Gearbox fluid service recommended - OK to drive

[DriveEV]

Hey all,

Have a 2020 Model Y with about 8K miles on it and just got the Gearbox fluid service recommended - OK to drive error notification out of nowhere. I did some digging it I see that others had this alert typically in the winter with Model 3s. If it helps, I am in update new york, so in the thick of winter, salty roads, snow and cold temps.

I am a few hours from the SC and wanted to delay if possible, thinking this is a false alarm perhaps. Has this happened to anyone? Any ideas? Says OK to drive, but not entirely sure. I don't see any leaks on the garage floor. I thought these gearbox units we sealed and good for the life of the car?

 

[jcanoe]

Hey all,

Have a 2020 Model Y with about 8K miles on it and just got the Gearbox fluid service recommended - OK to drive error notification out of nowhere. I did some digging it I see that others had this alert typically in the winter with Model 3s. If it helps, I am in update new york, so in the thick of winter, salty roads, snow and cold temps.

I am a few hours from the SC and wanted to delay if possible, thinking this is a false alarm perhaps. Has this happened to anyone? Any ideas? Says OK to drive, but not entirely sure. I don't see any leaks on the garage floor. I thought these gearbox units we sealed and good for the life of the car?

The front and rear drive units are sealed at the factory for the life of the drive unit. The drive fluid is red, like some ATF fluid. Normally you should never see any drive fluid underneath your Tesla vehicle.

 

[DriveEV]

Follow up on this one -- SC did full diagnosis and testing. They are chalking it up to a software bug to be fixed in future releases. They are seeing this on occasion during colder/changing temps here in northern NY.

 

[Mike_TV]

As a side note, it does appear that Tesla uses Dexron 6 ATF fluid. So nothing exotic but as others have mentioned, no service change interval required. If the car reports it needs to be changed, you'll get a message...assuming it's not a software bug.