Likely MCU Failure (MCU1 eMMC)

[Shadious]

I think some of the MCU assembly screws may have been heavily lock-tited.

Also to be clear, I'm assuming you removed your MCU daughtercard to send to Tony,not the eMMC itself, correct?

Good point in the lock tite. If I can’t get the screws out, no need to buy the chip! I will try to remove them prior to buying the LTE kit. And yes, I sent the daughter card to @Tony -the eMMC removal process is way out of my league

 

[neverdone]

I had the Tesla Service Center replace the MCU in my 2016 Tesla Model X (78K miles). Symptons: radio sound would blank out for 6 seconds every 20 seconds (felt like a file check going on continously), voice command would not work at all, browser would not work, wifi not working, reboot took several minutes.
Parts replaced: MCU NA Premium Model S/X (1045006-00-H)
Dropped the car off on Wednesday morning (got an old 2012 Model S loaner). No work on Wednesday or Thursday. Replaced MCU unit on Friday. Could not get maps to load. Finally got maps to load on Monday. Picked car up on Tuesday. "Could not back up files because of corruption, no customer data was saved. Performed firmware update and maps update". Total cost $200 (deductible) since I have Extended Service Agreement. Oh.. and miles now show as 3K.

 

[aesculus]

I had the Tesla Service Center replace the MCU in my 2016 Tesla Model X (78K miles). Symptons: radio sound would blank out for 6 seconds every 20 seconds (felt like a file check going on continously), voice command would not work at all, browser would not work, wifi not working, reboot took several minutes.
Parts replaced: MCU NA Premium Model S/X (1045006-00-H)
Dropped the car off on Wednesday morning (got an old 2012 Model S loaner). No work on Wednesday or Thursday. Replaced MCU unit on Friday. Could not get maps to load. Finally got maps to load on Monday. Picked car up on Tuesday. "Could not back up files because of corruption, no customer data was saved. Performed firmware update and maps update". Total cost $200 (deductible) since I have Extended Service Agreement. Oh.. and miles now show as 3K.

My car is the same exact vintage (3/26/16) but I only have 40k miles on it to date. I wonder if this is more about miles vs age?

Anyway to date I don't see these symptoms. Did you ask the SC how much it would have been had you not had the ESA? Also was there much warning before hand? Sounds like these were the early warning symptoms vs some of the characteristics I have heard from other failed users. You might also be the first MX to experience this. Don't think I have heard of any others.

 

[EV-Fixme]

I think some of the MCU assembly screws may have been heavily lock-tited.

Also to be clear, I'm assuming you removed your MCU daughtercard to send to Tony,not the eMMC itself, correct?

Correct, it was the Tegra There is a LOT of loctight on some. I've started to use a impact driver to remove.. Everything seems to come off easy and fast. However kinda expensive if your not doing it all the time..

 

[neverdone]

My car is the same exact vintage (3/26/16) but I only have 40k miles on it to date. I wonder if this is more about miles vs age?

Anyway to date I don't see these symptoms. Did you ask the SC how much it would have been had you not had the ESA? Also was there much warning before hand? Sounds like these were the early warning symptoms vs some of the characteristics I have heard from other failed users. You might also be the first MX to experience this. Don't think I have heard of any others.

I did not ask about the cost, but on some of these posts seems like the cost would be about $2500.
The major symptom, like the radio blanking out for 6 seconds and repeating every 20 seconds started just a couple weeks ago. A couple months ago when we were driving into Canada my wife tried to access the online Users Manual, and then the main screen just went blank (black). I had to reboot a couple of times before it came back. After that we were cautious about doing anything different. we used to have lots of locations in the Navigation History. We have been advised that these use lots of memory and can cause problems. We now delete items and try to keep less than 20 or so. Seems like any location list would be just a tiny fraction of logging. We could always drive the car. I do not think I will ever do the security pin. If MCU screen does not work then you could not drive.

