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Out of Warranty Drive Unit Replacement and Cost

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296k miles! wow! I had to replace it after 55k and paid out of pocket as it was out of warranty. And I never had any warnings, noises, sounds, breakdowns. Parked the car on Friday evening after coming back from work, tried to head out on Sunday morning. The car refused to move and I had multiple warning messages on the screen. Car had to be towed to SC. I was told RDU needed replacement, no explanation as to why it failed suddenly.
I may not have made myself clear and caused a slight miscommunication. This is my 3rd rear drive unit.

I was told I had water ingress because of design issues. My concern is what happens if water ingress issue happens again. Will it be covered after 8 years? Last du lasted 140k miles and if I'm not mistaken we are told these are 1 million mile DUs. A friend has never replaced any of his DUs on his 2015 85d after 300k miles.

We live in the same town
 
what happens if water ingress issue happens again. Will it be covered after 8 years?

No. When the warranty is up, the warranty is up. Seriously.

we are told these are 1 million mile DUs

Yes, we have been told lots of B.S. I believe it when there is a "1 million mile DU" warranty.

A friend has never replaced any of his DUs on his 2015 85d after 300k miles.

I also have a friend who has never had a car accident. Exception is not the rule.
 
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There will never be a million mile battery or drive unit warranty, even if the parts are engineered for that kind of lifespan.
If there is, taxi service like Tesloop that ran up almost half a million miles in just a few years would love it.

 
No. When the warranty is up, the warranty is up. Seriously.



Yes, we have been told lots of B.S. I believe it when there is a "1 million mile DU" warranty.



I also have a friend who has never had a car accident. Exception is not the rule.
I find it interesting ALL of my friends haven't replaced their drive units.

The common them is that they all have a non-performance S and I have had 2 Performance Ss and both had multiply drive unit replacements.

And the fact that service admitted to design flaw is also interesting.
 
I find it interesting ALL of my friends haven't replaced their drive units.

The common them is that they all have a non-performance S and I have had 2 Performance Ss and both had multiply drive unit replacements.

And the fact that service admitted to design flaw is also interesting.

The large rear DUs in performance and RWD-only Model S are definitely more prone to failure than the small DUs in non-performance "D" cars.
 
Do you think this is still true in the post June 2017 units, the DU01? We don’t really know what changes went into those units but the smaller DU00 units released at the same time are very strong.
I've seen my fair share of LDUs that have build dates everywhere from 2012 basically to present (we rebuild them all the time at the shop where I work). I can say from experience that if anything, the newer drive units are MORE prone to seal failures than the older ones, as they use an inferior single lip seal design (as opposed to the original triple lip seals).

We actually have one in our shop right now that was replaced less than a year ago and has under 3k miles, and the rotor coolant seal is already starting to leak...
 
I've seen my fair share of LDUs that have build dates everywhere from 2012 basically to present (we rebuild them all the time at the shop where I work). I can say from experience that if anything, the newer drive units are MORE prone to seal failures than the older ones, as they use an inferior single lip seal design (as opposed to the original triple lip seals).

We actually have one in our shop right now that was replaced less than a year ago and has under 3k miles, and the rotor coolant seal is already starting to leak...

Is there something a driver can do to avoid these failures, or at least minimize the risks?
 
Is there something a driver can do to avoid these failures, or at least minimize the risks?
Not really... The only thing you can really do is keep on top of getting it checked out regularly. If coolant is present on the speed sensor/encoder, then that means your rotor coolant seal is leaking and you need to get it repaired before it causes irreparable damage.
If you happen to be anywhere near our shop (in Vista CA), we can pull the drive unit from the car and rebuild it for ~$4k if it's still repairable. We've also had a number of customers pull the motor themselves, or had another shop pull it for them sand send us just the drive unit by itself. The cost to rebuild it with that method is ~$2,750.

If you haven't seen it already, here's a how-to guide on checking the speed sensor. It's not too difficult to do, and can easily be done with the car on a set of ramps with basic hand tools.
 
Not really... The only thing you can really do is keep on top of getting it checked out regularly. If coolant is present on the speed sensor/encoder, then that means your rotor coolant seal is leaking and you need to get it repaired before it causes irreparable damage.
If you happen to be anywhere near our shop (in Vista CA), we can pull the drive unit from the car and rebuild it for ~$4k if it's still repairable. We've also had a number of customers pull the motor themselves, or had another shop pull it for them sand send us just the drive unit by itself. The cost to rebuild it with that method is ~$2,750.

If you haven't seen it already, here's a how-to guide on checking the speed sensor. It's not too difficult to do, and can easily be done with the car on a set of ramps with basic hand tools.
Is your repair any better than what Tesla does to rebuild the unit?
 
