My MS is headed to the shop this morning because ?????

[ckoval7]

On Saturday night I got a notification on my phone that charging was interrupted. I headed outside, saw the red ring around the charging port, unplugged the car, plugged it back in, and it started to charge again. A few minutes later the same thing happened again. It being close to midnight and my battery not being super low, I decided to deal with it in the morning.

Sunday morning I go out to my car to grab some lunch and see what's up and it started throwing error messages at me. "Car may not restart", "Car may shutdown unexpectedly", "Unable to start, contact Tesla service". Great, I've been down this road before, seeing the same errors after an update, just reboot and I'll be good to go, right? Nope, two reboots later and the thing is still throwing errors and won't shift out of park. I called the service line and surprisingly I was on hold for less than 10 minutes. The tech on the phone confirmed my car needs to go in for service and she would arrange for a tow truck to pick it up. Pickup is at 9AM today (earliest available) and I'll have to reach out to my service center when they open this morning to find out if I can get a loaner.

At this point they haven't disclosed what the problem is. Being a technical person, Tesla's vague error messages irritate me a bit. It's really gonna make post-warranty problems interesting.

Hopefully I have more information today. I will post updates as I get them.

 

[Peteski]

I'm guessing it will be your 12V battery failing, so hopefully a quick fix

 

[SDRick]

I am guessing it is the 12 volt as well.

 

[ordel]

My guess is that your HV battery (not the 12v) is faulty. This happened to my car and led to a complete battery replacement.

 

[Peteski]

My guess is that your HV battery (not the 12v) is faulty. This happened to my car and led to a complete battery replacement.

Yeah, could be that or many other things too.

 

[ckoval7]

I'm guessing it will be your 12V battery failing, so hopefully a quick fix

To my knowledge, at least from what I've read here, the car has an error message specifically for the 12V system. I also expect they would have sent a ranger rather than a tow truck for the 12V. My current bets are the HV contactors wearing out.

 

[bob_p]

If the Service Center isn't able to identify a problem with your vehicle, there is a smaller possibility you might be having problem with your charging.

If you get your vehicle back, and they haven't fixed anything, then try changing your charging. If you're using an HPWC, try your mobile connector to a 14-50, 14-30 (if you have the adapter) or 110 outlet. Or go to a public J1772 charger. If any of these alternate charging connections work - then the problem could be with your usual charging connection.

Another even smaller possibility could be the quality of the power coming to your charging connection. We have about a month a few years ago when Tesla owners in a several square mile area around us were all having problems charging their Tesla vehicles - getting periodic RROD (Red Ring of Death) - no matter what charging connection was used (HPWC, 14-50, 14-30, 110). The problem turned out to be in the grid, a recent power outage had damaged some of the power distribution equipment, causing 'dirty power' to be sent to homes. This didn't impact other 220V appliances, like ovens, it only impacted EV charging - so the number of customers (at that time) with Tesla/high power EV chargers was pretty small, and it took a while to get the power company to work on the problem.

 

[ckoval7]

Update!
I managed to get ahold of the service department a little after 4pm. They said they're waiting for a new HV Battery back and that mine had an "internal fault". I talked to the tech that looked at my car. He said that he went to start the car up to run the battery down for shipping (apparently they need to be charged <50% to ship) and said coolant started leaking out. As far as I know, I haven't leaked any coolant before. On my way home I started wondering if the tow truck driver screwed something up.

I also asked if I would end up with a 85kWh pack, or if they're using 90s now. He said it could be either, he's seen both go into the 85 cars lately and that the range difference was negligible.

They said I could get a loaner, but needed to be there by 5pm. I braved the traffic and made it in the door with little time to spare. They gave me a Pre-AP S60. The cruise control stalk is above the turn signal lever, so I kept reaching for that the first few times I went to use the blinker.

 

[ac_power]

The cruise control stalk is above the turn signal lever, so I kept reaching for that the first few times I went to use the blinker.

1st place most irritating thing in older MS

 

[Unpilot]

I assume the packs are New Old Stock as they are not making them anymore. So at some point would a 75 or 85 receive a 100 pack under warranty?

 

[ordel]

My guess is that your HV battery (not the 12v) is faulty. This happened to my car and led to a complete battery replacement.