 

[EV-Fixme]

My car is the same exact vintage (3/26/16) but I only have 40k miles on it to date. I wonder if this is more about miles vs age?

Anyway to date I don't see these symptoms. Did you ask the SC how much it would have been had you not had the ESA? Also was there much warning before hand? Sounds like these were the early warning symptoms vs some of the characteristics I have heard from other failed users. You might also be the first MX to experience this. Don't think I have heard of any others.

Don't forget to check this for all the signs and latest updates of issue and what to watch for.

Consolidated eMMC Thread (MCU repair)

 

[EV-Fixme]

@Shadious @nomar116 you can contact Henry @AutobahnEV to get replacement connectors/parts that break.

 

[AutobahnEV]

@Shadious @nomar116 you can contact Henry @AutobahnEV to get replacement connectors/parts that break.

I have any and all MCU parts/connectors you could need!

 

[smilepak]

Curious. How do you open the door from the outside if there is a power failure anyhow?

 

[TheFro]

My SC said $2150 and they keep the old MCU. My board is over at Tony’s place right now getting ready for surgery. I’m excited about the upgraded chip and hopefully will now have to replace for another 8 plus years.. here are a few pics for those thinking about doing it yourself. Actually only too about 2 very slow and careful hours to get the disassembly done. I previously replaced the IC screen, so it was sort of familiar territory.

Can you show where the Micro SD Card is for the Naivgation Maps? I had my MCU by Tesla and my navigation stopped working recently, like less than 6 months after the replacement. The SC remotely diagnosed it as a faulty MicroSD card and want to charge me for fixing it but I'm wondering if it should be free cause it's part of the MCU which carries a 4 year, unlimited mileage warranty...

 

[Shadious]

Can you show where the Micro SD Card is for the Naivgation Maps? I had my MCU by Tesla and my navigation stopped working recently, like less than 6 months after the replacement. The SC remotely diagnosed it as a faulty MicroSD card and want to charge me for fixing it but I'm wondering if it should be free cause it's part of the MCU which carries a 4 year, unlimited mileage warranty...

This is the 3G board, I did not take a pic of the LTE board, but it is very similar.
@AutobahnEV - thanks, I will keep that in mind. I have a few spares from this project as well. The kit was pretty nice, it can with all new threadlocked screws and replacement wires for the HOA and the other two connections!

 

[Shadious]

I want to give a big shout out to @Tony T , @EV-Fixme for his great work.
The job took about 3 days at his shop, plus an extra 5 days total combined shipping time with weekend delays. The car was out of commission for a total of a bit more than a week and a half. During that time it only lost about 3-5% battery life. The tear down took a slow and steady 1.5- 2 hours and removing the tegra board took another 30 minutes. Putting everything back together (slowly) took about 1.5 hours.
While the MCU was apart I decided to upgrade to LTE- I am very happy I did so. The cost was $115 from my local SC and literally took only an extra 20 minutes to swap out. Everything works flawlessly now, maps seem faster, no delays with songs loading and no freezing screens.
FWIW, I had very little warning that the MCU was failing- it went black about 3 or 4 times before shutting down for good. I never had any other symptoms. For those thinking about doing the job, I 100% recommend Tony- this guy knows his stuff. communicates along the way and will answer texts or IM quickly- none of the things Tesla is good at .
In the end, with the LTE upgrade it was about 25% of the cost of having Tesla replace it. As a guy that doesn’t make $400 per hour, this was financially a good project to take on. Feel free to IM if you have questions.

 

[TheFro]

This is the 3G board, I did not take a pic of the LTE board, but it is very similar.
@AutobahnEV - thanks, I will keep that in mind. I have a few spares from this project as well. The kit was pretty nice, it can with all new threadlocked screws and replacement wires for the HOA and the other two connections!

No, no. That's the SIM card. I'm told there's a MicroSD card somewhere that is used to store the navigation maps...

