Ownership journal: living with a used P85D

[D6LC]

Rear edge yes, but more open than vent. About 15%

Thanks for that, can I also ask a dumb question, how do you post an image embedded in the thread?

 

[AustinP]

Use this

 

[D6LC]

Thanks to dark cloud noting the fix for the sticking sunroof being a bead of polyurethane sealant along the rear edge of the sunroof where the seal catches. Attached a few pics below, removing the rod is simple with 4x T20 torx screws, its a little heavy so a helping had is advisable.

I then masked up the sunroof prior to applying the sealer,

then used a scraper to give a straight flat line of sealant. Its a bit messy hence the need for the masking tape.

I didn't realize until after I applied the sealer but the once I purchased takes days to cure , so I'll let you know if it works in a few days!!

 

[D6LC]

Just to correct the screws are T25 torx not T20

 

[whitex]

A bit of background, it’s a 47K mile 1 owner car that has been looked after really well, seems to be in excellent condition. This was the PO’s 2nd Model S and he said he was going to replace it with another which is a great endorsement. It will be my daily driver for a commute of 40 miles and general trips, it will also be my full time winter driver which means it will have to survive MN winters. I like to wrench on my own cars and plan to do the same here where possible. I love cars, its a hobby/weakness and have owned around 55 and over 50 motorcycles in my time. The closest I have gotten to an electric was a 2007 Lexus GS450h that I ran a few years back, a car that I really liked.

Welcome to the family. I have a similar 2015 P85D myself (see my sig for details). "Wrenching" the car (as long as you know what you're doing so you don't hurt yourself or the car) is a good way to keep the Tesla ownership costs down - Tesla service after warranty is not cheap. Lucky there are not that many things that can go wrong and if they do they are not that hard to fix or replace. Your drive unit and battery are still under warranty, which is good because they are expensive.

I picked the P85D up 5 days ago and have driven it close to 200 miles so far, should be more but we had a busy weekend . I also gave it a good clean inside and out this weekend. I like doing this with all my purchases, not only because you clean out and wipe down the whole car (I am a bit of a clean freak when it comes to my car, not into detailing and polished but hate a dirty car especially the inside). I also find a good clean and hand wash usually finds a few blemishes/issues to fix.

Keeping it clean inside helps if you want to do any fast accelerations of the line, so you don't have to collect your belongings from the back seat. Keep that in mind also when you have things like grocery shopping or pizza in the trunk, it's possible to make a mess of your trunk load with the accelerator pedal.

1. Love how quite it is and even on the 21 inch wheels it rides very well with great suspension compliance (mine is standard non air ride spec).

There are things you can do to make it even more quiet by adding noise insulation to doors or other parts of the car. Doors were the biggest noise makers in my car, particularly at speeds >70mph.

2. Yes its stupidly fast when you want it to be, however you can run it in Chill mode if you want to take it easy and don’t want the aggressive throttle mapping.

I drive in Ludicrous mode all the time, and have no problem driving calmly by simply not mashing the go pedal. It's not jerky as some other cars I've driven when you switch them to their aggressive acceleration mode - probably because in ICE cars it means gears down at the slightest accelerator push, no such problem with Tesla.

3. Whilst that is a lot of space in the cabin, there is a disappointing lack of storage/cubbys. Not too bad for me but something my wife commented that she didn’t like as she quoted “I have a lot of stuff stashed in my car”

There is a center console you can but from Tesla but it's pricey (last I checked $1,200). Personally I just use a $0.99 plastic bin to hold the few things I want near me in the car - very easy to remove to clean too.

4. I’m really liking the 1 pedal driving technique, I can see how brakes last forever and hopefully the nice alloys stay cleaner longer.

Yep, I find myself having to remember to hit the brakes a little harder whenever first driving after a while just to scrape the rust of the rotors.

5. Waiting to get an electrician around to fit a 240v socket, plugging it into a 120 socket gives 4 miles/hr charge which is fine for me at the moment.

Make sure it's a proper 50A circuit (most places that means AWG6 wire, but check with your electrician). Some 240V dryer outlets are wired for only 30A or 40A (i.e. using cheaper, thinner wire). With proper 50A NEMA14-50 you can safety draw 40A for hours at a time. The electrical code in most places says you can safely draw 80% of the circuit rating for a sustain load, so for example it's not safe to charge at 40A on a 40A circuit - that is one reason why the new Teslas don't come with 40A charger anymore by the way (yours did), they come with 32A to avoid people connecting incorrectly and risking fires(32A charger will blow a fuse on a 30A plug, will be safe on 40A and on 50A).

