Model S door handel failure

[Knightowl]

You can call me if you want.

But that bar killed me the first couple times I did it. I had to look under the door and release the nut that holds that bar in place, the nut is under the door (near where the puddle light would be) under a plastic cover that you have to pop off, after you pop it off you can lift that bar for a little more clearance.

I have a time lapse of me removing one that I may be able to post tonight

Ok back in the door again for another attempt at it but I just cannot get that metal bar to budge so I can get at the handle assembly, got the bottom bolt removed but there is no play to get it pushed a bit up in order to get it to slid over out of the way.

As far as I can get with it:

 

[Knightowl]

So last weekend one of the emails I sent out was to my local tesla servive center just to see if they could provide any tips tricks on this as well, no harm in trying. My responce back was not unexpected, a Url link to their site where I could rent access to their servive manual...IF I lived in Mass. which I dont and they knew that already so really there was no point in sending me there as they could have just said no we are not allowed by legal to share any of this info with you. I WISH I could get access to the service manual pages about the door handle removal but unless I find it posted out on the interwebs illegally that wont be happening. Oh well, all of you here on the forums have been very helpful so far with this DIY so will keep plugging along the next chance I get to have another go at it.

 

[Knightowl]

Well I'm tossing in the towel on this one as I just dont have the time to get this fixed myself so setup an appt for the morning of the 26th this month to have the Denver service center repair it for me. Maybe next time as I'm sure more handles will fail in the future since I plan to drive my car for a million miles.

 

[brkaus]

Well I'm tossing in the towel on this one as I just dont have the time to get this fixed myself so setup an appt for the morning of the 26th this month to have the Denver service center repair it for me. Maybe next time as I'm sure more handles will fail in the future since I plan to drive my car for a million miles.

Maybe you can hide a camera in the car to learn

 

[Dithermaster]

Maybe you can hide a camera in the car to learn

Ha ha! Serviceperson scratches head, wonders "why is there a GoPro in this door?!?"

 

[Knightowl]

So it would seem that the rear passanger door handle is about to fail as it is showing the same flakey behavior as the driver door did before failure and that passanger side rear handle is a gen 2 that was already replaced before. So yup, I will eventually be digging into that door it looks like. Crappy design.

 

[ShockOnT]

If the rear handle is also failing I would really press the service centre to do the fixes for free. It's obviously a design fault, and your car is only 3 years old. Can't hurt to ask again.

 

[Knightowl]

Driver door handle unit was replaced today by the service center, 4hrs of time for me today and total cost after tax of $915.15 minus cost of prev part I did not end up using. Turns out it was not a broken wire after all (darn!) so even had I gotten the unit out and replaced it I would have found terrible dissapointment in it still not working. It was actually the control unit inside the handle (screwed in under that bunch of wires barily seen in the photo really) unit so now I again have a working door handle and it is warrantied for 1yr against repeat failure. The new unit is a gen 3 that replaced the original one with my car that was apparently a gen 2. I kept the old unit as an expensive souvenir.

Thankfully they were able to replace just the one door handle that needed it and updated the firmware, also thankfully no further issues with the rear door handle unit on the passanger side as of yet.

 

[bmah]

Driver door handle unit was replaced today by the service center, 4hrs of time for me today and total cost after tax of $915.15 minus cost of prev part I did not end up using. Turns out it was not a broken wire after all (darn!) so even had I gotten the unit out and replaced it I would have found terrible dissapointment in it still not working. It was actually the control unit inside the handle (screwed in under that bunch of wires barily seen in the photo really) unit so now I again have a working door handle and it is warrantied for 1yr against repeat failure. The new unit is a gen 3 that replaced the original one with my car that was apparently a gen 2. I kept the old unit as an expensive souvenir.

Thanks for the update. I recently had to deal with a similar situation myself (but thankfully under warranty).

Couple of questions: What was wrong with the control unit? What's the difference between "gen 3" and "gen 2" and how do you know which generation of part is in your car or is going into your car as a replacement part?

