Repairing a Flooded Tesla Model S : HOW-TO

[Btr_ftw]

Just out of sheer curiosity, now that you know where the water line is, can you measure how high it was from some point of reference? I'd ask you to measure from the ground, but with the suspension shot, that won't be a useful measurement. Maybe how far from the bottom surface of the battery?

I can clearly see the water line in many places (I will post more soon). I just havent bothered to reference that line somewhere outside the vehicle. The interesting part is that Im not sure WHEN the suspension completely deflated. Did it do it gradually over time or instantly when it was submerged? Was the waterline from when the car was already "slammed" or some point in between?

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Do you have any more pictures of the PTC heater controller board? I expected to see resistance wire and high voltage, with the switching being controlled by the DC-DC directly. But, it looks like there's a fair bit of electronics on it, including IGBT or MOSFET switches, which is interesting. Maybe it even has some kind of pulse-width modulation given the inductor and capacitor bank, I was expecting to see a thermostatic control system but perhaps that wasn't precise enough.

And that board looks pretty salvageable for what it's worth, just needs a good clean with IPA and a toothbrush + cotton bud.

There is much more. The unit is quite long. I will take more photos today.

 

[thegruf]

so did the car sit level in the water or was it sitting eg front forwards on a ramp in the water?

crossing my fingers for you the DU is salvageable

 

[Ingineer]

You da man. Thanks. I followed your instructions but managed to deform the side bolsters anyway.

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UPDATE

I'd like to drop the DU and give the interior a bath.

Looking for suggestions on how to start with the re-immersion.

Hose down and vaccum with shop vac?
Spot wash with distilled water?
Spot Wipe with damp cloth?

Also looking for what solution to soak the wiring harness in.

I've heard people talk about this stuff, but I've never had the occasion (yet) to use it: Salt-X: Protect from salt damage & remove salt

If you can rent a heated pressure washer, that's the best bet. Blast it with tons of hot water which will help dissolve the salt and wash it away. This is the best first step.

The wiring harness is a big problem. The salt water wicked into the connections and up the copper strands and once the water evaporates the salt will re-crystalize and wait until there is some humidity. Even 30% is enough to let the salt work on the connections until they fail. The only hope is to mechanically clean all the connections as best you can and smear vaseline all over everything which will help keep out water and oxygen. Vaseline is non-conductive, so it's safe to smear into connectors and wiring.

 

[Ingineer]

Congrats on finally dropping the DU. Now you need to pull the DU from the subframe and get that inverter cover off! (It's the side with the warranty seal)

Disconnect the rectangular amp-seal connector from the end. It's tricky to release, so be careful not to break the latch tab! Once that's off, loosen the screw on the center of the orange cover until it's free (no need to remove it all the way, it's a captive screw). Then carefully pry the cover off working from all sides evenly. If the inside of the cover has water droplets on it, you have water in the inverter, and you'll need to proceed with cover removal. If you are, then remove the two 13mm bolts and then the battery cables will pull free of the housings with a sharp yank up. Remove the 4 torx fasteners from around the amp-seal connector and then you can remove all the torx fasteners from the other end of the cover. The cover should then slide right off, might need some taps with a hammer and some gentle prying, but it will slide. (do not allow it to go sideways too much or you could do damage!) Post pictures!

Once the DU is free, you can start on the pack. It's also easier than it looks! Follow my earlier procedure. Protip: Use some of the bolts from the battery in the top of the DU's lifting point holes. This will make it easy to lift the DU out of it's subframe.

You can check for water intrusion into the pack by removing the side covers from the pack once it's out of the car. Poke the orange valves at either end of the pack open and see if there is obvious water. If not, despite what your Tesla contact says, the pack is probably fine. We can test for this much easier once the DU is repaired.

BTW: Your DU looks to be a refurb unit, so it's been replaced once already. This is good! Almost all the DU's in early cars seem to need replacement at some point.

Also, the old-spice contamination is worse than I originally thought. You might have a total loss on your hands now! =)

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Wonder if you can put a 60kWh pack in an 85kWh car and if it will work (bar the dashboard showing the wrong model or allowing Ludicrous mode with a low-power battery...)