6. Autopilot with Autosteer is great on the highway but has its limitation on normal roads. I had an issue where on a slight curve the single lane split into 2 for a right turn, the car veered to the right following the lines on the road, so you have to be very careful. Something that concerns me if my kids drive it with the idea “it’s a self driving car”. I totally get that my car is an early AP1 car, however most people have no idea there are differences and think all Teslas are self driving

Treat AP as an advanced cruise control for highway usage only. It's actually still better on a highway than AP2 (my wife's car has it, I hate the phantom braking, so does she, so nobody uses it on her car). It is not a "self driving car", not even the latest and greatest AP3.

7. I have noticed what I would class as more than acceptable wind noise from the passenger side, I need to sit in the passenger seat to find the source of the noise, it sounds to me like it is coming from the upper A pillar area. Nothing is obvious however on checking the passenger rear window it sits proud of the seal. As with most frameless windows you can adjust the runners that the glass slides on (to effectively pull in the glass or push it out), if you look at the bottom of the door there are 2 rubber plugs, removing those gives you access to the adjuster, slacken the 10mm nut and slide the bottom of the rail in or out. Mine is on the maximum adjustment, so a little more finagling is needed, there is a YouTube of an Auzzy guy who had a similar issue and with a little perseverance addressed his issue, I plan to do the same in the next few weeks.

It's probably the doors, as I mentioned above. No loud engine really makes you notice road noises. Here is a quick experiment, this stopped the noise from my doors, so I knew where to insulate later (I actually drove with those rags on both doors across the US once since the noise was annoying me a lot more through the states with higher speed limits, especially when it rained).

9. The Tesla App seems to randomly struggle to connect to the car, this weekend I completed a screen reset and a power down, its working today so I will see how that goes. I’ve also noticed sometimes the App will open yet it doesn’t show the internal temp of the car. If I turn the climate on then the temps shows after a second or 2. If I then close the app and open it again the temp is there.

Your MCU EMMC is dying as expected. That is the one thing which is pretty much guaranteed to die by this time in your Model S life. Expect your MCU to just go dark at any time, at which point you won't have a bunch of functions (like heat or possible blinkers), but should be able at least drive unless you have PIN-TO-DRIVE set (so I would not use that until you replace the EMMC). Also, I would not use scheduled charging either, since when the MCU dies, you won't be able to charge your car. Lucky Tesla finally started offering a a $500 (or less, Tesla pricing is not standardized) replacement of the MCU daughtercard, rather than charging as much as $3,000 in the past for the entire MCU (you can get a refurbished one for sub $2,000 today). You can do it yourself, but it's really an electronics repair job (think iPhone repair) rather than a car mechanic job, so most people are better off doing the daughter board swap or paying one of the 3rd party shops which offer emmc chip replacement (I have a post showing the setup I used to replace mine here if you're curious). Oh, almost forgot, for $2,500+tx you can also upgrade to new generation of MCU2 if you wish - it does add games and Netflix to your main screen, and browser is a lot faster. The maps work faster too, but you have to pay attention to notice (not noticeable in typical usage). Search this forum for plenty of opinions why some people thing it's worth it and other don't (I am in the "not worth it" camp).

10. A few times I’ve gotten in the car and whilst the touchscreen is on the dash hasn’t woken up, I’ve been fixing it by pressing the fob to lock and unlock, today I just waited and it probably took around 10 seconds but it seemed like a long time, maybe there is a trick to waking that I am unaware of.

First, you MCU is dying, but as an fyi, I have been noticing the IC (instrument cluster) sometimes taking a bit longer, and even a couple of times requiring a restart. I think it was a software issue because (knock on wood) it went away with the latest software update to 2020.36.11. Contrary to Tesla party line, your car does not always get better with updates, sometimes things break with an update, hopefully it gets fixed with a subsequent update.

12. Finally a bit of an odd one, I cant access the owners manual in the car, I can open the chapters and pages but they are blank, I haven’t looked into this yet online but if there is no obvious fix I’ll get the service center to look at it.

