Death of a center screen / touch screen after warranty

[sorka]

My guess is that the electrical shorts seen in early models are likely confined to a chip or circuit board that can be replaced for 100's of dollars and Tesla is reselling these screens without disclosing this for 1000's of dollars.

I seriously doubt that the failing part would be more than 10s of dollars let alone hundreds.

 

[sorka]

This is outrageous. I tweeted Elon about this, but as he propable gets about thousand tweets a day, he does not necessarily notice it. I encourage others to tweet him also about this. This can't be right.

Link your tweet so we can all re tweet it. That's how you get noticed.

 

[sorka]

You also can't buy it unless you are the original owner.

That used to be true but is no longer.

Edit: Been replying to this thread without realizing it wasn't new. What you said was true of course when you wrote.

 

[sorka]

Sorry to hear about this, Measton. I have a stack of dead MCU's (Multimedia Control Units) accumulating in my lab. All but one has a failure of the eMMC flash drive used on the Tegra module. This is what holds the Linux operating system the CID (Center Information Display) uses for display functions on the 17" screen. The MCU also contains some other stuff, one is the gateway which is a separate computer (doesn't run Linux or depend on the eMMC flash). The gateway is critical to making the car drive, but the CID is not. Your car will usually still continue to drive with a black screen.

The reason the eMMC is failing is because they use it for continuous logging. Because it's unlike a normal hard drive, it has a limit on how many times it can be written to, and the vast logging data quickly pushes this over the limit. These Linux log files are not needed for functioning of the car, and in fact on all salvage cars I support, one of the first things I do is disable it. The car logging functions possibly needed for service diagnosis are unaffected, as these are logged onto a 4G SD card that happens to also be easily replaceable.

Lately Tesla has toned down the logging somewhat, but it's still way more than I would consider with eMMC flash.

The eMMC flash chip is soldered in and not easily replaceable, but I'm working on a repair procedure for this. It's cost is under 10 dollars even in low quantity, so the bulk of the repair cost is going to be the labor to remove (and reinstall) the MCU from the car, which takes about an hour, and the more extensive and highly specialized work to remove the bad eMMC and install a new one. Then the data must be recovered from the old one and the operating system recreated on the new one. When the eMMC dies, there is usually some corruption so sometimes this can take awhile, or I'll just start "fresh" and the car will be all reset to factory conditions. Not easy, but I expect this will cost a small fraction of what Tesla is charging and I will also be able to offer a much better warranty.

Sadly, unless Tesla takes action now, probably all cars are going to succumb to this at some point.

I can't say how Tesla fixes these when the "refurb" them, but likely they just install a new Tegra module and toss the old one, as the rework like I'll be doing is difficult and specialized. I would replace the module too, except Tesla will not sell them.

If you ever decide to move, let me know so I can follow you

How easy is it to disable the logging? Does it need to be rooted?

 

[sorka]

Yes, so far that stack of bad ones I have now have all been replaced by used stuff. Obviously a used one is sometimes not much better, and it could have a short life, but since I disable the logging, it helps the future longevity a lot.

I know a women who has brain surgeon like skills with regards to re-working boards. I've seen her remove and solder on nearly microscopic ICs and other SMC circuits with 40 to 60 nearly microscopic contacts. I suspect you could hire her for batch work.

 

[sorka]

Ingineer and wk057 need to start a company together!!

 

[NoMoGas]

Honestly this problem does bother me. Ive had a battery replaced, paid full price and Tesla took the old one. This has happened with other parts as well and it's not OK. We need to be sure to demand our old parts at time of drop off if we want them. If they are actually profiting off of the returned parts, some idiot lawyer is going to hit them for this so Tesla should know better. I want them to do better not get hit with a lawsuit by a tow-truck chaser. Most states require them to return old parts BUT you must ask for them ahead of time (check your local regs).

 

[NoMoGas]

Two points:

1. Go buy a similar component for a high end Mercedes or BMW, and let me know what that set you back. It won't be cheaper.

2. It's about volume. Tesla sold, what, 10 or 15K cars in 2013? That screen will cost a lot more in such relatively low volumes than if they were making a million of them. So, 4K might not be that far out of line. Go buy a factory part for a small aircraft. A bloody alternator will cost 4k.

