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eMMC repair question: broken glass in dashboard display, replaced with plastic - is this normal?

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I have a Model S which was delivered in September 2014. I had the eMMC (but not the MCU) replaced in May 2021.

I didn't notice any issue right after the eMMC repair, but a few days later I noticed a few cubes of broken glass in the driver footwell area, then a few days later I noticed that the dashboard display glass had been broken and replaced with plastic (hence the glass cubes I'd found). The plastic is apparently held in place by some clear, irregularly shaped tape. This can be more or less noticeable depending on how the sun is hitting it (see photo).

The Tesla staff didn't say anything about breaking my glass, or replacing it with plastic, either on drop-off or pickup for the eMMC repair. My question is, is this normal?
IMG_4643.jpeg
 
your instrument cluster screen is delaminating .. pretty common in MCU1 cars. You would get a new instrument cluster screen with MCU2 upgrade.
the story about the glass and plastic and stuff doesn't make sense at all.. you have an IC that is colloquially said to be 'melting or having bubbles'. At some point, the gel will ooze out and leak
 
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your instrument cluster screen is delaminating .. pretty common in MCU1 cars. You would get a new instrument cluster screen with MCU2 upgrade.
the story about the glass and plastic and stuff doesn't make sense at all.. you have an IC that is colloquially said to be 'melting or having bubbles'. At some point, the gel will ooze out and leak
Gaswalla, thanks for your reply.

Sorry if I didn’t communicate well, but I don’t understand exactly what you are referring to when you say “the story about the glass and plastic and stuff doesn’t make sense at all”.


I guess I used the wrong terminology in referring to the “dashboard display glass” when I should have said “instrument cluster glass” (I didn’t know the correct name for that area).

But other than that, it is a fact that I found several pieces of broken glass near the pedals in the days after the repair, and I also noticed what appears to be a plastic border around the instrument cluster, which had not been there before. It is my conjecture that both of these items are associated with the repair.

Are you saying it doesn’t make sense for me to associate them with the repair, because that is not how the repair is normally done? Or are you saying it doesn’t make sense for some other reason?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
 
The front of that display has always been plastic. It isn't glass. Maybe the glass was stuck to your shoe or something?

What you see though is common on the older cars - it is a gel inside that is separating between the front clear plastic and the display itself. Common, and the quickest/easiest fix is an upgrade to the MCU2 computer. That includes a new screen - the new computer, plus both screens is a $1500 upgrade. Well worth the money.
 
The front of that display has always been plastic. It isn't glass. Maybe the glass was stuck to your shoe or something?

What you see though is common on the older cars - it is a gel inside that is separating between the front clear plastic and the display itself. Common, and the quickest/easiest fix is an upgrade to the MCU2 computer. That includes a new screen - the new computer, plus both screens is a $1500 upgrade. Well worth the money.
dmurphy, thanks for explaining that the instrument console has always been plastic. Now I understand how my theory about the source of the broken glass doesn’t make sense.

One question - when you refer to the MCU2 upgrade including two screens, are you referring to a new instrument cluster screen and a new main center display screen?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
 
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dmurphy, thanks for explaining that the instrument console has always been plastic. Now I understand how my theory about the source of the broken glass doesn’t make sense.

One question - when you refer to the MCU2 upgrade including two screens, are you referring to a new instrument cluster screen and a new main center display screen?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

My pleasure!

And yes - you are correct. The MCU upgrade would include both a main display and the instrument cluster. It's a very cost effective upgrade - lots of good things happen with it!
 
On the bubbles, here are more details and a view of the Instrument Cluster outside the car that has the problem: Instrument Cluster – TeslaTap
That is an excellent reference. Thank you for the post!

And.... I just found something else in there which supports my original contention that my original instrument cluster screen was made of glass.

To find this reference:
1) Click vocr's link above to "Instrument Cluster - TeslaTap".
2) In TeslaTap's article titled "Display Bubbles and Goo Leakage", below the graphic of the goo, click on the link "remove the goo layer"
3) In the destination page, ignore the statement that the page can't be translated, and just click on "Go to original page"
4) That page, which is a posting by ALSET P85 made Aug 24, 2019, titled "Instrument Cluster Bubbling/Dripping Glue FIX", contains the following statement, immediately after the list of necessary items: "Note the cluster cover is made of glass and there is a risk of breaking."

So I now believe that the instrument cluster cover on very old Model S's, such as my mid-2014 S85, were indeed made of glass. The posters who thought the IC cluster had always been made of plastic had probably just never encountered one as old as mine.

I very much appreciate the input from all who contributed, especially the suggestions from dmurphy and TeslaTap to address the goo/separation issue by buying the MCU2 retrofit.
 
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That is an excellent reference. Thank you for the post!

