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Power Steering falling apart

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LOL, I guess I should have read every post. :p

So, ideally, we should get this repaired under warranty and get a whole new unit, but if no longer on warranty, we should prophylactically replace with SS bolts -- got it!

So that's how they screw SS bolts in Quebec ?!

You can blame autocorrect or ESL, both are valid answers.


...if you wait around for Tesla to react they may come out with a recall procedure to replace just bolts, not whole racks. Unless maybe a bolt is broken, then they may do a rack.

Or, considering you are in the strike zone of cold climate using road salts... why wait? Do your own SS bolts if you're at all mechanically inclined. Especially if off warranty. Then if Tesla gets around to recall and is prescribing new rack, go in an get a new rack. (Put the old aluminum bolts back in if you want to keep the story whole.)
 
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So, just a bit of encouragement for the DIY folk: I did this repair this morning and it seems to be working perfectly. I used M8-1.25 70mm 8.8 bolts from the local hardware store and some washers/lock washers for spacers. Here are some pictures of the work:

upload_2018-1-31_9-27-10.png

You can see the bolts stuck in their holes here. I wasn't able to remove them, the bolt extractor broke while trying. So I used the alternate holes which are adjacent to the ones Tesla uses.

upload_2018-1-31_9-27-52.png

Broken bolt extractor

upload_2018-1-31_9-28-18.png

Belt looks intact, so I went forward with the repair

upload_2018-1-31_9-28-31.png

Reinstalled EPAS motor...

Works well, no noise, no errors...

So that's encouraging. I still think Tesla should do a recall on this, it's terribly dangerous in my opinion.
 
@zax123 thanks for the pics! I'm still on warranty for another 10 months but plan on doing this mod just before the warranty expires. As of this week I had the frunk tub out and gave it a good once over but it's holding fine. Did you use any locktite on the bolts or just the lock washers?
For now I just sprayed ACF-50 all over the frunk area. I know Tesla doesn't recommend it but this thing is built more like an aircraft than a traditional car and its safe for use on aircraft and their electronic components. I used to have a vintage Cessna from 1953 and the stuff worked great on it. If the Tesla can last 65 years in our climate I'll be pretty happy too but i'd settle for 30.
 
@zax123 thanks for the pics! I'm still on warranty for another 10 months but plan on doing this mod just before the warranty expires. As of this week I had the frunk tub out and gave it a good once over but it's holding fine. Did you use any locktite on the bolts or just the lock washers?
For now I just sprayed ACF-50 all over the frunk area. I know Tesla doesn't recommend it but this thing is built more like an aircraft than a traditional car and its safe for use on aircraft and their electronic components. I used to have a vintage Cessna from 1953 and the stuff worked great on it. If the Tesla can last 65 years in our climate I'll be pretty happy too but i'd settle for 30.

Hi there,

I didn't use any locktite, just the lock washers. I think this deserves a regular examination maybe every year. Taking the tub out really doesn't take long once you've done it a few times.

I'm wondering how well the "preventative" job will work for cars where the corrosion is already started. It's highly likely the screws will just break off as opposed to unscrew nicely. So the job might end up being doing the same thing I did which is file down what's left of the screws, clean up all the surfaces, grease the o-ring and use new SS screws in the alternate hole locations. But I think some kind of protective coating over the whole unit would be smart so that this doesn't happen again.
 
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zax123, great work. Did you make sure to tension it so no belt slippage can occur?
If you have not done so yet,
Please call Darryl Malone of Transport Canada at 1-800-333-0510
to report this failure. They need to know about all of these failures.

Hi mrElbe,

I used a pry bar to tension the motor while tightening the bolts... before doing that the belt was slipping a bit.

I will have Kalud contact Transport Canada for sure. I hope this becomes a recall -- for everybody's sake.
 
Were the alternate set of adjacent bolt holes already threaded and ready to go?

Did you need to chase those threads with a tap or clean them with anything / compressed air .. before using those holes? Looks like corrosion got into those holes too.

p.s. I'm quite dismayed at how poorly the O-ring gasket appears to be "keeping corrosion out" of the working parts...
Possible to size up the thickness of the O-ring?
Put additional sealant on the faces of those parts around the outside of that O-ring?
 
Oh another thing... my SS bolts are 65mm long. Next size up was 80 or 85 mm.

These bolts are only threaded on the last inch or so of its length, other wise I'd buy the longer and just cut off.

Do you think 65mm are sufficient, with maybe just a lock washer, or zero washers and loctite instead?

Can someone please use calipers and measure the length of the OE bolt, if you've got a whole one out, thanks!?
 
Were the alternate set of adjacent bolt holes already threaded and ready to go?

Did you need to chase those threads with a tap or clean them with anything / compressed air .. before using those holes? Looks like corrosion got into those holes too.

p.s. I'm quite dismayed at how poorly the O-ring gasket appears to be "keeping corrosion out" of the working parts...
Possible to size up the thickness of the O-ring?
Put additional sealant on the faces of those parts around the outside of that O-ring?

I didn't clean the threads of the alternate holes because I didn't have the tools to do it. I was at Kalud's place just with the tools I brought. I would get something to clean them next time (if there is one) though. One of the screws went in no problem. The other two were tight, but I think I can tighten them more.

The o-ring thing is pathetic. It was so caked up with corrosion. I cleaned it really well to get down to the rubber and then I put vaseline on it to lubricate, but I'm 100% sure this will happen again. A bigger o-ring would fit and might provide a better seal -- I don't know the size though, I didn't measure it.

As for sealant, I think the whole unit should be sealed/shielded from water/salt, but not sure how to do that.

Oh another thing... my SS bolts are 65mm long. Next size up was 80 or 85 mm.

These bolts are only threaded on the last inch or so of its length, other wise I'd buy the longer and just cut off.

Do you think 65mm are sufficient, with maybe just a lock washer, or zero washers and loctite instead?

Can someone please use calipers and measure the length of the OE bolt, if you've got a whole one out, thanks!?

65mm should be fine with one washer and one lock washer. I bet the system works fine with only two bolts -- in fact I doubt all three bolts were working to full capacity in the last days/weeks to it breaking off.

I'm not sure loctite is needed but you can be sure we'll be checking on Kalud's car regularly to make sure those bolts are holding and adjust accordingly.
 
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I bet the system works fine with only two bolts

If at all possible use all three. With three the bolts, are all purely in tension and the mating pieces are fairly evenly loaded. With only two, there is less clamping force on the side with the missiing bolt and the two remaining ones are also subjected to bending moments (or at least increased tension) due to the unsupported mass. Picture prying on the side with the missing bolt.
 
What's the easiest way to get a look at this? Take out the frunk liner?

Yup, remove the frunk liner and the black ABS tub. You'll see the motor there and could wiggle it, but like I said above, it's possible it feels solid even though the screws are almost finished.

I'm going to push hard with the Montreal service center that this become some kind of recall, because it really seems like a manufacturing defect to me.
 
@mongo, oh yes, I wasn't suggesting to use only two. :) I was just saying that even if one bolt was already sheared/broken/weakened, the driver probably wouldn't notice it until it was too late and all three sheared off.

Oh totally! My parsing error. I've seen the results of 6 bolt connections were they all sheared (eventually). Domino overload failure. Not to say I haven't reinstalled things with as many fasteners as still work.