Charging Issues - Help Needed

[melduk]

Hi

I am having issues with my cars "charge port".

I took the car into Nottingham service centre in Jan and they replaced this, now again I am having the same issue. Only this time its much worse as its causing me not to be able to charge the car or the car starts to charge but then stops charging. An alert comes up almost every drive as well saying can not charge, charge port not detected.

Nottingham service centre have me booked in for 4th March. Which I was OK with until the issue got worse. I am supposed to be doing some long distance driving over the next few weeks and not being able to charge is a major concern!

What can I do? Surely Tesla should offer me something in the meantime?

Thanks

 

[Adopado]

Hi

I am having issues with my cars "charge port".

I took the car into Nottingham service centre in Jan and they replaced this, now again I am having the same issue. Only this time its much worse as its causing me not to be able to charge the car or the car starts to charge but then stops charging. An alert comes up almost every drive as well saying can not charge, charge port not detected.

Nottingham service centre have me booked in for 4th March. Which I was OK with until the issue got worse. I am supposed to be doing some long distance driving over the next few weeks and not being able to charge is a major concern!

What can I do? Surely Tesla should offer me something in the meantime?

Thanks

I had success abandoning my car at the Service Centre (Edinburgh) when it was an issue that could potentially make the car undriveable*. I drove in without any appointment. To their credit they arranged a replacement car on the spot and fixed within a day and a half. Obviously this is a risk because that may not be the reaction so I can't guarantee this would work for anyone else. I had my wife in our second car shadowing me on the drive there and parked nearby so I did have an option to just leave it even if they hadn't provided a replacement.


*This was the water ingress to the wiring loom issue that was just becoming known in the early cars and left the car without power steering amongst other things. The steering came back and dropped out a couple of times on my 25 mile drive to the SC which was quite exciting.

 

[melduk]

Thanks for the info, Tesla Nottingham have told me there is nothing they can do until 4th March and won't be able to provide a hire car until 17th March.

They mentioned if that does not work for me to try Tesla Roadside Assistance who may provide a loan car?

 

[GRiLLA]

Call roadside if the car is unusable.

 

[melduk]

a lot of the first model 3s had a problem with the charge port. There is some kind of magnet or something, and it fell off. instead of gluing it back, they replaced the whole charge port. mine did it within the first week and so did a couple of other friends doors.

Interesting to know, my M3 is only about 3 months old. I've called Roadside now who have booked me in at another Tesla this week now.

Should be able to get there on the current charge I have. Car has been plugged in all day and constantly disconnects due to problems with charge port. Managed to charge 2% in about 6 hours.

 

[Deleted member 155949]

I’ve had exactly the same ‘charge port component’ error for the last 4 weeks and Tesla still haven’t seen my car. Nottingham couldn’t see it because they were too busy and Birmingham booked it in only for that to be cancelled because they don’t have the parts required.

I was told to phone roadside assistance if I got stranded so now I carry food, water, a warm coat, an overnight bag and a good book in the car just in case…

 

[melduk]

I’ve had exactly the same ‘charge port component’ error for the last 4 weeks and Tesla still haven’t seen my car. Nottingham couldn’t see it because they were too busy and Birmingham booked it in only for that to be cancelled because they don’t have the parts required.

I was told to phone roadside assistance if I got stranded so now I carry food, water, a warm coat, an overnight bag and a good book in the car just in case…

Sounds like your at the start of the issue. First 5-6 weeks I got the error but didn’t effect charging much. Had it replaced about 2 weeks ago. Now the car basically doesn’t charge. Every 10 minutes yesterday the car had an issue with the charge port. Managed to get 8% charge in the car but took 10 hours.

 

[Deleted member 155949]

Sounds like your at the start of the issue. First 5-6 weeks I got the error but didn’t effect charging much. Had it replaced about 2 weeks ago. Now the car basically doesn’t charge. Every 10 minutes yesterday the car had an issue with the charge port. Managed to get 8% charge in the car but took 10 hours.

