Something broke, judder, warning lights, etc...

[Davidss2]

So I was driving away from my house the other day and got a bit of a judder. Then taking off from a stop sign the traction control cut power for 2 seconds. Not long after I started getting warning lights.

I tried rebooting with the scroll wheels and brake pedal and there was zero change. I tried a full power down from the menu and restart and the warnings were gone but came right back.

Most of the time when you take off from a start there is some hesitation.

Made an appointment to take it into Tesla this Monday. It's weird driving it around with no regen. And no power steering sucks.

 

[Msjulie]

Yikes, good luck

 

[Tessaract]

Let us know what happens!

 

[Davidss2]

I am a little worried about the fact that I have coilovers. It would suck to have a warranty claimed denied. But searching online I can't seems to find almost anyone out there where they have denied a warranty claim before for aftermarket parts.

 

[Kilotango74]

Unless your coilovers caused the problem it shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[Phlier]

Unless your coilovers caused the problem it shouldn’t be an issue.

This.

@Davidss2 It is a federal law that car dealers and manufacturers can not void your warranty car wide due to aftermarket parts or maintenance that you (or a non factory authorized mechanic) performed on your car.

Your coilovers voided the warranty on the specific parts of the car that they effected in the way that they work, but will in NO way void the warranty on other, non suspension related parts and issues.

But if they should find that, say, a wheel RPM sensor was damaged or improperly re-installed (and this was causing all of your problems), and they find that this was due to your coil over installation, yeah... no warranty.

And it wasn't by accident that I mentioned a wheel RPM sensor.....

 

[MasterC17]

Gonna guess this is a damaged wheel speed sensor, which could be related to the Coilover installation.

You may want to inspect the front wheel speed sensors and make sure they aren't damaged/routed improperly/unplugged.

 

[Needsdecaf]

This.

@Davidss2 It is a federal law that car dealers and manufacturers can not void your warranty car wide due to aftermarket parts or maintenance that you (or a non factory authorized mechanic) performed on your car.

Your coilovers voided the warranty on the specific parts of the car that they effected in the way that they work, but will in NO way void the warranty on other, non suspension related parts and issues.

But if they should find that, say, a wheel RPM sensor was damaged or improperly re-installed (and this was causing all of your problems), and they find that this was due to your coil over installation, yeah... no warranty.

And it wasn't by accident that I mentioned a wheel RPM sensor.....

This is just a general post, but I tend to bring it up when someone mentions Magnuson Moss. So please, don't take this directed solely at you.

Reliance on Magnuson Moss assumes that you as an owner are willing to go toe-to-toe with a dealer / manufacturer when they chalk your issue up to an aftermarket mod. Unfortnately the burden of proof is on the consumer. So, say for instance, Audi can spot that you've tuned your car and when you show up with a bad wheel bearing say "nope, your car has a tune which clearly added more power than designed for and pushed the car outside of the parameters we designed it to. Claim denied under warranty, pay out of pocket". With an Audi you can take it to another mechanic to fix. WIth Tesla, not so much. Relying on M-M assumes that if Tesla says "you damaged something installing your coilovers" the affected owner is going to sit with a broken car, which may or may not be his only means of transportation, while they hire a lawyer and takes Tesla to court to pay for the repairs. Meanwhile Tesla has an army of attorneys as well as the original design engineers and their data on their side. The plaintiff is going to have to hire a third party automotive engineer to testify in court as his witness that no, Tesla doesn't know the limits of his own car, and that he as a consumer and some aftermarket supplier know better than the original designers. Relying on M-M means you're pretty much hosed and at the mercy of the dealer unless it's really egregious.

 

[raptor5244]

This is just a general post, but I tend to bring it up when someone mentions Magnuson Moss. So please, don't take this directed solely at you.