Classic sign of your MCU EMMC dying. Manual uses the browser which uses the emmc heavily.

So in summary I’m really liking the car and hope to address a few of the minor niggles. The weird thing about it is that it feels like no other car to deal with when you have issues. It feels like your fixing a computer more that a mechanical vehicle.

And yes, it's a computer on wheels, so computer skills can be required to fix it (and some electrician skills to fix any high voltage stuff so you don't fry yourself or the car). But yes, the car is a dream to drive, just sometimes a pain to own (fix issues, deal with service, get parts, etc).

 

[BrownOuttaSpec]

Congrats on the car and you are braver than me taking apart your sunroof on the first few weeks of ownership.

Check out this link about eMMC dying. (The memory chip in the computer that runs your main screen or Media Control unit (MCU1).

Edit: And here is a good link with the difference between common types of 14-50R Outlets. I recommend the brand Bryant. Also, I picked a a rubber organizer for the center yacht floor. It works well enough and fairly cheap: Link

 

[D6LC]

Well disappointed to note that when I moved the car yesterday afternoon I noted that my instrument panel LCD has started to leak out on the RHS. Really bummed as I've only had the car 2 weeks and it definitely wasn't leaking when I purchased it.

So I'm thinking about booking into the SC and getting it replaced and asking them to replace the eMMC daughter board at the same time. as I'm not sure there is much of a benefit to replacing the LCD with a used item as a DIY.

 

[dark cloud]

Well disappointed to note that when I moved the car yesterday afternoon I noted that my instrument panel LCD has started to leak out on the RHS. Really bummed as I've only had the car 2 weeks and it definitely wasn't leaking when I purchased it.

So I'm thinking about booking into the SC and getting it replaced and asking them to replace the eMMC daughter board at the same time. as I'm not sure there is much of a benefit to replacing the LCD with a used item as a DIY.

Check this out

 

[D6LC]

Check this out

Thank you sir!, after reading the posts I cancelled my SC appointment and ordered a 2016 screen of ebay for $400, so a risk I spend $400 and have the same problem in a few months or even weeks.
The process has been covered a few times in the thread above, but I'll post a few pics and a write up when I do it

 

[D6LC]

I refitted my sunroof today with the help of my wife, it’s heavy enough that you couldn’t align it on your own. The RHS lined up and I loosely fitted the screws, then panic struck when the LHS mounts didn’t line up. So it fitted the front bolt and then could move the roof to align the rear mount. With all the screws tightened I half expected to roof to be misaligned and not close correctly.
Glad to say the roof closed fine and is aligned as it should, to which I gave a sigh of relief.
Very pleased to say that his mod seems to have fixed the roof snagging on the seal and it opens as it should, all for a $6 tube of sealant.
The sealant I used has skinned and semi cured, however I will leave it parked in the garage in the vent position for a few more days to ensure it’s fully cured.

Tomorrow I have an electrician coming over to give me a quote for a 240v 50A socket.

Hopefully the replacement instrument screen arrives this weekend and I get that in.

Also still noticing the delay for the instrument screen firing up when I get in the car, the MCU fires up just fine. I’ll fix the IC screen first before I look into this. As noted above my thinking is to take it into my local SC and getting the Tegra daughterboard replaced and possible the LTE upgrade.

 

[Doanster1]

Thank you sir!, after reading the posts I cancelled my SC appointment and ordered a 2016 screen of ebay for $400, so a risk I spend $400 and have the same problem in a few months or even weeks.
The process has been covered a few times in the thread above, but I'll post a few pics and a write up when I do it

You didn’t read the last pages of that thread. Realdealev has new replacement ICs for MCU1 cars for under $300.
Instrument Cluster to replaced bubbled, leaking Tesla Model S and X screen — Reel Deal

edit: just visited the site and the screens are no longer new; he can only get demo screens.

 

[D6LC]

You didn’t read the last pages of that thread. Realdealev has new replacement ICs for MCU1 cars for under $300.
Instrument Cluster to replaced bubbled, leaking Tesla Model S and X screen — Reel Deal

edit: just visited the site and the screens are no longer new; he can only get demo screens.

It wasn't clear to me what a "demo" screen was and I think it noted it doesn't have the final glass screen the same as OE, hence going to a used option.

