Model S Technical / Mechanical Issues

[strider]

There's a whole thread for this somewhere but I think the key is to keep the tires rotated due to the negative camber in the rear. My Dad always taught me that when you get new tires to rotate them after the first 2,500 or so miles and then every 5,000 miles after that. I rotated our MS tires at 3,000 and then again at 8,000. We're at 11,000 now and so far so good. While it's a P85 and my wife likes using all that power I'm expecting to get 15-20k miles out of them. Remember that these are max performance summer tires and while the high degree of negative rear camber hurts tire life they're not going to last 40k miles on any vehicle.

 

[J-Philipp]

We were told that the tires need to be rotated every 3,000 miles and replaced about every 7,000. Too bad we did not know that!

Huh? Is that stated somewhere in the manuals? I've never rotated tires that frequently (usually once a year / 15,000 miles). My Model S has just over 10,000 miles now, and I've not touched the wheels. I guess I've missed over 3 required rotations.

Found in the Model S Owner's Manual, Europe, 1.0_11 :

 

[efusco]

This might fit better under the title 'Tesla Non-Issues', but maybe it fits better here. Over the past 3-4 months I'd noticed that after not being driven for several hours that the brake pedal would stop very high up upon first entering the vehicle, then slowly sink down to the normal stopping position. It doesn't do that every time, but only after 4-5 hours of sitting undriven. I'd asked our service techs about it and they wanted to check it out. The car went in for it's annual service a few weeks ago, but they weren't able to reproduce it. So they wanted to bring it back up, which they did yesterday. The looked at it and determined that it's normal and all cars do it. I don't remember it doing this initially, and I didn't remember the Performance loaner doing it. But the service tech says he checked several other vehicles and they all do it. Just the brake system reestablishing pressure in the system.

 

[Banahogg]

This might fit better under the title 'Tesla Non-Issues', but maybe it fits better here. Over the past 3-4 months I'd noticed that after not being driven for several hours that the brake pedal would stop very high up upon first entering the vehicle, then slowly sink down to the normal stopping position. It doesn't do that every time, but only after 4-5 hours of sitting undriven. I'd asked our service techs about it and they wanted to check it out. The car went in for it's annual service a few weeks ago, but they weren't able to reproduce it. So they wanted to bring it back up, which they did yesterday. The looked at it and determined that it's normal and all cars do it. I don't remember it doing this initially, and I didn't remember the Performance loaner doing it. But the service tech says he checked several other vehicles and they all do it. Just the brake system reestablishing pressure in the system.

I have seen that as well. For me, it started exactly when I got 4.4

 

[Todd Burch]

This is normal and did not start with a specific software version. I believe you're noticing the brake booster coming online, helping to provide additional braking power to the master cylinder. It comes online as the car starts up, making an initially "stiff" bake pedal feel more mushy as you get more assistance from the booster.

At least that's what I think it is. Anyway, I've noticed it since I got my car in December (v4.0), and on other cars as well.

 

[texex91]

Found in the Model S Owner's Manual, Europe, 1.0_11 :
View attachment 28924

Get the tire rotation, but where does it say you'll need to replace tires every 7K miles!

Is this 'tire wear' only on 21" wheels?

This could get costly!

 

[dnanian]

Ouch. when that piece of plastic breaks, the entire piece that it is attached to has to be replaced.

I had this happen to me as well, and I watched the two-second replacement procedure. Nothing needed to be removed, save for the bits still snapped onto the axle inside.

 

[J-Philipp]

Get the tire rotation, but where does it say you'll need to replace tires every 7K miles!

I believe that they just can't give owners such an information, as tire wear essentially depends on vehicle use : Payload/Driver's behavior/roads condition etc. Do some manufacturers other than Tesla include this information in their manual ?

Of course we have to expect tires to be worn out very rapidly on the Model S, cause it's an heavy car, and it's so powerful, and this power is so addictive.
I even believe that some of us nearly have to change tires on a daily basis !

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

My J1772 adapter gave up the ghost yesterday while plugged in at work from a ClipperCreek 30A station. It was all fine for an hour or so while charging at the expected rate and then, when I checked the mobile app, I found that the charging had stopped and that the car was reporting "No Wall Power". Gave it a shot again this morning from a different charger in the same cluster at work but to no avail.

Drove up to the Burlingame store/service center and picked up a replacement; all good since then. A side note: this newer adapter has a smoother, "matte" finish when compared to the glossy finish my original one from January had.

 

[mknox]

My J1772 adapter gave up the ghost yesterday while plugged in at work from a ClipperCreek 30A station.

