Likely MCU Failure (MCU1 eMMC)

[CuriousG]

Have you tried calling Tesla lately? Unless your car has recently been in for service and you have a previous extension they have given out, you'll have a hard time getting to talk to someone.

 

[whitex]

Have you tried calling Tesla lately? Unless your car has recently been in for service and you have a previous extension they have given out, you'll have a hard time getting to talk to someone.

Make an appointment via the app, they will contact you if it can be done via mobile service. That said, I did manage to get a hold of a live person few weeks ago when I needed a new 12V battery, made the appointment but it wasn't for a couple of weeks, so called them if I can just buy and pick up and install the battery myself as I was worried about the car crapping out on me expectantly, they were very helpful and said I can, but also offered to squeeze me in just a few days later with a mobile tech, so I took that. The tech came and did an excellent job.

 

[BlueOvalFan]

Pulling the fuse for MCU is all that's needed. There's no high-voltage present near the MCU.

Quicker and easier.

I’m about to undertake this adventure. Which fuse is for the MCU...?

 

[scaesare]

I’m about to undertake this adventure. Which fuse is for the MCU...?

The same one I mentioned in Post 225

 

[whitex]

Pulling the fuse for MCU is all that's needed. There's no high-voltage present near the MCU.

Quicker and easier.

Don't other devices on the CAN or other bus not seeing the MCU have any issues if you remove the MCU while the rest of the car has power?

 

[Krash]

My first MCU1 lasted 18 months and less than 30,000 miles. No scheduled charging or PIN to drive set before it died. A few comments on previous posts...

The car will run with a dead MCU or a dead IC, and i believe even both. Drive by wire failures were planned here, it is not a pleasant experience, but it doesn't put you in a state of danger by any means

I agree. My car would drive fine.

Just want to point out that if the MCU fails and you are unable to charge the car (which seems to be the general consensus), then the MCU most definitely is needed to drive.

My experience was different as my car would also charge and Supercharge, but again, I did not have scheduled charging set.

Have the limitations on the vehicle associated with an MCU1 failure been summarized? I believe the following are true...

No charging
No main display
No HVAC controls
No audio controls

And my specific question, similar to the loss of HVAC controls - does the battery cooling system still operate? During summer months, the vehicle cooling the battery in the afternoon is a common occurrence for my vehicle; losing that would presumably be not good.

Battery cooling still operated. My HVAC was stuck on the settings when it died. No audio. No main display. Yes my car would charge, but again I had no scheduled charging or PIN to drive set.after the MCU died, so if you were on a roadtrip and set it to 100%. You are stuck with 100%.

Note that whatever charging percentage you had set was unchangable

you can start your car via app.. this overrides pin to drive, tried this to make sure i can still use this security feature as i too have a ms '13 with almost 200k km, though the mcu was replaced by the previous owner at some point

As also mentioned by a subsequent poster, the app would not work on my car after the MCU died.

My 2017 MCU1 died at just under 2 years old and ~15k miles bricking the car in my garage.

My 2017 MCU dying did not brick my car but it did die under two years and surprisingly few miles.

Interestingly enough, I spoke with a Tesla mobile ranger who told me they are noW replacing MCU 1 with MCU 2. He said they have an adapter for the plugs and you get the full on new MCU 2 when it is replaced. Is that true- not sure, but I asked the question 5 different ways and he was pretty confident. As an aside, was told that this may not be public knowledge. Anyone out there have ANY confirmatory evidence that this is the case? I am skeptical, so I’d like to see something definitive...

We have heard similar rumors before. It would be great if they turn out to be true.

 

[whitex]

The car will run with a dead MCU or a dead IC, and i believe even both. Drive by wire failures were planned here, it is not a pleasant experience, but it doesn't put you in a state of danger by any means

If you drive in a state which has cold winters, no heat in the car while driving through remote areas could be considered dangerous. Having to drive with your head out the window because defrosters don't work, your windshield, mirrors and windows are all iced up, while you navigate narrow roads on the side of the mountains, also sounds pretty dangerous. Would you consider it safe?

 

[scaesare]

Don't other devices on the CAN or other bus not seeing the MCU have any issues if you remove the MCU while the rest of the car has power?

I wasn't trying to do anything with the rest of the car while I had the MCU out, so while they may have been confused at the time, it's not a big deal.

Think about it: you can reboot the MCU while you are driving. The MCU can die and refuse to boot due to eMMC failure and yet you can still drive.

Clearly not being able to send/receive CAN msgs to the MCU is not a showstopper for the critical systems.

 

[S100D]

I have seen those font errors from many months. But I have seen a lot of posts about that. Is that restricted to older cars? I had not realize that it was not occurring in newer cars. Or is it?

I have a December 2016 AP2/MCU1 Model S with 24,500 miles and I saw corrupted fonts once on the charging screen. That was a couple of months ago.

 

[David29]

If you drive in a state which has cold winters, no heat in the car while driving through remote areas could be considered dangerous. Having to drive with your head out the window because defrosters don't work, your windshield, mirrors and windows are all iced up, while you navigate narrow roads on the side of the mountains, also sounds pretty dangerous. Would you consider it safe?

