I recently purchased a Model S in auction. It as out of Houston through IAA. I'm trying to determine if any water got into the battery pack without actually removing it. There are two covers on the bottom of the pack. On the driver's side there is an orange plastic air vent (I think). The other is a cover on the passenger side and is aluminum with 5 point bolts and warning sticker and I'm not sure but may be an access point to the main fuse in the pack. Will either of these help in determining if there is water in the pack? Is there a better way?
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ACA Man
Member
ericonline
eric7088
It's an epic novel - highly recommended read - Repairing a Flooded Tesla Model S : HOW-TO
Is there a water line inside the car or any indication of water? If it was under for a while, most of the electronics are probably toast.
Is there a water line inside the car or any indication of water? If it was under for a while, most of the electronics are probably toast.
Cram collision
Member
The vent on the drivers side is just that the cover on the right front is the piro fuse for omg situation
My opion the battery most likely has moisture contamination. If I was in your shoes I would change the 12 volt battery and try to charge the hv battery OUTSIDE!! Minus that you would have to tear in to the pack to determine the state. This will give you a starting point, To give good advice on this situation is im possible please be careful.
My opion the battery most likely has moisture contamination. If I was in your shoes I would change the 12 volt battery and try to charge the hv battery OUTSIDE!! Minus that you would have to tear in to the pack to determine the state. This will give you a starting point, To give good advice on this situation is im possible please be careful.
It's a 2015 MS70. I knew it was flooded, after all it is from Houston. 
I bought it thinking I would probably have to replace a lot of the electronics, and would either have to buy from Ebay, or get a second parts car. It was $14,000, although broker and transportation brought it to about 16K. I've been following the auctions for a while now, and I know I got a big discount because they stated it had "no keys" and being from Houston, and sitting for 9 weeks, people assumed the electronics would all be bad. Recently newer MS's with key fobs and if the insurance company bothered to dry and clean the up quickly, have been bringing over $20K. I've seen about 100 at auction now in the last two months between Texas and Florida.
I bought it thinking I would probably have to replace a lot of the electronics, and would either have to buy from Ebay, or get a second parts car. It was $14,000, although broker and transportation brought it to about 16K. I've been following the auctions for a while now, and I know I got a big discount because they stated it had "no keys" and being from Houston, and sitting for 9 weeks, people assumed the electronics would all be bad. Recently newer MS's with key fobs and if the insurance company bothered to dry and clean the up quickly, have been bringing over $20K. I've seen about 100 at auction now in the last two months between Texas and Florida.So moving a 5,400 lb car with a dead battery, locked doors, and parking brakes on on was the first challenge. Not to even mention that the air suspension had the car at about 3 inches off the ground. I had several carriers turn it down. They wanted me to have someone with a forklift meet them here in Tallahassee to take it off their truck. That's how IAA and Copart load them up. I asked them now to for fear of damaging the battery, but that's what they did anyway. I finally got someone with a three car wedge to bring it to a local towing company. There they used a winch to pull it off the transport truck on to a roll off truck. The rear tires refused to roll, so they used laundry soap on the rails. The roll-off truck brought it to my house and had to shimmy it down off the roll off. Once the rear tires were on the ground, they pull slowly forward. The car was sitting so low, we used 2"x12" planks at the edge of the roll-off so that the nose of the car wouldn't be damaged. Once in my driveway, we used car dollies I bought on each of the rear wheels. Then three of us pushed the car into the garage. Damn that car is heavy!
So as you can see on IMGUR, I did open both the vent and the fuse cover. On the vent side about 5 drops of water came out when I pulled off the three suction cups but no streams of water came out. This seems to be pretty much open to the road so that should be expected. On the fuse side, there were some very tiny droplets of moisture. I turned the contrast way up to show that there are signs that water was in there. It's not wet like it looks in the pic though.
As you can see, I also tested the voltage at the fuse in the pack. I came up with 207 volts at either side of the fuse and used the bottom of the pack as ground. The dash also says I have 93 miles of battery left. Is this a good sign? I have seen posts of batteries being too low to take a charge. What voltage is too low? Also with some signs of moisture, should I open the pack? By the way, the car is tilted forward on the jack stands so these openings are below the rest of the pack, so any standing water in the pack would have probably made its way forward. Correct?
One man's trash is another man's treasure...
So obviously I was looking for more of a hobby than I was hoping for reliable transportation! And no, buying any salvage car is not for the faint of heart. I've been a Tesla enthusiast for some years now. I was on the original list for a Model S, but jumped ship and bought a Fusion Hybrid instead. Honestly, the thought that I can open any box and tinker at will is more rewarding than to me than Tesla's warranty would be. And yes, that high water line is scary high.
And no, buying any salvage car is not for the faint of heart. I've been a Tesla enthusiast for some years now. I was on the original list for a Model S, but jumped ship and bought a Fusion Hybrid instead. Honestly, the thought that I can open any box and tinker at will is more rewarding than to me than Tesla's warranty would be. And yes, that high water line is scary high.So obviously I was looking for more of a hobby than I was hoping for reliable transportation!
But potentially a good shell to retrofit with the electronics from something (or things) totaled in an accident.
Do read the thread I posted above.
