P85 power limits during acceleration at speed

[beegee]

I have been having an issue where the power limiter line shows up when accelerating at full throttle for ~5 secs; it will also show after a couple of seconds when I hold it to the floor at highway speed. I finally went to the Service Center to ask about it, and they agreed it is not normal. After pulling the logs, the motor is giving some odd indications, so I will be getting motor #4 on Wednesday. The other motors were changed after they developed the milling noise; the current motor has been in for over 2 years at this point.

Anyone else see this issue?

I will post if the new motor fixes the issue. Unfortunately, the service center said they cannot test the fix since I have to accelerate past the speed limit.

 

[strider]

My P85 was built just after yours and is on it's original motor w/ 66k miles. I wonder if it's something like a faulty temp sensor or something?

 

[jschwefel]

Mine behaves this way when the battery isn’t fully warmed up. Interestingly, the power limiter line doesn’t always present itself, but the power is clearly limited to about 300kw. It’s been really cold in Indy lately, and I recently turned off range mode to allow for more battery heating. We’ll see it that makes a difference.

 

[scottycs]

I think it has something to do with a newer firmware and higher mileage cars trying to protect the battery. I have been complaining about this for the last few months. It will only get worse.

Here is what Tesla told me:

"While we are extremely thankful that you and so many others were early adopters to the Model S, unfortunately, there are certain characteristics of it that are not able to be retrofitted to fix the "issue," like the one you mention. We learned from early Engineering and have improved the cars tremendously along the way, and continue to improve them every day, as you know. However, after escalating to the Regional team and masterminds behind the cars like the FTS team and Engineering teams, we have exhausted all of our options.

While I understand your frustration, at this point, beyond the suggestions Mat discussed with you, you could pursue a trade-in for your car. I would be happy to set you up with the Sales team in your area who could explore those options with you. There are many affordable "newer" Model S's and X's now through our CPO program... just a thought."

I

 

[LCR1]

I think it has something to do with a newer firmware and higher mileage cars trying to protect the battery. I have been complaining about this for the last few months. It will only get worse.

Here is what Tesla told me:

"While we are extremely thankful that you and so many others were early adopters to the Model S, unfortunately, there are certain characteristics of it that are not able to be retrofitted to fix the "issue," like the one you mention. We learned from early Engineering and have improved the cars tremendously along the way, and continue to improve them every day, as you know. However, after escalating to the Regional team and masterminds behind the cars like the FTS team and Engineering teams, we have exhausted all of our options.

While I understand your frustration, at this point, beyond the suggestions Mat discussed with you, you could pursue a trade-in for your car. I would be happy to set you up with the Sales team in your area who could explore those options with you. There are many affordable "newer" Model S's and X's now through our CPO program... just a thought."

I

Sorry we engineered a shitty car, we can fix that by selling you an new car.

 

[trayloader]

WOW.What a letdown.

 

[jschwefel]

I think it has something to do with a newer firmware and higher mileage cars trying to protect the battery. I have been complaining about this for the last few months. It will only get worse.

Here is what Tesla told me:

"While we are extremely thankful that you and so many others were early adopters to the Model S, unfortunately, there are certain characteristics of it that are not able to be retrofitted to fix the "issue," like the one you mention. We learned from early Engineering and have improved the cars tremendously along the way, and continue to improve them every day, as you know. However, after escalating to the Regional team and masterminds behind the cars like the FTS team and Engineering teams, we have exhausted all of our options.

While I understand your frustration, at this point, beyond the suggestions Mat discussed with you, you could pursue a trade-in for your car. I would be happy to set you up with the Sales team in your area who could explore those options with you. There are many affordable "newer" Model S's and X's now through our CPO program... just a thought."

I

This is interesting. If that’s the case, I’m sure there will be more discussion on the subject in the future. My P85 has over 80k miles and it seems as fast as ever. The battery needs to be at temperature though. After supercharging is best. A few months ago my son and I did a 0 to 60mph run that we timed at just over 4 seconds. I’m quite pleased with that.

 

[beegee]

I think it has something to do with a newer firmware and higher mileage cars trying to protect the battery. I have been complaining about this for the last few months. It will only get worse.

Here is what Tesla told me:

"While we are extremely thankful that you and so many others were early adopters to the Model S, unfortunately, there are certain characteristics of it that are not able to be retrofitted to fix the "issue," like the one you mention. We learned from early Engineering and have improved the cars tremendously along the way, and continue to improve them every day, as you know. However, after escalating to the Regional team and masterminds behind the cars like the FTS team and Engineering teams, we have exhausted all of our options.

While I understand your frustration, at this point, beyond the suggestions Mat discussed with you, you could pursue a trade-in for your car. I would be happy to set you up with the Sales team in your area who could explore those options with you. There are many affordable "newer" Model S's and X's now through our CPO program... just a thought."

I

I don't think that is the case. My service manager said that another local with a higher mileage P85+ doesn't have that issue. I am getting a new motor installed tomorrow, so I guess we'll know then.

 

[beegee]

Got my car back today, and the new motor fixed the issue. I at first was worried that the problem was still there since the limiter showed up again under heavy acceleration, so I stopped at the Supercharger and charged to 60%. After that, I punched it up to 85 (would've gone faster if it weren't for traffic) without any issue, and I was able to do so repeatedly without any limiting . The Falcon is back up to doing the Kessle run again!

From the service report:
Drive unit has limited power due to elevated temperature. Fluid impregnated with metal.
Drive unit needs replacement.
Replace drive unit and roadtest

 

[jschwefel]

So glad to hear it’s fixed. Enjoy! I’m always impressed just how fast my car is after supercharging. Battery temperature really seems to make a difference. I need to do a 0 to 60mph right after charging sometime. I wouldn’t be surprised if the car did it under 4 seconds. I’ll definitely need my summer tires to reduce wheel spin.

 

[Chaserr]

so I stopped at the Supercharger and charged to 60%. After that, I punched it

I'm sure you've noticed already, but the car's power output is also improved at higher states of charge. You get a decent amount more kw at 100% than at 50%!

 

[beegee]

I'm sure you've noticed already, but the car's power output is also improved at higher states of charge. You get a decent amount more kw at 100% than at 50%!

I am familiar with that. My car was limiting even with 80% SOC in warm weather (first noticed while driving on the Indy Speedway). After repeatedly seeing it occur is when I decided to take it in.