no bearing noise, we simply got warning messages about power being limited - and regen braking stopped working completely.
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Out of Warranty Drive Unit Replacement and Cost
- Thread starter Pres_Res
- Start date
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
There should be nothing at all surprising about the fact that mechanical things occasionally fail. By all accounts the 3/Y drive units appear to be extremely reliable. This is what warranties are for.
Setting a million mile endurance goal for a drive unit, battery, or any other part doesn't mean setting a goal such that no individual units ever fail under a million miles.
50,000 is a lot less than 1,000,000 .... I'm just stating the facts
Remanufactured .... bummer ... covered under existing 8yr/120k
That's interesting. Our 11/13 built S85 drive unit was replaced under warranty at 90K/6yr mark. Car was making a "whirring" sound between 10mph-40mph and made a sci-fi special effect sound when over 50% throttle. We started getting warnings from "Service required, car may not restart," then "Top speed and performance reduced," and finally "Regenerative braking system disabled." Tesla Service replaced the drive unit with a Q revision and replaced the HV battery contactors which were triggering a low impedance warning. My guess was that coolant leaked into the inverter and caused some problems but I'll never know for sure.
canasion35
Active Member
Do you by chance have a link to a write up on the inverter replacement/change? A new motor via tesla is quite expensive (~$5,000) and looking to see if I can reman an older drive unit (assuming it still works) with a new seal and retrofit a drain kit.
ajbessinger
Owner of QC Charge #2 (Portland OR)
I'm a bit unclear on what exactly you're trying to do. Swap your original inverter onto another motor or vice-versa? What issues are you having exactly?
There are a number of different factors that play into rebuildability... If you're planning on buying a used drive unit, make sure to give it a thorough inspection before purchase, (isolation check, speed sensor inspection, etc.). I would probably even install it into your car *before* rebuilding it to make sure it works properly.
Even used drive units are quite expensive (typically $3k+), and are definitely a big gamble, especially if the wrecker you're purchasing it from doesn't provide a warranty. Even if a warranty is present on it, you can probably kiss that goodbye when you pull it apart for the rebuild.
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
Considering the difficulty in doing a rebuild properly and getting the thing to seal up and stay sealed, I would take the four year warranty version from Tesla without reservations.
The large drive unit just seems like one of the potential problems that they have not been able to truly resolve but figure it’s better to just keep taking money from customers instead.
The large drive unit just seems like one of the potential problems that they have not been able to truly resolve but figure it’s better to just keep taking money from customers instead.
canasion35
Active Member
How did it fail? Is it just noise (performance is fine) or is actually dead and you're unable to operate?Well, I just bought my first Tesla. A 2014 Model S 85 RWD with only 38k miles. 2 weeks in and my drive unit fails. I have no warranty and Tesla wants $8000 for the repair. I don't know whether toor
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No noise or indication that the performance was an issue. On morning, pulling out of a parking lot, there was a hesitation when I hit the accelerator then "BANG" I thought I had been rear ended even though there was no one behind me. It was the drive unit engaging instantly under load. Then a few miles down the road I lost propulsion and my PRND indicator turned from white letters to red. The car made it home and sat for a few days. After that I tested it and it was driving normal without issues for almost a week. Then it started up again and I pulled over and had it towed to Tesla.
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
Talk to 057Tech - @wk057 is an honest tech, and will tell you the best route to take. It might be to get a quote from a different service center, having him doing the work, or maybe even he might have a solution.
Tesla though has a LOT of situations for which their answer is "let's just replace everything at a HUGE cost to the customer" rather than actually doing any real diagnostics or repairs. Bang noises and physical movements doesn't sound like the usual drive unit failure modes to me, so maybe Jason (057) knows things that the rest of us don't. I'd definitely ask him.
Tesla though has a LOT of situations for which their answer is "let's just replace everything at a HUGE cost to the customer" rather than actually doing any real diagnostics or repairs. Bang noises and physical movements doesn't sound like the usual drive unit failure modes to me, so maybe Jason (057) knows things that the rest of us don't. I'd definitely ask him.
So I had a chat with the Service Advisor. Nice guy, btw. I explained the situation, letting him know that we just bought the vehicle. With it only having 40k miles and being a few months out of warranty, I asked if there was any help I could get on his end with the cost. He "spoke with Leadership" and they knocked off $1500. So we're replacing the drive unit for $6500 and at least it'll be covered for the next 4yr/50k miles. Still not they way I expected my things go with this car but I'm not giving up on it that quickly.