Yes you can, but the car and the pack will need reprogramming to work.

 

[Btr_ftw]

thoughts on what this is?

It was velcroed to the base of the rear seat directly in front of the motor, this almost seems like it would be a knock sensor on a regular ICE

 

[scaesare]

Was there a wire plugged in to that connector on the bottom of it?

 

[Btr_ftw]

Was there a wire plugged in to that connector on the bottom of it?

yes there was. goes into main wiring harness

 

[tom66]

If that's a coax connector, could be an antenna of some kind, possibly for the keyfob.

 

[zhur0002]

Shipping would be no problem PM for more details. Bat had 4800 miles on it and has cac is 201 its a b-pack.

 

[Btr_ftw]

Do you have any more pictures of the PTC heater controller board? I expected to see resistance wire and high voltage, with the switching being controlled by the DC-DC directly. But, it looks like there's a fair bit of electronics on it, including IGBT or MOSFET switches, which is interesting. Maybe it even has some kind of pulse-width modulation given the inductor and capacitor bank, I was expecting to see a thermostatic control system but perhaps that wasn't precise enough.

And that board looks pretty salvageable for what it's worth, just needs a good clean with IPA and a toothbrush + cotton bud.

PM me for high res

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can someone help me figure out where the water line was :biggrin:

 

[cman8]

So with the sub i guess ot had the premium sound then.

 

[Btr_ftw]

So with the sub i guess ot had the premium sound then.

Judging by the paper cones in the rear doors it didnt look premium. Have people swapped speakers already?

 

[Frankydude]

There are 6 IGBTs for the heater unit, that must probably be used to switch on and off the current from the main battery.
The part numbers shown on the pictures are K30T60A and K75T60A
The datasheets for them are easily found:http://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-IKW30N60TA-DS-v02_03-EN.pdf?fileId=5546d4624933b87501495c079c9c1e2f
and http://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-IKW75N60T-DS-v02_08-en.pdf?fileId=db3a304412b407950112b42890113e25

Frank
2013 P85

 

[pgiralt]

Judging by the paper cones in the rear doors it didnt look premium. Have people swapped speakers already?

If you have the sub, you have the Tesla premium system (which includes XM, more speakers, and Dolby surround). That said, to your question there is work by Light Harmonic to develop a Tesla-specific replacement for the speakers and the premium audio amp:

Premium Audio for Tesla Model S by Light Harmonic

 

[tom66]

There are 6 IGBTs for the heater unit, that must probably be used to switch on and off the current from the main battery.
The part numbers shown on the pictures are K30T60A and K75T60A
The datasheets for them are easily found:http://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infine...N.pdf?fileId=5546d4624933b87501495c079c9c1e2f
and http://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infine...n.pdf?fileId=db3a304412b407950112b42890113e25

Frank
2013 P85

Surprisingly "beefy" IGBTs for the heater unit (30A & 75A), rated at only 6kW (~15A @ 400V); I'd imagine that they're using a much higher rated element, say 12kW or so, and some duty-cycle modulation to keep average power limited to about 6kW or so, that way the effective heating power stays relatively constant as the battery discharges, and for both 60/70 and 85/90kWh cars with 350V and 400V peak batteries respectively. They may also be switching in different heating elements to reduce the effective ripple current at the input.

 

[Btr_ftw]

I have no use for the heat core in its current condition. Nor do I have the time to attempt repair. If someone wants to take a crack at it I can ship it to them along with any other parts that may be of interest.

If you can fix them then by all means feel free to ship back and I can pay for your services.

 

[kennybobby]

PM sent.

 

[Ingineer]

I can fix your heater.

 

[Btr_ftw]

I can fix your heater.

I feel like it would be too easy for you

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UPDATE

Taking a break from heavy wrenching to post photos of the stuff I've seen so far... Soon the battery drop and disassembly is coming. If anyone has a good camera I can attach to my forehead to record the drop and opening of the battery feel free to throw out suggestions (cheaper than a go pro)



anyway




How about that airbag module eh?

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as expected

 

[scaesare]

I feel like it would be too easy for you

Post of the day.

lol.