Charge port pops open

[kjl]

My magnet just came unglued like it has happened for a few others in this thread. I don't have "outdoor silicon sealant", which worked for Kalud. Was just wondering if I should try JB Weld or Epoxy or superglue or any number of other sticky things I have lying around the house... I'm only worried about doing something that might damage the charge door (like, say I use JB Weld and it peels off the metal but remains permanently bonded to the plastic of the charge port door, that might be bad.)

Should I peel off the remaining spongey adhesive stuff that's stuck both to the charge door and the magnet, or should I leave that on as something that's easy for the new glue to grab onto?

 

[Kalud]

My magnet just came unglued like it has happened for a few others in this thread. I don't have "outdoor silicon sealant", which worked for Kalud. Was just wondering if I should try JB Weld or Epoxy or superglue or any number of other sticky things I have lying around the house... I'm only worried about doing something that might damage the charge door (like, say I use JB Weld and it peels off the metal but remains permanently bonded to the plastic of the charge port door, that might be bad.)

Should I peel off the remaining spongey adhesive stuff that's stuck both to the charge door and the magnet, or should I leave that on as something that's easy for the new glue to grab onto?

My magnet (actually metal part) still holds. Go to a hardware store and get some silicon sealant, should be easy to fond and worst case you can remove it. It's the kind of sealant used outdoor aroud windows and doors.

 

[kjl]

My magnet (actually metal part) still holds. Go to a hardware store and get some silicon sealant, should be easy to fond and worst case you can remove it. It's the kind of sealant used outdoor aroud windows and doors.

Thanks for the response... but too late I needed it fixed by this morning, so I left the remaining spongy adhesive disk thing that was partly stuck to the disk and partly stuck to the plastic port on there, JB Welded liberally, and clamped overnight. No way to know how well it's on there till it fails I suppose!

 

[NigelM]

I'm only worried about doing something that might damage the charge door (like, say I use JB Weld and it peels off the metal but remains permanently bonded to the plastic of the charge port door, that might be bad.)

Should I peel off the remaining spongey adhesive stuff that's stuck both to the charge door and the magnet, or should I leave that on as something that's easy for the new glue to grab onto?

You should just call your local service center and have them fix it for you.

 

[scaesare]

You should just call your local service center and have them fix it for you.

Well... I did this the first time it happened 6 months in to ownership, and they replaced it. When it failed again 6 months later, I broke out the epoxy...

 

[efusco]

Over the past few weeks my charge door has begun to pop open as well. At first I thought it was my imagination and that I'd simply forgotten to close it, but the past few days I've intentionally made note that I have closed it. This morning it actually popped open twice before I was able to get into the car.

What is interesting, and I'd like to know if it's just my car, is that once I sit down and press the brake pedal there is a distinctive "click" of the charge door locking closed. So once I get to that point it has never come open on me. Anyone else?

I'm taking the car for it's 37,500 service next week and will have it looked at then, but since this original thread seemed to blame firmware version 4.4, and I'm on v5.1 something, I felt it was worth posting.

 

[Chipper]

Over the past few weeks my charge door has begun to pop open as well. At first I thought it was my imagination and that I'd simply forgotten to close it, but the past few days I've intentionally made note that I have closed it. This morning it actually popped open twice before I was able to get into the car.

What is interesting, and I'd like to know if it's just my car, is that once I sit down and press the brake pedal there is a distinctive "click" of the charge door locking closed. So once I get to that point it has never come open on me. Anyone else?

I'm taking the car for it's 37,500 service next week and will have it looked at then, but since this original thread seemed to blame firmware version 4.4, and I'm on v5.1 something, I felt it was worth posting.

YES!!! Evan, this happens to me too. But sometimes it is the loud click and it OPENS the charge port. Other times it is just a loud CLICK and I think it is opening, but it does NOT open. I think my car is attempting to rebel against the fact that I intentionally did not rise to the occasion when that butthead in the Mustang thought he could take her! Why does she wait until I am in the car and press the brake??? I promise the next time that Mustang revs next to us I will put him in his place, then maybe she will be sated and quit messing with my sanity--what little there is left!

 

[Kalud]

Over the past few weeks my charge door has begun to pop open as well. At first I thought it was my imagination and that I'd simply forgotten to close it, but the past few days I've intentionally made note that I have closed it. This morning it actually popped open twice before I was able to get into the car.

What is interesting, and I'd like to know if it's just my car, is that once I sit down and press the brake pedal there is a distinctive "click" of the charge door locking closed. So once I get to that point it has never come open on me. Anyone else?

I'm taking the car for it's 37,500 service next week and will have it looked at then, but since this original thread seemed to blame firmware version 4.4, and I'm on v5.1 something, I felt it was worth posting.

This is a known "issue" and the fix is super simple. If you don't get the "click" immediately when you close it, it's simply because the contact between the magnet and metal disc is weak. Just clean both. Once the contact is made the car locks the charge port. If the charge port is unlocked when you press the brake pedal then it locks it, this is the "click" you get.

- - - Updated - - -

If you take a small wire and short the two metal sections on the magnet (car side) it makes the car lock the charge port, easy to test.

 

[efusco]

This is a known "issue" and the fix is super simple. If you don't get the "click" immediately when you close it, it's simply because the contact between the magnet and metal disc is weak. Just clean both. Once the contact is made the car locks the charge port. If the charge port is unlocked when you press the brake pedal then it locks it, this is the "click" you get.

- - - Updated - - -

If you take a small wire and short the two metal sections on the magnet (car side) it makes the car lock the charge port, easy to test.

