Frozen MCU1 Tesla X, self switched on. Cannot go to work. Angry & sad.

[piro]

I own 2018 Model X, last month of MCU1 production. I live in Poland, Europe.
I have various misbehaviours with MCU1, like screen freezing, no heating, black screen, of course, the browser is not working as promised (not working at all).
I have asked for repair, but it is not enough broken (not enough memory cells damaged in MCU1 or so), so Tesla warranty policy is that they can "clean" it but not replace. Kind of patches on patches.
Yesterday I parked my car, and it closed mirrors etc. after I left.
Today I want to go to work, and my Tesla is frozen but in the kind of working state. It displays 0km/h, P-mode, doors closed, screens lit. Cannot open it (both keys outside the car of course). Heating works (20% energy eaten this night, we have -6C here), rear lamps on. The application does not work nor car keys.
Finally, I have opened the hood and disconnected 12V battery to stop heating it as I was afraid of the main battery drain. But after reconnecting - all off, cannot open the car, screens off.

This is one of many strange failures I had. Another big one - car keys (remote) stopped working while skiing in Austria - I was lucky, having car start/open with the Tesla application enabled, so I used my smartphone to drive. Finally, the whole key system was replaced while in service in Berlin.

I was a Tesla addict, but I start to see that this is not a reliable car. At least not reliable enough. Here we do not have Tesla Service in every city; the nearest is 270 km from me. No weekend service (theoretically 24/7, but nobody picks up the phone).

Now I lost a day of work. But I can imagine I stop at the shop or on the road in winter and stay outside in the snow because my MCU1 or another part, which is faulty (but not yet enough faulty as for Tesla warranty policy) causes that.
My former cars (BMW, Mitsu Outlander PHEV, Porsche) never NEVER failed that way.
I wonder what they can do now with that dead Tesla. I live in the mountains, at the hill, there is a lot of snow, slippery surface. The car has a steering wheel fully turned right. How they plan even to take this car out of it's shed?
Maybe it is time to go for PHEV or Taycan.

Feeling really frustrated
Thomas

 

[scottf200]

I own 2018 Model X, last month of MCU1 production. I live in Poland, Europe.
I have various misbehaviours with MCU1, like screen freezing, no heating, black screen, of course, the browser is not working as promised (not working at all).

It appears you had plenty of warnings that your eMMC was going. You could have proactively replaced thru a 3rd party or by paying Tesla since summer 2020. Or the MCU2 upgrade.
Tesla now repairing MCU1 with a new Tegra card for less than $500

If you require reliable transportation and didn't have a spare vehicle it is unclear why you didn't take action.

 

[piro]

It appears you had plenty of warnings that your eMMC was going. You could have proactively replaced thru a 3rd party or by paying Tesla since summer 2020. Or the MCU2 upgrade.
Tesla now repairing MCU1 with a new Tegra card for less than $500

If you require reliable transportation and didn't have a spare vehicle it is unclear why you didn't take action.

The car has a warranty.
I was already twice at Tesla service, travelling 600 km each time, asking for reparation of faulty MCU1, because of strange behaviour and failures. With such a methodology, I will lose my warranty due to mileage.
Finally, they proposed "cleaning" but nothing improved.
I assume it is rather a car manufacturer's problem to repair their products if covered by warranty. Why should I look for aftermarket repair services? At least here in Europe, if you fix something by yourself, and the car has a warranty - you will lose it (at least warranty for the part you have altered).

To be honest, I even haven't heard about the possibility to repair MCU1, not at Tesla service. But now it is indeed too late.

 

[rdunniii]

In the USA the NHTSA has sent Tesla a letter regarding 1st gen MCUs asking them to replace them as a safety issue. Apparently multiple owners are experiencing problems going back to the 2012 Model S. 100K plus vehicles are effected. The specific problem in this case is the configuration memory runs out of write cycles. If Tesla "declines" to voluntarily make the repair the NHTSA may demand that they do. If it comes to that it will apply to all affected Model S and Model X for the rest of their life. There is no deadline. But that is just in the USA. How that may apply to cars in other countries like Poland I have no clue.

 

[piro]

SOLVED!
MCU1 caused (probably) midnight car starting without anybody in.
That consumed 12V battery energy for heating.
Today morning I found, that 12V battery has 6V only.
I have recharged it and my Tesla works again.

Of course, it is caused by MCU1, I hope Tesla will replace it. I need my car to be reliable.

