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Datapoint update: The Ceimin triple lip Teflon seal still seems to properly seal in my LDU after 10563mi = 17000km. See also:
Hank42
Legacy Supporter
Impressive!
I would say have a lot to do with condition of the shaft. @vanR's rotor shaft was nearly pristine from an original LDU motor (not reman) Had a single lip that leaked (seems like all Rav4 EV's LDU had single lip installed. Rav4EV probably sourced LDU when Tesla already made the switch to single lip) and caught early.
Just checked @mr_hyde 2014 original LDU last week at 80k+ miles. Bone dry (wiped clean the grease from last 2 checks) as well.
It does suggest new LDU shaft + triple lip PTFE will last (And all were installed with ample amount of grease. some spun off onto the speed sensor visible on the first pull for inspection). Unfortunately for Model S, most original LDU were removed due to clunk+milling noise problem and single lipped reman got installed. Rav4EV seems to all get single lip on new LDUs.
hello all, I have a 12-14 MS that had the noisy ldu replaced under warranty about 2 years and 40k miles ago and now apparently has the seal problem. Not enough posts to reach out to howards or anyone for that matter but i'd like to diy and have some thoughts, nothing novel, but would like to pick a brain or 2. quote from tesla was 7200 which sounds about right.
ajbessinger
Owner of QC Charge #2 (Portland OR)
Pretty much all RAV4s originally came with triple lip seals. Much like the Model S, a very large portion of RAV4 drive units were replaced early on for noise issues and rotor spline wear, and any replaced after ~late-2015 have the single lip seals (just like Model S/X).
In fact, I believe the RAV4 EV may have actually hit dealer lots before the first Model S deliveries started. Even current RAV4 LDUs actually carry a lot of the hallmark features of the very early style LDU, including the old style supply side bus bar setup with the tiny screws attaching to the voltage sense board, which is attached to one of the phases with standoffs. Earlier builds even had the extra "air bleed" tube that runs from the coolant outlet to the top of the gearbox that is only present on the very earliest of LDUs.
I have actually have an original, very early RAV4 LDU in my shop right now, which was built in Oct of 2012 (seal is marked 09/25/12), and has a serial number of only 2292 (RAV4 and Mercedes LDUs are serialized in parallel with Model S/X LDUs). I'll attach some pics of it to show everything that I'm talking about.
Good to know, are these the stats you see?
- < 2015 (LDU date) triple lip?
- >= ~late 2015 onwards LDU (new or reman) are single lip
ajbessinger
Owner of QC Charge #2 (Portland OR)
More or less, I've never recorded exact build dates, but based on what I've seen, the cutoff for the end of use of triple lip seals seems to be near the end of 2015 or maybe very early 2016. So there's sort of a "goldilocks" period starting from late 2014 where the motors got the updated rotor, ceramic bearings, etc., in addition to retaining the old triple lip seal.
Of course, when it comes to reman motors, the serial number on the sticker is updated (LDUs are now well over 1M built/reman'd), while the original build date always stays the same. For example, I've seen lots of R1 and R2 LDUs with an O.G. build date of 2013, but serial numbers well into the high hundreds of thousands (and one or two that were 1M+).
haha yeah, a few goldilocks LDUs exist (@mr_hyde has one, 2014 original 80k+ miles, bone dry on recent 3nd inspection). Some owner even swear LDUs are bullet proof after 10 years 150k miles. Probably because they got the goldilocks config. But seems quite rare due to SCs aggressively swapping out LDUs with remans all the way through 2017+. ~2018 no one at SCs could heard any more LDU noises haha. My impression of this sudden behavior shift = HQ said "stop".
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