PSA: "Battery Coolant Heater" not included in battery warranty

[Gridlok]

Yes it was a CPO that I paid way too much for in 2017! Came with 4 year (new) warranty, connected and supercharging free for life, new tires. Just brought it home from Tesla yesterday with everything functioning perfectly! Love my car! They were kind enough to give me a 70D loaner (on chill mode) but it just made me realize what a great ride I have.

 

[NitinR]

My Model X gave this "
Vehicle may not restart error message
" message along with bunch of other warning messages, while charging at supercharger. Ambient temp was around 55F. Now re-generation is completely off. Tesla SC found that the battery coolant heater has an internal fault causing the alerts on the screen, so they would need to replace it. My model X is 4.5 Yrs old and out of warranty So it will cost me $$$. This battery coolant heater failure quickly after 4 year warranty appears to be a common problem and should be covered by recall.

 

[SteveLas]

I think a number of would agree. There also seems to be an association between super charging. Or, perhaps that’s the primary time the battery needs cooling as I live in a moderately temperate climate. I don’t know what it would take to get a recall established.
While i’m really discounted this failed just outside the warranty, most of known problems failed within the warranty and happy
- sunroof track failure
- roof rack cover replacement
- drivers seat excessive wear, prior to the entry mode feature
- 12v battery
- sunroof track failure
- roof rack cover replacement
- drivers seat excessive wear, prior to the entry mode feature
- frunk latch
- front tire a-frame failure
- some ventilation thingy in the dash
- MPU failures, twice replaced. One was the pink perimeter
- Steering wheel display replacement

it’s disappointing they’re not fixing the heater as an obvious issue.

 

[BlueRocket]

My Model X gave this "
Vehicle may not restart error message
" message along with bunch of other warning messages, while charging at supercharger. Ambient temp was around 55F. Now re-generation is completely off. Tesla SC found that the battery coolant heater has an internal fault causing the alerts on the screen, so they would need to replace it. My model X is 4.5 Yrs old and out of warranty So it will cost me $$$. This battery coolant heater failure quickly after 4 year warranty appears to be a common problem and should be covered by recall.

I agree... Sorry for your trouble. Luckily mine went out about 9 months before end of warranty in my S.

 

[ucmndd]

appears to be a common problem and should be covered by recall.

Recalls exist for safety issues, not “common problems”.

 

[NitinR]

Recalls exist for safety issues, not “common problems”.

I agree, recalls for safety issues. While driving without regeneration on my X breaking is very poor and barely working. I don't do much of cold battery driving (always drove when ambient is above 45F) so I think battery heater is not used much. Still failed after 4.5 years that too while connected to a supercharger for 10+ minutes and while charging @45KW hence generating heat, so surely pointing towards some design or manufacturing problem.

 

[tvcraig]

I just got my 2016 Model S with 53k miles on it back from the shop. Of course after the warranty expires I had the thermal management sensor fail, along with fuse box and ABS system. It took them a month to figure out the issues. That was $2400. I get it home and I get the error message blip and Tesla calls telling me the battery coolant heater needs replacing for $700. Needless to say I have loved this car but damn, that’s a lot of cash right when warranty expires.

 

[croman]

Just got this error and diagnosis. Car drives great and it happened as I was ending a quick supercharging session. Hasn't appeared again and service wants 930 to fix it. We're trading this car in and I'm hesitant to repair it because we're not going to supercharge and we don't use it much due to the pandemic. We'd prefer to ride this out for 2 months. Is it dangerous? Battery does take longer to get full Regen. Ambient temps now in 30s and 40s. Will be very cold but car is garaged.

 

[ucmndd]

Just got this error and diagnosis. Car drives great and it happened as I was ending a quick supercharging session. Hasn't appeared again and service wants 930 to fix it. We're trading this car in and I'm hesitant to repair it because we're not going to supercharge and we don't use it much due to the pandemic. We'd prefer to ride this out for 2 months. Is it dangerous? Battery does take longer to get full Regen. Ambient temps now in 30s and 40s. Will be very cold but car is garaged.

I can’t think of any scenario where it would be “dangerous”.

 

[croman]

I can’t think of any scenario where it would be “dangerous”.

Ok, thanks. Worst case: car strands me until pack heats up? Or can this negatively affect the battery pack?

 

[ucmndd]

Ok, thanks. Worst case: car strands me until pack heats up? Or can this negatively affect the battery pack?

That’s what I think - worst case it gets too cold and you can’t charge until it heats up. That’s more like 0F though, not 30s or 40s.

 

[MP3Mike]

Ok, thanks. Worst case: car strands me until pack heats up?

If the battery heater doesn't work, how exactly is it going to heat up? Or are you thinking that the sun and air temperature will heat it up? If so, that could take a long time.

 

[croman]

If the battery heater doesn't work, how exactly is it going to heat up? Or are you thinking that the sun and air temperature will heat it up? If so, that could take a long time.

I can still use the car heat and I can discharge the pack to generate heat.

 

[MiningEng]

Had my car parked at an airport and when I got back in to go home last Thursday night, I couldn't get the vehicle to start (lots of various error messages and MCU seemed really wonky). After towing to the service centre, was diagnosed with the battery coolant heater failure today be fixed by Friday if parts arrive. 2018 X100D

 

[brucet999]

Had my car parked at an airport and when I got back in to go home last Thursday night, I couldn't get the vehicle to start (lots of various error messages and MCU seemed really wonky). After towing to the service centre, was diagnosed with the battery coolant heater failure today be fixed by Friday if parts arrive. 2018 X100D

"…diagnosed with the battery coolant heater failure…"

Only high tech could produce such an oxymoronic thing as a "coolant heater". I guess "heat exchange medium" is amore cumbersome term than "coolant", but not as counterintuitive when it needs to be heated.