Not if you don't need a yellow tag

 

[sorka]

The failure is a poorly designed soldered connection inside the MFD on the 04 and 05 Prius, that's what I've been talking about the entire time. The CM is the speedometer and fuel gauge. There have been a few CM issues but lots and lots of 04 & 05 cars had failures of the MFD.

You have your parts confused. The CM is the part that has a 100% failure rate and Toyota extended the warranty on it.

This is the letter that I and everyone else got:

2004-2009 Toyota Prius Combination Meter Warranty Extension ZTV

The MFD was never covered by a warranty extension and their failure rate is very very low. There are thousands of posts on failed CMs in priuchat, where I have been a prolific poster for over 10 years, but very few reports of MFD failures.

In fact, they are so rare, you can buy the MFDs on ebay for a few hundred parted out from salvage vehicles.

The CM defect was caused by bad solder joints caused by the switch to non lead based solder. There are DOZENs of extensive threads and articles discussing the CM discussing the bad solder joints caused by lead free solder:

combination meter repair - DIY

Please post a link showing the that few MFD failures are related to bad soldering.

Also please post a link backing up the claim that the MFD was ever covered by an enhanced warranty extension.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Honestly this problem does bother me. Ive had a battery replaced, paid full price and Tesla took the old one. This has happened with other parts as well and it's not OK. We need to be sure to demand our old parts at time of drop off if we want them. If they are actually profiting off of the returned parts, some idiot lawyer is going to hit them for this so Tesla should know better. I want them to do better not get hit with a lawsuit by a tow-truck chaser. Most states require them to return old parts BUT you must ask for them ahead of time (check your local regs).

A lot of rebuilt car parts have core charges. They basically take the old part back and return that portion of the charge to you (or they don't charge you the core charge in the first place, if it's a direct swap). This is something quite common from what I can tell.

Of course for parts that don't fall under these provisions, then they should return to you if requested (most people don't ask and don't want to deal with disposing of parts, so a lot of shops just keep them).

 

[ktr_]

So what do you advise on non-salvage, but otherwise out of warranty cars? Does modifying the software to disable logging prevent future OTA updates?

These Linux log files are not needed for functioning of the car, and in fact on all salvage cars I support, one of the first things I do is disable it

 

[Ingineer]

The stopping of the linux logging does not affect anything, it survives software updates, and does not prevent any.

I've done it to plenty of supported cars. So far zero eMMC failures on cars with reduced logging.

 

[Marc_GA]

@Ingineer - I’m out of warranty now. What's the easiest way to lower or disable logging?

 

[mbk6]

Hi,

Perhaps it is possible to source the Nvidia VCM board from other manufactures.
I found that the Audi A3 or S3 should have a nvidia board with the Tegra 3.

It seems to be cheap enough to source the part from eBay, availablity would probably be much much better than Tesla parsts.
Audi 2014 2015 2016 A3 S3 MMI Multimedia Navigation CD SD Module 8V0035844C ZW36 | eBay

 

[Zackstoy]

Sucks 3k for something that work before I left on my trip. I come back the car never been moved and now it dead. I feel so SOL. I just bought the car from my friend and it worked

 

[apacheguy]

@Zachstoy - when did you have this replaced? Odd that you got a Rev C and I got an M back in 2015

 

[Zackstoy]

@Zachstoy - when did you have this replaced? Odd that you got a Rev C and I got an M back in 2015

I don’t understand? I plan to get the old part back when I get there. If there ever is a fix I love for this to be completed. I really don’t have the money I got it because I use it for mileage for my company. This kills that’s

 

[apacheguy]

I don’t understand? I plan to get the old part back when I get there. If there ever is a fix I love for this to be completed. I really don’t have the money I got it because I use it for mileage for my company. This kills that’s

The part number suffix is -C indicating it is a revision C.

 

[Zackstoy]

The part number suffix is -C indicating it is a revision C.

Ok ver C ur thinking I have like A?

 

[jaydub333]

I replaced my screen because there were a few small bubbles on the edge. They are only cosmetic.

If you'd like to purchase my old screen, let me know. [email protected]