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Nigel Tufnel
Member
About 4 years ago, brought home a brand new E63 AMG at a price comparable to my MS. It died in my driveway on day one. Mercedes came out and flat-bedded it away but couldn't fix it. They said they had to "fly in Wolfgang from Germany", I'm still not sure if that was a joke. Took about a week to get the car back. I sold it not too long afterward, taking a nice loss in the process.
My recent car experiences (21st century) have been mixed.
Brand new Ford Puma that was dead on the drive at 1 week old - turned out to be a core plug failing that then leaked coolant over the top of the engine and shorted the ignition system out. Dealer picked the car up, but no loaner and car took about a week to fix. Numerous smaller niggles with bits failing or wearing out very fast so dropped it at 30k miles.
Land Rover Discovery bought at 2 years old - had problems with the auto transmission that the Land Rover dealer couldn't fix. After 40k miles I swapped to an independent who pulled the filters from the auto and condemned them. Following that the auto behaved impeccably
Range Rover Vogue bought at 18 months old. Fantastic vehicle, incredibly comfy but thirsty and the most unreliable vehicle I've owned bar non. Dumped on the side of the road three times and non-starter on driveway twice plus a catalog of minor issues
Toyota Prius 2nd gen ex demo car. Did 158k miles with one water pump and a heat shield replacement. Was on it's second set of brake pads and third set of tyres from new when I swapped it.
Toyota Plug in Prius bought brand new - major problems with infotainment system that the dealer struggled to fix and Toyota initially refused to replace under warranty. 6 dealer visits in the first 2 months which rather took the shine off the Prius halo I'd come to expect. The car has also turned out to be uncomfortable, unacceptably noisy and a definite step backwards in my personal view. Fuel economy is very good and handling/performance better than the gen 2 but that's it.
Hence - now ordered a Model S and eagerly anticipating it's arrival!
Brand new Ford Puma that was dead on the drive at 1 week old - turned out to be a core plug failing that then leaked coolant over the top of the engine and shorted the ignition system out. Dealer picked the car up, but no loaner and car took about a week to fix. Numerous smaller niggles with bits failing or wearing out very fast so dropped it at 30k miles.
Land Rover Discovery bought at 2 years old - had problems with the auto transmission that the Land Rover dealer couldn't fix. After 40k miles I swapped to an independent who pulled the filters from the auto and condemned them. Following that the auto behaved impeccably
Range Rover Vogue bought at 18 months old. Fantastic vehicle, incredibly comfy but thirsty and the most unreliable vehicle I've owned bar non. Dumped on the side of the road three times and non-starter on driveway twice plus a catalog of minor issues
Toyota Prius 2nd gen ex demo car. Did 158k miles with one water pump and a heat shield replacement. Was on it's second set of brake pads and third set of tyres from new when I swapped it.
Toyota Plug in Prius bought brand new - major problems with infotainment system that the dealer struggled to fix and Toyota initially refused to replace under warranty. 6 dealer visits in the first 2 months which rather took the shine off the Prius halo I'd come to expect. The car has also turned out to be uncomfortable, unacceptably noisy and a definite step backwards in my personal view. Fuel economy is very good and handling/performance better than the gen 2 but that's it.
Hence - now ordered a Model S and eagerly anticipating it's arrival!
Whenever regeneration cuts out, subjectively it feels like the car "surges forward". Mostly this is if you lose traction while regenerating downhill, but it sounds to me like it cut out because of the battery/connector failure.
mknox
Well-Known Member
When my main contactors failed, it was sudden and unexpected. Got a loud bang and coasted to the shoulder. I only got the alerts (and a lot of them) after the event. I lost propulsion and HVAC (the two systems that run directly from the HV pack) but my 12v stayed up.
Interestingly, after sitting for over an hour, I got HVAC and propulsion back. It is not uncommon with main contactor failures to have power restored like this, but it is tenuous and will often fail again after a short period.
For sure, but the symptoms you report are very different. IIRC, your screens eventually died and you thought you were toast. Then you began hearing clicking noises under the car and it brought itself back up and you were able to limp into the SvC. Yeah, I remember these things. I've promised to keep my mouth shut until we hear from the OP. We'll see...
Update - I got a call from the Eric at the service center who said that they found water had leaked into the drive unit. He asked if I had happened to drive through any significant standing water, which I had not. My car was parked at work from about 7 AM until 5 PM, during which we probably received about an inch of rain. Said they'll replace the DU, as they can't really determine how far and where the water may have gotten to.
Electricfan
Active Member
I would love to know how many miles you've driven, and not ever been stranded. And what kind of cars you've driven. I wish I could say I've never been stranded! Well, I CAN say it - for my Model S (current and former). But I drove a 1985 Monte Carlo, which I bought new, for 15 years and about 300k miles, and I think it must have stranded me 20 times or more. You never get used to it either!
mknox
Well-Known Member
That's right. I was surprised that the car came back to life, but others reported the same, although with mixed results. Some got a few miles and it failed again. Others reported getting home, but finding a dead car the next day. And so forth. I just thought it was relevant in the context of the OP being able to "limp" the car on to the flatbed. If it was a mechanical failure in the gearbox or something, you probably wouldn't expect that.
