Funky Turn Signal & Mouse Flatulence

[michaelwm]

Yup, confirmed this morning that it's both right/left turns for me.

An interesting thing that I noticed this time, though -- the problem didn't show up initially. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I've been temporarily parking my car outside (instead of in my garage) this week. Which means that when I get into it, the car has been colder "than usual." The problem only showed up after ~5 minutes of "warming up," of both the cabin and the battery. Outside temps were in the upper 30s last night, and the battery was cold enough for there to be a dashed yellow line limiting my regen. I wasn't careful enough to see if the problem started up *right* when the yellow line disappeared, but I never saw the problem while I saw a yellow line.

Previously, I don't remember there being any warm-up period in the morning for it to show up.

 

[Todd Burch]

Yup, confirmed this morning that it's both right/left turns for me.

An interesting thing that I noticed this time, though -- the problem didn't show up initially. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I've been temporarily parking my car outside (instead of in my garage) this week. Which means that when I get into it, the car has been colder "than usual." The problem only showed up after ~5 minutes of "warming up," of both the cabin and the battery. Outside temps were in the upper 30s last night, and the battery was cold enough for there to be a dashed yellow line limiting my regen. I wasn't careful enough to see if the problem started up *right* when the yellow line disappeared, but I never saw the problem while I saw a yellow line.

Previously, I don't remember there being any warm-up period in the morning for it to show up.

Tesla told me that, when it happens again, if I can check the taillights to verify that all of the LEDs are working, it would help. One theory they have is that one or more faulty LEDs could be causing this issue. I'll have to check. Either way, I've sent my video to Tesla and they're investigating.

 

[tezco]

Hi Guys,
I heard a faint squeaking noise--like some air being let out of a balloon with the opening stretched--or like a little mouse fart.

Sounds like Owl City to me.

 

[Todd Burch]

Sounds like Owl City to me.

Oooh, smack! :biggrin:

 

[tezco]

Sounds like Owl City to me.

Oooh, smack! :biggrin:

Cave-in

 

[TJK]

I have the same issue with the signal and noise. Unfortunately I didn't capture the sound in the video, but the signal bug is there.

 

[Todd Burch]

I have the same issue with the signal and noise. Unfortunately I didn't capture the sound in the video, but the signal bug is there.

I believe Tesla's fixed this for me. I won't know for sure until Monday, but last I heard their theory was that the LED light board was bad. I'll post when I find out for sure.

 

[mrcool1122]

I have turn signal problems myself. The left turn signal (and not the right one) flicks in a completely random rhythm, but only when the headlights are not on. I don't hear any squeaky noise, though.

 

[Todd Burch]

All,

I got an email from Tesla service today regarding the flickering turn signal.

Tesla service was finally able to reproduce this with my car today. They've narrowed it down to what they think is a faulty circuit board in the taillight. They've put the part on backorder, and will install it on my car (in my driveway!) when the part arrives. For those having this issue, it looks like it's definitely a hardware issue, and will likely require hardware replacement--so I recommend contacting your local service department.

 

[Todd Burch]

My turn signal appears to be fixed. According to the service receipt, they replaced something in the tail lamp and after 200+ more miles and 3 days of driving, the problem's gone!

So, end story: Anyone seeing this issue has a hardware problem and needs replacement of something in the tail lamp.

 

[mknox]

Picked up my new car yesterday, and I have the exact same issue with the left turn signal. I thought it had gone away, but reading this thread I realize that's because I was out at night and the headlights were on. It's back again today in the daylight. I'll call or e-mail tomorrow.

 

[Todd Burch]

Picked up my new car yesterday, and I have the exact same issue with the left turn signal. I thought it had gone away, but reading this thread I realize that's because I was out at night and the headlights were on. It's back again today in the daylight. I'll call or e-mail tomorrow.

Yep--it's a hardware fix. Mine's been working fine since they fixed it.

 

[adurstewitz]

Good luck getting the parts. I have the same problem but the tail light has been on back order for a month.

 

[PeterK]

I have the same issue with the signal and noise. Unfortunately I didn't capture the sound in the video, but the signal bug is there.

That's not a bug - your turn signal's got rhythym!

 

[mknox]

I don't know if this is good news or bad, but today (with the headlights off) the turn signals appeared to operate normally. I hate intermittent problems!

 

[Doug_G]

I don't know if this is good news or bad, but today (with the headlights off) the turn signals appeared to operate normally. I hate intermittent problems!

They're only really bad if you can't diagnose them. If you know what part is responsible, then simply replacing it will solve the problem.

When I was young I used to fix TV sets from time to time. Used to be much easier to do this sort of thing - I had about an 80% success rate, and people would give me a few bucks if I was successful. One day I encountered a TV that would work perfectly whenever I waved a scope probe at the thing. If the probe was within six inches of the circuit everything would work perfectly. Pull it away and it would immediately fail. Hilarious and frustrating all at the same time. Aside from replacing a bunch of stuff, the only solution I could figure out was to duct-tape a scope probe into the box. The thing was pretty old so I actually recommended "putting it down"...

 

[Todd Burch]

I don't know if this is good news or bad, but today (with the headlights off) the turn signals appeared to operate normally. I hate intermittent problems!

Mine was intermittent, too. Fear not, you'll get a new taillight assembly, and it will be fixed!

 

[michaelwm]

I had my car in for service and they claimed that this will now get fixed with a software update. I'm kinda skeptical, but had no basis to argue at the time. If the next update rolls around and it doesn't fix things, though, then I'll take it back and insist.

 

[woof]

...the only solution I could figure out was to duct-tape a scope probe into the box.

Sounds so familiar. In a previous life I worked at a company that manufactured their own circuit boards. Every now and then one wouldn't pass self-diagnostics when installed in the case, but if you touched it with a finger while running diags it worked "just fine". On more than one occasion we considered taping a finger to the board and shipping it. Never did get to the point where we had to decide "whose finger?"

 

[mknox]

Mine was intermittent, too. Fear not, you'll get a new taillight assembly, and it will be fixed!

...and the problem is back! It's only on the left and not the right. It must really look goofy to other cars because of the way the frequency of the flash jumps all over the place.