Driver side USB dead

[Creeble]

My new-to-me 2014 MS came with a dead USB port on the driver's side. The other one works fine, has charging (and hopefully USB music now that I've upgraded software again) and you can see the little LED light behind it when on and nothing's plugged in.

The other one (I only have two; no rear USB ports) is morte: No LED behind it, no power, nada.

I read on the forum somewhere about a cable that runs on the passenger-side inner footwell, behind the panel, that carries power to the USB? But it wasn't clear to me how to get that panel off.

Anybody ever had a single dead USB port? Is there a connector in the center console somewhere that might have wiggled loose?

 

[KalJoMoS]

It should be direct connection to your MCU, so no additional connector in the middle console. And that footwell cower is easy to loose for whatever you like to fix behind it...

 

[Akikiki]

@Creeble, what version of firmware are you running on your car? There's a version that disables USB ports - can't play music.

 

[Creeble]

@Akikiki I just upgraded today to 2020.12.11.5, and it actually brought back USB music for me. But only out of the one port. Driver's side port is unrecognized / has no DC output.

Fried port on MCU, or if I'm lucky some... cable thing I suppose.

 

[Creeble]

But another issue that seems related to 12.11.5 is that "unlock charging port" no longer works from the app. It did this morning before I upgraded. Now I just get an error message.

 

[Akikiki]

Cables ain't like tomaters' They don't just get too ripe and ain't no good any mo'. So unlikely the cable.

 

[Creeble]

They don't fail if they don't move. This car has 355k on it.
According to post #4 here:
Has anyone upgraded the USB ports to support faster charging?
the USB ports have connectors in the footwell -- has anyone seen a failure of the connectors there? My first glance at opening the panel made it seem... unpleasant.

 

[Creeble]

The plot thins a little.

I took out the passenger-side kick panel, revealing the two USB connectors:

Pulling those connectors apart does indeed reveal nothing more than mini-USB connectors:

When I swap connectors, the passenger-side USB port still works.

I can plug the cable (with the plug) from the passenger-side USB port on the console into either port on the MCU, and I get data / DC power. But the cable that goes to the driver-side USB port doesn't work in either MCU connector.

So it's either the cable or the connector(s). Seems most likely to be the actual USB port connector in the console, though it doesn't look bad by close inspection.

So next step is to take apart the center console, I guess. Wonder how I order just that one cable? Looks like I have to take out the whole "yacht floor" to remove it if I have to.

 

[dannycamps]

The plot thins a little.

So next step is to take apart the center console, I guess. Wonder how I order just that one cable? Looks like I have to take out the whole "yacht floor" to remove it if I have to.

Interesting - you are on your way to figuring this out. Once you get to behind the USB port, you should be able to continuity test the cable with an ohmmeter to check for any breaks in the wire. My guess is the previous owner stuck something in the USB port that didn't belong there and either bent some pins or shorted it out. Unlikely that the cable is the issue but you never know.

If it is the cable, easy enough to fix. Just cut and splice the wire into the working cable. If it's the port, then I would think you should be able to find a female USB A port pretty easily.

 

[Creeble]

Soon to take apart the armrest console. I note that there are cables / connectors available used on eBay, here's to hoping it's simple.

 

[Akikiki]

You might first try removing the lower panel on the back of the console from the back seat. It snaps off like the side panels.

 

[Creeble]

You might first try removing the lower panel on the back of the console from the back seat. It snaps off like the side panels.

Did that but all you see looking forward is the vent duct.

I ended up having to take apart all of the armest console, including the metal support structure (held down by two bolts to the floor) in order to get that duct out. Quite the mess. Didn't take pictures because it was getting dark out and I was working mostly with a flashlight. Some bits are going to be tricky to get back together, like the two screws that hold the back of the top armrest plate on -- you have to compress the duct to get the screwdriver to them. There was one fairly helpful video on youtube:

When I finally got all that apart, I found that the guilty party was the USB connector block:

The back of which has two connectors as well, just like the ones in the passenger-side footwell:

One side of this connector is dead; I can connect either cable to the other one and it works.

I found the part in San Diego and hopefully they can get it to me fast -- I'm not sure it's worth cleaning up the inside of the car to drive it while the armrest is torn apart!

The little block has individual LEDs for each USB jack. The jacks look fine, so something inside is borked, I guess. Anyway, here's to hoping I can get it all back together correctly!

I'm tempted to put in another 12v outlet or something while I've got it all apart. But if both USB ports are working, I really don't need two 12v outlets, or at least haven't needed two in any other car I've had

 

[Akikiki]

BRAVO !! Nice effort.

 

[GoBeavs]

Nice work. I hope it works out for you!

I had the exact same problem (except mine was the right Side). Luckily I was still under warranty otherwise I’d be driving around without it fixed haha.

 

[Creeble]

@GoBeavs: did it just go dead?

turns out I’m getting two from two different suppliers. Seems like it’s worth it.

 

[GoBeavs]

@GoBeavs: did it just go dead?

turns out I’m getting two from two different suppliers. Seems like it’s worth it.

It just went dead.

My dashcam stopped working so initially I thought My USB jump drive was having issues. But then I swapped my phone charger/usb jump drive and the dashcam was now working and the phone charger stopped.

One item to note: I’m using a scandisk flash drive that still works just fine to this day. But a few weeks after I got my USB unit in my car replaced the jump drive was EXTREMELY hot. I haven’t seen that happen again, but there might have been something that caused the USB unit to burn out due to heat (whether it’s Tesla or my thumb drive’s problem...I don’t know...)

 

[terryna]

It should be direct connection to your MCU, so no additional connector in the middle console. And that footwell cower is easy to loose for whatever you like to fix behind it...

nice

 

[Creeble]

Ugh. So tempted.

So I have two of these connectors coming, but they won't be here until Monday because one guy shipped later than he was supposed to. My car is all torn up inside, and I really don't want to clear it out for driving until I get this fixed.

So I took apart the old connector, and there are two of these inside:

One of them has a broken connection between one of the power pins on the incoming mini-USB to the female A connector; interestingly the LED still lights.

All I would need to do is solder a leeetle wire between the two pins shown below, where I drew a little red trace:

and it would be fixed. Today, or maybe tomorrow, not next week.

So tempted.

But I'll probably wait for the part(s). They're easy to test, you just plug a mini-USB cable into the back port and a USB stick into the other side.

UGH!

It's weird, there's no component on the top side of the board that has failed, and I think the trace is maybe on an inner board layer. My guess is that it's a trace designed to be a fuse, which is a devious way to make this thing, but it beats frying the MCU...

 

[Akikiki]

Thanks for the pics. I would not have guessed the form factor looked like that.