So, I was correct. My P85 became a P90 (newest version, not refurbished) when this happened to me. Huge range bump. Maybe you will have the same luck.

 

[ckoval7]

So, I was correct. My P85 became a P90 (newest version, not refurbished) when this happened to me. Huge range bump. Maybe you will have the same luck.

That's your battery forever now? I hear a lot of people get a battery on loan until theirs goes through refurb.

 

[ordel]

That's your battery forever now? I hear a lot of people get a battery on loan until theirs goes through refurb.

Yup, they even changed the badge (for free).

 

[cellphonechris]

I wonder what replacement battery they'd put in a 70. 75?

 

[MP3Mike]

I wonder what replacement battery they'd put in a 70. 75?

It depends what is available. And sometimes when they put in a larger battery they unlock and other times they don't.

 

[ckoval7]

Update:
Saturday I called the service center and finally got through after several attempts. They informed me the battery would most likely be in on Tuesday.
Tuesday I got a text message update that the battery was delayed by a day due to weather. The weather was absolute crap, so that was understandable.
Wednesday afternoon the car showed back up on TeslaFi. It had gone offline after they discharged the old battery for shipping. Surprisingly they never turned off app access.
Today I got push notifications about a software update, then by 2:30 I got notified they put it on the charger. They disconnected and reconnected the charger a few times, so it's still being worked on.

Some good news, I seem to be in the same boat as @ordel. I checked the app and noticed the car shows up as a P90D now. I wonder if there's any chance of getting a Ludicrous upgrade, but I'm not keeping my hopes up there.

Hopefully I hear back from the service center soon so I can pick my car up and ditch this S60.

 

[ckoval7]

Final Update:
TL;DR: The service center exceeded my expectations and took care of a few recall items on top of the battery service. The coolant leak turned out to be a loose hose (no word on how it came loose).

Long version:
I got a text message around lunch time saying my car was ready for pickup. I checked my charge level on the app and it was around 20%. Seeing as my plans tonight didn't include waiting for my car to charge at home, I gave them a call and asked them to hook it up to a charger. Not only was I surprised they picked up the phone, but I was surprised how quickly they got it on the charger. Turns out SC's have superchargers in them (news to me, honestly!)

As expected, they replaced the HV battery. They put in a 90kWh pack in place of my old 85kWh pack.

HV Battery.
Replaced High voltage battery assembly.
Correction: HV Battery Assembly General Diagnosis
Correction: HV Battery Assembly (Remove and
Replace)
Parts Replaced or Added
Part Quantity
ASY,HV BATTERY,90KWH,CAT1,REMAN,SX
(1102980-01-A)
1
Correction: No Labor Performed - Part Replaced
Parts Replaced or Added
Part Quantity
TOP RING,HV RAPIDMATE,HVBAT (1041311-
00-C)

On top of that, they took care of the following items:
Steering Bolt Recall:

Replace Bolts In the Steering Rack Housing
Performed power steering gear motor bolt procedure.
Correction: Replace Bolts In Steering Rack Housing
And Apply Wax Sealant (LHD Dual Motor)

I didn't know this one wasn't done already. This isn't a new recall and I'm not the first owner.

Airbag Recall:

Replace Front Passenger Airbag
Replaced passenger side front air bag
Correction: Replace Front Passenger Airbag, 2014 -
2016 Model S, North America, EMEA, Australia, And
New Zealand

I wasn't expecting this one to happen so soon. The last word from Tesla was to stand by and wait for the service centers to get the parts in.

Drain plug retrofit:

Liftgate Drain Plug Retrofit
replaced lift gate drain plugs
Correction: Liftgate Drain Plugs Retrofit

I haven't had problems with water in the trunk, but this fixes that problem for the people that do.

They also included the inspection report for the car. My tires are wearing perfectly evenly! This is surprising to me because I drive like a mad man. I also have more tread life left than I thought.


I have a few questions.

1. Now that I have a 90kWh battery the software reports the car as a P90D. The badge still says P85D, and the VIN will forever report as a P85D. If I were to sell the car(no plans to, I love it too much), what would it be sold/valued as?
2. Is it worth getting the car rebadged?
3. How many P90Ds exist without Ludicrous Mode?

 

[PWlakewood]

Ask them to rebadge it and give you the ludicrous mode. I would definitely ask and maybe even pay if it's an option.