I’ve had it a few times where it wouldn’t charge at all - the charge port locking pin will activate and prevent me from even plugging it in and then the charge port light turns red. Usually resets itself but I once had to wait a few hours.

They really ought to have put yours on the back of a low loader and given you a replacement car. Being unable to charge means the car is useless. What if you need to travel at short notice?? Have you tried the supercharger at Grantham? I took mine there when it wouldn’t charge a week or so ago and the error went away briefly.

 

[Cnixon]

Sure you will have tried but does a full reset whilst plugged in help?

 

[Deleted member 155949]

Sure you will have tried but does a full reset whilst plugged in help?

Yep, tried a reset but that doesn’t help.

 

[melduk]

I’ve had it a few times where it wouldn’t charge at all - the charge port locking pin will activate and prevent me from even plugging it in and then the charge port light turns red. Usually resets itself but I once had to wait a few hours.

They really ought to have put yours on the back of a low loader and given you a replacement car. Being unable to charge means the car is useless. What if you need to travel at short notice?? Have you tried the supercharger at Grantham? I took mine there when it wouldn’t charge a week or so ago and the error went away briefly.

Yeah I did consider taking it to the Grantham supercharger, is only 15 minutes away from me. I wasn't sure if that was pretty much the same though so wasn't sure if it was pointless. Might give it a go later this week.

I am having to pay for a train for my travels this weekend now because I can't trust the car to charge on the journey..

 

[Deleted member 155949]

Yeah I did consider taking it to the Grantham supercharger, is only 15 minutes away from me. I wasn't sure if that was pretty much the same though so wasn't sure if it was pointless. Might give it a go later this week.

I am having to pay for a train for my travels this weekend now because I can't trust the car to charge on the journey..

I noticed that you had Newark as your location, hence the Grantham supercharger suggestion.

I’m just up the road from Grantham so it was easy for me to get there. My plan was to try to charge there and when it failed (as I was convinced it would) I would phone roadside assistance and get them to take it away, but it started charging which kind of thwarted my plan.

 

[kevinpat]

Similar issues here on a M3 (less than a year old) 'charge port component not detected' and 'unable to charge' - its intermittent, been to Reading service 4 weeks ago, 40 miles from my home and it was fixed for two days! "I found a loose connector sir, and tightened it!". The nightmare continues - fed up spending £50k on a car and spending all my time trying to get it to charge usually on 2kw it works then after 20-30 minutes stops charging. Was booked in this week for another service but last minute was told no loan car - so it going on! Thinking about smelling petrol fumes again and making my life simpler! The sales team were so good at encouraging me to join the 'tesla family' I am not sure they are ready to take care of their family members!

 

[Adopado]

Similar issues here on a M3 (less than a year old) 'charge port component not detected' and 'unable to charge' - its intermittent, been to Reading service 4 weeks ago, 40 miles from my home and it was fixed for two days! "I found a loose connector sir, and tightened it!". The nightmare continues - fed up spending £50k on a car and spending all my time trying to get it to charge usually on 2kw it works then after 20-30 minutes stops charging. Was booked in this week for another service but last minute was told no loan car - so it going on! Thinking about smelling petrol fumes again and making my life simpler! The sales team were so good at encouraging me to join the 'tesla family' I am not sure they are ready to take care of their family members!

Very frustrating. Hang in there. Unfortunately this sort of thing happens in life ... odd problems crop up with different types of car so though another brand may solve things there's no guarantee that an ICE vehicle will be fault free either. Your own issues are not ones that are reflected in the forum so it looks more like bad luck than an inherent weakness in the design of the Model 3.

Recalling my own test drive it was notable for the lack of reference to "Tesla family" and other such cringy dealership style sales approaches ... in fact nobody tried to sell me anything and I found that welcome and rather refreshing ... it was just a bloke pointing out how the car worked! I certainly didn't feel that anything was being misrepresented in terms of promised service. There's normally no pretence about taking care of anybody!