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MCU upgrade/replacement for early vehicles

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Blue heaven

Blue heaven

Fair Dinkum Tesla
Nov 25, 2014
1,374
1,805
South West Australia
#1
I've started a new thread as this discussion is getting mixed up with the model 3 thread, best to start fresh and keep it simple.
Firstly my July 2015 built car has no MCU issues, it would be nice if it operated faster but such is life. If I do have one concern with a car that's been incredibly reliable in over 4 years/190,000kms it's an impending failure of the touchscreen and/or MCU, if the latest hardware that had similar abilities to 2019 cars was available I would be comfortable paying $4500 to replace items out of warranty, the fact that replacing a 2015 system with the modern MCU is by all accounts nowhere near as easy as Elon makes out and could be ages away will be more than irritating if I have to replace hardware beforehand.
For those that know far more about this tech than me, how do you see the future of replacement MCUs for older cars?
Keep the discussion friendly and easy to understand, no one likes a smart a##s.
 
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#2
Blue heaven said:
I've started a new thread as this discussion is getting mixed up with the model 3 thread, best to start fresh and keep it simple.
Firstly my July 2015 built car has no MCU issues, it would be nice if it operated faster but such is life. If I do have one concern with a car that's been incredibly reliable in over 4 years/190,000kms it's an impending failure of the touchscreen and/or MCU, if the latest hardware that had similar abilities to 2019 cars was available I would be comfortable paying $4500 to replace items out of warranty, the fact that replacing a 2015 system with the modern MCU is by all accounts nowhere near as easy as Elon makes out and could be ages away will be more than irritating if I have to replace hardware beforehand.
For those that know far more about this tech than me, how do you see the future of replacement MCUs for older cars?
Keep the discussion friendly and easy to understand, no one likes a smart a##s.
Click to expand...
I feel like this discussion has been had to death over hundreds of posts on TMC. There's been no further details then elon saying it may come one day, any further details are pure speculation. The change is not a simple swap. You would need to also replace the drivers display, bluetooth antennas, wifi antennas and cellular antennas in the mirrors, a new wiring loom. It would be a huge job.

The only hope you have of getting it is if they make a MCU 1.5 that is designed to be a retrofit only.
 
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#3
rohan3au said:
I feel like this discussion has been had to death over hundreds of posts on TMC. There's been no further details then elon saying it may come one day, any further details are pure speculation. The change is not a simple swap. You would need to also replace the drivers display, bluetooth antennas, wifi antennas and cellular antennas in the mirrors, a new wiring loom. It would be a huge job.

The only hope you have of getting it is if they make a MCU 1.5 that is designed to be a retrofit only.
Click to expand...

yep, and hence my comment in the other thread that Tesla cars get better over time and to be cautious of thinking this way as from personal experience I have found whilst the latest features are nice a MCU1.0 car can be extremely slow at times and the audio/mic button frustratingly slow/unreliable (when I got the car 4 years ago on old OS versions it was super silky smooth and no lag on the audio/mic button)...MCU2.5 in my wife’s X is instant....all the MCU1.0 cars I’ve been are like my S in this regard....clearly the car gets better with time is because of the software, but lagging and frustratingly slow isn’t my idea of “better”.

Don’t get my wrong, still a beautiful car and missing it a lot (until the next M3P+ arrives :p) but to say the car only gets better over time is misleading at best....
 
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#4
Blue heaven said:
I've started a new thread as this discussion is getting mixed up with the model 3 thread, best to start fresh and keep it simple.
Firstly my July 2015 built car has no MCU issues, it would be nice if it operated faster but such is life. If I do have one concern with a car that's been incredibly reliable in over 4 years/190,000kms it's an impending failure of the touchscreen and/or MCU, if the latest hardware that had similar abilities to 2019 cars was available I would be comfortable paying $4500 to replace items out of warranty, the fact that replacing a 2015 system with the modern MCU is by all accounts nowhere near as easy as Elon makes out and could be ages away will be more than irritating if I have to replace hardware beforehand.
For those that know far more about this tech than me, how do you see the future of replacement MCUs for older cars?
Keep the discussion friendly and easy to understand, no one likes a smart a##s.
Click to expand...
I like your last sentence!
I never keep a car beyond 4-5 years unless it has full warranty. After that the resale ‘value’ drops away too quickly due to known significant design failures that for some reason become the buyers problem rather than the suppliers problem. This comment is not aimed solely at tesla, its all manufacturers, including tesla.
 