That was exactly the point the Service Center made to me when my MCU was not functioning recently -- that the weather was turning cold and that it would be a safety issue to let me leave in a car with no defroster. Since they gave me a loaner, I did not mind leaving the car even though I had come in without an appointment and knew they could not get to the car for at least 2 or 3 days. They were being very conservative, because it was really not yet that cold. But I appreciated the safety-first attitude.

 

[rsg123]

MCU2 might be a worthwhile upgrade for $2k. That price for another MCU1 seems wasteful. In the meantime is there a third party service to mail in the MCU for the repair?
My eMMC situation seems to be getting dire. Lots of freezing, stuttering/loss of audio, and last night the entire thing froze up while playing chess with my daughter as we waited for my wife to shop.

 

[BlueOvalFan]

MCU2 might be a worthwhile upgrade for $2k. That price for another MCU1 seems wasteful. In the meantime is there a third party service to mail in the MCU for the repair?
My eMMC situation seems to be getting dire. Lots of freezing, stuttering/loss of audio, and last night the entire thing froze up while playing chess with my daughter as we waited for my wife to shop.

Yes...TonyT herein posting within this thread provides the service.

 

[David99]

I'm in the process of getting my chip replaced by Tony. Since I'm local I can still use my car while he works on the chip. The car will actually drive with the MCU completely disabled, which it is while the chip is with Tony. Kudos to Tesla for having all the fundamental driving functions separate. Even supercharging still works.
Taking the MCU out and replacing that one sub board really isn't a lot of work. It would be reasonable to be offered by Tesla's service. They don't even have to do the difficult soldering. They can just clone the chip to a new one. I don't know the hardware cost of that Tegra board. It can't be that much. Tesla just offering to replace the entire MCU is just stupid.

 

[dark cloud]

Excuse me if this is a silly question, as I am not a software/computer specialist, or if I missed it being discussed already, but how hard would it be to upgrade the processor to get a functioning browser while the MCU1 is out getting a new upgraded eMMC? Is it pretty much the same level of difficulty?

 

[MP3Mike]

Excuse me if this is a silly question, as I am not a software/computer specialist, or if I missed it being discussed already, but how hard would it be to upgrade the processor to get a functioning browser while the MCU1 is out getting a new upgraded eMMC? Is it pretty much the same level of difficulty?

No, it wouldn't be any easy task. For that you really need to wait for Tesla, or someone else, to offer MCU2 retrofit kits.

 

[viper2ko]

Excuse me if this is a silly question, as I am not a software/computer specialist, or if I missed it being discussed already, but how hard would it be to upgrade the processor to get a functioning browser while the MCU1 is out getting a new upgraded eMMC? Is it pretty much the same level of difficulty?

Why do that? Elon has already fixed the web browser by creating MCU2. All you have to do is buy a new car

 

[TonyT]

MCU2 might be a worthwhile upgrade for $2k. That price for another MCU1 seems wasteful. In the meantime is there a third party service to mail in the MCU for the repair?
My eMMC situation seems to be getting dire. Lots of freezing, stuttering/loss of audio, and last night the entire thing froze up while playing chess with my daughter as we waited for my wife to shop.

Hi rsg123. I can do repair via mail. Turn around would be a bit more than a week. You should be able to still drive your car with reduced functionality. PM if your interested and I can send you the details.

 

[David99]

Last night I got the new eMMC from Tony and my car is all put together again. I'm so glad I did it before it failed entirely. Tony was very helpful. He also upgraded my car to LTE which makes a big difference.
No more glitches, no more frozen screen, no more bluetooth and internet loosing connection. Most importantly I don't get stranded with a dead MCU which is inevitable with the chip failing. I should be safe now for the next 20 years.

I did most of the mechanical part of taking the dash apart myself.

 

[viper2ko]

Last night I got the new eMMC from Tony and my car is all put together again. I'm so glad I did it before it failed entirely. Tony was very helpful. He also upgraded my car to LTE which makes a big difference.
No more glitches, no more frozen screen, no more bluetooth and internet loosing connection. Most importantly I don't get stranded with a dead MCU which is inevitable with the chip failing. I should be safe now for the next 20 years.

I did most of the mechanical part of taking the dash apart myself.
View attachment 478018

how hard was the process of removing everything

 

[dark cloud]

Last night I got the new eMMC from Tony and my car is all put together again. I'm so glad I did it before it failed entirely. Tony was very helpful. He also upgraded my car to LTE which makes a big difference.
No more glitches, no more frozen screen, no more bluetooth and internet loosing connection. Most importantly I don't get stranded with a dead MCU which is inevitable with the chip failing. I should be safe now for the next 20 years.

I did most of the mechanical part of taking the dash apart myself.
View attachment 478018

Is @TonyT or you willing to state the price of the Swissbit chip and the LTE upgrade? I am still on 3G as well. Pm me if you prefer Tony; I am seriously considering making a big drive down there one of these days. (Yes I know I could mail it)