Well, I'll take a look to see if dirt could be the issue. But off hand I don't think that is it. I get a click when I close the door, it sounds like it has locked. I walk away and a few seconds later it pops back open as if it simply didn't maintain the lock.

But I'm not dismissing your suggestion. I'll be sure to take a look and clean the surfaces.

 

[gbdesai]

I had to super glue mine and it's rock solid now. I was surprised how weak the foam material used was...

 

[GuyHall]

Well, I'll take a look to see if dirt could be the issue. But off hand I don't think that is it. I get a click when I close the door, it sounds like it has locked. I walk away and a few seconds later it pops back open as if it simply didn't maintain the lock.

But I'm not dismissing your suggestion. I'll be sure to take a look and clean the surfaces.

I'm experiencing the same issue. Did cleaning the surfaces solve the problem?

 

[paulkva]

Over the past few weeks my charge door has begun to pop open as well. At first I thought it was my imagination and that I'd simply forgotten to close it, but the past few days I've intentionally made note that I have closed it. This morning it actually popped open twice before I was able to get into the car.

What is interesting, and I'd like to know if it's just my car, is that once I sit down and press the brake pedal there is a distinctive "click" of the charge door locking closed. So once I get to that point it has never come open on me. Anyone else?

I'm taking the car for it's 37,500 service next week and will have it looked at then, but since this original thread seemed to blame firmware version 4.4, and I'm on v5.1 something, I felt it was worth posting.

I realize this thread is a bit old, but I have some new information.

So, after my UMC was replaced for opening the charge port when it shouldn't (as I mentioned earlier in this thread back in June), and after the adhesive holding the magnet failed (many thanks to the Dania Beach service center for fixing it for me on my road trip in August!), I still noticed the charge port sometimes opening shortly after I closed it. Or alternatively, the "click" when I closed it just didn't sound as forceful as it should have. And similar to efusco, I noticed the more forceful "click" of the charge port locking properly when I pressed the brake pedal to start the car.

I recently noticed that if I unplug my UMC with one hand and immediately close the charge port with the other, I get that behavior... BUT... if I wait for a couple seconds between unplugging and closing the charge port, it locks properly every time. My guess is that the UMC continues to send an "unlock" signal for a second or two after you release the button. If that's correct, Tesla could potentially fix this issue with software by adding logic to check if the plug was successfully removed within the past (say) 5 seconds, and if so, ignore any unlock signals during that time.

So if anyone is still experiencing a not-fully-locked charge port after unplugging, I suggest you try taking a breath, or counting to two, or hanging up your charge cable, before closing the charge port. Hope this helps!

 

[liuping]

So if anyone is still experiencing a not-fully-locked charge port after unplugging, I suggest you try taking a breath, or counting to two, or hanging up your charge cable, before closing the charge port. Hope this helps!

Thanks! I'll try that. I've had it pop back open several times in the last few weeks. Pretty annoying when in a hurry and I don't notice until I'm already in the car. I'll try the wait a few second trick.

 

[ecarfan]

I used to have my charge port door pop open sometimes shortly after I closed it and as I was coiling up my HPWC cable. After this happened a few times I started to wonder if maybe I was accidentally pressing the button at the end of the cable while handling it to coils it up. So I started to be very careful not to grab the end of the cable as I was coiling it. From that point on the charge port door never popped open as I was putting away the cable, or at any other time.

Something to keep in mind...

 

[jerry33]

I used to have my charge port door pop open sometimes shortly after I closed it and as I was coiling up my HPWC cable. After this happened a few times I started to wonder if maybe I was accidentally pressing the button at the end of the cable while handling it to coils it up. So I started to be very careful not to grab the end of the cable as I was coiling it. From that point on the charge port door never popped open as I was putting away the cable, or at any other time.

Something to keep on mind...

This has been more-or-less my experience. It seems that even if you just touch the metal surrounding the button it sometimes opens the charge port.

 

[paulkva]

I used to have my charge port door pop open sometimes shortly after I closed it and as I was coiling up my HPWC cable. After this happened a few times I started to wonder if maybe I was accidentally pressing the button at the end of the cable while handling it to coils it up. So I started to be very careful not to grab the end of the cable as I was coiling it. From that point on the charge port door never popped open as I was putting away the cable, or at any other time.

Something to keep in mind...

This is a definite possibility as well, and was one of the first things I tried to be careful of when I first started diagnosing the issue. (And it did help a little, i.e. my charge port didn't reopen quite as often, once I started consciously avoiding the UMC button as I was putting it away.) But in my experience, closing the port too soon after unplugging also contributes to the problem.

 

[PaulMac]

also had the phantom opening issue, did this get resolved?

 

[efusco]

also had the phantom opening issue, did this get resolved?

Mine had this problem, but it hasn't recurred in many months, so I suspect it might have been fixed.
What I noticed is that sometimes when you'd close the door you'd get a satisfying "click" as the magnet locked into place. Other times there was no click, the door would stay closed, then either "click" locked when you turned on the car or it would pop open before or during start up. Was so intermittent I had to actively watch for it to be sure I wasn't just forgetting to close it (as I sometimes do). But it was real. When pointed out to the SC, of course, they could find nothing.

 

[mattreidy]

Many times I find that the charge port door has popped back open when I'm sure I closed it. I thought I was losing my mind. Very annoying.

I guess my only option is to change my routine:

New: unplug, hang up, close charge port, get in

vs

Old: unplug, close charge port, hang up, get in

 

[garygid]

If you are at a SuperCharger location, somebody else could be pressing the button
on their charge plug, and causing several nearby charging flaps to open,
including yours.

Yes, pressing the button 10 to about 30 feet away can open a car's flap.