Success Stories for Preemptive eMMC Warranty Replacement with Center Display Repairs?

[FoxSTL2HOU]

Not sure if it was a parting gift from 2020, or taste of what's to come from 2021, but overnight bubbles appeared on our center display (and are spreading by the hour). The adhesive has been intermittently leaking since September so its not completely unexpected.

We were having 2-3x weekly slow-boots of the MCU up until late-October, when I did nav history and trip odometer wipes. After the eMMC warranty extension email came out, I've been waiting for one to happen so I have a timestamp to give to Tesla to look at logs...we haven't had one. Despite the recent multiple updates, we have not gotten the "Schedule service for degraded eMMC" message.

Q1: Has anyone gotten a service center to agree to an eMMC swapout under the warranty, without having received the "schedule service" message, while the car was in for other repairs?

Q2: Assuming the SC answer is, "we checked your vehicle's logs, eMMC is ok, so no replacement," has anyone saved on the labor hours by having a center screen replacement concurrent with paid eMMC replacement (since it's my understanding the screen has to come out for daughterboard replacement)?

MCU2: For anyone suggesting "just pay for the MCU2 upgrade instead of paying for a center display and eMMC replacement", we did a paid replacement of the instrument cluster earlier this year for the same bubbles/adhesive leak. As I understand it, MCU1 IC gets taken out and a new MCU2 IC goes in, so despite knowing I should ignore sunk cost fallacy...that's a big sunk cost to try and ignore for only a couple pandemic months of use.

Thanks all.

 

[Akikiki]

As I recall from someone here that paid for replacement screen like you need, the cost with labor was about $960. Something to think about.

We learned recently that the SC tech as looking for specific error messages to determine if replacement is warranted. The error messages that explain were/are in a Tesla Service Bulletin and documented here on the NHTSA web site, if you desire to do your own detective work.

You are clearly set against the expense of MCU2, so I won't bother you with encouraging remarks, - but I would be remiss to anyone else for failing to say ITS WORTH IT AND MORE.

 

[SSedan]

My car is in for suspension service and had 102k I asked about the EMMC and they said it physical replacement is only needed if it fails. If caught in time they can clean it up before it corrupts.

 

[FoxSTL2HOU]

...The error messages that explain were/are in a Tesla Service Bulletin and documented here on the NHTSA web site, if you desire to do your own detective work...

I am assuming the flags described in the TSB are not set, since I haven't seen the pop-up in the vehicle. SSedan's post helps confirm my assumption that the answer to the thread's title is "no".

As I recall from someone here that paid for replacement screen like you need, the cost with labor was about $960. Something to think about...

Since making the first post, the screen leak has accelerated to "adhesive dripping and pooling on the (evannex) center console daily", so the default option of "do nothing and wait for eMMC to fail before replacing the display" is likely off the table. As such, I see the current options as...

a) pay $1000 for screen and hope eMMC failure is within warranty / not at an inconvenient time
b) pay $1250(?) for screen and non-warranty eMMC swap and be back at day 1 status (new IC, new center, new eMMC)
c) pay $2500 for upgrade, with optional
c1) pay the MCU1 IC core charge and resell to partially offset the previous repair (if the core charge is less than resale value)

...You are clearly set against the expense of MCU2, so I won't bother you with encouraging remarks, - but I would be remiss to anyone else for failing to say ITS WORTH IT AND MORE.

The MCU2 upgrade is back in the mix. Can you supply the encouraging remarks (or link to a post where you've already explained)? For my family, the expectation is the car is an "own until scrapped local travel" vehicle, given trash Supercharger rates negate road trips and a value-killing airbag-deployment accident on record...so any benefits related to road trips / nav / boosting trade-in value likely don't apply for us.

 

[Akikiki]

The MCU2 upgrade is back in the mix. Can you supply the encouraging remarks (or link to a post where you've already explained)? For my family, the expectation is the car is an "own until scrapped local travel" vehicle, given trash Supercharger rates negate road trips and a value-killing airbag-deployment accident on record...so any benefits related to road trips / nav / boosting trade-in value likely don't apply for us.

