Newbie to Tesla - Center Screen Black, Multiple Warnings

[Sloan_p85]

Ill say that the 7+ months of patiently waiting and watching YouTube videos and reading forum posts on just about anything Tesla has definitely paid off. I thought I was going to get in to the car and be able to navigate the menus like a pro.....All that knowledge was thrown out the window the second I got into the driver’s seat.

Back to the topic; I contacted TonyT and will see about that route. My hesitation with doing that is that the car is my daily driver and I can’t be down for a few weeks while the whole MCU is getting fixed. I understand it would be the cheaper route and probably better in the long term, and after saying those two things should be a no-brainer on which option to choose, but I am still hesitant. Now, I was able to take out the frunk and put it back together, but that seems to be peanuts compared to taking the screen out. If it is possible to take just the Tegra unit and ship that out, plus have the car be drivable still, that would be better.

Ultimately I have a few options I am pursuing. Either TonyT, Service Center and/or going back to the dealership and see what might be able to be done there. I am going to call the service center tomorrow morning and see if I can get in there pretty quickly.

 

[Sloan_p85]

One other question:

If the MCU is replaced, would I still have app connectivity afterwards or does that get lost?

 

[Barry]

Touchscreen and microcontroller unit: 4 years
Good news?

No, because they designed it to fail at 5 years, as mine did.
On a positive note, I did have a 12V battery replacement at 3 1/2 years.

 

[tomas]

@tomas, I've been tracking reports of failed eMMCs on TM and TMC. The price for Tesla SC to repair an eMMC issue with a refurbished MCU1 is $1300 plus labor and tax. They keep your core. Some SCs have told owners its a $500 and some other owners report $1,000 to keep the core. Either way, not worth it. The only part you might need later is the Tegra board (where the eMMC is mounted) inside the MCU. And you can't get one fixed in advance and swap it later. Does not work that way.

@Sloan_p85 I think you have an eMMC problem. Reach out to @TonyT here on TMC. Use him and wait until (my guess) this summer or early fall and MCU2 will be available to your year car. Then move up to it. Its great.

Thanks for tracking, I’m glad it continues to go down. I just want to make sure people new to this see current pricing and not get scared off by old data of $3000 or $2500 quoted by people who are either not current or have an axe to grind.

 

[Akikiki]

One other question:

If the MCU is replaced, would I still have app connectivity afterwards or does that get lost?

app connectivity? I want to make sure I understand what you are asking.

Do you mean will you be able to connect to the car using the app on a smartphone? Yes, why would you think not?
Tesla SC MCU replacement restores all functions that you had like the car was new.
Every had a computer that seems to slow down over time. And if all the OS and software is reinstalled it seems to be much faster? Same with the MCU/eMMC replacement. Car behaves faster response times to things like screen and maps.

 

[Akikiki]

If it is possible to take just the Tegra unit and ship that out, plus have the car be drive-able still, that would be better.

... and/or going back to the dealership and see what might be able to be done there. I am going to call the service center tomorrow morning and see if I can get in there pretty quickly.

Remove the Tegra board and put the MCU back in? Yes, talk to Tony. He very experienced with this. Do not bother to talk to Tesla about that. They don't do that. There has been a backlog of shortages of refurbished MCUs ready to go into cars. The SC may not have one available. You may be waiting 1+ weeks for them to get it.

dealership? You mean non-Tesla dealership where you bought the car? Non-Tesla? DO NOT take it to them. They will not have access to Tesla parts faster than Tesla. And its still way to early in car-years for them to know what they are doing. Please for your sake, do not take it to a non-Tesla dealership.

 

[Sloan_p85]

Another quick update. When I thought it was charging to only 40% or so, it was actually charging sooooo slowly that I was getting about a mile an hour. So I called Tesla this morning and it is at the service center right now. I decided to go the Tesla Route is because it is my only car and the fact that it is not charging, I needed a car while it was getting fixed. I asked them about doing the MCU2 upgrade, but that is not available yet for my car. So MCU1 it is.

I would like to have gone with Tony, but again I needed a car that charged and allowed me to go to work. And I don’t doubt his skills, but I also need accountability for repairs.

The service center estimates the cost of the replacement MCU to be about $1900 + tax.

 

[Akikiki]

Makes sense. Take some satisfaction that Tesla's price to do the same thing was $2300-$2400 PLUS LABOR and TAX in Dec. Its come down by 1/3 in just two months (when it started). So, you still saved yourself some money by nursing it for a while.