Is your repair any better than what Tesla does to rebuild the unit?
There are a few big differences our rebuild vs. a new or remanufactured one from Tesla. For one, we use a triple lip coolant seal, similar to the originals that Tesla used from 2012-2014, and are less likely to wear out prematurely (though the early drive units had issues with bearing noise due to the use of steel rotor bearings). All the newer drive units use a single lip coolant seal, which does not seem to hold up very well... Similarly to what Tesla has been doing since ~2015, we use non-conductive hybrid ceramic rotor bearings, which prevents noise issues from occurring due to internal arcing within the bearing. Basically we tried to take all the best parts from all versions of the LDUs, and try to combine them together to make the most robust possible setup.

We also made some additional enhancements to the drive unit in order to prevent future damage to the more sensitive components should the new seal ever wear out in the future (unfortunately, that's the nature of seals, they do wear over time). Those enhancements include sealing off the inverter cavity from the motor as much as possible using a silicone separator and sealant (from the factory, the only separation is a phase spacer made of wax paper, and the two halves are not sealed off from one another). The biggest change though is our "Drain Kit", which makes it so that any coolant that does intrude into the motor or inverter has a way to drain out and escape rather than just pooling up inside the drive unit.
 
There are a few big differences our rebuild vs. a new or remanufactured one from Tesla. For one, we use a triple lip coolant seal, similar to the originals that Tesla used from 2012-2014, and are less likely to wear out prematurely (though the early drive units had issues with bearing noise due to the use of steel rotor bearings). All the newer drive units use a single lip coolant seal, which does not seem to hold up very well... Similarly to what Tesla has been doing since ~2015, we use non-conductive hybrid ceramic rotor bearings, which prevents noise issues from occurring due to internal arcing within the bearing. Basically we tried to take all the best parts from all versions of the LDUs, and try to combine them together to make the most robust possible setup.

We also made some additional enhancements to the drive unit in order to prevent future damage to the more sensitive components should the new seal ever wear out in the future (unfortunately, that's the nature of seals, they do wear over time). Those enhancements include sealing off the inverter cavity from the motor as much as possible using a silicone separator and sealant (from the factory, the only separation is a phase spacer made of wax paper, and the two halves are not sealed off from one another). The biggest change though is our "Drain Kit", which makes it so that any coolant that does intrude into the motor or inverter has a way to drain out and escape rather than just pooling up inside the drive unit.
What warranty do you guys provide with your rebuilds?
 
We also made some additional enhancements to the drive unit in order to prevent future damage to the more sensitive components should the new seal ever wear out in the future (unfortunately, that's the nature of seals, they do wear over time). Those enhancements include sealing off the inverter cavity from the motor as much as possible using a silicone separator and sealant (from the factory, the only separation is a phase spacer made of wax paper, and the two halves are not sealed off from one another). The biggest change though is our "Drain Kit", which makes it so that any coolant that does intrude into the motor or inverter has a way to drain out and escape rather than just pooling up inside the drive unit.
@ajbessinger : Do you mean that coolant can flow from the motor cavity into the inverter cavity along the three AC current conductors shown here?:

DU.PNG

Courtesy
 
There are a few big differences our rebuild vs. a new or remanufactured one from Tesla. For one, we use a triple lip coolant seal, similar to the originals that Tesla used from 2012-2014, and are less likely to wear out prematurely (though the early drive units had issues with bearing noise due to the use of steel rotor bearings). All the newer drive units use a single lip coolant seal, which does not seem to hold up very well... Similarly to what Tesla has been doing since ~2015, we use non-conductive hybrid ceramic rotor bearings, which prevents noise issues from occurring due to internal arcing within the bearing. Basically we tried to take all the best parts from all versions of the LDUs, and try to combine them together to make the most robust possible setup.

We also made some additional enhancements to the drive unit in order to prevent future damage to the more sensitive components should the new seal ever wear out in the future (unfortunately, that's the nature of seals, they do wear over time). Those enhancements include sealing off the inverter cavity from the motor as much as possible using a silicone separator and sealant (from the factory, the only separation is a phase spacer made of wax paper, and the two halves are not sealed off from one another). The biggest change though is our "Drain Kit", which makes it so that any coolant that does intrude into the motor or inverter has a way to drain out and escape rather than just pooling up inside the drive unit.
what is the cost to update the drive unit that has no issues?

i was thinking about having you upgrade the seal and adding the drain option after having tesla inpect the unit for possible replacement at the end of my 8yr/unlimited mile warranty in 12/23
 
I just had a Q revision RDU fail after 2yrs and 49k miles. Never checked, but assumed slow coolant leak which eventually caused a HV short based on the isolation warning I got. Car drove perfectly and had no noises.

NHTSA should investigate this the same way they did regarding the MCU. These drive units have clear defects and are not built to last.
 
what is the cost to update the drive unit that has no issues?

i was thinking about having you upgrade the seal and adding the drain option after having tesla inpect the unit for possible replacement at the end of my 8yr/unlimited mile warranty in 12/23
Sorry, haven't checked in on the forum in awhile. Last I was aware, we were doing a seal upgrade and drain kit install for a Model S for $1,750. That's inclusive of all parts and labor.