New Problem

[Doug_G]

Doug, you may have bad ground connections. I found one last week that had broken off. Most likely due to over torquing the aluminum stud at the factory. I also had air suspension failure, hood open message, low cooling fluid message, right headlight out.. Repairing this ground fixed all problems

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That's exactly what happened to my loaner - identical symptoms. They said it was a bad ground. It started as occasional glitches and then eventually failed hard and I got an Enterprise.

These symptoms are a bit different, so maybe a different ground point???

FWIW the car is behaving today. Here we go...

 

[mrElbe]

Sure, could be a different ground point. Also at the start, problems would go away for a while. Ground probably hung on by a thread and finally broke off.

 

[Doug_G]

The door latch thing repeated this afternoon. Seems to latch if I hold the door firmly closed for a few seconds. Slamming the door always fails.

 

[iKhalid]

The early cars are often described as "snowflakes" since they are very unique as this was when Tesla was iterating their designs very quickly. I also had a P90FL loaner a while back and honestly can say I didn't think the build quality was any better than my Feb 2013 build S85. Sure, it had a lot more features, but my car is still very solid, rattle-free and the tan interior has held up extremely well after almost 130,000 km of use.

By quality I meant:
1. Much better interior parts (plastics, leather, 2nd Gen seats). Even the door is now much heavier and solid than the older S's
2. Overall noise reduction
3. Steering is now more precise.

 

[mknox]

By quality I meant:
1. Much better interior parts (plastics, leather, 2nd Gen seats). Even the door is now much heavier and solid than the older S's
2. Overall noise reduction
3. Steering is now more precise.

I do like the 2nd Gen seats, but the other trim materials don't seem any better than what I have on my current car. I personally don't care for the alcantara "fuzz" on the top of the dash. That would just be a lint magnet.

I cannot see any difference wrt the doors being "heavier and solid".The new loaner I had was exactly the same as my car in this regard. Same with the steering. I could not notice any better steering precision. My Model S and all of the loaners I've had always seem a tiny bit "loose" in the steering dept.

I believe that there is better noise reduction (probably more mats/insulation under the carpets etc.) on the newer cars.

 

[CanuckS#69]

lol just occurred to me... maybe it had numerical overflow!

Nope. Up until 8.0 the trip meter would read in scientific notation if over 100k, though. I'm at 221k now on 2049. My battery heater did just die and I had a wiring harness in the driver's door crap out.

 

[Doug_G]

Driving a loaner again!

Steering is definitely tighter in the AWD cars than it is in my P85. In fact I run steering at the Sport setting in my car, but prefer Standard in the P85D.

AWD cars definitely turn more crisply under throttle. My RWD will get loose if I attempt that. (Roadster doesn't!)

 

[hingisfan]

Do you prefer driving an awd Tesla overall then?

 

[CanuckS#69]

I drove a P90D for the first time last week and it hooked up perfectly in places where my P85 would have gone squirrely. The Signature cars also had a different rear frame mount that makes a noticeable difference in handling to me, but the AWD is a HUGE difference. I still like Sport on the newer cars, but I agree that the steering seems more precise. Brake feel is much improved as well, mine are spongy.

 

[Doug_G]

I definitely do prefer the handling of the AWD. Every evening I have to make a left turn out of a side street into a four lane, divided, 80 kph road. If I try to do it quickly the RWD gets tail happy. Not terribly surprising. But the AWD doesn't, probably because the power is more balanced.

The whining noise from the front motor is noticeable though. My car is definitely quieter.

 

[Drone Flyer]

I definitely do prefer the handling of the AWD. Every evening I have to make a left turn out of a side street into a four lane, divided, 80 kph road. If I try to do it quickly the RWD gets tail happy. Not terribly surprising. But the AWD doesn't, probably because the power is more balanced.

The whining noise from the front motor is noticeable though. My car is definitely quieter.

Especially since it's in the shop a lot with all the Gremlins! Lol!
Do you remember the AMC Gremlin from the 70's? With a name like that, no wonder the company folded!

 

[Doug_G]

I dunno, takes guts to use a name like that. And the thing was butt-ugly.

Didn't they merge with Jeep?

 

[CadillacJack]

If Doug is like me, they'd have to pry the Signature Red out of his cold dead hands.

Hope it all gets worked out soon!

 

[Doug_G]

Yeah the Signature Red is gorgeous. In fact the fellow who dropped off the loaner commented, "I like your car a lot better!"

