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coolant leak in rear drive unit (12k miles on odometer) and Tesla says someone touched it so the warranty NOT applicable

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Pictures: shows leaking hose. Also notice absence of impact damage.

History: car was traded into Mercedes and Person A bought it. I bought it from Person A.

Tesla says: Service advisor says his Tech person is sure someone non Tesla “touched the car” or was working on the car. Their “proof” is that if the hose was in the correct position, it would not develop a leak.

My doubts: I do know the history is abnormal, but If a car is under bumper to bumper warranty, why would anyone elect to NOT have Tesla work on it? It seems unlikely.

What do I do?
 

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Are you stating this from a position of knowledge that there are no Tesla policies or performance measurements on service techs to identify situations to not cover? None specific to that service center?

A few people, yourself included, seem content to conclude this must be an owner action (but can't suggest what that would have been), despite the well known history of the company for manufacturing slips. Warranties cover the duration of time/mileage no matter how many owners there are, without a mandate that the manufacturer recertify the car at the time of transfer. The buyer here made a reasonable effort to assess the car - what more should have been done?

Escalation beyond the service manager is clearly called for, and if necessary, arbitration as Empiro suggests. But I would hope he could find a more reasonable person in this chain, as there is nothing reasonable about "hose isn't where I think it should be" on a car with 12k.

Anything could have been done. Adding spacers to bring up the cars ride hight or lowering the car is a very popular aftermarket mod to the car that could have been done and possibly someone screwed up. I’m saying we don’t know what was done. I’m saying that Tesla routinely completes service work under warrantee and the chance that they’ve decided for zero reason to single out OP by making a claim that someone else worked on the car when they know that is a lie is unlikely.

It just seems to me more likely that the seller did something and kept it hush to sell the car at a higher value than it is the Tech guy has decided to pick on OP.

But I’m not saying it definitively.
 
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Anything could have been done. Adding spacers to bring up the cars ride hight or lowering the car is a very popular aftermarket mod to the car that could have been done and possibly someone screwed up. I’m saying we don’t know what was done. I’m saying that Tesla routinely completes service work under warrantee and the chance that they’ve decided for zero reason to single out OP by making a claim that someone else worked on the car when they know that is a lie is unlikely.
because above all else, Tesla is well known for its consistency.
 
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I doubt you know anything about the engineering decision.
like just about anyone, I know that a design where damage to a tiny plastic piece means replacing 1000 lbs of lithium batteries for 5 figures is asinine.

I've replaced enough similar looking parts in the sprinkler systems I've inherited. Sometimes you want to engineer a weak spot to allow for failure, and other times, you do not.
 
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I think we would ALL be surprised by engineering/design compromises that are made in every single product that we purchase.

No excuse for the poor "nipple" design. However, it has nothing to do with the leaking hose in this discussion...at least, based on the OP's photos.
 
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View attachment 819818

Pictures: shows leaking hose. Also notice absence of impact damage.

History: car was traded into Mercedes and Person A bought it. I bought it from Person A.

Tesla says: Service advisor says his Tech person is sure someone non Tesla “touched the car” or was working on the car. Their “proof” is that if the hose was in the correct position, it would not develop a leak.

My doubts: I do know the history is abnormal, but If a car is under bumper to bumper warranty, why would anyone elect to NOT have Tesla work on it? It seems unlikely.

What do I do?
You said that they said if the hose was in the correct position there would not be a leak. Did they show you the source of the leak? If so, where was it on the picture? Did they show you where the hose was supposed to be located? If not, I'd go back and have them show you on your vehicle or a new car or from your picture. Would be nice to know why someone would have rerouted the hose or what exactly the issue is.
 
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What, if anything, can be done to protect and minimize the possibility of damage to the fragile, exposed parts of the battery cooling system?
Don't drive over big pieces of debris in the road? Seriously, the battery and cooling components are pretty well protected. It would take a pretty large piece of metal or something in the road to pierce it. There are metal skidplates you can buy, but they will take away some of the clearance under the car, which isn't great to begin with. The sorts of failures described here are pretty rare.
 
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Some of the responses in this thread are doing a lot of gymnastics. So one option is that a previous owner of a car with only 12k miles was so interested in how their car worked they put it on a hoist and poked around and moved a hose for no reason, lifted, put spacers, entered the car in to a demolition derby, etc. The other option is that Tesla, not exactly known for their stellar build quality, either assembled it incorrectly or the part became loose over time.

I know which one seems more plausible to me. In the picture it looks like the hose is rubbing up on the drive shaft boot and there is a black clip at the top that looks like it's not snapped in to wherever it is supposed to go. Much more likely the clip failed or was never clipped in in the first place over any of these crazy theories.

