Drive unit replacement worth it?

[Thizz11]

Hello all looking for a little advice, I recently purchased a 2014 model s P85D and not to long after I got the two warning
-BMS_u008 - Acceleration and top speed reduced
-BMS_w172 - Vehicle may not restart

The car is now out of warranty and took it in to tesla service center to have them look at it and what was found was I need a new drive unit. My question is it worth it for me to go through tesla with and estimated TOTAL of $7460 vs take it to a third party vs scrape the car for part...

 

[Thizz11]

In addition this is what was quoted exactly
Drive unit - rear - large - ASY,P-TRAIN,SPORT,LARGE DU (1002633-01-T)

I also live in Sacramento and noticed there is a third party repair shop EV Republic, but haven't heard back just yet.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Making payments on a newer Tesla under warranty is one option. But being $8k away from driving one of the best cars around is not bad either.

 

[Thizz11]

Yeah thats why im leaning towards keeping it and paying for it, because I do love the car and model. Just dont want it to be a bad down payment if this is just the sign of its downfall. Or if doing it through third party is a viable option and ppl have had good experience with it

 

[Tam]

...$7460...

What if your car wants a $20,000 main battery replacement next?

 

[Thizz11]

thats my thought, is that is worst case scenario. but if i can atleast get this repair at a lower rate then it ma be worth the risk. This is its first major repair

 

[cmaster]

Making payments on a newer Tesla under warranty is one option. But being $8k away from driving one of the best cars around is not bad either.

$8k for another 7 years is much better than buying a used Prius for $8k....lol....and, the new drive unit may very well last longer than the first gen Model S drive unit too

 

[islandbayy]

What if your car wants a $20,000 main battery replacement next?

Third party battery replacement with warranty can be had as low as $7500 and sometimes less with www.057Tech.com & www.ReCell-EV.com Refurbished batteries from Tesla around $13,500 & change. big difference than 20k. It's a roll of the dice. Either way, after replacement, both would have at least a 50k 4 year warranty. So you are still astronomically cheaper to fix than buy a new car.

 

[herrlich98]

I think it was Click and Clack from CarTalk who framed the question like this. If there was a used car out there in the condition of your car with a brand new drive unit... would you pay $7460 for it? I am not sure what the scrap value is of the car. There are other factors like are you ready for a new car and has it generally been as reliable as you would like.

 

[cmaster]

I think it was Click and Clack from CarTalk who framed the question like this. If there was a used car out there in the condition of your car with a brand new drive unit... would you pay $7460 for it? I am not sure what the scrap value is of the car. There are other factors like are you ready for a new car and has it generally been as reliable as you would like.

Good point. If the Tesla is already paid off, and you add a new drive unit. The cost of the Tesla resale would be worth more than the cost of replacing the drive unit.

 

[brainhouston]

surprised nobody mentioned QC charge yet
they might be able to do cheaper
u can always pick up used one n replace it yourself but need to check speed sensor to make sure ur not buying a leaking one
although there's still risk if someone cleaned it just to sell, so go with trustworthy place or some kind of warranty

 

[Thizz11]

I think it was Click and Clack from CarTalk who framed the question like this. If there was a used car out there in the condition of your car with a brand new drive unit... would you pay $7460 for it? I am not sure what the scrap value is of the car. There are other factors like are you ready for a new car and has it generally been as reliable as you would like.

Yeah taking in all these factors like you said I have been leaning more towards fixing because it just makes more sense than letting it go. In addition it has been extremely reliable this is the first problem is has but then again it does feel like the battery has had some degradation.

Third party battery replacement with warranty can be had as low as $7500 and sometimes less with www.057Tech.com & www.ReCell-EV.com Refurbished batteries from Tesla around $13,500 & change. big difference than 20k. It's a roll of the dice. Either way, after replacement, both would have at least a 50k 4 year warranty. So you are still astronomically cheaper to fix than buy a new car.

tesla by word of mouth he quoted their high voltage battery repair at 16k but I was kind of skeptical of that or maybe we misunderstood each other. But if there are places that have reduced prices then it makes it worth it to continue to fix

 

[Thizz11]

surprised nobody mentioned QC charge yet
they might be able to do cheaper
u can always pick up used one n replace it yourself but need to check speed sensor to make sure ur not buying a leaking one
although there's still risk if someone cleaned it just to sell, so go with trustworthy place or some kind of warranty

They are a little too far into So Cal but i may still get a price quote to see from them.

The shop in Norcal quoted me $5,550 total. which is significantly better than tesla service center. you bring up a good point now that that there is also picking up a used one but thats a new place to start where are reliable places to go find used drive unit

 

[Thizz11]

Anyone know where I can get reliable used parts (large drive unit) in NorCal?

 

[NV Ray]

Anyone know where I can get reliable used parts (large drive unit) in NorCal?

Donut Auto Parts, Tesla Specialists - Google Search

 

[dwbv]

-BMS_u008 - Acceleration and top speed reduced
-BMS_w172 - Vehicle may not restart

Any other codes than these two? I assume the car went into limp mode because of this?

I had recently purchased a 2015 P85D and within the first 9 miles of driving, it threw this code along with others and went into limp mode. Turned out for me that it was the battery heater. Got it replaced over a week ago and it's been good to me since. Reference my post: Advice: BMS_w035 - battery coolant heater? Causing other alert codes too.

 

[Thizz11]

Donut Auto Parts, Tesla Specialists - Google Search

Thank you, I was able to get into contact with them and they were of amazing help in price quotes and the situation.

 

[Thizz11]

Any other codes than these two? I assume the car went into limp mode because of this?

I had recently purchased a 2015 P85D and within the first 9 miles of driving, it threw this code along with others and went into limp mode. Turned out for me that it was the battery heater. Got it replaced over a week ago and it's been good to me since. Reference my post: Advice: BMS_w035 - battery coolant heater? Causing other alert codes too.

No those were the only codes that popped up for me, but the car never turned off or had trouble driving.
Now oddly enough the situation has changed I guess, I got a new estimate to review by tesla stating
-Correction Coolant Heater - Electric - Battery (remove& replace) - (1038901-00-k)

This still begs the question is my drive unit still have a problem or after more time they found the true culprit

 

[VegarHenriksen]

For anyone else being quoted a DU replacement that isn't just a coolant heater. I would take the DU to a third party shop to have it rebuilt instead of replacing it, they can replace both the bearing and add a triple-seal system with a drain. The Q-revision drive units still have the design flaws that can cause both water ingress and leaks causing isolation error. My last one lasted 49k miles before it leaked.

 

[dwbv]

No those were the only codes that popped up for me, but the car never turned off or had trouble driving.
Now oddly enough the situation has changed I guess, I got a new estimate to review by tesla stating
-Correction Coolant Heater - Electric - Battery (remove& replace) - (1038901-00-k)

This still begs the question is my drive unit still have a problem or after more time they found the true culprit

With any luck, your situation may be like mine. Those heaters are prone to failure in our cars' model and year range. My car only had 15k on the clock and another mentioned only having 5k.That battery heater is a lot cheaper than a DU. Go into service mode and see what other codes have popped up that you may have missed or didn't see that the SC has seen thus sending you a new estimate.

The original BMS_w035 error for me only showed up initially a few times and never came back but the two you had remained and my car was in limp mode until the heater was replaced.

Are you sure your car is not in limp mode? That BMS_u008 error puts you in limp mode, at least for me it did.