 

[D6LC]

It's probably the doors, as I mentioned above. No loud engine really makes you notice road noises. Here is a quick experiment, this stopped the noise from my doors, so I knew where to insulate later (I actually drove with those rags on both doors across the US once since the noise was annoying me a lot more through the states with higher speed limits, especially when it rained).

You sir hit the nail on the head!!

I got a chance to sit in the passenger seat to try and work out where the wind noise was coming from and with a cloth placed in the front lower edge of the window the noise was gone. Would you mind sharing what it took to address the noise on you car please.

 

[D6LC]

I got the quote back from the electrician to fit a 240v 50A socket, in total he is quoting $1500, the bulk of it is labor to bring the cabling up from the basement and then over of 40ft conduit through the garage to where I need it. I also apparently need a permit/inspection which I didn't realize. Expensive however I cant see us going away from having an electric car in the future

 

[domodan]

I got the quote back from the electrician to fit a 240v 50A socket, in total he is quoting $1500, the bulk of it is labor to bring the cabling up from the basement and then over of 40ft conduit through the garage to where I need it. I also apparently need a permit/inspection which I didn't realize. Expensive however I cant see us going away from having an electric car in the future

I’d get a second quote. That’s a lot.

 

[D6LC]

Managed to add my Valentine V1, used a mirror tap for the first time and I have to say it made it super easy. First remove the cover at the rear of the mirror, remove it by pulling down.
Then unused a mirror tap from Amazon, the small blades fitted perfectly into the back or the mirror connector, I used the black and yellow wires

I use a dremel on the cover to give some clearance for the wire to pass through

Works great and switches off after a few minutes.

 

[whitex]

You sir hit the nail on the head!!

I got a chance to sit in the passenger seat to try and work out where the wind noise was coming from and with a cloth placed in the front lower edge of the window the noise was gone. Would you mind sharing what it took to address the noise on you car please.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures as I was planning to back and do even more insulation with pictures, but then never got around to it. At first I just added a rubber foam strip along the inside of the doors where the door and glass meet - basically sound proofing the opening between the glass and the door by pushing the gasket closer to the window. That worked ok for the noise, but over time made the windows open/close harder on the motors, often triggering a stop-and-reverse when closing. So I ended up taking the rubber sound deadening strip out adding some real soft foam instead - still keeps the noise away (perhaps a little worse) but "knock-on-wood" doesn't seem to interfere with the windows opening/closing. I'm sure the better solution would be to sound proof the door from the inside, but like I said, what I did fixed it enough for me that I never found the motivation to go do it all the way. Maybe some day...

 

[whitex]

Managed to add my Valentine V1, used a mirror tap for the first time and I have to say it made it super easy. First remove the cover at the rear of the mirror, remove it by pulling down.
Then unused a mirror tap from Amazon, the small blades fitted perfectly into the back or the mirror connector, I used the black and yellow wiresView attachment 602348
I use a dremel on the cover to give some clearance for the wire to pass through View attachment 602350
Works great and switches off after a few minutes.
View attachment 602351

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but with radar detectors it's imperative that they work well. Have you tested your setup? Older cars (pre-2016 refresh IIRC) had a metallic coating which cuts the radar signal by as much as 80% or more. Do a quick test with a supermarket door opener, through the windshield and stick it out the window pointing in the same direction. I also tried V1 first on my 2015 MS (I've been using V1's since the 90's), then realized most of the alerts were always showing from behind and sensitivity was total crap. I included a picture of what this coating looks like on a sunny day:
Shhhhhh....Where should I install my radar detector?
You might get lucky and have a larger "hole" in the coating to the right of your rear view mirror (I had one in my 2013 Model S - see this thread, post #6 there talks about the simple test I mentioned above), but I've never heard of a hole on the left/driver side of the mirror (and I've been an informed Tesla customer since 2013). There is a thread around here somewhere how someone mounted their V1 under the nosecone, then used the V1 remote display, definitely cheaper than remote detector install but you loose the rear sensitivity.

 

[davidc18]

Agree that you will likely need to look into a detector you can mount behind the nose cone. Congrats on your car. Looks like you are having a lot of fun!

 

[Crutonius]

Are radar detectors even useful still?

They were useful when the cops used to leave their radars on all the time and the detectors could see it well before they could see you. I gave up on them when cops started using instant on Ka radars.