Drive unit replacement - getting better?

[mspohr]

Recently Elon stated they were working towards a million mile drive train. This is a worthy goal and I personally would like to see them succeed (although I probably won't live long enough to drive my car a million miles).
We know that Tesla had some problems with drive trains (inadequate lubrication, slack parts) and it seems that it is very easy to replace the drive unit so rather than trying to diagnose and repair the drive train in the field, they just replace it and send it for factory reconditioning.
Hopefully their efforts are bearing fruit and newer cars have fewer drive unit problems.
This poll is intended to try to see if we can find a trend in drive unit problems.
I'd like people who have had one (or more) drive unit replacements to enter the production date of their car (by quarter). The gory details of failure mode, number of replacements, mileage, odd sounds, etc. can go in individual comments to the thread.
Of course, like all polls here, we don't have denominators and newer cars will have fewer miles, etc. but we might find out something interesting.

 

[rxlawdude]

Recently Elon stated they were working towards a million mile drive train. This is a worthy goal and I personally would like to see them succeed (although I probably won't live long enough to drive my car a million miles).
We know that Tesla had some problems with drive trains (inadequate lubrication, slack parts) and it seems that it is very easy to replace the drive unit so rather than trying to diagnose and repair the drive train in the field, they just replace it and send it for factory reconditioning.
Hopefully their efforts are bearing fruit and newer cars have fewer drive unit problems.
This poll is intended to try to see if we can find a trend in drive unit problems.
I'd like people who have had one (or more) drive unit replacements to enter the production date of their car (by quarter). The gory details of failure mode, number of replacements, mileage, odd sounds, etc. can go in individual comments to the thread.
Of course, like all polls here, we don't have denominators and newer cars will have fewer miles, etc. but we might find out something interesting.

I believe I've seen at least two reports of post-April 2015 builds needing drive unit replacements. But I sure hope those were aberations.

 

[jerry33]

No replacement yet. Q1-2013 55K miles.

 

[TTT]

No accomodation in your poll for multiple replacements, my drive unit was replaced a second time within a week of the first replacement. SvC were very nice during the entire ordeal.

 

[ChadS]

No replacement yet. Q3 2012, 51k miles.

(Dang it; the first time I read this I correctly did not answer the poll because my DU has not been replaced. But I clicked on the thread again today, saw 2012 at the top and voted when I shouldn't have. I don't think there is a way for me to remove my incorrect vote. Sorry)

 

[mspohr]

No accomodation in your poll for multiple replacements, my drive unit was replaced a second time within a week of the first replacement. SvC were very nice during the entire ordeal.

I'm really only interested in the production date of your car so we could potentially see if cars are getting better (or worse) over time.
What was your production date?
The details of number of replacements, mileage, etc. can go in the comments.
If your replacement was replaced within a week, then the replacement unit was faulty, not the original unit.

 

[trils0n]

Car produced in Q1 2013.

2 replacements so far.
1st (ASY,P-TRAIN,SPORT,MECH,COMPLETE (1002633-01-D)) at ~16k miles.
2nd (DRIVE UNIT - SPORT WITH SHIMS - REMAN - (1025598-00-H)) at ~26k miles.

Current drive unit just started (~36k miles) with the buzzing/milling again. So a few thousands miles and it will be another replacement.

 

[Jhall118]

My Q4 2013 P85 had 3 drive train replacements. I have had my P85D since April. No clunking noise, and no replacements (8k miles so far).

 

[LMB]

(LMB spouse)

2013Q2 S85. Drive unit replaced twice.

First time was at 6000 miles because of the loud rumble/tire-noise-like-sound. The replacement was a rebuilt unit. It was great but after a few thousand miles developed a loud inverter whine at low power levels, 5-20 kW, i.e. typical steady driving power. Note that this is NOT the so-called balloon squeal noise heard during hard acceleration.

Second replacement was at 36,000 miles, just a week ago, after listening to the whine for a year and a half. No problems so far.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The spike in Q3 of 2013 is interesting. That's when I bought my car. I needed a new DU within the first 500 miles, and have had a total of three replacements.

 

[mspohr]

The spike in Q3 of 2013 is interesting. That's when I bought my car. I needed a new DU within the first 500 miles, and have had a total of three replacements.

Judging by the number of people who have had multiple replacements, I'm beginning to think that there must be some problem with the "factory refurb" process.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Judging by the number of people who have had multiple replacements, I'm beginning to think that there must be some problem with the "factory refurb" process.

I agree. They probably didn't get the memo. When outbound communications are so bad, how can internal communications be any better?

 

[pgiralt]

I'm a Q3 2013'er as well and am on my 6th (5 replacements - Hum, Milling, Hum, Milling, Hum) through 53k miles. Last one (-M revision) in May has been going strong for 6,000 miles so have my fingers crossed this will be the one.

 

[hpham007]

I'm a Q3 2013'er as well and am on my 6th (5 replacements - Hum, Milling, Hum, Milling, Hum) through 53k miles. Last one (-M revision) in May has been going strong for 6,000 miles so have my fingers crossed this will be the one.

whoa. i think you take the prize for most DU replacements. 6 in 53K is more often than oil changes in a ICE car. In fact, I don't think there's any maintenance item in any car than is replaced as often.

 

[David99]

4 replacements in 50k miles since March 2014. Buzzing sound is coming back again.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I'm a Q3 2013'er as well and am on my 6th (5 replacements - Hum, Milling, Hum, Milling, Hum) through 53k miles. Last one (-M revision) in May has been going strong for 6,000 miles so have my fingers crossed this will be the one.

My last DU swap in February was also an M revision, and so far (knock wood) it has been rock solid after 12,000 miles. This is one is lasting the longest so far!

 

[aaron0k]

Q3 2013 / 50k miles / 3xDU replacements

 

[mspohr]

Q3 2013 / 50k miles / 3xDU replacements

Wow! A third of the people with replacements have cars produced in Q3 2013!
It will be interesting to see if this holds up with more data.

 

[Lump]

I'm a 2013 Q3'er with only 1 DU replacement so far, maybe when our critical components needed to be built technicians were pulled away to make phone calls or other tasks to save Tesla from bankruptcy mentioned in the Ashly Vance book Elon Musk Had a Deal to Sell Tesla to Google in 2013 - Bloomberg Business

I know it sounds crazy but it is Tesla.

 

[KidDoc]

Does anyone have a link to a recording of what this defect sounds like? My wife just reported a new noise in my S85 delivered 3/2014.