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New headlights retrofit
- Thread starter bomax
- Start date
BigNick
Infamous Fat Sweaty Guy
IMO eventually Tesla will have to support this configuration change. At some point in the future, the older non-matrix headlight assemblies will no longer be available. As the older parts burn out or get damaged in collisions, they will need replacement with the newer revision(s).
That doesn’t necessarily mean they will open that specific change to end users, however. It may remain restricted to SCs and authorized collision repair facilities.
And as Tesla is tight with replacement parts, they may still refuse requests to replace perfectly working light assemblies.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they will open that specific change to end users, however. It may remain restricted to SCs and authorized collision repair facilities.
And as Tesla is tight with replacement parts, they may still refuse requests to replace perfectly working light assemblies.
android04
Active Member
In the only videos I've seen on YouTube of people opening the Model 3 headlights, they always use a Dremel to cut around the glued edge of the housing and lens. But I have seen videos of using an oven or heat gun to soften the adhesive in Model S headlights, then prying them open to paint the reflector black or fix a DRL. See this one for reference on a Model S
Here's another video of a Model S headlight that is opened with a heat gun, but it had been previously opened and the second time was easier to do.
Yep, they cut around the edge. You have to be really careful near the top led drl. It's got wires close to the edge. The glue on the 3/Y does not soften with heat from what I have seen. Few on the forums have done the black housing mod themselves. Do a quick search.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
I would guess there are plenty of cases where the service technician will not be bothering to use toolbox, otherwise they wouldn't have this mode in the first place (think about the geofence version for example). If they really wanted the customer to access these functions, they would put it in the regular menu with the rest of the other service items.
Mrbrock
Active Member
Yes, there are helpful areas to service mode. The picture I posted is in reference to specific areas where changing something incorrectly could brick the car (in extreme worst case scenarios). Areas like gateway configuration, the specific area being referenced here.Nice image of a specific sub-screen in service, not all of service mode.
You must be really, really mad Tesla released their service instructions for the car. I mean, nobody should use those right?
And super weird that Tesla made their service mode accessable recently with a simple "service" password instead of the old process that required a Tesla tool. But Tesla didn't mean for owners to access it, right? Just a bunch of idiots on the internet?
You should actually read the disclaimer for autopilot and FSD... Tesla tells you not to use that either
Why are you so against people working on their own cars? Do you think a Tesla is that different than the "tuner" cars you think exist?
I am not against people working on their cars. I am against people feeling entitled to work on their cars when it involves something the manufacturer doesn’t support. You want to install homelink yourself and there is a way to properly provision it without a service call? Have at it. If there was a way to do the headlights without needing to reconfigure the gateway? Have at it. When there isn’t, be patient. Dont moan and bitch and complain about how Tesla is the worst company ever because they won’t let you swap headlights.
And I will keep responding with this isn’t a repair.
Why would the non matrix lights not be available? That would assume that Tesla will stop production of them. It is in their monetary interests to keep producing them, they are much cheaper to produce than the matrix lights). Incandescent light bulbs are still being produced even though the vast majority of the world doesn’t (and can’t) use them.
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They’re in the process of transitioning the entire fleet to “global” headlights and taillights rather than having a different assembly for each region. That would be the major reason for them to stop manufacturing the old ones
You keep using the term "brick." Brick means the device cannot be used again. This is almost always due to a corrupt firmware load that prevents any more loads. Yet Tesla updates firmware in cars all the time with a super robust process, and in fact service mode is one of the ways to recover from a bad load.
Please, explain where in service mode someone could brick a car? An improper gateway config is not a brick, and "temporary loss of function" is not that either.
This is a very fine line. What if the manufacturer "doesn't support" you replacing tires on a car? Or fixing a burned out headlight?
This is exactly why people are starting to push right to repair, and arguing there should be requirements for OEMs to support repair by owners and 3rd parties. In the past Tesla was one of the worst about supporting even repairs. They have become much better in the last year though.
You still haven't answered the question about what "tuner" cars are sold that allow this that you told people to go buy.
