Fixing a broken charge port pin

[David99]

I had the black ring break off from one of my pins in my charge port. It just got brittle over time and broke off. I fixed it myself in about 30 min. I did this a few weeks ago. Supercharging and normal charging works fine as usual. Hope this is helpful to see.

 

[Vip]

Thanks for the video. Can you tell me the part number for the old charge port.

 

[David99]

Thanks for the video. Can you tell me the part number for the old charge port.

1020288-00-A
If you get the part from Tesla directly, they will just ask you for the VIN and order the right one. There are only two types of charge ports. The old one that needs to be closed manually and the new one that is motorized.

 

[Vip]

1020288-00-A
If you get the part from Tesla directly, they will just ask you for the VIN and order the right one. There are only two types of charge ports. The old one that needs to be closed manually and the new one that is motorized.

Appreciate it. My port is a manual one. I was going to buy it off ebay. Just wanting to know the part number so I know what to look for.

 

[hacer]

I had the black ring break off from one of my pins in my charge port. It just got brittle over time and broke off. I fixed it myself in about 30 min. I did this a few weeks ago. Supercharging and normal charging works fine as usual. Hope this is helpful to see.

Since you didn't have the correct tool for the nuts that connect the HV cables, how confident are you that you have the correct torque to ensure that the electrical connections are good? Improper torque is a leading cause of arc-faults in junction boxes https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/dac0/7f91ec26f5331fd3b9666c1bd2ae5eb6dbee.pdf

It looks like it will be easy to inspect these connections; I'd recommend that you do that periodically to look for any signs of heat build-up just to be on the safe side.

 

[David99]

Since you didn't have the correct tool for the nuts that connect the HV cables, how confident are you that you have the correct torque ...

After many years of working on cars and motorcycles you develop a feeling how much tightening you need to do. Never used a torque wrench on a wheel nut yet I never have a thread be damaged for overtightening nor a wheel come lose.

 

[thefortunes]

Thanks @David99

I had a pin break, ordered a $50 replacement off Ebay, watched your video and spent about an hour replacing the pins (I did both and kept the replaced functional one as a spare).

Much better than the $750 Tesla wanted to replace the entire port.

 

[maximizese]

David99 & the fortunes - Thanks for replacing your pins. I would imagine that by keeping the compromised pins on your charging port, you could potentially damage the public charging plugs at the Superchargers. I've experienced this on our Fiat 500e which takes a J1772 plug. My wife's office charge had a compromised plug and bent the COM pin and wouldn't allow the plug to fit in the port. I managed to straighten out the pin using a metal catheter (my neighbor was a machinist and had a garage full of junk...great neighbor to have).

 

[David99]

David99 & the fortunes - Thanks for replacing your pins. I would imagine that by keeping the compromised pins on your charging port, you could potentially damage the public charging plugs at the Superchargers..

Yes that was my concern. The black plastic ring guides the contacts onto the pin. With the plastic part missing, it's just a sharp metal edge that would likely damage the plugs. I'm actually surprised Tesla doesn't have these plastic rings as spare parts. They would just snap on and problem solved. A 30 second repair. That's something Tesla isn't good about. Repairs are always swapping entire units rather than fixing just the issue. It's wasteful and makes repairs unnecessarily expensive.

 

[Joshgebbie]

This was so helpful replaced my two pins as well saved about $800 from what Tesla quoted me it took me a lot of digging to find this post how do we get it more traffic ?

 

[David99]

This was so helpful replaced my two pins as well saved about $800 from what Tesla quoted me it took me a lot of digging to find this post how do we get it more traffic ?

Thanks! I'm glad I can help others out with sharing the info.

 

[Claude274]

I had trouble with latch. I'm there but anybody knows how to take charger out? It's like two pieces cause hole isn't big enough to pass through...

 

[Vip]

I had trouble with latch. I'm there but anybody knows how to take charger out? It's like two pieces cause hole isn't big enough to pass through...

Yours looks different than mine. I have a 2013 and I have to close my charge port door manually. But if you have taken all the screws out then it should just pop out. You may have to push it from the other side.
I had a problem with the pin that would lock the charge port to the charger. What I ended up doing was spraying the pin with WD40 and pushing and pulling the lever. The large round silver thing on top of your pic. If you push and pull the metal that is colored in orange it will move the locking latch back and forth.

 

[Claude274]

Yours looks different than mine. I have a 2013 and I have to close my charge port door manually. But if you have taken all the screws out then it should just pop out. You may have to push it from the other side.
I had a problem with the pin that would lock the charge port to the charger. What I ended up doing was spraying the pin with WD40 and pushing and pulling the lever. The large round silver thing on top of your pic. If you push and pull the metal that is colored in orange it will move the locking latch back and forth.

You sprayed WD-40 from inside or outside?

 

[Vip]

You sprayed WD-40 from inside or outside?

I actually removed the charge port. I sprayed the pin and then worked it in with the lever.

 

[xhawk101]

Can someone place the part number needed for the charge port pin piece? Failure on my p3d

 

[David99]

Can someone place the part number needed for the charge port pin piece? Failure on my p3d

I don't think Tesla sells individual pins.

 

[asavage]

1020288-00-A
If you get the part from Tesla directly, they will just ask you for the VIN and order the right one. There are only two types of charge ports. The old one that needs to be closed manually and the new one that is motorized.

1020288-00-A is the installation alignment tool that's supposed to be used when reassembling the charge port.

The early charge port for Model S is 1005612-00-(E, G, H, K), through around Mar2016, according to Ingenext. It has a rectangular bolt pattern to mount to the car.

After that, through 2021?, the larger part with motorized open/close and slightly non-symmetrical bolt pattern is 1026041-00-x.

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David, I really appreciate that vid from four years ago, but not for the usual reason. I came across this thread after I'd found your YT vid, and the comparison pic of the early and late charge ports was gold for me (a non-Tesla project . . . sorta).