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DIY MS Door Handle Repair

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FlyinLow

FlyinLow

Enjoy the journey
Feb 5, 2018
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#1
If you’re a tinkerer like me you enjoy working on your own cars whenever they need attention. Spending a couple hours with my car lets me get to know it better.
I had a door handle (driver’s) that would not present on my ‘14 MS. I checked with the Tesla Service Center to see if they were fixing door handles or replacing the whole thing. I’m past my warranty on those parts. Shopping around revealed an upgraded machined steel gear sold by EV Tuning Solutions. They also sell a wiring harness with more flexible, reinforced wires.
Link: Model S Door Handle Rebuild Kit/Service

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#3
I’ll post a bunch of pictures for those curious what the inside of the door and mechanism looks like on the Nov ‘14 build MS. There are several generations of door handle mechanism.
The maintenance department at the Wexford Service Center in Western PA was willing to try to order the small gear that was broken to see if it could be bought individually. In the end I decided to go with the more robust machined gear with the expectation that it would last the life of the car.

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#7
This was my first DIY door handle repair. I chose to replace the wiring harness to minimize the chances this door would need to come apart for a handle problem any time soon.
After two hours of actual tinkering I was done. I had several interruptions so I used pictures I took along the way to make sure it all got put back correctly.
If you like cars and working on your Tesla, this is a fun project. Essentials...a well lit, clean working area that is warm is a must, an assortment of torq bits, patience, time and some skill.

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#9
Great job and lots of nice pictures to view the step by step process. It’s not hard but can be tedious at times. If you take your time, keep your patience you can save yourself a good amount of money. You’ll also know this should be the last time you have to do a door handle repair on that handle.
 
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#10
I was talking to a friend of mine who has more experience getting door handles replaced...

1. Buying a Gen 3 (edit - not Gen 2) door handle from salvage and putting it in myself would require a software pairing process. Tesla may not be interested in pairing a part I didn't buy from them to my car. Worth asking your local service center before spending the money on a door handle assembly you may not be able to use.

2. Repairing my already software paired door handle assembly ensures I have a long term fix and fully functioning door handle for the life of my car.

3. A challenge will come to those who have a mix of door handle assembly generations if they want them to all match. Either they will have to accept having mixed gen handles on the car long term, or replace them all as they fail at Tesla's price, then fix it when it breaks after a period of time.

4. My local Tesla group had several people who had experienced door handle warranty work and even fixed their own too. Reach out to the local Tesla owners, especially the 2012-2014 Model S owners who may be able to point you in the right direction if you'd like help with your DIY repair.
 
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#11
FlyinLow said:
I was talking to a friend of mine who has more experience getting door handles replaced...

1. Buying a Gen 2 or 3 door handle from salvage and putting it in myself would require a software pairing process. Tesla may not be interested in pairing a part I didn't buy from them to my car. Worth asking your local service center before spending the money on a door handle assembly you may not be able to use.

2. Repairing my already software paired door handle assembly ensures I have a long term fix and fully functioning door handle for the life of my car.

3. A challenge will come to those who have a mix of door handle assembly generations if they want them to all match. Either they will have to accept having mixed gen handles on the car long term, or replace them all as they fail at Tesla's price, then fix it when it breaks after a period of time.

4. My local Tesla group had several people who had experienced door handle warranty work and even fixed their own too. Reach out to the local Tesla owners, especially the 2012-2014 Model S owners who may be able to point you in the right direction if you'd like help with your DIY repair.
Click to expand...

Only Gen 3 would require firmware and initialization. Gen 1 and 2-2.5 can all coexist on the same car. Gen 3 is the only one that makes things difficult. We have rebuilt and installed used handles in other cars without issue or firmware alerts. Also when you install a new firmware update from OTA it will initialize the module.
 
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#12
SabrToothSqrl said:
Cool. I had at least 8 if not more fail under warranty. Worst part of the car.
Click to expand...