Thanks,

Bruce.

 

[Knightowl]

Thanks for the update. I recently had to deal with a similar situation myself (but thankfully under warranty).

Couple of questions: What was wrong with the control unit? What's the difference between "gen 3" and "gen 2" and how do you know which generation of part is in your car or is going into your car as a replacement part?

Thanks,

Bruce.

The control unit died, in my opinion likely due to the weather seal being wide open and over time it kept getting wet from rain and eventually died.

The difference between gen 2 and gen 3 was a different internal control unit and a change in how the sensors/wires are mounted/routed. The generation information was just what I was told when it was replaced by Tesla.

 

[scottm]

The control unit is potted which means it is weather tight. So that wasn't the issue.

 

[Knightowl]

The control unit is potted which means it is weather tight. So that wasn't the issue.

I also thought it was sealed but plan on taking it all apart for closer examination later. Electronics can and do go bad as I see it happen not all the time but often enough with all the computers I fix. Maybe there is a capacitor in there that decided its time was up. All I do know for sure is the tech tested out the handle unit and the wires and contactors were all confirmed working and carried current/signal as needed so the failure was laid on that small sealed control unit within the handle assembly. They dont have any to replace it with so required the whole door handle unit being replaced. Hopefully they didnt just feed me a line of crap but wont know more till I dismantle it myself and check it out.

 

[scottm]

A blown part within a potted unit is not a weather fault - it's a part fault. Capacitors are too new to fail in Tesla unless they've chosen real crap... doubt they did.

I just wanted to break the idea that weather could have caused a short inside the controller.

However, weather on the any / all the input and output wire connectors going into the controller ... could cause havoc (erratic operation).

But any decent automotive electrical design would be rugged enough to cope with any combination of voltages or shorts or grounds on any / all input wires in any combination and not cause a blown part.

A controller fail on such a new car is very suspicious.. I guess it could be the 1 in 1,000,000 chance for any given part to be bad / go bad early in its life.

 

[Stealth MD]

Question to OP, did you buy your car through Tesla's CPO program? If so, wouldn't the handles be covered under the new 4 year, 50,000 warranty? (If you've driven 15k since taking delivery of the car, then you'd still have another 35k miles and May of 2020 under your belt).

 

[Knightowl]

Question to OP, did you buy your car through Tesla's CPO program? If so, wouldn't the handles be covered under the new 4 year, 50,000 warranty? (If you've driven 15k since taking delivery of the car, then you'd still have another 35k miles and May of 2020 under your belt).

Nope, private sale no extended warranty. Failed at 50,400mi.

 

[AMPUP]

Nope, private sale no extended warranty. Failed at 50,400mi.

Did you check what the vehicle mileage was when it was delivered? Many early deliveries came with a few hundred or more miles on them, the 50k starts after the delivery miles I believe.

 

[apacheguy]

So just to clarify the symptom of a control unit failure is that the door handle does not present/retract at all? This is different than the symptom described in the video of the OP of failing to open even though the handle presents.

 

[Knightowl]

So just to clarify the symptom of a control unit failure is that the door handle does not present/retract at all? This is different than the symptom described in the video of the OP of failing to open even though the handle presents.

Originally at time of failure it presented then did not retract or open the door when pulled.

over the course of a few weeks it very slowly retracted back in (a few millimeters each day) untill it was in the fully retracted position and did not present or work.

At time of failure with it being stuck in the presented position the door handle light was also no longer working.

 

[supratachophobia]

Ha reminds me of "And if it is not baroque, don't fix it...." Kudos to those who can ID the movie.

Too easy, won't spoil it.

 

[Michael J]

my 12/13 Model S reached 52k miles and my driver door handle would not open. It is at Tesla service now with a charge for $900. I'm not happy about it. Should I get an extended warranty for $2,700 for two years and/or 25k miles? seems very expensive repairs going forward.