In some ways the Signatures are more robustly built than the newer cars, and in other ways Tesla has made improvements over time that aren't in our cars.

I will confess that I'm starting to get a little weary of the issues. I mean I was an early adopter and all, but I kinda expected things to settle down eventually. The current plan is to keep this car until Model 3, but I'm considering trading it for a newer S.

The only bright side is I mostly drove someone else's car through the winter this year!

 

[mknox]

I dunno, takes guts to use a name like that. And the thing was butt-ugly.

Didn't they merge with Jeep?

At the time, American Motors (maker of the Gremlin) owned the Jeep brand, and acquiring the Jeep brand was the primary reason the then Chrysler Corp. acquired them. American Motors had a big presence in Brampton and built many AMC and Jeep vehicles here over the years. At the time, American Motors was in dire straits and had a partnership with Renault to build cars in North America. They had just completed a large manufacturing plant here in Brampton which was gearing up to build the Renault Premier but with the Chrysler takeover, that car was re-branded the Eagle Premier. (Chrysler's Eagle brand included these Renault Models, some re-branded Mitsubishi models under the Diamond-Star partnership along with some Chrysler-built cars like the Intrepid's twin the Eagle Vision). The Brampton plant quickly swung over to Chrysler LH production (Intrepid, Concorde, LHS and Vision) and now builds all of Fiat-Chrysler's large cars (300, Charger, Challenger etc.). Fun fact: the City of Brampton re-named the road leading up to the plant "Chrysler Drive" from "Renault Drive" after the American Motors acquisition took place.

 

[mknox]

In some ways the Signatures are more robustly built than the newer cars, and in other ways Tesla has made improvements over time that aren't in our cars.

I will confess that I'm starting to get a little weary of the issues. I mean I was an early adopter and all, but I kinda expected things to settle down eventually. The current plan is to keep this car until Model 3, but I'm considering trading it for a newer S.

You might recall, I was in line for a Sig, but backed out when it was announced the cars weren't NAFTA eligible and the added tax just pushed it too high for me. So I have a very early Production car and (fingers crossed) it is still very tight and solid after 130,000 km and 4 years. I have had many of the early-adopter issues (door handles, battery pack contactors etc.) but fortunately none of the gremlin-like issues you are seeing. If something fails, it fails and Tesla easily fixes it. I am glad I bought the extended warranty when I bought the car as it was a LOT less expensive back then.

 

[Doug_G]

@mknox ditto on the extended warranty! I also plonked down for 8 years of service plan as soon as it was offered. It looked like a reasonable deal and figured it could only get worse.

Glad to hear your car is solid. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with mine, but for some reason it is being temperamental. The majority of issues have been door handles and pano roof, but I've also had a variety of random stuff.

Montreal techs have told me that they like my car. They're certainly familiar with it! In all seriousness they've been really great. I'm very happy with the service, just would like to use a bit less of it.

 

[mknox]

@mknox ditto on the extended warranty! I also plonked down for 8 years of service plan as soon as it was offered. It looked like a reasonable deal and figured it could only get worse.

Glad to hear your car is solid. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with mine, but for some reason it is being temperamental. The majority of issues have been door handles and pano roof, but I've also had a variety of random stuff.

Yeah, I bought the 8 years of service too, mainly because at the time, Tesla said you had to perform the annual inspections to keep your warranty valid. When that requirement was cancelled by Elon, I figured I'd use them up more sparingly (i.e. once a year even though I drive more km than the normal annual limit).Here's where it gets weird. When I moved out of my standard warranty and into the extended, Service told me my extended might not be valid because I wasn't keeping up with my annuals (due to my mileage)! Honestly, I didn't worry about the annuals too much because my car was in the shop quite a bit,and they always seemed to do a bunch of other stuff when they had it anyway. Thinking about it now, I'm probably overdue again. Funny how Tesla would see a comment by me here on TMC and call up asking me to bring the car in, but they can't seem to figure out how to remind me when an "annual", that I pre-paid in advance, is due!

 

[Doug_G]

Car is coming back today. Poor thing had a bit of an adventure along the way, but it's all good. Hopefully they've got the problem solved. It's tough when it's intermittent.

 

[MP3Mike]

Car is coming back today. Poor thing had a bit of an adventure along the way, but it's all good. Hopefully they've got the problem solved. It's tough when it's intermittent.

So do you know what they had to do to fix everything?