And.... I just found something else in there which supports my original contention that my original instrument cluster screen was made of glass.

To find this reference:
...
@Proxima, my 2014 with AP seem to have a hard screen protector(not glass)+glue on top of the LCD screen. And yes I did shatter my LCD screen for sure when trying to peal the screen protector off. Hahaha dont be like me. Just order one from ReelDeal EV. When the glue starts to melt you get the effect in your original post picture. Most likely occurred while your car was parked outside in the heat at the Service center. But I am doubtful service center will replace it for you for free. Unless after you disassemble your dash you find the IC is cracked/chipped. Take lots of picture now. Document it, and open service ticket. But rest assured here, I think you can replace it yourself for much much cheaper than service center...

check this out...Replacing instrument cluster
and also Model S — Tesla Parts Shop — ReelDeal EV - EV Car Parts and Accessories
 
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@Proxima, my 2014 with AP seem to have a hard screen protector(not glass)+glue on top of the LCD screen. And yes I did shatter my LCD screen for sure when trying to peal the screen protector off. Hahaha dont be like me. Just order one from ReelDeal EV. When the glue starts to melt you get the effect in your original post picture. Most likely occurred while your car was parked outside in the heat at the Service center. But I am doubtful service center will replace it for you for free. Unless after you disassemble your dash you find the IC is cracked/chipped. Take lots of picture now. Document it, and open service ticket. But rest assured here, I think you can replace it yourself for much much cheaper than service center...

check this out...Replacing instrument cluster
and also Model S — Tesla Parts Shop — ReelDeal EV - EV Car Parts and Accessories
OK, thanks for the info, xAgyex. By the way, my Model S is a bit older than yours, as autopilot had not yet been announced when mine was delivered. The only camera in my car is the rear view camera for backing up.
 
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One key point here… you said you had the eMMC repair done, not the upgrade to MCU2. The eMMC daughter card involves removing the MCU screen, not the IC. As others have stated, your IC is just bubbling/delaminating like the rest of us with pre-refresh cars. It’s always been plastic for the cluster covers. Doesn’t make sense to have heavy and expensive glass over an LCD screen.
Where the cubes of glass came from is still a mystery. Ever had a window or windshield replaced? Maybe some broken pieces have been hiding behind the MCU and were set free during the eMMC replacement?
 
One key point here… you said you had the eMMC repair done, not the upgrade to MCU2. The eMMC daughter card involves removing the MCU screen, not the IC. As others have stated, your IC is just bubbling/delaminating like the rest of us with pre-refresh cars. It’s always been plastic for the cluster covers. Doesn’t make sense to have heavy and expensive glass over an LCD screen.
Where the cubes of glass came from is still a mystery. Ever had a window or windshield replaced? Maybe some broken pieces have been hiding behind the MCU and were set free during the eMMC replacement?
Doanster1,

I am sure that the whole "layer" of goo and stuff was not visible until right after I had the eMMC repair done. That layer - which appears as an irregularly shaped "clear tape" around the instrument cluster - seems quite obvious, with or without any "bubbling" - I'm pretty sure I didn't just fail to notice it from 2014 - 2021. So, whether the IC screen was ever glass or not, the "layer of goo" wasn't present, up until the date of the eMMC repair.

Or at the very least, I could concede that maybe the layer was present but so invisible that I didn't notice it, but during the eMMC repair whatever they did caused extreme bubbling / delamination to occur all at once, so it was suddenly very visible. But I can't explain why Tesla service was doing anything in the area of the instrument cluster if, as you say, the eMMC is behind the MCU screen. I didn't notice any changes to the MCU screen after the eMMC repair.

As far as it not making sense to have heavy and expensive glass over an LCD screen, might it not be the case that Tesla had that same realization and switched from glass to plastic? As I understand it, hundreds or thousands of parts have been improved upon since my car rolled off line.

As to the windshield replacement, you have a good point. I've been involved in an accident in which the windshield was broken and the safety glass cubes went all over the passenger compartment. So yes, it is possible that broken glass pieces were behind the MCU screen and were dislodged during eMMC replacement.

Thanks for your input!
 
