MCU unresponsive after parking in the heat

[gabeincal]

We recently went for a hike which involved parking in a lot with no shade. Sun was reasonably strong but ambient temp was in the 70-80s. When we came back from the ~2 hour hike and got in the car, the cluster gauge was on but the MCU was black and hot to the touch. No matter what reset I tried, the MCU would not come on and the car would not start. After about 10 minutes, the car decided it was OK to start and drive, but MCU was dead with all auxiliary stuff being dead also (meaning no AC, no ambient temp measurement, no sunroof control, no music, etc). About 10 more minutes and the MCU came on, but I had to reset it twice to make it work.

Questions:
- Isn't this exactly what the cabin overheat protection should solve?
- Does this happen to others?
- Is this a warranty problem or kind of like an overheated iPhone, there is not much one can do but cover the unit from the sun?

 

[boaterva]

Well, *I* would thought overheat protection would have prevented that... perhaps have Service Center check the logs to see what exactly happened? I'm pretty sure that you can't disable overheat protection... I know preconditioning can be disabled, which isn't what we're looking at here.

 

[Az_Rael]

I leave my car uncovered for 9 hours a day in 110 degree heat Monday thru Friday every week. I have not had any issues like you describe.

I suspect your failure was unrelated to the temperature.

 

[scottm]

Never heard of this, but roasting the car is known bad for center console screens leaking and getting bubbles.

Electronics hate heat ... screens moreso.

I take great pains to create shade on the dash / consoles in all parking situations... throw a towel over it if you have to.

p.s. dog looks good in that color sweater!

 

[gabeincal]

p.s. dog looks good in that color sweater!

LOL I was thinking somebody was going to pick up on the dog!

 

[gabeincal]

Well, *I* would thought overheat protection would have prevented that... perhaps have Service Center check the logs to see what exactly happened? I'm pretty sure that you can't disable overheat protection... I know preconditioning can be disabled, which isn't what we're looking at here.

Car was parked yesterday in the sun for an entire day and cabin was stable at 105 so overheat protection seems to be working. I think that the sun must have been baking the screen directly and hence why this happened. I'll talk to the service center and see what they say. Thanks!

 

[gabeincal]

Email sent to [email protected]. Hoping that they monitor it as leaving voicemails for service centers seems to be a pointless exercise to do.

 

[boaterva]

Car was parked yesterday in the sun for an entire day and cabin was stable at 105 so overheat protection seems to be working. I think that the sun must have been baking the screen directly and hence why this happened. I'll talk to the service center and see what they say. Thanks!

That's a point, cabin temp and MCU temp from direct sunlight could be different. Leaving an iPhone on the dashboard is a bad idea, even in a cool cabin. But, then, not sure what the answer is. Sunshades for the front all the time? Let's see what the SC says.

 

[gabeincal]

That's a point, cabin temp and MCU temp from direct sunlight could be different. Leaving an iPhone on the dashboard is a bad idea, even in a cool cabin. But, then, not sure what the answer is. Sunshades for the front all the time? Let's see what the SC says.

Well the thing is, this is not Nevada. It was not too hot that day and the car was unusable for about 10 minutes (no cell reception either) and I was just hoping it comes back - which it did. If it didn't, I would've been quite disappointed. Plus you cannot run the A/C so you can't forcefully cool down the cabin / MCU...

 

[scottm]

Aha..! technically the car should be capable of running A/C for overheat protection.. that's it's job.
If the center stack collapsed under heat ... would the A/C ever kick-in to protect occupants?
I wonder if you can "repeat the test" by parking in the sun again.
It may be worth finding out if your computer has a heat bug, while you're under warranty.

 

[gabeincal]

I wonder if you can "repeat the test" by parking in the sun again.

I can certainly try

It may be worth finding out if your computer has a heat bug, while you're under warranty.

Exactly. And that is one of the reasons why I logged the problem with Tesla in the first place, so even if I'm out of warranty and it comes out, I can refer to the date I originally experienced the problem and hopefully get a free warranty replacement or at least a lower cost..

 

[gabeincal]

Email sent to [email protected]. Hoping that they monitor it as leaving voicemails for service centers seems to be a pointless exercise to do.

No response so far after 2 days. Followed up...

 

[gabeincal]

Tesla support response:

"When this happens, it usually indicates that Energy Saving Mode has been turned on. I would advise to check this setting in your car, and turn it off if it did somehow get turned on. When energy Saving mode is turned on, the vehicle can go into a hibernation mode which causes it to take an extended amount of time to power back up again.

To turn off energy saving mode, tap on Controls on the touchscreen, then Displays, then make sure Energy Saving is Off."

This doesn't sound right, it's almost like they advise any owner to not use energy saving mode. And my car does 'hibernate' and I'm used to waiting 10-15 seconds for the MCU to wake up, but on this occasion it was about 10 minutes...

 

[LoL Rick]

It sounds like you may be focused too much on the heat, which may have been just a coincidence with the crashed screen. Has it happened again? I had a crashed screen a couple weeks ago but it happened in the garage overnight. I managed to get it going again and a software update with the new Linux kernel showed up the next day. So I'm speculating that the system might have crashed while trying to download and validate the software package. Did you get an update shortly after this happened?

 

[apacheguy]

No, it's not energy saving mode. My CID never completely sleeps even with all energy saving features enabled. There is no way it should take 10 minutes to wake up.

I'm pretty sure that pressing and holding the scroll wheels for an extended period will trigger a hard reset by the GPIOs. How long did you press and hold for?

 

[gabeincal]

No, it's not energy saving mode. My CID never completely sleeps even with all energy saving features enabled. There is no way it should take 10 minutes to wake up.

I'm pretty sure that pressing and holding the scroll wheels for an extended period will trigger a hard reset by the GPIOs. How long did you press and hold for?

Way more than usual... i cannot specifically remember but probably 30 seconds or so

 

[apacheguy]

Way more than usual... i cannot specifically remember but probably 30 seconds or so

Hmm. That should've cleared it. I can't think of what would have caused this barring some internal malfunction (in which case it should never have come back to life). Very odd.

 

[gabeincal]

Hmm. That should've cleared it. I can't think of what would have caused this barring some internal malfunction (in which case it should never have come back to life). Very odd.

It's very obvious to me. Heat. Once we opened up the car, it could cool down instantly a bit and it came back to life. Your iPhone does the same thing... Funny how Tesla doesn't admit..

 

[Az_Rael]

It's very obvious to me. Heat. Once we opened up the car, it could cool down instantly a bit and it came back to life. Your iPhone does the same thing... Funny how Tesla doesn't admit..

Even if heat is causing it, something is wrong with your car. Mine is left out daily in way worse conditions and I have not had an MCU fail to boot yet.

 

[Dave EV]

Even if heat is causing it, something is wrong with your car. Mine is left out daily in way worse conditions and I have not had an MCU fail to boot yet.

+1. Cars are designed to be left in the heat, temperatures much hotter than this and should still run normally. There's a reason that you very often see manufacturers doing testing in Death Valley. While it may be heat related, there's something wrong with it that's causing it to be more sensitive to heat.