 

[MrTuna]

MCU1 was such a dud. I hope MCU2 in 5 years is still humming along.

 

[scottf200]

SOLVED!
MCU1 caused (probably) midnight car starting without anybody in.
That consumed 12V battery energy for heating.
Today morning I found, that 12V battery has 6V only.
I have recharged it and my Tesla works again.

Of course, it is caused by MCU1, I hope Tesla will replace it. I need my car to be reliable.

That is good you have some progress.

Just to be clear, when I've had car problems in any make/model, I had to decide I could go without my car for any length of time ... ie drive a friends, significant others car, etc. Some people have multiple cars in their family so they have options to not miss important places to go. If so or if not then that would "drive" choice on how/when to get it fixed. Should they wait or should they resolve it.

I've had issues with my car in the recent past where I was sure it should have been covered. The manufacturer said no. I needed reliable transportation. I paid for it. After that I found others with the same problem and some were covered. I pushed the issue and was reimbursed by the company as it was deemed covered.

This Consolidated eMMC Thread (MCU repair) (Black Center Screen) thread had been around since Jan 2020 but this MCU1 / eMMC issue has been around for a couple years on this forum, twitter, Teslas forum, Facebook, etc.

There are many 3rd partys fixing it as well as Tesla since this summer. Via the 1st post in the thread above.
TMC Vendor eMMC repair providers:
East Coast / US: appleguru
West Coast / US: EV-Fixme , run by TonyT , Rockwell and kyleT
Europe: LuckyLuke

 

[Camelroel]

If you require reliable transportation and didn't have a spare vehicle it is unclear why you didn't take action.

So Scott you say that if you have a Tesla you better have a back-up car?

@piro You can google Texcite, they are in Poland and probably can help you. But you are right, Tesla should car that you have a working car.

 

[scottf200]

So Scott you say that if you have a Tesla you better have a back-up car?

You need to factor in everything in making a decision on how to deal with a car that is not working fully or may not work in the future. I clarified that as you can see here:

If so or if not then that would "drive" choice on how/when to get it fixed. Should they wait or should they resolve it.

I've had issues with my car in the recent past where I was sure it should have been covered. The manufacturer said no. I needed reliable transportation. I paid for it. After that I found others with the same problem and some were covered. I pushed the issue and was reimbursed by the company as it was deemed covered.

 

[dannycamps]

So Scott you say that if you have a Tesla you better have a back-up car?

I think a second car is sound advice regardless of whether it's backing up a Tesla or not assuming it fits into your budget. You never know when your car will need some kind of repair.

My wife recently picked up a nail in the tire of her daily driver (Jag E-Pace). I took it for her to a tire shop several miles from my home to get the tire repaired because she was busy but I had to leave it there because there was a wait. I called her to pick me up using our backup/second car that she drives (Dodge Journey). Well - apparently she drove the Journey the day before and picked up a nail in that tire also and it too was flat

My only remaining option (aside from Uber) to get home was for her to use my daily driver (Model S) which she has never driven before to come and get me. Trying to explain to someone over the phone who is already exasperated at the situation how to unplug the car, start it, use the gear selector, regenerative braking, etc... made for an anxious and stressful few minutes for both of us. I was glad when she got the repair shop.

My point it - make sure you your wife knows how to drive your car. Wait - what were we talking about again?

 

[ccdisce]

SOLVED!
MCU1 caused (probably) midnight car starting without anybody in.
That consumed 12V battery energy for heating.
Today morning I found, that 12V battery has 6V only.
I have recharged it and my Tesla works again.

Of course, it is caused by MCU1, I hope Tesla will replace it. I need my car to be reliable.

There is a very remote possibility that the 12V battery or the grounding. could be at fault , you may want to have the SC check into it.

 

[juliusa]

SOLVED!
MCU1 caused (probably) midnight car starting without anybody in.
That consumed 12V battery energy for heating.
Today morning I found, that 12V battery has 6V only.
I have recharged it and my Tesla works again.

Of course, it is caused by MCU1, I hope Tesla will replace it. I need my car to be reliable.

Heater runs off the HV battery.
12V should never drain as long as the HV pack is not dead.
I doubt the computers in the car would function at all with the 12V battery at 6V.

What you described sounds like of MCU failure, though most people are still able to get in and drive. My guess is when you disconnected the 12V battery, the MCU never came on to monitor and charge the 12V battery so the 12V battery died.