I guess there are a couple things you’re lumping together under the premise of the SC for some reason accessing the IC during the eMMC replacement. Let’s assume the cover WAS indeed glass and they accidentally shattered it during service. They didn’t tell you and replaced it with a brand new setup (IC+cover). If so, it’d be highly unlikely that delamination would occur so quickly on a brand new unit? When mine started delaminating, it did feel like it happened overnight, i.e. the the small dots quickly merged into bigger blobs. Granted, it didn’t look anything like your pic, but did seem to accelerate once it started.
With your statement about the windshield replacement, I’d say this was just bad luck/timing since a confluence of multiple nefarious acts by the SC (not unheard of, I know!) would’ve had to have taken place for a job that never required touching the IC to begin with.
And believe me, I’ve had my fair share of stories with cars over the years akin to “Wait, I was only in for yearly oil change and a week later I need a new steering column because the smart key sensor is embedded in there?!?!” 🧐
 
Check out ReelDeal for a replacement IC. The goo is leaking on your cluster and can be cleaned with alcohol/acetone. It's a messy job, but can be done. The SC didn't access the Cluster when doing the EMMC. Do a search here, there is plenty of info on "de-Goo" of these screens
My $.02
Kaveman
 
Ok, perhaps different people are talking about different parts. When installed, the clear curved cover part you can touch is plastic. It's been that way from day one. Now the Instrument cluster LCD display that sits behind the cover is made from several layers of glass. It is very unlikely the LCD screen has broken, in the sense of the glass shattering. The LCD would no longer work and/or you'd see typical glass cracks. The adhesive layers used in the display will normally keep a broken display from creating glass chards. This is similar to any phone LCD display that has been dropped and broken.

I'd say 90% of owners never notice the bubbles until it is really bad and/or someone points it out. The bubbles very gradually get bigger over time (months). When bubbles suddenly "appear", it's just that you had never noticed it before and now you do. Once noticed, you can't "un-notice" it. It's happened to me and many many others. In many lighting conditions with the display lit up, bubbles can almost disappear which is one reason few notice it. I'm sure the bubbles were there for many months before it was taken to service.
 
Naw, OP is very clear on this and referenced an article about very early cars possibly having glass as the binnacle interface over the LCD screen. He’s wondering if the SC cracked the glass accidentally and replaced it with a new IC and plastic cover, which is now delaminating.
 
To be honest, it isn't really the bubbles or delimitation which I am asserting appeared right after the eMMC repair - it is the very existence of that oddly shaped, clear, irregular border area around the entire instrument cluster. Many other posters referred to the condition in the photo as "bubbles" and "delimitation" and "goo", so I went with the flow and sometimes then used that terminology to describe the border area in my own follow-up posts as well.

But the bubbles and delamination aren't really what I was originally wondering about. I really don't know when the bubbles and delimitation developed. To me, that is secondary to the fact that the entire border area, which to me looks very sloppy and unprofessional, appeared in the first place after the eMMC repair - with or without bubbles. I'm sure I would have noticed it prior to 2021, had it been present.

(I'm not exactly clear on whether people are referring to just that border area as the "goo", or whether that term is only meant to describe the border area once it gets old and starts to "melt" or "ooze" or something.)

One thought that has occurred to me while reading through these posts is that perhaps, since most customers seem to have purchased the MCU and eMMC upgrades at the same time, perhaps the tech started working on the instrument cluster screen out of habit, and then realized that wasn't part of the work I had requested, but then had to finish up or at least try to clean up whatever he had done in that area.

Although I still don't see the value of adding the border area at all, unless it was necessary to glue some new part (e.g., a new plastic cover?) in place. Even though vcor linked to a TeslaTap article which hypothesized that perhaps the "extra layer" was intended to "improve the viewing angle slightly", I just don't see how. But whatever it was for, it looks like it was something squirted out of a tube by a 6th grader. I think it is by far the sloppiest looking element of my whole 8 1/2 year old Model S.

I am very grateful that posters have told me I can address it by purchasing the MCU 2 upgrade. I intend to do that.
 
That irregular shaped border you’re referring to is roughly the same shape as the binnacle, ie oval. If you look at the referenced link by @vcor, the IC is a normal rectangular LCD. Once it’s installed, the binnacle gives it the oval shape/viewing area. So when the top layer starts to delaminate (no longer going to worry about plastic vs glass), it’s no surprise that it’d be in the shape of an oval.
As for your theory that the tech was just too used to doing the MCU2 upgrade so started taking apart your IC, that’s highly unlikely because the eMMC replacement was a $300 job that could be completed rather quickly and involves one small daughter card. Compare that to the $1500 MCU upgrade where the service order and tech would have to confirm that both the MCU2 and new IC were ordered/in-stock before work even began. I’m one of the people that only did the eMMC (free) and LTE upgrade since I am happy with MCU1 and don’t need the newer features.
Here’s a shot of my IC when it started to form the same ring as yours.
 

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When I referred to the border area having an irregular shape, what I was referring to wasn't the overall oval shape, but rather the irregular undulations which appear on the bottom border, but which are absent from the top border. I wonder why these exist - and if they exist for a reason, why the undulations aren't more evenly distributed, and why they're on the bottom but not the top.

Thanks for setting me straight on my mistaken idea about the instrument console being worked on by accident when the tech was working on the eMMC upgrade. I no longer have any working theory about why the instrument console was even touched if, as has been stated, the eMMC is housed behind the center console screen.