My car is "offline", no radio at all, marginal GPS [SC states bad computer]

[timk225]

My Model 3 had another issue start this week. I noticed a couple days ago that when I touch the radio icon at the bottom of the screen, then touch either the Streaming or TuneIn buttons, I get nothing. It just says "loading" and is spinning and spinning and spinning. I can't even search for a song. The 4G bars at the top right of the screen show nothing but a white slash through them.

I did the 2 button reset, scheduled a service appointment through the phone app, and called in to Tesla service, The girl I spoke to said my car was offline, and even doing a Power Off and waiting a couple minutes didn't fix it, although I was able to use the GPS again afterwards.

Most of my phone app functions don't work, it just never connects to the car.

What's going on now? I hope my service appointment on May 5 fixes it, I have a road trip coming up the next weekend.

I've never had this problem, I have had my Model 3 almost 3 years now. Oh yeah, there's days the phone app just never connects, but never this bad.

 

[RTPEV]

My car, based on what update I'm on, occasionally behaves like this, but only "briefly" as I leave my home environment (where the car is connected to WiFi) and it switches over to cellular, "briefly" being defined as maybe halfway up the block. Yes, this is a pain when you first get in the car and there is "No Connectivity" so you have to wait to do anything that would require a connection. With some updates the behavior is perfectly seamless and I never even notice. Other times it is more severe as described above. Currently it is very brief and usually "connects" by the time I'm at the end of my driveway.

Is your problem like this? Or even when you drive far away from a WiFi connection and give it a minute is it still not making a connection? Doing the test in an area where the WiFi signal is marginal (and maybe good enough to shut down the cellular radio, but not good enough for a reliable connection) is probably not adequate, even if you wait several minutes. The real test is whether it connects when there is no WiFi at all around. I've had phones with this same issue: don't transition well from WiFi to cellular, particularly when the WiFi signal is marginal.

Oh, and I'll just point out that TuneIn frequently gives me a "loading" spin and "Loading Error" even when I have good connectivity. This too varies from update to update and the current update is particularly awful right now. I just don't understand why they can't that working reliably.

 

[timk225]

No, I'm not getting a connection at all, near or far from known wireless points.

 

[sroy]

Have you used lots of data recently? (i.e. lots of streaming). Maybe your plan is above monthly limits and is getting throttled until next month?

 

[Smithy02]

I recently had this issue and the SC "re-flashed" the sim card. Been 100% since

 

[timk225]

I don't think I've been using any excessive amounts of data recently.

 

[Perscitus]

May also be the LTE connectivity daughter (to MCU) card going bad.

Unlike the wifi antennas and wiring,
they have a tendency to fail and eventually need replacement.

Symptoms are what you describe and get progressively worse over time, eventually the dredded no connection and stream buffering icons just never go away. No LTE and no Wifi.

This used to plague old 2017-2019 cars, especially ones with AP 2.5s but also AP3.0 and subsequent revisions since the daughter card is just an addon.

 

[Phlier]

No LTE and no Wifi.

Very informative post, thank you.

Regarding what I've quoted.... would you happen to know if the daughtercard that incorporates LTE functionality also includes the WiFi circuitry? The quoted text makes me think it does, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions, hence the outwardly stupid question.

 

[Perscitus]

I believe so, been a few years since we talked about it on and off here. Qualcomm chips etc on the connectivity boards for Model 3s back then.

 

[timk225]

Symptoms are what you describe and get progressively worse over time, eventually the dredded no connection and stream buffering icons just never go away. No LTE and no Wifi.

This used to plague old 2017-2019 cars, especially ones with AP 2.5s but also AP3.0 and subsequent revisions since the daughter card is just an addon.

Well my 3 is an early 2018 build and AP 2.5 , I was able to fix the no connection problem with a full Power Off and then back on. It happened again the other day but got itself back online after 15 minutes or so.

 

[drtimhill]

My Model 3 had another issue start this week. I noticed a couple days ago that when I touch the radio icon at the bottom of the screen, then touch either the Streaming or TuneIn buttons, I get nothing. It just says "loading" and is spinning and spinning and spinning. I can't even search for a song. The 4G bars at the top right of the screen show nothing but a white slash through them.

