Dark IC (instrument cluster)

[Marcodinho]

Hi.

My mcu started bugging, resetting and cutting music out of the blue.

then the ic started freezing, also after parking.

i took this as signs that the emmc/mcu was slowly failing.

the next day, the ic was dark, and turned back on again after a few minutes into driving.

Next day, ic was dark, and has remained dark ever since.
However the mcu is still working.

Today i removed the emmc box, and sent it to a third party for upgrade before getting black screened.


So, my question is; anyone else belive my ic problems are related to mcu-trouble? Or do i need an ic replacment as well?

 

[Marcodinho]

 

[Marcodinho]

Picture shows the ic when parked (in P) before going dark.

speed and D remained for a few minutes

 

[Christobal]

Hi Marcodinho,

i`m not sure but i think so. I had an appointment for a mobile service technician to come and look at my car today for similar problems, and i think he said that power for the ic was controlled by the ecu.
My story is that after i installed the 2020.24.1 update my ic would constantly reboot itself, and stay on for 10 seconds and then shut down and stay off for a few seconds and then turn back on again, and doing so constantly.
This behavior by the ic and the problems i already had with wifi and blutooth connectivity in the car, and my car being a 2013 model year made me suspect an imminent emmc chip failure.
So trying to save a few bucks compared to having Tesla take care of it, i removed the ecu and sent it off to a third party firm for a replacement of the emmc chip. This solved my connectivity problems, but not my ic problems. Still the same constant rebooting of the screen.
So today i had a mobile technician from Tesla come and look at it and he could do nothing to diagnose the ic problems because i had stated that i had the emmc chip replaced by a third party firm. He said i would have to buy a new ecu before they could diagnose the problem if it was still there after the new mcu replacement.
So if you still have problems with your ic after getting your ecu with the new emmc chip back, i would certainly not tell Tesla about the new emmc chip.
Hopefully they will not notice if you have to go to them and have a diagnosis done.

 

[Christobal]

Well i finally solved my problem with the ic constantly rebooting. I stumbled upon the first post in the consolidatet eMMC thread in this forum where it says:

After the repair and reassembly:
· When reassembling the ribbon cables are hard to tell if they are connected solidly. If your screen does not light up, you can check that cable as the MCU will boot, but the screen will not display if it is a little loose. Don't ask me why I know that
· The MCU may reboot a few times, its normal, let it do its thing and go enjoy a cool beverage
· Drive the car around a few feet to make sure GPS is tracking, that little blue antenna connection may not be tight and if loose GPS will not function.
· If you continue to see problems, the corruption may have been copied over, you may need to factory reset it, some cases have needed several reboots and factory resets.
· Once repair is completed and you did not do preventive maintenance you may want to file a complaint similar to this.

I have tried all the resets with the buttons on the steering wheel in the past. Changing language on the MCU display numerous times. I have also tried vehicle power offs through the MCU several times. I have also tried one factory reset previously wich did not work. But after reading that several factory resets could be needed, i tried another factory reset again this morning and on the first try the problem was fixed.

I must say though i am very unhappy with Tesla as a company and their customer care towards owners of older vehicles out of warranty.
In the two years i have owned my 2013 Model S i have probably spent around 7 thousand dollars in maintenance, and seen approx. ten percent of battery capacity taken away after software updates. They also refused to diagnose my ic problem after learning i had used a third party company to replace the eMMC chip. Just as well, i fixed it myself and it didn`t cost a dime

 

[EV-Fixme]

The IC also has a eMMC that can go bad, however it's much more rare for them to fail. The IC also does not contain unique information that the MCU does not place back on. You can get your IC repaired with @LuckyLuke or replace with another IC.

 

[EV-Fixme]

Well i finally solved my problem with the ic constantly rebooting. I stumbled upon the first post in the consolidatet eMMC thread in this forum where it says:

After the repair and reassembly:
· When reassembling the ribbon cables are hard to tell if they are connected solidly. If your screen does not light up, you can check that cable as the MCU will boot, but the screen will not display if it is a little loose. Don't ask me why I know that
· The MCU may reboot a few times, its normal, let it do its thing and go enjoy a cool beverage
· Drive the car around a few feet to make sure GPS is tracking, that little blue antenna connection may not be tight and if loose GPS will not function.
· If you continue to see problems, the corruption may have been copied over, you may need to factory reset it, some cases have needed several reboots and factory resets.
· Once repair is completed and you did not do preventive maintenance you may want to file a complaint similar to this.

I have tried all the resets with the buttons on the steering wheel in the past. Changing language on the MCU display numerous times. I have also tried vehicle power offs through the MCU several times. I have also tried one factory reset previously wich did not work. But after reading that several factory resets could be needed, i tried another factory reset again this morning and on the first try the problem was fixed.

I must say though i am very unhappy with Tesla as a company and their customer care towards owners of older vehicles out of warranty.
In the two years i have owned my 2013 Model S i have probably spent around 7 thousand dollars in maintenance, and seen approx. ten percent of battery capacity taken away after software updates. They also refused to diagnose my ic problem after learning i had used a third party company to replace the eMMC chip. Just as well, i fixed it myself and it didn`t cost a dime

We have noticed on several occasions, apparently factory reset does not delete everything at once. Thanks for confirming and we are not just silly for having to do this!

Some SC do get to be a pain to deal with once they know the eMMC has been replaced 3rd party.

 

[Christobal]

Your`e welcome, and thank you for the info i got from your post by the way. That really saved the day.