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Vendor Preventative Maintenance regarding Battery Failures in early Model S vehicles (2012-2014)

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Tesla was using a common air suspension system from a supplier that was used on multiple other brands of cars, probably the same as Mercedes, since they were using a lot of Mercedes parts. So I think it would be exactly the same. That is the reason I made sure to NOT get a car with air suspension. I didn't want a $4,000 per wheel repair bill lurking.
360.000km and still have my original air suspension and its running fine. Definitly worth it in my opinion.
 
My experience with Audis and Land Rovers leads me to think Teslas air suspension implementation is better, even if Tesla is buying the same off the shelf parts. But more importantly, when I go into the Tesla service center, I get the “how can we get this guy out of here as fast as possible” vibe. At dealer service centers it always feels like “how can this guy help me pay for my new boat”.

Since we’re already a little off topic of batteries. Anyone find it imteresting that Maxwell Technologies, which Tesla acquired for their battery manufacturing, had an active/magnetic suspension group?
 
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That's impressive. Previous owner replacer all 4 corners (leaking) just before 140k km. It all depends on the climate (Eastern Canada here)
My car is from Ontario for its first 3 years (40000 km) and then middle of BC for the next 5 years; we get winter here. Now 8 years old with 220000 km, never had an air suspension issue while I owned it.
 
My car is from Ontario for its first 3 years (40000 km) and then middle of BC for the next 5 years; we get winter here. Now 8 years old with 220000 km, never had an air suspension issue while I owned it.

My Model S spent the bulk of its life in the Pacific Northwest, where we put on over 230,000 miles. It now has just shy of 260,000 mi. I've never had a single problem with the air suspension, although Tesla did proactively replace the pump on their dime, during a service visit when I was having them replace the rear hubs along with all the rotors and brake materials, just a couple years ago. Well out of warranty. Apparently it was supposed to have been done some time ago. So, my single data point says that there are not much in the way of problems with the air suspension system.
 
My Model S spent the bulk of its life in the Pacific Northwest, where we put on over 230,000 miles. It now has just shy of 260,000 mi. I've never had a single problem with the air suspension, although Tesla did proactively replace the pump on their dime, during a service visit when I was having them replace the rear hubs along with all the rotors and brake materials, just a couple years ago. Well out of warranty. Apparently it was supposed to have been done some time ago. So, my single data point says that there are not much in the way of problems with the air suspension system.

2013 Model S 85 here at 357k miles. Air suspension still working like a champ.
 
wow, so 120k avg per battery. how many drive inits so far?
First battery replacement was at 127k miles or so. Second one was 4 months ago at 347k miles. Drive unit recently replaced by Tesla as it started leaking fluid so it didn't completely fail. I purchased it used at 127k miles with replacement battery recently installed. I did hear that early Model S runs had problems with drive units because of dust from the factory and were replaced early on. So depending on this I'm either on my 2nd or 3rd drive unit.
 
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057 Tech ran my 2014 p85dL VIN and let me know that my car falls into the window after Tesla implemented a lot of changes to correct the issues that are addressed in the thread- thank you 057!

My next questions are now regarding the longevity of a battery and reliability of a car like mine as my warranty expires in December. Should I be concerned that it has the upgraded Ludicrous mode, or may that help the drivetrain somehow due to the hardware upgrades that the upgrade required upon installation?

How about the air suspension? I haven’t had any issues in the past (car had 83k miles), but I’ve had other cars (sl55 and e55) and eventually those were big cost items to repair…is that the case for Teslas too, and can I somehow get tesla to do “pre-purchase” type of inspection to check for any issues while under warranty-has anyone had success getting the service center to do such a thing?
Update on this post! Tesla wants $1500 for a full drop / battery inspection (I was just curious as to how much they would charge and if they would ask any questions about why I want I check for water ingress-which they did).

They are going to charge me $233 for a “general inspection” of the car. I’m guessing it’s like a ppi. Would you all trust the tesla service center to point out issues with the car right before the warranty expires? Or would you think it would be better to take to an Indy shop for the inspection prior to the warranty’s expiration ?
 
Update on this post! Tesla wants $1500 for a full drop / battery inspection (I was just curious as to how much they would charge and if they would ask any questions about why I want I check for water ingress-which they did).

They are going to charge me $233 for a “general inspection” of the car. I’m guessing it’s like a ppi. Would you all trust the tesla service center to point out issues with the car right before the warranty expires? Or would you think it would be better to take to an Indy shop for the inspection prior to the warranty’s expiration ?

About 4 years ago I did trust Tesla on that with my vehicle at 48,000 miles. They found tons of stuff that they fixed at no charge to me. Whether or not the current Tesla would do that, I don't know.
 
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I bet my service center would still do an amazing job on a pre warranty expiring vehicle inspection, anytime other than the last week of the quarter.

My service center flatly refuses to look at anything if it's not already broken. How do you even approach them with such a request? Do you have to pay for it? And, is there a list of what they inspect you happen to have or would present to them?

Thanks.
 
My service center flatly refuses to look at anything if it's not already broken. How do you even approach them with such a request? Do you have to pay for it? And, is there a list of what they inspect you happen to have or would present to them?

Thanks.
In the past with Benz and BMW’s I had to complain and describe specifics, such as “customer states squeaky noise coming from from left part or car (would mean that they need to check out suspension or cv boo text)”.

— I am looking for an exhaustive list of all items that can go wrong with an 8 year old model s with 100k miles, and then the proper ways to describe those things so that they have to look to see if anything is wrong. Anyone know of one?
 
360.000km and still have my original air suspension and its running fine. Definitly worth it in my opinion.

2016 90D -- still on the older style B2B used car warranty (until june).

The car was sagging overnight; they threw parts at it until they'd replaced the compressor, the central valve block, and both rear springs.

I wouldn't have put up with such madness if it were on my dime -- each of these is a 500+ dollar replacement.

I think the real problem with the air spring system (which I quite like) is that often times, even if there is some reasonable diagnostic process, it isn't followed and what follows is a hideously expensive game of part swapping that can cost quite a lot of money.