I did the 2 button reset, scheduled a service appointment through the phone app, and called in to Tesla service, The girl I spoke to said my car was offline, and even doing a Power Off and waiting a couple minutes didn't fix it, although I was able to use the GPS again afterwards.

Most of my phone app functions don't work, it just never connects to the car.

What's going on now? I hope my service appointment on May 5 fixes it, I have a road trip coming up the next weekend.

I've never had this problem, I have had my Model 3 almost 3 years now. Oh yeah, there's days the phone app just never connects, but never this bad.

Can you connect via WiFi? It sounds like your cell connection is down in the car. This will cripple most of the phone app functions (except lock/unlock with uses BT when you are close to the car) and, obviously, kill streaming. My guess is you will need to get a technician to look at this.

 

[timk225]

My May '18 build 3 RWD LR has always run well, but for the last month or so it has constantly been losing its LTE connection. So the phone app won't work, the radio won't work, the GPS won't work, etc.

It is getting annoying. I've done a lot of 2 button resets and many Power Offs to get it going again. 2 button resets rarely fix it, I almost always have to Power Off the car and wait a few minutes, then restart it. And not every Power Off would fix it, it might take a few times.

And once the LTE does come back up, there is no way of knowing how long it'll stay up. I've seen it go down again in minutes, or it might stay on for several days before screwing up again.

Since it does come up, I don't think there's any physical problem, the connection connects. It's got to be a bad communication chip or board.

And that's where the problems begin. As much as I enjoy being a member of the Tesla Elite, my car is out of warranty. I'm at 3 years and 66,000 miles now. So repairs aren't free anymore. And that's where I have to start getting practical (read: CHEAP). I have many years of DIY car repair experience, but that was mostly on 1970s Chrysler cars, with many parts available in local junkyards. And when I use the service app on the phone, and it's coming back with $400+ to replace a board and $175 per hour service charge, it's time to dig a little deeper and figure out if I can spin a few screws and change this part myself or not.

Chances are, even if I could change the part myself with a spare from a wrecked 3, I'd have to hook up some sort of programmer to the part to enable it to work in my car. Which only a Tesla Service member would have.

So who can tell me what about this situation? Anyone else have your LTE connection randomly dropping out?

Ah, the good old days of having a car IN warranty, when I could just say to the service guys "Do whatever you need to, no problem". That felt good.

 

[Mahamilto]

Likely due to your service area. There are two areas I drive through daily where I can 100% expect it to drop out. Without fail. Every time. That said, my phone also drops its 5g in the same locations, so its got to just be the cell tower service.

Are there locations you notice the drop out consistently? I don't know how the LTE/5G is in Pittsburgh, but my guess its as simple as poor cell service areas.

 

[timk225]

Ever since the LTE connection in my 3 became erratic about a month ago, I've had to do a lot of Power Offs and 2 button resets to try to kick the LTE into working again, which it will do sometimes, but there's no telling how long till it fails again, could be minutes or days.

This morning, after a 2 button reset, the screen kind of came back. It lost ALL information. No user profiles, no Trip B miles that I've been saving for THREE YEARS, it's talking about its most recent update including Trax v0.2, the heater controls are an older version, the time is wrong, it suddenly thinks its 4 hours back, autopilot was disabled, many other settings weren't how I had them, etc.

Several more Power Offs and 2 button resets did nothing to fix this. It didn't even see my USB storage drive, I unplugged it and put it back in, to no effect.

Any ideas? I called Tesla Service on the phone, they said the car was all the way offline, I said I'd try a few more resets when I got to work, which I did. I have no problem with the service technician doing whatever he has to do, except that my car is over 50,000 miles and out of warranty, so it isn't free anymore. I think a failure like this should be covered.

So now that I'm at work, I'll go out and mess with it some more. I work alone at a... computer place, so my schedule is extremely flexible. As long as my work is done, I'm good.

My phone app, which can't connect, shows 2021.4.18 as the current software version.

