Powertrain Problem ID: 963

[n2mb_racing]

To add to what PV-EV said, there is a third set of fuses in that photo down and to the left of the red circled ones. You open them with a flat blade screw driver. They are for the coolant heater. My heater went bad under warranty and started periodically blowing those fuses. I can't remember for sure but it might have thrown the same error message every time one of those fuses blew.

I had the same issue. I checked all the fuses and they are all good. Still 0A when trying to heat the battery and error 963 gets tripped. I ended up driving the car to warm up the battery, then it would charge normally. I'm thinking the battery heater might be bad, but I never noticed and the previous owners probably never noticed because the car has always lived in warm climates...

 

[eMotionRentals]

So, here's the verdict from Tesla:

Battery heater fuse has blown out. Technician replaced the ceramic fuse. Verified proper operation.

I did not have time to do this myself as I mentioned, so for the privilege of having Tesla do it: $175. Kinda funny how I feel that spending $175 is a good deal. The cheapest I've ever had a trip to Tesla be when out of warranty! The $175 was to diagnose the problem and replace the fuse. Seems a bit hight to me, but at a $150 shop rate, I guess a bit more than an hour is to be expected. Attached is a photo of said fuse.

 

[hcsharp]

If it blows again you might have to replace your coolant heater. The heater is 8A and the fuses are 10.

 

[ShawnA]

Hi EmotionRentals,

It would not hurt to have some of these on hand.

The fuse is EF10AH 250 V P is a ceramic fuse - DO NOT SUBSTITUTE

They are easily and readily available at McMaster under their part 6986K642.

They are in stock and a package of 5 is about $10.

Good Luck, Shawn

 

[hcsharp]

If it blows again you might have to replace your coolant heater. The heater is 8A and the fuses are 10.

 

[dhrivnak]

So, here's the verdict from Tesla:



I did not have time to do this myself as I mentioned, so for the privilege of having Tesla do it: $175. Kinda funny how I feel that spending $175 is a good deal. The cheapest I've ever had a trip to Tesla be when out of warranty! The $175 was to diagnose the problem and replace the fuse. Seems a bit hight to me, but at a $150 shop rate, I guess a bit more than an hour is to be expected. Attached is a photo of said fuse.

View attachment 273988

Is that fuse inside the PEM?

 

[eMotionRentals]

The fuse is EF10AH 250 V P is a ceramic fuse - DO NOT SUBSTITUTE

Many thanks, Shawn!

 

[eMotionRentals]

Is that fuse inside the PEM?

It's my understanding that it is.

 

[PV-EV]

Is that fuse inside the PEM?

See photo in post #17. As mentioned up thread it’s the fuse just below and to the left of the circled fuses inside the access cover that is on top of the PEM.

 

[ShawnA]

I will add a picture for reference.

They are the two with the pale blue arrows.
They are located under the small plate at the right end of the top of the PEM.
As stated earlier be very careful about high voltage.
DO NOT USE a higher rated fuse.
Why? Because they will melt the fuse holder and make the fuse impossible to remove.

I used the correct fuse and my holders were already partially melted...

Shawn

 

[ShawnA]

An update,

I returned from 2 weeks away from home to find the ring around the charge port flashing Red.
Not much loss of battery charge, so it must have happened fairly close to my return.
Both of these fuses in the picture above were blown...

In the meantime, I was able to find the part number for replacement fuse holders.
They are Digi-Key F4878-ND which is Littelfuse 03450121HX020 for 5mm x 20mm fuses.

I have attached 2 photos of a new fuse holder and the one I removed which has been overheated.
The overheated fuse holder was very difficult to remove.



As @hcsharp says above there is probably a coolant heater pump in my future...

 

[seanp]

Hi - my Roadster just displayed the "Powertrain Problem" message, with the power connector flashing red. But my error codes are not the same as the OP - I'm getting iD:287 Data: 0x44000000000 (photo attached).

This happened as I plugged in to a (possibly dodgy) 32A commando socket. I'm now ~70 miles from Tesla Heathrow, with 80 miles of charge

Does anybody know if that error code points to specific fuses, or something else?

 

[n2mb_racing]

That one might be a bad charger. Can you try a different charger or outlet?

Also, is it very wet right now? Is it possible water got in the pack or cabling?

Roadster VDS Messages

 

[seanp]

Aha! yes, very wet: this morning I drove ~60 miles through almost continuous rain. Most of that on the highway. I was attempting to charge in a car park. I tried a couple of outlets, one with my 30A commando cable and one with the 13A travel cable. Same problem with both.

I'll try again before leaving the car park. And I'll try to get a Roadster specialist on the phone. In the old days I could just talk to the head of UK service & maintenance; now there's a nice professional call centre. I'm sure they know all about Model S issues but Roadsters... not so much

 

[n2mb_racing]

Ask Tesla to check and perform TSB-09-16-008 if needed. There could be water leaks around that gasket. Or it could be a different gasket that let some water in, which is now causing a small leak current that is preventing the car from charging.

Also, when it dries out, it might charge again as well.

 

[seanp]

Thanks VERY much!
I keep the car in a a garage and when I bring it home wet in the winter I run a dehumidifier for a few hours, otherwise it never dries off. It sounds like that's a good habit to keep up
cheers
Sean

 

[dhrivnak]

Thanks VERY much!
I keep the car in a a garage and when I bring it home wet in the winter I run a dehumidifier for a few hours, otherwise it never dries off. It sounds like that's a good habit to keep up
cheers
Sean

I have never been that extreme. For me I can charge with no issue if I charge just after a drive that heats things up just a bit then the weather is real damp.

 

[Frisco-Dad]

Does anyone have a picture of these fuses in the 1.5 Roadster PEM? I've got the same ID:963 error. The pictures of the fuses in this thread are apparently for the 2.x Roadster because they don't look anything like the inside of my 1.5 PEM. The picture in post #8 must be a 1.5 Roadster because that's what mine looks like. Thanks for the help.

 

[slcasner]

Yes, the picture in post #8 is my 1.5 car, #33. I have another photo from that event showing a closer view. I've marked the line input fuses with a red oval.

 

[Frisco-Dad]

Thanks to this thread and everyone who contributed, especially @slcanser who posted the key picture to help me identify which fuses on the 1.5 Roadster needed to be replaced. I was able to source a couple of the line fuses from a local electrical distributor and now my Roadster is happily charging again.

Initially, I was thinking my only option was to order the fuses from an online source and pay for shipping. But I started calling around to local sources to see if anyone local had it in stock. My first call was the Tesla service center. They didn't have any in stock, but they could order them for me at a cost of $295 each. I got an email quote from Tesla to have them installed for $918. Based on the online prices I saw, I knew I could get the fuses for a lot cheaper than the Tesla price. Several phone calls later, I did find a local supplier, Fuseco, that had them in stock. A quick drive across town during my lunch break, and $123.26 later, I was back home and looking forward to installing the fuses. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when everything in the Roadster was buttoned back up and it started charging normally when I plugged it in. It was certainly a relief to get by with $123.26 in parts and less than 2 hours of my own labor to get the job done.

I'm not sure we have enough data to do a root cause analysis, but do these fuses eventually fail due to age? My Roadster has close to 13k miles on it right now. Both fuses were bad, so I had to replace both of them. Any ideas as to what causes the failure?