dark cloud
Active Member
Easy peasy. Take the carpet from your frunk, and remove 5 screws and it will look like Peter_P's picture above. Let us know!
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Vendor Preventative Maintenance regarding Battery Failures in early Model S vehicles (2012-2014)
- Thread starter wk057
- Start date
I know. Not as young as you are
and have a chronic back problem. Need to wait till my 12V to be replaced soon by the mobile guys so I can take some good pictures too.BTW, I was watching a few YT videos on the Model 3 AC drain location. Looks like the saga continues there. In 3's, there is no extension at all and the water just drips over the electronic wiring and accumulates on the top of the undercarriage plastic pan.
This issue is now a Business Insider/Yahoo story:
A Tesla owner says he was locked out of his electric car after the battery died — an issue that he says would cost over $20,000 to fix
Wonder if anything will come from it?
A Tesla owner says he was locked out of his electric car after the battery died — an issue that he says would cost over $20,000 to fix
Wonder if anything will come from it?
vcor
Tech Specialist
This thread is interesting: Reseal HV Battery? as it shows Tesla doing a significant amount of work on older battery packs to prevent water intrusion. Looks like a rather significant amount of work with new seals and other work. It's unclear if this is done proactively or not.
I have done some more thinking on this whole situation with the moisture, and I have a hunch- I believe there is a possibility that using the dual chargers (80a) on some models (about 19kw) may generate enough heat in the pack to help dry out the moisture, especially those who do this daily for a commute and where the coolant pump kicks during charging, versus those of us who only get 32-40a or lower - I never hear the coolant pump much during that range at top-off around 82% on home charging. According to Jason's post here, it seems that moisture is killing the packs - not supercharging. It would be fun to run a survey here with charging habits (including supercharging frequency) and pack failures and if the gen2 wall connector is used at home w/ dual chargers.
I drove 300+ miles yesterday from Chico to Concord and was looking at my supercharging rates - they are about 78kw at 25% and it goes down to 34kw as the battery reaches 82%. At the top end of the pack the supercharging is only double that of a l2 charger (80a) models (19.2kw). I can hear the coolant pump speed up dramatically between 70 and 80%. I do know of a couple of owners on the original batteries w/ dual chargers who have super high miles on the original battery and the years are between 2013-2014 models w/ P85+. When I speak to some owners at supercharging stations most of them w/ the older model s have already replaced the pack at least once if over 100k and DU's have usually been done once or twice by the time they reach 125k miles.
It would be interesting to have a survey and anecdotal feedback here on this.
I drove 300+ miles yesterday from Chico to Concord and was looking at my supercharging rates - they are about 78kw at 25% and it goes down to 34kw as the battery reaches 82%. At the top end of the pack the supercharging is only double that of a l2 charger (80a) models (19.2kw). I can hear the coolant pump speed up dramatically between 70 and 80%. I do know of a couple of owners on the original batteries w/ dual chargers who have super high miles on the original battery and the years are between 2013-2014 models w/ P85+. When I speak to some owners at supercharging stations most of them w/ the older model s have already replaced the pack at least once if over 100k and DU's have usually been done once or twice by the time they reach 125k miles.
It would be interesting to have a survey and anecdotal feedback here on this.
So basically 2 problems.
1. AC condensate draining on top of the battery pack. Brilliant design.
2. Degraded side rail vents.
The first one seems pretty easy to deal with. But the second one... Are these rails on top of the battery? Any chance I could fit a laparoscope somewhere and checkout the status of these vents? I assume they'll eventually just go back from age and have to be replaced.
1. AC condensate draining on top of the battery pack. Brilliant design.
2. Degraded side rail vents.
The first one seems pretty easy to deal with. But the second one... Are these rails on top of the battery? Any chance I could fit a laparoscope somewhere and checkout the status of these vents? I assume they'll eventually just go back from age and have to be replaced.
Now that I've thought about it for a little more, since 057tech is on the other side of the country this seems like the sort of thing that a Tesla service center could do without costing too much. Has anyone tried that?
A full 7-9 car hauler is cheaper than per “slot”. That’s typically from a single pickup location.