Any idea what the cause of the failure was? Is there an internal fuse of some sort? The reason I ask is that just about all of the public chargers I use are the high power (90 amp) units, and I now wonder if the higher than average current is going to "stress" my adapter.

 

[Musterion]

A side note: this newer adapter has a smoother, "matte" finish when compared to the glossy finish my original one from January had.

Interesting because the J1772 evolution threads all say the old version with problems was matte and the new improved version is glossy.

 

[Sparrow]

I just got my original J1772 adapter replaced yesterday. It was the original matte finish one that came with my Signature car. I expected to get the glossy version as I had just compared adapters with another owner on Saturday. The newest version is indeed a matte finish too, but a bit smoother than the original matte adapter I had.

 

[Musterion]

I just got my original J1772 adapter replaced yesterday. It was the original matte finish one that came with my Signature car. I expected to get the glossy version as I had just compared adapters with another owner on Saturday. The newest version is indeed a matte finish too, but a bit smoother than the original matte adapter I had.

Version 3? Could you compare with the pictures posted in this very useful thread: Hardware changes (see first post by @brianman showing versions 1 and 2) and then add your photo if indeed different? You can compare part numbers.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

They didn't attempt to diagnose the problem with the broken adapter; the advisor simply swapped it out.

Here's the new one:

 

[scottshipman]

I've had a few issues that I am not 100% have been fixed completely. Service has been terrific and the car is amazing.

1. loud wind noise from sun-roof. with headwind - typically at 60MPH, no headwind or crosswind - 70MPH. This is a known problem for some cars. the seal does not set correctly.
2. car swerves upon acceleration. Cause is a loose bushing in rear suspension, with wear can rub ankle. Replace and tighten.
3. screen toggle from day to night - will switch in low light (say in the shade of a tree) and will not toggle back unless in direct sunlight. Unreported to Tesla yet.

 

[Thumper]

Not a mechanical problem but a potential useful mechanical advance for the future. ZF has a product to capture suspension movement and put it in the battery. ZF announces new GenShock energy-recovery suspension - Autoblog

 

[JRP3]

Minimal energy to be recovered, unless you are off roading.

 

[scaesare]

Charge Port Door Latch Adhesive Failure

Noticed my charge port door was open today when parked in a lot for 5 hours on a moderately hot (low-90's) day... some portion of that time in direct sunlight. Thought maybe I accidentally opened it when I remotely enabled the HVAC to cool that car.

Closed it.

By the time I loaded the frunk and walked back to the drivers-side door, it was open again. I realized that the port had not unlatched, but rather the adhesive that retains the small cylindrical metal latch-disk in the back of the door itself had failed, and the door opened, leaving the latch-disk still magnetically latched to the port body.

I pressed it back from some force and held it for a bit, and it held for the 20 minute drive home, but I don't expect that to last.

I'd just epoxy it myself if I didn't have to call the SC as I need to have them look at my fraying headliner again as well... it's getting worse.

 

[beeblezap]

I picked up my 85KWh MS at the Fremont Factory about a couple of weeks ago so it's running the new v5.0 firmware; Overall the car is fantastic and makes running errands fun! There are a couple of minor issues I've run across though:

1) trunk - all of a sudden, my trunk refuses to auto-open/close. I hear the unlocking click and I have to now manually lift the trunk up and also need to manually close it. Clicking on the height setting button of the trunk does nothing either. Also tried rebooting the large LCD screen, but no go still.

2) key fob - once every other day it seems like, my car no longer recognizes my key fob and I'm forced to reboot the large LCD screen which makes it work again...but yesterday even that didn't work so I had to revert to laying my key fob on the NFC device on the middle of the cup holders. This morning, my car is recognizing my key fob again.

Anyone else experiencing these issues?

Thanks
Greg

 

[FlasherZ]

1) trunk - all of a sudden, my trunk refuses to auto-open/close. I hear the unlocking click and I have to now manually lift the trunk up and also need to manually close it. Clicking on the height setting button of the trunk does nothing either. Also tried rebooting the large LCD screen, but no go still.

You may have tried this, but this seems to make the liftgate more reliable - open the liftgate manually, and hold it an inch or two below its max open point. Hold down the height setting button for 3 seconds (or until it gives you the long beeps). Then try to close and open it.

2) key fob - once every other day it seems like, my car no longer recognizes my key fob and I'm forced to reboot the large LCD screen which makes it work again...but yesterday even that didn't work so I had to revert to laying my key fob on the NFC device on the middle of the cup holders. This morning, my car is recognizing my key fob again.

I've had one bad day where the car was being goofy with key detection. Replacing the fob battery cleared that up for me.