MCU1 memory issues vs. MCU 2 offer from Tesla Service

[Tonem11]

Hello Everyone!

I need your help! In brief, since owning in January 2020- my 2016 P100D has been in svc 3 times for screen issues. All 3 times they say the memory is full, clear the cache, and the screen works fine now. This time it was because of saving map tiles when we drove it out West, it saved too many locations and slowed it down to fill up the memory.

It's still in svc today and I received a new offer-"if you want to upgrade to MCU 2..." I can pay for it. I have warranty until January 2024...so my long term thought is not to pay for MCU 2 now-but just wait until the MCU 1 fully dies in next 4 years-get it replaced...and eventually buy MCU 2 when it's no longer in warranty.

What's your advice? Thank you!

 

[P85_DA]

I upgraded as my mcu1 was just to slow with navigation etc ...I was already out of warranty and really didn’t need to replace however it makes it feel like an entirely new car even though mine is a 2018.....it does sound like you will keep your car for awhile so it really depends on ur usage if u are ok with the speed and doesn’t affect performance of your daily needs than I would say keep the mcu1 ...otherwise in my case it was a decent investment as I drive a lot

 

[DOCAL]

In your situation I'd ask for a discount on the MCU2 upgrade. It saves both you and Tesla money overall.

 

[Tdreamer]

In your situation I'd ask for a discount on the MCU2 upgrade. It saves both you and Tesla money overall.

I second this advise. I upgraded my Sept 2017 X100D from MCU1 to MCU2 and am VERY glad I did. I was having regular MCU crashes, very slow screen response and firmware upgrade downloads that would hang partway through all attributed to eMMC full/end-of-life issues. I was over original warranty but on the extended warranty plan. They didn't offer any discounts to me. I'm still very glad I did it. The way I looked at it, $2500 was cheaper than a $100k replacement by a wide margin.

 

[aleagle]

N.B. - if you upgrade to MCU2, you will lose AM/FM radio functions, but I’ve read that Elon may be offering a $500 upgrade to include an FM module. This may be vaporware, so investigate with your service dept. further before you jump.

 

[markn455]

N.B. - if you upgrade to MCU2, you will lose AM/FM radio functions, but I’ve read that Elon may be offering a $500 upgrade to include an FM module. This may be vaporware, so investigate with your service dept. further, before you jump.

You also lose SiriusXM. If Elon came up with a $500 upgrade that would include FM and Sirius, I would pay it in a heartbeat. Where did you hear this??

 

[aleagle]

I think it was probably electrek.com, but I’m not sure.

 

[HenryT]

Hello Everyone!

It's still in svc today and I received a new offer-"if you want to upgrade to MCU 2..." I can pay for it. I have warranty until January 2024...so my long term thought is not to pay for MCU 2 now-but just wait until the MCU 1 fully dies in next 4 years-get it replaced...and eventually buy MCU 2 when it's no longer in warranty.

What's your advice? Thank you!

Before you pull the trigger on the upgrade I'd suggest you check the warranty position. I think I have read that the new screen is only guaranteed 12 months (or maybe 2 years?) so you might end up losing upwards of 3 years warranty cover on the screen?

Yours seems to be yet another example of Tesla pushing the screen update at the owners cost instead of just replacing the faulty component (eMMC) under the warranty terms.

 

[gaswalla]

maybe you should ask them to replace the daughterboard under warranty instead of doing what they've been doing (and hasn't worked).. Or, they can drastically reduce the MCU2 upgrade cost. I have done the MCU2 upgrade, and I love it.. But, if you are not looking for the benefits of the upgrade, and hence cannot accept the loss of radio, this whole issue is on Tesla at this point.
Do you have AP1 or AP2 (the December 2016 models have AP2).. if you have AP2 and FSD, I'd say upgrade to MCU2 and get the HW3 for free, and it's an obvious decision... but with AP1, you have to enjoy the MCU2 infotainment changes to be willing to upgrade

 

[Tonem11]

Thank you everyone. I have AP1 (September 2016 build). They haven't responded yet to how much it costs. Oddly they said I could just call in the future and they will clear the cache. So far I've found the service in Toledo to be much better than in Clarkston, MI.

I like Henry T's point about how long I currently have coverage on the screen. I'll ask about the warranty on MCU 2 as well- if it still applies in 4 year/50k warranty.

 

[Tonem11]

So I heard back they're offering MCU for $2500. Warranty is 2 years or 25k miles. I'm going to stick with MCU 1 and keep asking them to clear the cache before the next road trip and hope things change between now and January 2024.

 

[AlexP]

I have an appointment next week because of the screen did not turn on recently. Had to soft reset it to get it working again.

My X was built May 2016. Bought in April 2019 directly from Tesla. I have warranty until 4/2023, I definitely will not be paying to upgrade to the MCU2 while the truck is under warranty. I will keep making appointments every time if fails to turn on and I do expect this will be more frequent as the MCU gets older.

 

[markn455]

So I heard back they're offering MCU for $2500. Warranty is 2 years or 25k miles. I'm going to stick with MCU 1 and keep asking them to clear the cache before the next road trip and hope things change between now and January 2024.

Why can't they just provide the "secret handshake" that will clear it? Seems that would be a safe end-user capability. Save them a lot of service time in the long run.

 

[CodemanCMC]

Hi All! This is an old thread but my 2016 MS (MCU1 / HW3 / eMMC recall completed) out of warranty was in at the SC for intermittent bricking of the car (ie deep sleep totally unresponsive to key fob or app wake, sometimes while parked a short while or overnight) and their diagnosis was memory overflow issues (I had at least 3 other SC appointments to diagnose similar issues such as black screen, freezes, non-persistent memory on audio playback, etc and all was pointed back to memory issues). My eMMC was already replaced under warranty and the issues persist.

SC offered to credit the $250 fee for their factory reset "resolution" towards a MCU2 upgrade. Still highly frustrated that I need to fork out that money to ensure my car will drive when I want it to, but that's the life of a software car I guess...