 

[sduck]

Set up a service appointment in the app. You probably should have done that a month ago, but it's too late now. Presumably the app in your phone can still do that.

 

[jjrandorin]

I have no problem with the service technician doing whatever he has to do, except that my car is over 50,000 miles and out of warranty, so it isn't free anymore. I think a failure like this should be covered.

Everyone would always think "I shouldnt have to pay for this". Why, exactly do you feel like "a failure like this should be covered, AFTER the end of my warranty period?

Or, said another way, what types of things do you think you SHOULD have to pay for, after your warranty period is over? Since we dont have extended warranties from tesla available on model 3, that means "everything except for parts still under warranty are the owners responsibility, unless there is a recall".

The HV battery and drive units are under warranty for 8 years or 100k or 120k miles depending on what model 3 you have. Everything else is your responsibility, unless its under recall.

 

[jjrandorin]

Set up a service appointment in the app. You probably should have done that a month ago, but it's too late now. Presumably the app in your phone can still do that.

Pretty sure when OP posted about this a month ago, they were also "out of warranty" and did not want to pay for service, so to me, this is a direct consequence of that action. They have been posting about this issue since april 30th.

My car is "offline", no radio at all, marginal GPS [SC states bad computer]

My Model 3 had another issue start this week. I noticed a couple days ago that when I touch the radio icon at the bottom of the screen, then touch either the Streaming or TuneIn buttons, I get nothing. It just says "loading" and is spinning and spinning and spinning. I can't even search for a...

teslamotorsclub.com

The specific post about warranty expiry already is:

My May '18 build 3 RWD LR has always run well, but for the last month or so it has constantly been losing its LTE connection. So the phone app won't work, the radio won't work, the GPS won't work, etc.

It is getting annoying. I've done a lot of 2 button resets and many Power Offs to get it going again. 2 button resets rarely fix it, I almost always have to Power Off the car and wait a few minutes, then restart it. And not every Power Off would fix it, it might take a few times.

And once the LTE does come back up, there is no way of knowing how long it'll stay up. I've seen it go down again in minutes, or it might stay on for several days before screwing up again.

Since it does come up, I don't think there's any physical problem, the connection connects. It's got to be a bad communication chip or board.

And that's where the problems begin. As much as I enjoy being a member of the Tesla Elite, my car is out of warranty. I'm at 3 years and 66,000 miles now. So repairs aren't free anymore. And that's where I have to start getting practical (read: CHEAP). I have many years of DIY car repair experience, but that was mostly on 1970s Chrysler cars, with many parts available in local junkyards. And when I use the service app on the phone, and it's coming back with $400+ to replace a board and $175 per hour service charge, it's time to dig a little deeper and figure out if I can spin a few screws and change this part myself or not.

Chances are, even if I could change the part myself with a spare from a wrecked 3, I'd have to hook up some sort of programmer to the part to enable it to work in my car. Which only a Tesla Service member would have.

So who can tell me what about this situation? Anyone else have your LTE connection randomly dropping out?

Ah, the good old days of having a car IN warranty, when I could just say to the service guys "Do whatever you need to, no problem". That felt good.

 

[timk225]

Well, I'm over the 50,000 mile part of the warranty, but not over the 4 year part of the warranty. So maybe 50% covered? I'm looking for any way to get it fixed for free, because it seems to be a component / software failure, plus if I can get it fixed for free, I'll have more money in the bank. I know, not the best reason but good enough for me.

Plus, with this seeming to be a software problem, I could have gotten it fixed at extreme cost a month ago then still had this happen, who knows? That would have been even more annoying.

 

[jjrandorin]

"I want it free even though I am not under warranty because I want more money in my bank account". Got it. good luck with that.

=================

(moderator note: since this is a continuation of OPs previously reported issue, thread will be merged with that one)

 

[timk225]

I put in a service call, they can't come look at it until the 15th.

And if you remember some of my earliest posts here, you'll know that I had to pay an extra $14,000 for my 3 because Tesla only made the expensive version first. So any bonus free service I can get for that 14 grand is good.