Read the bolded parts. I agree with the original author. Don't wait; do this before it's too late.
This was found in a European forum on TMC, translated by Google Translate. Is the original already in English? If not, I like their description of the 3 options available in Europe, which probably are substantially the same here in USA.
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Recently the necessary messages have appeared about screens of 'Classics' that went black, air conditioning and music that no longer work etc. See for example the wires:
Preventive eMMC replacement on MCU1
and:
Users complain about defective older Teslas due to worn-out emmc chips
Flash Memory on Some Tesla Cars Is Reportedly Burning Out, Causing Major Issues
UPDATE: Tesla Cars Have A Memory Problem That May Cost You A Lot To Repair
As you can read in these messages, the eMMC chip on the Media Control Unit (MCU, printed circuit board behind the large screen) breaks down due to the many write actions of the Tesla. This leads to the problems described above.
Repairing it by Tesla is expensive, think of an amount in the order of more than 3000 euros. Tesla then replaces the entire screen with the printed circuit board behind it and reinserts one of the same 'type'. So an MCU version 1 (MCU1) is replaced by a completely different MCU1, but with a working eMMC (of the same size).
However: this repair can be prevented and does not have to be that expensive: the eMMC can also be replaced in time. This chip only costs a few tens and then labor is added to replace it. That is considerably less than the costs for replacing the entire screen with Tesla.
In addition, it is important to know that there are two certificates on the chip that are needed to be able to communicate with Tesla's servers (for app access, updates, spotify, remote diagnosis, etc.). The other things that are on the chip are slightly less important, such as the positions of the trip meters to name one. The firmware is not irreplaceable: it can simply be put on it.
It now mainly plays with the Classic's (MCU1) up to and including production date February 2018. But if Tesla does not make any changes to the intensive logging, it will eventually also occur with the newer (MCU2) Teslas. Because 64GB chips are used instead of the 8GB, it may be that it takes much longer for the problem to occur with these 'younger' Teslas.
Assuming that you have an approx. 4 year old Classic (that is the moment when the problems may arise) there are (in addition to the costly replacement of the entire MCU by Tesla) actually three possibilities. But beware: it seems to have happened earlier and later.
A) just wait for the screen to fail and then replace the eMMC with a larger, high-quality copy, instead of the entire screen.
However, this strategy is not without risk. It is possible that the eMMC has become so bad that the certificates present on the chip can no longer be read. A data recovery company may be involved to try to read the certificates, but there is no guarantee that this will work. If that fails, Tesla will still have to be called in to get it going again via the previously described replacement and associated costs. Unfortunately, Tesla does not cooperate in providing the unique files for your car, they only offer a complete replacement of the MCU.
B) do not wait until you can no longer read the certificates and ensure that they are already read. Then you have saved it in advance and you can further choose option A) (wait until it goes wrong), or:
C) = option B) + immediately replace the eMMC with a larger, high-quality copy such as a 16.32 or even 64GB chip from Swissbit. That gives peace of mind, because you know that you will not bump into the black screen and the problem will probably not occur again for the first 10 years or longer due to the higher quality and larger chip.
My advice: opt for peace of mind for option C) or at least for option B) (unless money is not an issue for you and you allow Tesla to do the replacement).
I myself have chosen my 5 year old S for option C), because I was going on a long road trip to Portugal and Spain and did not want to run the risk of standing in the heat without air conditioning. Replacing turned out to be a tricky event: my eMMC already turned out not to be able to read properly anymore (without signals in the car that it was no longer functioning properly!). The certificates were still collected with great difficulty. Fortunately, data recovery was not necessary.
eMMC.jpg
Photo: replacing the eMMC
OK, but how do you arrange option B) or C)?
For all three alternatives the MCU must be built out of the car. There are a number of parties in NL who can help you with this. If you can extract the MCU yourself (or with the help of a forum member such as {censored} or a garage) then you can go to Terneuzen with Dennis from All Systems Go or in Eindhoven with {censored}. Both charge the same price of around € 300 for reading and replacing the eMMC. The duration is +/- 2 hours. Possibly {censored} can also go in and out of the MCU at his plac{...}
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