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Power Conversion System & Penthouse Coolant
- Thread starter mmohamach
- Start date
What sort of advice would you like? They found a broken part and are replacing it.
Never. Coolant is supposed to be forever unless its lost due to an accident or removed intentionally to service something.
The power conversion system lives in the penthouse. I'm sure that at least SOME coolant has to go through or near the power conversion components, so it would be fair to assume that at least some coolant would have to be drained to service it. I assume the service department wouldn't be doing unnecessary work, especially under warranty.
Considering that there aren't any Model 3's out of warranty yet, I am sure yours is still covered.
jdcollins5
Member
The Power Train warranty (HV battery, drive units and associated equipment) is 8 years or 100,000 to 120,000 miles depending on model.
I just had my Rear Drive Unit Inverter replaced and they drained and refilled coolant. Any part that is cooled by the coolant must be drained and refilled.
Oh, sorry, I spaced that and was thinking just of the 4 years. I didn't think of the miles part of it that might go first.
And I don't think that the power conversion system of stuff in the penthouse area is considered part of the battery and drive unit that are covered under the much longer warranty.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
This is a common misconception. The 8 year warranty is for the HV battery and drive unit ONLY. That's it - those two specific parts. No "associated equipment". In OP's case, the PCS, despite being physically housed in the HV battery enclosure, has not been covered in the past by the HV battery warranty and I don't expect it will be in the future.
jdcollins5
Member
Thanks for setting me straight on this. I have always made the same common misconception. Since the PCS is needed to charge the battery, except for a DC charger, and is housed in the HV penthouse, I “assumed” it was covered.
You are correct though that the HV Battery and Drive Unit are the only items that are specified in the Warranty document online. I would expect them to specify that the PCS is excluded but they do not.
I havent looked recently, but definitely remember threads where people complained "this should be covered but tesla is not covering it!" for this. I dont think they were model 3s (not that I think that would make a difference on this), but I do remember this.
Thats likely the cause of the OP questioning "did they have to drain XXX?" so closely, as when people start paying for stuff (instead of it being a warranty item) they usually look closer (or for some "much much much closer") at what is being billed, etc.
So the total service cost was almost $2,800 usd and wasn’t covered under warranty because it’s over 50K miles already. Thanks everyone for the replies.
I hope you got the old parts! Even broken, that power conversion unit is probably worth significant cash.
Did not see what Model 3 you have or the year but I have read a number of posts regarding PCS boards failing on 2017/2018 Model 3. After seeing these posts, I was on the lookout for potential problems. Discovered my PCS would not charge at 48A and threw a bad grid error message when trying to do so. There appear to have been at least three revs of the boards and the one Tesla installed in my M3, under warranty, this past August was rev C. I hope rev C may have fixed what was failing on early boards? From the past posts I have read, in some cases, Tesla replaced the boards beyond the 4 year/50K mile warranty period for no charge. I can not say there was a design problem on the early revs but it is possible. If I paid for the board out of pocket, I would request the broken part. Hopefully, some day a board like this can be repaired/installed by third parties as an option for owners with older cars outside of the warranty period. This is done on some expensive ICE car parts then the failed part is returned to recoup the core charge. Oh yeah, this would require right to repair!
