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Vendor Preventative Maintenance regarding Battery Failures in early Model S vehicles (2012-2014)
- Thread starter wk057
- Start date
Ask the seller to Supercharge it to 100% and give you pictures. But even then it can take weeks for the car to figure out that things are bad after having the BMS lobotomized.
I think he needs physical access to the vehicle to figure that out, so it might not be helpful.
WK057's advice was to ask the seller to sign a statement/disclosure saying that they have not received any BMS errors, and have not had any reset procedure performed on the car. With the penalties being to reverse the sale if it is found they lied. @wk057 you wouldn't happen to have a template statement/disclosure that people could use do you? If they are willing to sign that, which someone who hasn't had a reset done, should have no problem signing then you should be OK.
I can definitely ask to have him supercharge it. I was planning on bringing it to a supercharger anyway just for testing. This is not a must buy for me, just have always wanted a model S and for $18k I can pay cash for it. Doesn’t seem worth it if there’s a high chance of needing a replacement battery or drive unit.
I can ask about signing a disclosure as well. I don’t get the impression that hes done anything to reset those errors, but I’m sure people have been burnt by this before. Here is what he said about charging:
I've slow charged it most of my ownership (5 to 15amps) and therefore the battery is in decent shape and you can get 237 miles on a full charge as of 5/8/2023. Previously, I posted 220 to 229, but it's been a while since I have fully charged because I try to keep the battery between 50% to 75% for longevity sake. See less
But that is going to always be a high chance on any 2013 Model S you will ever look at. It just will be, and that's a given factor to simply figure into what you are willing to pay. It's not like this might turn into a shocking $30,000 repair. Recell has a published price on their website right now for a replacement battery for these for $7,895. So you have kind of a ceiling on how bad this lurking repair might be. So for a car priced in the teens, with the expectation of this replacement that will then get you several more years, this might not be bad.
It's sort of like if you're able to buy a repo'ed house from a tax lien auction, but you're nervous that the carpet might need to be replaced. If you can get it at a good enough deal, the carpet replacement just doesn't matter. Recarpet the whole block if you saved a couple hundred grand below market value.
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Going into this I just didn’t realize the high failure rate on these early teslas. You make good points, just wasn’t planning on spending $18k plus another $8k.
NewbyMaybe
Newby1Kenowby
It's better if you're near an independent EV garage, or ready to set one up. Putting money in a regular car sucks!
Yeah that’s gonna be a no lol. I think we’re just gonna stick with the cars we have. I’ve always wanted one of the older Model S, but this just seems like more of a headache than it’s worth.
Here you go.
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A 2013 S is pretty cheap. The battery failing is one thing to worry about. That may or may not happen. What definitely will happen though is a non stop parade of something trivial breaking every 2 months which most garages will refuse to look at so you'll have to fix it yourself.
Yeah just doesn’t seem worth it when I already have a Model Y and ICE. Goal was to have another EV on the cheap, but that seems unlikely with all the early Model S issues that can creep up. Hopefully in another 5-10 years I can get a cheap more reliable Model S or 3.
I love my Model S (2014 85). I've had minor problems with it, but I like to tinker. I find it satisfying to be driving the first practical fairly long range ev. 2014 was the first year exported to here. I wonder if the value will go up because of that in future. The roadsters are...
I'm in a similar situation. Can you imagine what owning this would be like if you had no idea how to fix small things?
I'm not sure if it's practical for the nontechnical to own one out of warranty.
I’m definitely willing to tinker. I do most of the maintenance on my ICE. Doing a pack replacement would be a little out of my comfort zone though.
Glad to hear your experience with an older Model S. Most of what I’ve read is doom and gloom.
You will have to pay one way or another, and it's not going to be "on the cheap". It can't be both ways. You can either get one of these early ones that will need a lot more fixing, or you can pay $30K+ for a much more reliable one that's more like model year 2016 or newer.
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