Tesla now repairing MCU1 with a new Tegra card for less than $500

[michaelrap]

So a couple weeks ago my facelift 2016 Model S greeted me one morning with a black MCU screen. The car still started and ran, but no HVAC controls or radio or blinkers as far as I could tell.

So I immediately made an appointment through the app for service and the car has been down there for one week today. My car is just a few hundred miles out of warranty so I figured my only options were full MCU1 replacement or what they call now the infotainment MCU2 upgrade. Come to find out that because my car doesn’t have a power lift gate that the infotainment upgrade is not an option as of now.

So I just got off the phone with Tesla service here in Reno and they tell me they are now replacing the Tegra card and that my total in parts and labor for repair of the MCU1 is $490. I glanced at the estimate and it looks like the Tegra card is $120 part and the rest is labor and diagnostic fee. It seems pretty palatable since I thought I was going to be in at $1000 or more for a repair.

Just thought I would relay my experience for the benefit of others. Also they told me that part could be a week or two away.

 

[ucmndd]

Good news.

This seemed like the obvious solution to me, fixing the eMMCs in house or through a third party and not replacing the entire MCU, particularly now that they've got a pile of spares from all the infotainment upgrades.

I suspect this will be the eventual "fix" offered for MCU failures if the NHTSA investigation leads to such a requirement or settlement.

 

[MP3Mike]

I wonder if they would do the 3G to LTE upgrade for another ~$120 (the cost of the parts) since they will already being doing most of the labor with the Tegra board replacement.

 

[BigNick]

Do you know if the new refurbished Tegra boards still have the original undersized eMMC chip or have they replaced it with a larger one?

 

[ucmndd]

Do you know if the new refurbished Tegra boards still have the original undersized eMMC chip or have they replaced it with a larger one?

I have to imagine if they're going through the trouble they're replacing it with a more robust part. The cost of the part is a pittance compared to the labor.

It would seem completely nonsensical to go through the effort and replace it with another copy of a known faulty part. But who really knows, because Tesla.

 

[tga]

A friend's 2016 X got towed for a dead MCU. I'm curious to see what his paperwork says.

 

[odguy]

surprised it took Tesla this long to do instead of replacing entire MCU. Wonder if one can proactively purchase the upgraded Tegra board and self install?

 

[Ostrichsak]

surprised it took Tesla this long to do instead of replacing entire MCU. Wonder if one can proactively purchase the upgraded Tegra board and self install?

I'm not surprised. Wonder how they plan to deploy this solution at the Service Center level. I'm a bit sacred given how bad they are at basic plug-n-play replacement parts. No possible way they get something as technical as this right.

 

[MP3Mike]

surprised it took Tesla this long to do instead of replacing entire MCU. Wonder if one can proactively purchase the upgraded Tegra board and self install?

Doubtful because it require programming.

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm not surprised. Wonder how they plan to deploy this solution at the Service Center level. I'm a bit sacred given how bad they are at basic plug-n-play replacement parts. No possible way they get something as technical as this right.

They don't seem to have any problem replacing other daughtercards/items. (LTE, GPS, displays, etc.) It isn't a technical/complicated procedure. (Shoot people that have never worked on a car before seem to be able to do it to send their board in to third parties.)

 

[odguy]

Doubtful because it require programming.

On a technical level they can program the chip remotely no? They should have the certificates etc.

 

[Chaserr]

I'm not surprised. Wonder how they plan to deploy this solution at the Service Center level. I'm a bit sacred given how bad they are at basic plug-n-play replacement parts. No possible way they get something as technical as this right.

If you watch the videos to send it to a third party upgrader it actually is just a plug and play so of course they will screw it up occasionally.

 

[MP3Mike]

On a technical level they can program the chip remotely no? They should have the certificates etc.

I don't know if initial configuration can be done remotely or if it has to be done via the diagnostics port.

 

[whitex]

I have to imagine if they're going through the trouble they're replacing it with a more robust part. The cost of the part is a pittance compared to the labor.

It would seem completely nonsensical to go through the effort and replace it with another copy of a known faulty part. But who really knows, because Tesla.

For a typical auto manufacturer substituting a part would not be trivial, as the new design would have to go through an appropriate change management process and require re-validation (software and hardware). This being Tesla however, which has been rumored to have shipped cars with cables obtained from a local Fry's whenever they ran out, you never know. However, even though customers comprise a large part of Tesla QA strategy, Tesla would still have to fix any problems which might arise from using a new part, which costs money of course. They know the old part lasted 2-5 years, with software logging fixes they can expect longer, so they might not have any incentive to change at all - "devil you know" type situation.

 

[DJRas]

Reading and writing the data cannot be done remotely. The 3rd party guys have special tools to access the proper points on the Tegra board.
I do hope Tesla is using a current (and much larger) eMMC chip on these.
Service Centers may have a station that tge entire board plugs into for the programming.

 

[Alysashley79]

So a couple weeks ago my facelift 2016 Model S greeted me one morning with a black MCU screen. The car still started and ran, but no HVAC controls or radio or blinkers as far as I could tell.

So I immediately made an appointment through the app for service and the car has been down there for one week today. My car is just a few hundred miles out of warranty so I figured my only options were full MCU1 replacement or what they call now the infotainment MCU2 upgrade. Come to find out that because my car doesn’t have a power lift gate that the infotainment upgrade is not an option as of now.

So I just got off the phone with Tesla service here in Reno and they tell me they are now replacing the Tegra card and that my total in parts and labor for repair of the MCU1 is $490. I glanced at the estimate and it looks like the Tegra card is $120 part and the rest is labor and diagnostic fee. It seems pretty palatable since I thought I was going to be in at $1000 or more for a repair.

Just thought I would relay my experience for the benefit of others. Also they told me that part could be a week or two away.

will you post your invoice once you pick up your car so we can see what they did? Good info for those of us with older cars.

 

[whitex]

Anyone know what warranty Tesla gives for this $500 replacement?

 

[Gizmotoy]

I've been having constant bluetooth issues, navigation failures, and restarts. After a log review my mobile service got cancelled in favor of a SC visit. I also got a notice that parts were ordered for my car:

MSX MCU PC TEGRA DAUGHTERBOARD-PROVISIONED
Part #: 2728211-S0-A

I assume this is one of the refurbished Tegra cards mentioned above.

 

[ElectricIAC]

A friend's 2016 X got towed for a dead MCU. I'm curious to see what his paperwork says.

Incorrect wheels.

 

[BigTonyTones]

Lets see if 3rd parties start dropping their prices.