You bet-em,

I was one of the first in the country to get MCU2. It was an accident, but I did get it.
Here's two post that I explained in much detail. One on TMC and one on TM.
Notice this was 1 April-ish when I picked up my car.
Tesla Confirms Infotainment Upgrade is another excellent thread here.

To me the most amazing and unexpected benefit, is my car how is better 4 years old than it was when it was delivered in Mar 2017.
I was planning on buying a 2021 last fall. But when I got my MCU2 upgrade done in March 2020, heck why buy when for $2500 my three year old car became nearly brand new. Having not been in a MCU2 S/X before, I didn't know how much better it would be. But its simply amazing the difference. I've read at least 200+ post by people here that have also upgraded. I've not seen a single regret to the upgrade.
Many upgraded and complained they miss their FM/XM radio. But now, its available for a fee. I didn't miss it, and won't spend the extra to get it, although myself and a friend went to a great deal of effort to try and restore it to stop the complaining by others.

I posted this last month, after thinking about another way of saying the same thing.
Post # 6841

I've posted many times on MCU1/eMMC issues, and on the MCU2 replacement/upgrade.
One of those, I did my comparison to see if it was worth the cost.
Here's the content of that post, from one of the many threads here.

What’s the value of the MCU2 Upgrade - to me. All these questions and discussion if it’s worth it. Therefore, I thought I could put a value on each part. The value you place on it maybe be different. I think I got a bargain at $2500

Cost to replace/repair MCU failed-----------$1,500

(2 each Blackvue DR900-2CH= $400)
Tesla Dash Cam---------------------------------$ 800
Sentry Mode
Upgrade on WiFi to include 5 GHz-------------$ 100
Functioning Browser---------------------------- $ 100
Quicker Response to Maps----------------------$ 200
Sound is better Like an aftermarket radio)---$ 400
BT now displays media album art-------------- $ 50
Driving Visualizations----------------------------$ 100
Tesla Theater (Equal to Tablet/iPad)---------- $ 500
Netflix
Hulu
Youtube
Tesla Arcade
--------------------------------------------Total---$3,750

If I had to pay for a MCU1 replacement, the cost would be $1,500 at least.

I have two 2-channel Blackvue dash cams in my car. 360 degree view.
Tesla Dash Cam & Sentry gives me the same 360 degree view both driving and parked. The two DR 988-2CH's cost about $400 each.

Tesla Theater and Arcade is like the added an iPad with cell service to the screen.
These items I just put down a $$ number of what I would pay to get if I had seen them and wanted to keep them.
Wifi upgrade, working browser, fast map response and Bluetooth media album art, driving visualizations, and better sound without a radio is like an aftermarket radio upgrade. Did I miss anything?

Don't you miss this though. I don't get anything for encouraging you to upgrade. There's no referral or benefit to me for helping you. Just the facts. If anything, I spend a lot of energy just to talk people into helping themselves.

 

[Damager99]

I have a 2015 85D with MCU1. I was starting to have the same issues as you - reboots on MCU, reboots on IC, etc. Tesla SC did the same "give us the date / time of restart" and "we cleared the EMMC - you should be good now". I did actually take the time to document several of my reboots and share that data with them.

At one point in the back and forth I sent a text saying "Look - you and I both know whats happening here. Lets just replace this chip and get it done with". The next message was that they had ordered the chip and would let me know when it arrives.

I've now had the EMMC replaced. It has solved all the reboot issues. However, be advised that it changes nothing else - nothing will speed up, or work any better. It's just more stable.

I'm OK with MCU 1 - my use case doesn't really add much value for Netflix and Youtube and games, and I'm OK with the current performance. But I totally get that some people assign a high value to these things.

 

[jrwaters1]

My car is in for suspension service and had 102k I asked about the EMMC and they said it physical replacement is only needed if it fails. If caught in time they can clean it up before it corrupts.

Did they also tell you the one about three bears?

 

[el-guapin]

If the recall goes through, what happens to those who paid for the replacement /upgrade out of pocket?