 

[BCCA]

There is a 4Gig SD card in the MCU. Rich Rebuilds has a video that shows where this SD card is located. If you don't want to watch the whole video, start looking at the 9 minute mark.

 

[scottf200]

There is a 4Gig SD card in the MCU. Rich Rebuilds has a video that shows where this SD card is located. If you don't want to watch the whole video, start looking at the 9 minute mark.

 

[StarLog]

@TheFro

 

[TheFro]

@TheFro

Thanks @StarLog. I'm really going to push the service center to fix that at no cost under the MCU warranty...

 

[EV-Fixme]

Thanks @StarLog. I'm really going to push the service center to fix that at no cost under the MCU warranty...

@TheFro and @StarLog that is the gateway SD card, the maps microSD card is located on the right side of the unit on the back side of the board. There is a little slot to access it, and often the microSD card has tape covering it to ensure it stays in. We have had a case where a leaking MCU screen got the goo on the slot and shorted out the microSD reader on the MCU. Sorry no pics right now, will post when I can and if I remember.

 

[FlatSix911]

I did not ask about the cost, but on some of these posts seems like the cost would be about $2500.
The major symptom, like the radio blanking out for 6 seconds and repeating every 20 seconds started just a couple weeks ago. A couple months ago when we were driving into Canada my wife tried to access the online Users Manual, and then the main screen just went blank (black). I had to reboot a couple of times before it came back. After that we were cautious about doing anything different. we used to have lots of locations in the Navigation History. We have been advised that these use lots of memory and can cause problems. We now delete items and try to keep less than 20 or so. Seems like any location list would be just a tiny fraction of logging. We could always drive the car. I do not think I will ever do the security pin. If MCU screen does not work then you could not drive.

Here is a recent thread posted on Reddit on the process to help extend the life of a failing MCU1... hope this helps.

MCU1 Browser Fix - posted in the teslamotors community

GeneralMCU1 Browser Fix (self.teslamotors) submitted 5 days ago * by djhazee
I think I figured out how to get the browser working on MCU1 cars. I have a 2017 MS 75D, MCU1 AP2.
After performing the steps below, my browser, release notes, and manual all started working:

1) Open Browser
2) Type in "127.0.0.1:8000" into the browser and navigate to it.
3) Once you see "This webpage is not available", browse to your page of choice!

I assume by resolving to localhost, the browser is put into a "completed" state, which it can then start resolving other addresses afterwards. Probably a bug in the underlying browser + embedded code. Let me know if it works for you!
Edit: Users are also reporting that an MCU reboot and removing any USB drives prior to the steps above are required for this to work.
Edit2: The WSOD came back for me after a few days and my localhost trick seemed to not work. I did an MCU+Dash reset (Held scroll wheels + two buttons above, no foot on brake) and everything started working again without issues.

 

[MikeBur]

Here is a recent thread posted on Reddit on the process to help extend the life of a failing MCU1... hope this helps.

MCU1 Browser Fix - posted in the teslamotors community

GeneralMCU1 Browser Fix (self.teslamotors) submitted 5 days ago * by djhazee
I think I figured out how to get the browser working on MCU1 cars. I have a 2017 MS 75D, MCU1 AP2.
After performing the steps below, my browser, release notes, and manual all started working:

1) Open Browser
2) Type in "127.0.0.1:8000" into the browser and navigate to it.
3) Once you see "This webpage is not available", browse to your page of choice!

I assume by resolving to localhost, the browser is put into a "completed" state, which it can then start resolving other addresses afterwards. Probably a bug in the underlying browser + embedded code. Let me know if it works for you!
Edit: Users are also reporting that an MCU reboot and removing any USB drives prior to the steps above are required for this to work.
Edit2: The WSOD came back for me after a few days and my localhost trick seemed to not work. I did an MCU+Dash reset (Held scroll wheels + two buttons above, no foot on brake) and everything started working again without issues.

But, but, in which direction do I need to sacrifice which animal and muttering what incantation?