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Isn't it a sealed unit? It's pretty low on the car, and gets plenty wet in rain or in the slushy, snowy condition of winter I drive through.
I noted earlier that I've driven ~400k miles and was only ever stranded twice. Once was self-inflicted by a failed repair and the other was not my vehicle.
Used 1998 Honda Civic - ~100k miles, stranded once as a result of a broken cam sprocket, improperly used to lock the crank shaft while removing the crank bolt
Used 1998 Cadillac Catera (Opel Omega) - the worst vehicle ever. numerous repairs in about 10k miles, but never stranded
Used 1999 Volvo S80 - ~80k miles, minor issues but never broke down
New 2009 VW TDI - ~120k miles, one time the car entered "limp home mode" as a result of a turbocharger related error code. This just limited available power to about 50% (perhaps it was EPA test mode:wink
. Cleared the code and never had another related issue. Normal wear and tear, but never broke down.My wife has driven both a Ford Escape and Explorer now for ~140k miles combined. The Escape alternator failed several times, but working nearby, I traded her vehicles and happened to have a jump box with me. I fashioned the jump box so that it could remain connected and drove home with it.
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You would think/hope so. Hopefully this was an anomaly and failed seals don't become another achille's heel.
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K5ING
MegaMiler
I've driven my current car, a 2001 VW Golf GL TDI, over 443,000 miles since I bought it new, and only once did it ever leave me stranded and needing a tow. That one time is when I ran over a piece of metal in the roadway and it broke my oil pan. I pulled over immediately and no further damage was done except to the business' parking lot where I left about 4 quarts of oil on the ground. Other than faulting VW for using a cast aluminum oil pan that breaks instead of a sheet metal one that will dent, I can't fault the car for that one time. I also bought and installed a skid pan (not titanium however) to take care of future runins with road debris. Proper maintenance is the key, which most owners don't do, especially with cheaper cars.
Wow, I feel sorry for you. That is way too many hours in any car. I have 165,000 on my 1992, and I think that's too many. I will certainly try to exceed that with the 70D, but it will take a decade, maybe two. OT, I've only been stranded a couple of times, mostly by my own errors (reminder to self don't leave lights on in the movie parking lot during a snowstorm), and in a Dodge Dart (free) with definite substandard electrical, cooling (and maybe every other) systems. Since my 1992 doesn't have airbags, A/C, power window/locks, radio/stereo, or automatic transmission, you can imagine the driving difference to the 70D.
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Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
They finished up repairing this today, and in typical Tesla fashion, completed a laundry list of goodwill repair and upgrades for a bunch of other things that I may or may not have even been aware of. Below are the replacement parts/part numbers specific to the DU replacement.
Parts Replaced or Added
ASY,P-TRAIN,RMN,MDLS,BASE,SHIM,CSM,HS (1025276-00-M)
ETHYLENE GLYCOL COOLANT - 50/50 MIX - 1 gallon (1029320-00-A)
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID - DEXRON VI - SYNTHETIC 212B (1031106-00-A)
ASY,HV COVER,INVERTER (1003783-00-B) 1
NUT, HEX FLANGE M24x1.5 (1020297-00-A) 2
WASHER SAFETY M24x39 (1020296-00-B) 2
Parts Replaced or Added
ASY,P-TRAIN,RMN,MDLS,BASE,SHIM,CSM,HS (1025276-00-M)
ETHYLENE GLYCOL COOLANT - 50/50 MIX - 1 gallon (1029320-00-A)
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID - DEXRON VI - SYNTHETIC 212B (1031106-00-A)
ASY,HV COVER,INVERTER (1003783-00-B) 1
NUT, HEX FLANGE M24x1.5 (1020297-00-A) 2
WASHER SAFETY M24x39 (1020296-00-B) 2
Possibly. Perhaps they are holding off on replacements, solely due to noise related issues (understanding that noise is most likely a predication for eventual failure). In this case, my car was completely immobile, so replacement was necessary.
I got the car back on Tuesday and everything was fantastic. I'm very impressed with Tesla's proactive approach to upgrading/replacing items that may seem relatively minor. I honestly cannot imagine that this approach can continue indefinitely (ie. through the Model 3) as it surely isn't profitable.
So, everything was fantastic until last evening, when the car gave me a message "Car Needs Service, Power Reduced" and it seemed as if I only had about 25 kW of power available. I was just about a mile away from home, so I made it home and shut the car off for a few minutes. After restarting the car, the message was gone and everything was normal again. I contacted the SvC about this and they are now on their way up to come haul the car back down to Rockville. This is getting old, fast. I really love the car, have been one of the biggest Tesla fanboys for years, and understand some issues and growing pains will exist, but I feel like I'm losing faith.
So, everything was fantastic until last evening, when the car gave me a message "Car Needs Service, Power Reduced" and it seemed as if I only had about 25 kW of power available. I was just about a mile away from home, so I made it home and shut the car off for a few minutes. After restarting the car, the message was gone and everything was normal again. I contacted the SvC about this and they are now on their way up to come haul the car back down to Rockville. This is getting old, fast. I really love the car, have been one of the biggest Tesla fanboys for years, and understand some issues and growing pains will exist, but I feel like I'm losing faith.