By the way, my car, unlike the OP's, does not have both of these pop rivets, only one on either side. Does that mean I messed with my car? I was also missing retainers in my wheel well liners.

1656084868180.png
 
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From the photos, showing an unattached clip, I agree with Seminole. If so, the spinning CV joint boot rubbed a hole in the hose.

We still don't have enough information. Is the leak coming from a hole in the hose caused by the spinning CV boot, or is it leaking at a clamp/nipple?

ARGH! Internet discussions can be all over the place because we...just...don't...have...information.
 
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Some of the responses in this thread are doing a lot of gymnastics. So one option is that a previous owner of a car with only 12k miles was so interested in how their car worked they put it on a hoist and poked around and moved a hose for no reason, lifted, put spacers, entered the car in to a demolition derby, etc. The other option is that Tesla, not exactly known for their stellar build quality, either assembled it incorrectly or the part became loose over time.

I know which one seems more plausible to me. In the picture it looks like the hose is rubbing up on the drive shaft boot and there is a black clip at the top that looks like it's not snapped in to wherever it is supposed to go. Much more likely the clip failed or was never clipped in in the first place over any of these crazy theories.

By the way, my car, unlike the OP's, does not have both of these pop rivets, only one on either side. Does that mean I messed with my car? I was also missing retainers in my wheel well liners.

View attachment 820515
This is the correct answer.
 
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From the photos, showing an unattached clip, I agree with Seminole. If so, the spinning CV joint boot rubbed a hole in the hose.

We still don't have enough information. Is the leak coming from a hole in the hose caused by the spinning CV boot, or is it leaking at a clamp/nipple?

ARGH! Internet discussions can be all over the place because we...just...don't...have...information.

Until we have confirmation we can't be sure, but it definitely looks like there is moisture and a leak on the hose as well as the CV boot where the hose makes contact with it.

1656085952888.png
 
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OK so now I really need advice, it seems they already did the service before I was able to speak to the manager. Never got the proof of “outside influence” as they claimed. But now I guess there never will be proof since it is fixed already. … what do I do?
That's a pretty good outcome. Your previous posts implied a huge negative outcome, like suggesting you lost your warranty on the cooling system and potentially battery. What it looks like is the tech said this hose shouldn't be here, therefore it was moved by another party. I can fix it but it's not covered by warranty, moving the hose return to stock. That is much different than the idea that the tech said we are voiding your warranty. You do not want to go down the road of challenging Tesla and accusing them of missing the hose during assembly like some have suggested. It's be a possibility if there were many examples of this of which there are none. Thus, the bill is not a bad price for them to fix it and bring it back into the warranty fold. I'd confirm this last part just to be sure.
 
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OK so now I really need advice, it seems they already did the service before I was able to speak to the manager. Never got the proof of “outside influence” as they claimed. But now I guess there never will be proof since it is fixed already. … what do I do?

View attachment 820550
Did you accept the initial estimate before they did any work? If not, I doubt they can charge you if you never agreed/accepted the invoice/estimate.

FYI --

Auto Repair Basics

'An estimate – Before beginning any repairs, the auto shop must provide you with an estimate showing the estimated price for parts and labor and obtain your authorization.'
 
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That's a pretty good outcome. Your previous posts implied a huge negative outcome, like suggesting you lost your warranty on the cooling system and potentially battery. What it looks like is the tech said this hose shouldn't be here, therefore it was moved by another party. I can fix it but it's not covered by warranty, moving the hose return to stock. That is much different than the idea that the tech said we are voiding your warranty. You do not want to go down the road of challenging Tesla and accusing them of missing the hose during assembly like some have suggested. It's be a possibility if there were many examples of this of which there are none. Thus, the bill is not a bad price for them to fix it and bring it back into the warranty fold. I'd confirm this last part just to be sure.
This sets a precedent, just like in Law. If I accept 'outside influence' and pay, then Tesla can use that as reasoning in the future for anything else that is 'out of place'. Not just for me, but for other Tesla owners. You can be sure Tesla corporate will try to deny as many warranties as they can get away with.

You seem to not understand that us Tesla customers are on the same side? There is this weird attitude among a large number of folks that if person A gets something good done to them, then something is taken away from B, C, etc. If Tesla fixes this under warranty, that's a benefit to ALL of us.

Did you accept the initial estimate before they did any work? If not, I doubt they can charge you if you never agreed/accepted the invoice/estimate.

FYI --

Auto Repair Basics

'An estimate – Before beginning any repairs, the auto shop must provide you with an estimate showing the estimated price for parts and labor and obtain your authorization.'
I did NOT approve anything. The appearance of the estimate and the message saying it is ready for pickup happened all this morning while I was asleep.
 
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