MCU died out of warranty. Heres info on my experience

[rafacq]

With this being an older S, I am very thankful for the CPO warranty and have put it to use. Mostly with minor things but this is the first major problem I have had outside of the warranty period. The only other major problem that I have had was the air suspension distribution block cracked and I lost air to just the front end.

I hope that the newer Model S's don't have as many issues as the early versions. I spoke with one of the service advisors last year about the Model 3's and if he saw many of them. His response was the early 2018s had some issues that needed remedy but after that he doesn't see many at all.

I got my 2015 S85D last April with only 12,004 miles. I was impressed with the “like new“ 4 years/50K miles warranty.

I’ve had 2 issues in the last 10 months. I picked my car in San Diego and drove to Palmdale to visit family for a few days. There, in 2 occasions AP would not be available. Called Tesla, they couldn’t find anything wrong. After I arrived in Dallas took the car to the Plano SC and they couldn’t find anything. They still went ahead and recalibrated the camera. The problem has not happened again and the car now has 24K miles.

The second issue I had was one of my FOBs died. New battery didn’t fix it. Mobile came over and they replaced the FOB under warranty.

At this point I am super satisfied with my car. The MCU does not have the yellow border nor any bubbles. Very lucky.

Only thing I wish is that Tesla would provide a history in things they worked/fixed on the car prior to delivery.

 

[rafacq]

My MS is a DD, too. So this exact problem worries me a lot. That's why I plan on doing a preventative eMMC upgrade later this year once my warranty expires.

What’s DD? Dual Drive? Got my S in April and have not heard the DD acronym. Thanks.

 

[jboy210]

I feel your pain, once had a E65 that ran me into the ground as it went into the ground.

Sure are a lot of former BMW owners that now drive Teslas. At this pace you have to wonder how BMW dealers are going to stay afloat with all the sheep, oops customers, moving to greener pastures.

 

[omarsultan]

What’s DD? Dual Drive? Got my S in April and have not heard the DD acronym. Thanks.

I assume "daily driver"

 

[JLuszczek]

That $1300.00 MCU has the word "REMAN" in the description. It most likely is a re-manufactured (refurbished) unit, thus the lower than usual price. Did they say anything to that effect to you?

 

[rafacq]

I would rather just be able to upgrade to an MCU 2 instead

I agree, particularly if it’s $1,300 for an MCU1 and $2,000 for MCU2!

 

[TheFro]

Wow good to know of the part.. I will do that if it happens out of warranty. I wonder if there's any coding involved.

There's a lengthy thread here of someone trying to read the data from their old chip, remove the chip from the board, solder on a new chip, and copy the data back on.

From what I've gathered, there are maybe two or three independent folks in the nation that currently have the ability to rebuild these things; they're happy to perform these services for much cheaper than what Tesla would charge, you just have to mail in the part and be without your car while it was being fixed.

 

[milleron]

Did they upgrade it to MCU2?

I agree, particularly if it’s $1,300 for an MCU1 and $2,000 for MCU2!

Impossible at this point in time. MCU1 and MCU2 handle the instrument-cluster screen in different manners, so, for that and other reasons, one can't simply install a current MCU2 in an MCU1 car. Elon had tweeted that "in a few months" Tesla will make available a newly engineered MCU2 (Intel-based) replacement for MCU1 cars. However, what Elon tweets doesn't always come true, and Elon-time is quite different from mortal-human-time and therefore totally unpredictable. I think he might have hinted at a price of $2k, but he also gave a few reasons for not doing it, even when the new board becomes available.

 

[dark cloud]

That $1300.00 MCU has the word "REMAN" in the description. It most likely is a re-manufactured (refurbished) unit, thus the lower than usual price. Did they say anything to that effect to you?

All the $1800 quotes were reman also. New price is below:

 

[Need]

That makes sense. From all that I read, it was supposed to be around $3K. So OP got a remanufactured unit and he turned in his old old to be remanufactured for the next person so it is cheaper.

 

[Del Schier]

Yesterday I had my 2016 model S MCU crash after trying to open the owners manual. The screen went black and it refused to restart; stuck in a loop of the logo screen popping up. A 30 min call to support was a waste of my time and theirs. They just told me to hold the steering wheel buttons for 60 sec. They said within 10 days advanced tech support would attempt to fix it over the air, otherwise I would have to go to the dealer and perhaps they would install a new MCU.