I don't think anyone here is calling Tesla the worst. And you are right, Tesla does not have to support this, as it is not a repair, it's a modification. People are just frustrated that we bought cars witch were sold as being software updateable, wanting a change which the software supports, and for which Tesla has an internal service tool that does exactly what we want. Tesla will sell us the service software for $500 for a month, but it has this function disabled.
This impacts even areas that Tesla DOES support. You want a HW2.5 to HW3 upgrade? Tesla clearly supports this because they will do it for $1000. However, you can't do it yourself ONLY because you can't access the gateway. Same with MCU1 to MCU2. The fact that Tesla blocks this behind not allowing access to the gateway and not having the PUBLIC pay for service tool access the gateway is concerning for how Tesla is going to enable support for cars in the future, especially as cars fall out of warranty and with millions of cars on the road, Tesla doesn't have the service resources to support all of this.
Mrbrock
Active Member
There is a right to repair like for like. Swap in the SAME headlight and you don’t have to change a thing.
There is confusion on the tuner quote. I pointed out the like matrix lights are usually part of option packages that can’t be added later at a dealer (swap reflector headlights with factory projector HID in a BMW?). The tuner car term was used elsewhere in the thread and I borrowed it. Sorry. Here is a simple quote that everyone can hopefully understand and not misinterpret. Go buy a car where it is known you can easily swap parts. To have a car less than 2 years on the market and expect and feel entitled to be able to switch out whatever parts you want is insane.
I apologize for generalizing with the term brick. It’s a term that people easily recognize as meaning to mess something up. yes it means beyond repair but it’s generalizing.
Hw2.5 to Hw3 is a different story. Tesla need to do that because they promised functionality. They never promised matrix lights. Move along stop predicting doomsday scenarios where Tesla stops hiring service people forever and is stuck with the people they have to service an ever expanding fleet. If that is what you expect, why are you buying a Tesla?
Except in the USA there is not a universal right to repair.
Because of this, Tesla gets away with the FACT that you can't just replace the SAME headlight and not change a thing.
Headlights in Teslas are CAN devices. CAN devices require registration. If you plug in another IDENTICAL part number, the car will throw an error. You have to use one of a few processes to replace it, of which the easiest requires the SERVICE menu. The only "supported" process by Tesla costs $500 per month to access.
(This is true for seats, charge ports, and tons of other stuff on Teslas)
The first Model 3 was sold in 2017. These are 5 year old cars.
Yet, they won't do it without charging you, and won't let you do it yourself even though it's both easy, and environmentally friendly.
The doomsday scenario is here- Tesla makes promises, doesn't follow up on them, and blocks the software that they already have would allow you to fix it yourself.
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Im not following this thread very closely at all as the subject matter of the thread title doesnt particularly interest me. Im peeking into it now because its still going, which usually means there is some sort of disagreement going on.
Perhaps I am not quite understanding the discussion of the last couple of pages, but tesla removed geofencing from service mode, and the service manuals are still available (at least for me as a regular user) for free in the tesla website:
The process for accessing service mode is in the service manual, and the service manual is free (at least for me it is, and I am just a regular product owner). Perhaps this was already covered though.
On a side note, since there appears to be a disagreement / difference of opinion driving discussion here, please try to keep that civil and on the topic and not towards the person. Thanks.
Perhaps I am not quite understanding the discussion of the last couple of pages, but tesla removed geofencing from service mode, and the service manuals are still available (at least for me as a regular user) for free in the tesla website:
The process for accessing service mode is in the service manual, and the service manual is free (at least for me it is, and I am just a regular product owner). Perhaps this was already covered though.
On a side note, since there appears to be a disagreement / difference of opinion driving discussion here, please try to keep that civil and on the topic and not towards the person. Thanks.
I have a leaky left headlight that is a fish tank now... I have tesla coming out to me Monday gonna see if I can persuade the tech to help me out and run the config update.
That really makes it look like a gateway config value change has a good chance of working. It also looks like a software reinstall is necessary after the gateway change AND the headlight install.
Yeah gateway config + software reinstall would definitely do the trick. Trouble is actually doing the config change.
Yes. The first few pages of this thread go over this fact multiple times. For a while there, Tesla was shipping cars randomly with matrix and non-matrix headlights, pretty much proving they are a drop-in replacement except for the gateway config,
