Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

MCU fails for the second time

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

Yes indeed. Didn't see that part number anywhere before though.
Also the part description doesn't state it includes the Premium Audio, though it looks like it does.

... I hope it was under warranty!

Yes it was. They needed to replace the flatscreen because I had yellowish lines / shadows on it, and they replaced the whole MCU because I also had multiple issues.

(Well, they also replaced the whole battery, but that's another story)
 
I got an update. Before installing the update i restarted touch screen. Screen never came on. Tried reboot no luck. Tesl still charged at home but ac was running 24\7. Tesla sent ranger and he said mcu has failed.

He tried 12v unplug and removed fuses. No luck. Now dac is off but does not charge at home. I went to super charger and dies not charge their either.

At home it says charging complete. At super charger it said 'battery level exceeds charge limit'.

Anyone know if i can do any thing to get it charged. Any fuse i can pull.

Will contact service center again in the morning to get the thing replaced.

love the car but I'm very sad and disappointed that if the center screen goes out in the car can be undriveable.

2013 tesla models 83k miles
 
Last edited:
I got an update. Before installing the update i restarted touch screen. Screen never came on. Tried reboot no luck. Tesl still charged at home but ac was running 24\7. Tesla sent ranger and he said mcu has failed.

He tried 12v unplug and removed fuses. No luck. Now dac is off but does not charge at home. I went to super charger and dies not charge their either.

At home it says charging complete. At super charger it said 'battery level exceeds charge limit'.

Anyone know if i can do any thing to get it charged. Any fuse i can pull.

Will contact service center again in the morning to get the thing replaced.

love the car but I'm very sad and disappointed that if the center screen goes out in the car can be undriveable.

2013 tesla models 83k miles
When I had MCU failure mobile service had me pull the main fuse (don't recall now which one it was) to shut down the entire car for a "hard reboot." It didn't fix the MCU but I did recover very limited charging. However, I was charging at about 280 watts to the battery, which is way slower than typical level 1 (~1000 watts, of 1440 total from the wall), and it took so long to get useful charge the car wasn't really useful until the MCU was replaced. This was with my usual 240 V UMC.
 
I just had a complete MCU failure. Did the same....."Charge complete". I had 200 miles left on my charge that was slowly ticking away on a vampire draw. Fortunately after a ranger visit confirming the failure I decided to drive the 60 miles to my SC asap or I would have to flatbed the car down later..... You can pull the computer fuse AND the main battery loop for a while. I did that with my ranger but my MCU never came back from the dead. $2300 later back up and running again on my 2013 S.
 
I just had a complete MCU failure. Did the same....."Charge complete". I had 200 miles left on my charge that was slowly ticking away on a vampire draw. Fortunately after a ranger visit confirming the failure I decided to drive the 60 miles to my SC asap or I would have to flatbed the car down later..... You can pull the computer fuse AND the main battery loop for a while. I did that with my ranger but my MCU never came back from the dead. $2300 later back up and running again on my 2013 S.
Did you get the faster processor and LTE with $2300? or getting the newer screen is more expensive?

I took the fuse out and put it back in, did not check the state of charge. Will check when i get back home.
 
Did you get the faster processor and LTE with $2300? or getting the newer screen is more expensive?

You are likely to get the LTE upgrade, but the MCU2 retrofit isn't available yet, if it ever will be, so he would have gotten the same speed of processor. (Or at a minimum they will include the LTE upgrade at a reduced price since there would be essentially no labor involved.)
 
Got a quote, will be replacing this Friday.

Service/Labor FRT Hours FRT Price
Replace MCU Touchscreen, Model S 1.1 150.00
Subtotal Labor Price: (USD) 165.00
Parts: Price
1452455-00-C - SERVICE MCU KIT - NORTH AMERICA 2,078.00
Subtotal Parts Price: (USD) 2,078.00
Subtotal Services and Parts: (USD) 2,243.00
Discount: (USD) 0.00
Shipping: (USD) 0.00
Estimated Tax: (USD) 0.00
Total Amount: (USD) 2,243.00
 
  • Informative
Reactions: cwerdna and robby
Was supposed to get a quote on the LTE upgrade before they replaced my MCU. We both figured it would be cheaper to upgrade now as the dash was already torn apart for the MCU. Never got me the quote and already completed the MCU install when I asked again. Said to screw it since what I read on here it wasn't really worth it at this point. My partner happened to be playing with the screen and noticed it said LTE instead of 3G now....OMG. Only paid about $2k for the MCU and no $500 LTE upgrade. Did they just throw it in? It was a refurb MCU for sure and no "goodwill" lines for an LTE device....
 
My partner happened to be playing with the screen and noticed it said LTE instead of 3G now....OMG. Only paid about $2k for the MCU and no $500 LTE upgrade. Did they just throw it in? It was a refurb MCU for sure and no "goodwill" lines for an LTE device....

I have seen multiple people reporting that they get upgraded to LTE for free when the MCU is replaced. My guess is that part of the MCU refurbishing they do is to replace the 3G card with the LTE card. (I think I saw one person get charged $150 for the LTE upgrade when he was getting just the screen replaced because of the reduced labor.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: chammerbeck
How much labor is involved in replacing that $10 part? ;)
I know people who would do it for $600-700. You do your own dash-disassembly/reassembly, though.

Edit: alternatively you can bu another mcu from ebay for like 1300 or less (don't need the screen to be intact and such). The risk is you don't know how long the other one would last, of course.
 
Last edited:
So once you add the R&R work the total cost would be about $900. So Tesla is charging more than double, but they do give you a 1-year warranty... ;) And you would get to keep your old MCU/screen so you could sell it and re-coupe some of the cost...
Well, if you value 1 year mcu warranty at over $1k - sure.
Personally i would not be selling mcu from my car on ebay without wiping it first which is kind of hard to do when its bricked. there are some privacy issues there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MP3Mike
Mine:

Concern: Customer: Touchscreen well blank at 7AM 8/27 and failed to come back on with a
reset.

Total Labor & Miscellaneous Items: 120.00
Pay Type: Customer Pay
Corrections: Media Control Unit (Touchscreen)
Remove and replace center touch screen assembly. Perform needed back-up and restore,
verify operation

Part Quantity Unit Price
SERVICE MCU KIT - NORTH AMERICA
(1458829-00-B)

1 2,078.00 2,078.00
Total Parts 2,078.00

Parts Replaced or Added

Total Job Parts: 2,078.00

2,198.00