and then stop working again…manually opening and closing might get it to work again…repeating the cycle. But it’ll start failing more and more frequently…until it completely stops working.

The pull tab in the trunk people are mentioning is the release for the charging wand….if it gets stuck in the port...not for the charge door.

Yes Mine just failed a second time and this time the hinge seems little wobbly. This may be from opening it manually. Tesla needs to start fixing this outside of warranty for free because it will happen to lots of people after the Warranty period.

 

[N54TT]

Yes Mine just failed a second time and this time the hinge seems little wobbly. This may be from opening it manually. Tesla needs to start fixing this outside of warranty for free because it will happen to lots of people after the Warranty period.

That happened to me. I used some adhesive Velcro to keep it more securely closed until it was replaced at the service center.

 

[RayK]

Yeah, I located the pull tab in the trunk, yanked on it and.... the charge port door did not open. Didn't try inserting a charging cable to see if the tab actually releases it. I trust that it will do its job if I ever encounter a cable that does not unlock normally.