The only new info I have to report is that Tesla SC wrote on my invoice that rerouting the AC drain line is "not required with the 2nd generation (2.0) HV battery" that has had various design improvements to prevent water ingress. They didn't need to drop my battery for my requested service, and so I didn't have that window of opportunity to request that the AC drain line be changed at a reasonable cost.
I do believe that the gen 2 battery pack is better protected, but I am still debating whether it's worth it to spend the $ to reroute the drain. (I'm incapable of DIY). I didn't ask Tesla how much they would charge to do it, since they clearly would like me to believe that it's fine to leave it as is.
I do believe that the gen 2 battery pack is better protected, but I am still debating whether it's worth it to spend the $ to reroute the drain. (I'm incapable of DIY). I didn't ask Tesla how much they would charge to do it, since they clearly would like me to believe that it's fine to leave it as is.
Thanks for reporting back. I think what the service center is saying is that your 1014116-00-B has a better design to prevent the moisture ingress, which is good of course. But, I do think it's worth spending the $ to reroute the drainage. No reason to have a puddle on top of the battery pack.
I'm definitely going to keep following this thread to learn how others are dealing with this if they can't do it themselves. In general I prefer to try to bring my car to a trusted non-T mechanic, but it's sounding like with a dual motor car, it's better to approach this repair with the battery dropped, which I can't ask a non-EV mechanic to do.
Jason, I went under the car and here is the battery info. Not sure if this matches up w/ the older packs.
ASY,HV BATT, S3, BB, DUMO, REMAN.
85KWh,400VDC
PN# 1088934-01-E
The battery was installed in June 2022. Ordered 4/22.
The bottom of the battery enclosure looks brand new. Not sure if they are just recycling the lids for the penthouse w/ the odd color. This battery has a max charge rate of 128kw as defined by the part. Current estimated range is 254-255 miles based on 227 mile topoff at 90%. I haven't gone to 100% yet.
It would be nice if there was some way to determine how old the pack is and whether it has the updated vents..
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The serial number starts with T15B, so the battery was manufactured in February, 2015.
Considering your pack was installed in either 2021 or 2022, it's odd what the label says: REMAN in Februrary of 2015?
I believe they keep the serial number of the original pack when they refurbish it. So you get to see the manufacture date of the original pack, but then the part number changes from 00-E at the end to 01-E at the end to show that it was refurbished once.
Very much appreciate this information; the vents at least on top of the penthouse cover look brand new; hopefully all the vents are new at this point including the side vents. Feb 2015 is about the same timeframe Jason mentioned where Tesla started fixing some of these problems - it was concerning that he thought it was an early 2012 pack initially due to penthouse color. The pack likely has 50-60k+ miles on it at least. Replacement was done at 59k on this car. Feel a little better about it. The drain house re-routing is functioning as expected. With the a/c drain line re-routed and now knowing this is a 2015 pack, I'm in better shape than I thought and can hopefully get another 3+ years out of the pack. Still, the pack is likely 7 years old. I don't see how a refurbished pack is worth the money vs. new at this point unless you're going to sell the car right away for the $5k difference.
@Peter_P and @dark cloud
Since you guys have the AC drain extension (good thing) already on your cars, where does it directly drain to? To the top of the front undercarriage protective cover plate (the black plastic cover) or directly to the ground? Any idea?
Since you guys have the AC drain extension (good thing) already on your cars, where does it directly drain to? To the top of the front undercarriage protective cover plate (the black plastic cover) or directly to the ground? Any idea?
Peter_P
Member
Good that the tube has been extended, still expect that our battery failure is due to moisture...
Attached some quick pictures I took after removing the tray. Also tried to look under the car, but could not see it from below (only looked quickly since I will be traveling later today).
Hope this helps!
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Last edited:
dark cloud
Active Member
I'll attach both top and down pictures with an arrow pointing to the cross member between the lower control arms, which the hose terminates on top of. As you can see there are openings in front and behind the cross member for the liquid to drain, as opposed to running down the length of the seam attaching the penthouse cover before falling off the sides of the battery. This whole area will be wet every time the car drives through heavy rain, including the top of the black plastic aero tray (mine is always coated with sand) whereas I don't expect much if any rain water splashing on top and behind of the penthouse regularly. The cross member is aluminum and the penthouse cover I assume is steel.
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