I noticed you're in PA. Our Tesla Pittsburgh group is fairly active and knowledgeable. I've gotten lots of help from them. Next time you have a door assembly issue, maybe we can help you look at your options.

EVTuning said:
Great job and lots of nice pictures to view the step by step process. It’s not hard but can be tedious at times. If you take your time, keep your patience you can save yourself a good amount of money. You’ll also know this should be the last time you have to do a door handle repair on that handle.
Click to expand...

Thanks EVTuning! I know my next door handle assembly repair will go faster. My biggest challenge was pulling apart the various different electrical connectors carefully. I didn't want to break any of them. I appreciated having the door trim clips so I'll have a secure and quiet door panel.
 
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#14
I just finished repairing my door handle as well. The hardest part for me was extricating the handle assembly. It's a tight squeeze - first the two zip-ties have to be cut without damaging the wire, which was not easy as there's not much room to work, and the assembly has to go through in just the right orientation to fit through the slot in the door - it took a while to figure all that out. Putting it back in was much easier.

The video from Rich Rebuilds was very helpful in getting an idea how to disassemble the door and remove the handle assembly, although I needed to make a few small changes because in my case it was a rear door. I didn't need to remove the chrome trim piece, and leaving the window up worked best. Also, removing the small access panel by the rear corner of the window made easy access to one of the screws of the handle assembly. The top-front screw is the hardest to reach, but it's possible with a low profile ratchet.

After taking it all apart, I found this video to be helpful - it goes into more detail about how to replace the paddle gear:
 
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#17
Tesla just replaced the driver door handle assembly on my 2013 car. The switches and the paddle gear were both good on the original assembly. Sometimes the handle would operate normally, sometimes it would not present and sometimes it would present but not unlock the door. It was determined that the controller in the door handle assembly unit was flakely. Apparently the control module is not replaceable. So they retrofitted the latest door handle assembly unit that eliminates the switches and uses a Hall effect sensor instead, has a revised paddle gear and an external control module (which required the installation of an adapter wire harness).

Once the assembly was installed, the tech had to calibrate the door handle assembly, which took less than a minute to do. I’m still running V8.1 on my car and the tech was concerned that the car would throw error codes requiring me to update to the latest V9 software. But the calibration proceeded normally and my car’s software did not require updating. I’m still running V8.1 with the new door handle assembly.

Btw, if you get the whole assembly unit swapped out for the new design, make sure they get the correct assembly frame. The mounting holes on the first unit the tech tried to install did not align with the screw holes in the car door. He thus had to reinstall the old assembly and come back another day with the correct unit.
 
#18
swegman said:
Tesla just replaced the driver door handle assembly on my 2013 car. The switches and the paddle gear were both good on the original assembly. Sometimes the handle would operate normally, sometimes it would not present and sometimes it would present but not unlock the door. It was determined that the controller in the door handle assembly unit was flakely. Apparently the control module is not replaceable. So they retrofitted the latest door handle assembly unit that eliminates the switches and uses a Hall effect sensor instead, has a revised paddle gear and an external control module (which required the installation of an adapter wire harness).

Once the assembly was installed, the tech had to calibrate the door handle assembly, which took less than a minute to do. I’m still running V8.1 on my car and the tech was concerned that the car would throw error codes requiring me to update to the latest V9 software. But the calibration proceeded normally and my car’s software did not require updating. I’m still running V8.1 with the new door handle assembly.

Btw, if you get the whole assembly unit swapped out for the new design, make sure they get the correct assembly frame. The mounting holes on the first unit the tech tried to install did not align with the screw holes in the car door. He thus had to reinstall the old assembly and come back another day with the correct unit.
Click to expand...


That's great information. The old handle design also lets "air" and "noise" into the door cavity (whether the handle is out or retracted) - I actually went so far as to pint an air gun at it from the outside when I had the inner door panel and access hatch off to confirm this (note: the rubber noise blocker is barely effective as it has openings all around it for the wires to go in and out). My understanding is the new door handle assembles are sealed all the way around and perhaps don't have this issue. I wish I had a picture of both!
 
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