Reliance on Magnuson Moss assumes that you as an owner are willing to go toe-to-toe with a dealer / manufacturer when they chalk your issue up to an aftermarket mod. Unfortnately the burden of proof is on the consumer. So, say for instance, Audi can spot that you've tuned your car and when you show up with a bad wheel bearing say "nope, your car has a tune which clearly added more power than designed for and pushed the car outside of the parameters we designed it to. Claim denied under warranty, pay out of pocket". With an Audi you can take it to another mechanic to fix. WIth Tesla, not so much. Relying on M-M assumes that if Tesla says "you damaged something installing your coilovers" the affected owner is going to sit with a broken car, which may or may not be his only means of transportation, while they hire a lawyer and takes Tesla to court to pay for the repairs. Meanwhile Tesla has an army of attorneys as well as the original design engineers and their data on their side. The plaintiff is going to have to hire a third party automotive engineer to testify in court as his witness that no, Tesla doesn't know the limits of his own car, and that he as a consumer and some aftermarket supplier know better than the original designers. Relying on M-M means you're pretty much hosed and at the mercy of the dealer unless it's really egregious.

Agreed. I have seen this before with folks that modify Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes. GM and Ford will deny a claim but then the consumer will go broke trying to fight it so it is just less expensive to cut your losses and pay for the fix. I believe that is how the saying, "you gotta pay to play" evolved when it comes to modifying cars. Hopefully, that is not the case here a Tesla will be cool about it.

 

[Davidss2]

Ok took it to the dealer and MasterC17 guessed it correctly. It was a wheel speed sensor cable that had been rubbing on the wheel/tire. Since the damage was very clearly caused by my modifications (which I do not dispute) it was not covered under warranty. New cable was $22 which I purchased and installed myself, and they charged me $50 for diagnosis which was reasonable.

On the warranty and mods subject. My specific service center said that their policy is not to void any warranty work for mods unless it is obvious. However... they will not work on anything aftermarket. Even in the case of my wheel spacers they won't even unbolt the wheels if the wheel spacers are present. So if I had wanted to pay them the labor charge to fix my wheel speed sensor issue I would have had to take the car back home, remove the wheel spacers, and then return without them.

For a lot of warranty service you might have to remove your mods.

On the subject of the worn sensor cable. In my case the cable was probably tugged slightly during the coilover install. So in addition to replacing the cable/sensor I added a couple of zip ties to help manage the strain relief in the future.

 

[Phlier]

Ok took it to the dealer and MasterC17 guessed it correctly.

Think you might've skipped a post, but glad you got it taken care of!

 

[TheLocNar]

Totally reasonable solution on Tesla’s behalf. Glad you got it fixed.

 

[dsgerbc]

It was a wheel speed sensor cable that had been rubbing on the wheel/tire.

And it wasn't by accident that I mentioned a wheel RPM sensor.....

So, what does one do during coilover install not to end-up like this? I'm probably installing some in a month or two.

 

[raptor5244]

So, what does one do during coilover install not to end-up like this? I'm probably installing some in a month or two.

The installer has to pay close attention and make the required provisions to ensure nothing will rub or interfere. Experience is the key when modding and thanks to the OP and his willingness to share his story he can save others the potential headache.

 

[MasterC17]

So, what does one do during coilover install not to end-up like this? I'm probably installing some in a month or two.

Zip ties!

 

[Rottenapplr]

Agreed. I have seen this before with folks that modify Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes. GM and Ford will deny a claim but then the consumer will go broke trying to fight it so it is just less expensive to cut your losses and pay for the fix. I believe that is how the saying, "you gotta pay to play" evolved when it comes to modifying cars. Hopefully, that is not the case here a Tesla will be cool about it.

Agreed. It part of the risk of modding your car. Even if the part is not caused by modding it’s in the consumer to prove the case. Maybe they’ll see it your way, made not. But it’s the risk we take when modding. I’ve stopped modding my cars so it doesn’t affect me.

 

[dsgerbc]

Zip ties!

I added a couple of zip ties to help manage the strain relief in the future.

Got any pics of said zip ties installed?

 

[Davidss2]

So, what does one do during coilover install not to end-up like this? I'm probably installing some in a month or two.

Once the upper control arm is disconnected it is easy to end up tugging on the sensor cable. The cable has rubber grommets on it that locate it and my initial impression was that the rubber grommets were bonded to the cable. They are not and with some force you can adjust the grommets location. So in my case there was a bit more slack in the area that rubbed the tire than what was intended by the engineers.

So just watch to make sure you aren't tugging on the cable and that there isn't too much slack sticking out where it can rub.