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#5
My next MCU upgrade will be as part of a new car. I'm waiting for a substantial upgrade to the S. I suspect the S and X will move to the Model 3 MCU at some stage.
In the meantime, it would be very galling to pay $4500 to get a new MCU1 for my car. Came very close to that exact thing a few months ago, with the service centre wanting me to do that rather than keep trying to fix a problem that was clearly software related. One last push from me gave them the impetus to actually try to solve the problem, which they did in one afternoon.
 
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#6
EcoCloudIT said:
...whilst the latest features are nice a MCU1.0 car can be extremely slow at times and the audio/mic button frustratingly slow/unreliable ...
Click to expand...
I'm glad I'm not going mad, I'd noticed recently how crap the voice stuff had become. Takes ages to be actually listening, then half the time exits before you've had a chance to say anything, cuts things off, etc etc. Used to work perfectly. Stupid thing is none of that stuff should be too cpu intensive and so it's poor real time coding most likely, more than inherent performance limitations of the MCU1.
 
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#7
lennier said:
I'm glad I'm not going mad, I'd noticed recently how crap the voice stuff had become. Takes ages to be actually listening, then half the time exits before you've had a chance to say anything, cuts things off, etc etc. Used to work perfectly. Stupid thing is none of that stuff should be too cpu intensive and so it's poor real time coding most likely, more than inherent performance limitations of the MCU1.
Click to expand...

Yep, those are the issues I was getting. Work around, press the audio/mic button and then back out. Once out the next time you press it it will work normally for the remainder of the drive.

Unfortunately has to be done every single time you get in the car....been like this for a number of updates....point is it is working after second attempts (just not on the first) so it must be a software/bug issue...no?
 
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#11
EcoCloudIT said:
Yep, those are the issues I was getting. Work around, press the audio/mic button and then back out. Once out the next time you press it it will work normally for the remainder of the drive.

Unfortunately has to be done every single time you get in the car....been like this for a number of updates....point is it is working after second attempts (just not on the first) so it must be a software/bug issue...no?
Click to expand...

Yes that workaround indicates that it's definitely a bug not a performance or optimisation issue. So you basically press it once to activate and immediately again to end, then normal operation from then on until the car is restarted? Also I've had an update since then so need to test if 40.2 is any better.
 
#12
lennier said:
Yes that workaround indicates that it's definitely a bug not a performance or optimisation issue. So you basically press it once to activate and immediately again to end, then normal operation from then on until the car is restarted? Also I've had an update since then so need to test if 40.2 is any better.
Click to expand...

Yep, that’s exactly how I get around it....but I’ve sold the S now and picking up my a Model 3 (at Top Padock awaiting my appointment in 10mins)
 
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#13
Just want to let everyone know that if your MCU goes dead on early Model S's, Tesla will not install/program a used MCU from a crashed or salvaged Tesla even if it's the exact same part number and in working order (when pulled from the crashed/salvaged Tesla). So don't be tempted to buy a used one online for about $900 or more, they are worthless landfill.
The only way to replace a dead MCU is with a new one from Tesla - cost $2,700 outside of warranty. One consolation is that they come with a one-year warranty.
Working used MCU's will now go to landfill instead of being used as replacements for dead MCUs. So much for Elon's concern for the environment.
 
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#16
gasisnasty said:
Replacement MCU for Model S 85 with AP1 was a surprise. Tesla installed the latest MCU2. Of course not all the functions will be available such as Sentry mode. But nice to have the better quality screen and 4g internet.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Did the scenario of the owner installing the hardware for sentry mode (ie all cameras and wiring) come up in conversation? I've investigated and it is not that hard, if you have all relevant parts.
 
#17
gasisnasty said:
Replacement MCU for Model S 85 with AP1 was a surprise. Tesla installed the latest MCU2. Of course not all the functions will be available such as Sentry mode. But nice to have the better quality screen and 4g internet.
Click to expand...
I've never heard of a documented case of Tesla actually doing this. Are you saying Tesla installed an MCU2 in your older Model S? We definitely need proof if this is true. Are you sure they didn't just install an updated MCU1 with 4g?
 
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