I fixed it after getting off the phone it thanks to a web search on Tesla forum. I read to remove my thumb drive from the USB. That worked,! No MCU needed.

Maybe some day they will make my web browser work again.

 

[cookie99]

What kind of mileage out of curiosity?




I think they are getting plenty of practice with this lately. After a dozen times of doing this I am sure anyone with decent dexterity could remove the unit in under 20 minutes. Here is video of Jason doing it in under 2 minutes!

they slightly bent the silver frame of my old one when replacing my MCU. so maybe they should slow down...

 

[scaesare]

NB this is not the car,s logs, which are stored on a different chip.

This is not correct. The logs are written to the eMMC flash chip.

Map data is written to the separate micro SD card.

 

[PatrickCH4313]

Did the Extended Warranty also cover the MCU replacement ?

 

[Ferrycraigs]

This is not correct. The logs are written to the eMMC flash chip.

Map data is written to the separate micro SD card.

The whole eMMC thing is explained in this video, by a guy that does this for a living. A long video, but the relevant bit about eMMC is at 9:00, and he explains the car logging going to a separate SD Card at 9:30. And isn’t the eMMC Solid State rather than flash? (Not 100% sure and it doesn’t really matter)

The video is from Rich Rebuilds.

 

[Ferrycraigs]

It always surprises me how car owners are happy to toss benjamins out the window after owning BMW’s etc. View attachment 506379

This seems a good and cheap solution, but it will not work. The new chip requires some critical files, specific to the old car, to be transferred to the new chip. Apparently it’s not that easy a process. And I have absolutely no idea how easy, or difficult, taking the MCU out would be.

 

[Ferrycraigs]

newer ones get that ugly yellow border, which Tesla fought for years to deny, opting instead to Simply say it's normal. Only after a ton of people turned the issue into a giant be-otch-fest, did Tesla finally become able to create a repair/fix, sort of. Some have said it returns after a while. So that whole issue may still be looming once warranties expire.
Then you have the issue of higher-powered processors on newer units, which create more heat, which is the enemy of all Electronics.
.

Slightly off topic, but just so people are aware, this was explained to me by a Ranger. The yellow border issue was simply the glue holding the screen on, going yellow. It did not affect the function of the screen at all. But it was unsightly. Initially Tesla we’re replacing the screens, but the replacements came from the same batch as the originals, so were also prone to yellowing, which of course some did. Tesla then decided, sensibly IMO, to stop replacing the old screens at $1000 a time with screens from the old batch, and arranged to have screens made with a different glue. So for a period Tesla said they would not replace the screens under Warranty, but that a solution was coming. But often they forgot to say the second bit, leaving customers thinking they were just avoiding the Warranty bit. So now they have developed a UV light or similar that reverses the discolouration, or they fit a screen from the new batch. It just took a bit of time to develop the solution.

 

[dark cloud]

And isn’t the eMMC Solid State rather than flash? (Not 100% sure and it doesn’t really matter)
.

Flash is solid state. Meaning the memory is on a chip and not a spinning hard disc drive.

SSD vs HDD: Which is Better for you? | Crucial.com

 

[Ferrycraigs]

The whole eMMC thing is explained in this video, by a guy that does this for a living. A long video, but the relevant bit about eMMC is at 9:00, and he explains the car logging going to a separate SD Card at 9:30. And isn’t the eMMC Solid State rather than flash? (Not 100% sure and it doesn’t really matter)

The video is from Rich Rebuilds.

@scaesare Reading over my reply, it sounds like I am questioning your correction. I would like to make clear that is not what I meant. I’m the first to admit this area is not my speciality. Although the video seems to say one thing, it is vague. So I am very happy to say I am far from sure about what is stored where, and readers who are seeking this information should not not take my word as gospel. I think there is a very good chance I have this wrong.

I have just suffered from eMMC failure and my MS is not yet 4 years old, so it’s an area of interest. At the risk of confusing things further, another video that owners of any Model S or X pre March 18 should watch. ( Looks like your screen might be next.)

@dark cloud thank you also for your explanation. Always keen to learn.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

$1300 aint bad. It was $850 for a radiator in 06 BMW 335.
Ill take that.

One car payment or new car - I'll take the $1300!