That very loud and painful "clunk"

[mknox]

Glad you got it limped there. And I take it you haven't gotten the contactor replacement prior to today?

The last time I was in for service, they told me I was on the list to have the contactors replaced, but it was rolling out slowly. They told me not to worry because it is a very rare occurrence. Guess I drew the short straw!

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@mknox - Very odd indeed. When the screens go blank that means the 12 V is dead. Ergo, no power for the HV contactors to engage. I'm baffled as to how your car suddenly powered up 30 mins after being "dead."

Yeah. I'm wondering now if the car simply turned off as it would normally when you're sitting in it and not touching the brake or tapping the screen. Funny though that it wouldn't come back to life until the hour or so had passed and I tried it again.

 

[mknox]

The last time I was in for service, they told me I was on the list to have the contactors replaced, but it was rolling out slowly.

Just got a call and it looks like I'm head of the list for contactor replacement... Should have the car back next week.

 

[apacheguy]

Just got a call and it looks like I'm head of the list for contactor replacement... Should have the car back next week.

Are they performing it on site or shipping it back to Fremont and putting in a loaner pack?

 

[stevezzzz]

Welcome to the club, mknox, much as I know you would rather be on the outside looking in at the rest of us lounging in the club room. :biggrin:

On the bright side, maybe you'll get a B pack (or better) in place of your old A pack.

 

[FlasherZ]

Welcome to the club, mknox, much as I know you would rather be on the outside looking in at the rest of us lounging in the club room. :biggrin:

On the bright side, maybe you'll get a B pack (or better) in place of your old A pack.

It's rare, but it can happen. Tesla can do field replacement of the contactors, unless it fails the field test, in which case you get a loaner pack while Tesla reworks your pack in Fremont. In *most* cases, not all, you'll get your original pack back.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I had mine in for a on/off throttle clunk drivetrain replacement, and they dropped the battery to do the contactors at the same time. Unfortunately I didn't know that ahead of time so they had to literally run my heater on full hot for 12 hours to get the battery below the 50% SOC the change requires :-/. They had the car 3 days. Glad it got done, though.

 

[mknox]

Are they performing it on site or shipping it back to Fremont and putting in a loaner pack?

I was told they are going to do the repair on site at my Service Center, but are bringing in a specialist. The work is scheduled for next Tuesday and I have a loaner P85 until then.

 

[Duckjybe]

I was told they are going to do the repair on site at my Service Center, but are bringing in a specialist. The work is scheduled for next Tuesday and I have a loaner P85 until then.

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Since our cars have had practically the same issues I am a little worried. Although, I do have a B battery pack.

 

[mknox]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Since our cars have had practically the same issues I am a little worried. Although, I do have a B battery pack.

I had been advised that there was a "problem" and was scheduled for recall work before my incident. You may have the newer contacts already, but if you ask, they can do a lookup and tell you.

 

[Duckjybe]

With 77,000 Km my car warranty is almost up. I have to decide whether or not to get the extended warranty. Tough decision. I presume the contactors are part of the battery warranty for 8 years.

(I have posed this question in extended warranty thread) http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/34024-Extended-Warranty

 

[mknox]

I presume the contactors are part of the battery warranty for 8 years.

I believe so, yes. I wonder if it is even a very expensive repair? The battery apparently comes off the car quite easily and then it's just a matter of opening the pack and wiring in the new contactors. The technician really needs to know what he or she is doing with all that energy available, but aside from that, it might not be very labor-intensive. I have no idea what the part might cost.

 

[JakeP]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Since our cars have had practically the same issues I am a little worried. Although, I do have a B battery pack.

I had this happen on a B pack also, FYI. Though it was a fairly early B pack.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I believe so, yes. I wonder if it is even a very expensive repair? The battery apparently comes off the car quite easily and then it's just a matter of opening the pack and wiring in the new contactors. The technician really needs to know what he or she is doing with all that energy available, but aside from that, it might not be very labor-intensive. I have no idea what the part might cost.

Mine was finished in what was essentially a day. The first day they ran my heater on full blast to get down below 50% SOC. The second day they replaced my drivetrain and contactors. It was test driven that night by around 8pm, and I picked it up the following morning.

I don't know what the part cost is, but the labor can apparently be performed within a day.

 

[FlasherZ]

Mine was finished in what was essentially a day. The first day they ran my heater on full blast to get down below 50% SOC. The second day they replaced my drivetrain and contactors. It was test driven that night by around 8pm, and I picked it up the following morning.

I don't know what the part cost is, but the labor can apparently be performed within a day.

I was asked if they could drive my car 100 miles or so to reduce the SOC, so they could get it back more quickly than just heating the shop. I obliged.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I was asked if they could drive my car 100 miles or so to reduce the SOC, so they could get it back more quickly than just heating the shop. I obliged.

I would have preferred that. Who knows how much heater and blower motor life that ate up. I didn't find out they did it until after it was already done.

 

[JRP3]

Seems as if they should have a large resistor bank on hand to dump some charge into, or a reverse supercharger to send it back to the grid. Something better than just running the heater or driving the car.

 

[apacheguy]

Seems as if they should have a large resistor bank on hand to dump some charge into, or a reverse supercharger to send it back to the grid. Something better than just running the heater or driving the car.

Even simpler: Tell the customer not the charge the night before the service. I believe this is what happens in the majority of cases.

 

[mibaro2]

Well, I joined the club this afternoon, but with a bit of a twist. Here's what happened:


So, I figured I knew what this was and called roadside assistance. They had me try re-booting (to no avail) and so said they would arrange towing and call me back. As I sat there, I figured I'd put the car in Neutral since the 12v was likely to give up the ghost at some point. Eventually, everything shut down and tapping the brake pedal would do nothing.

Here's where it gets interesting. After 30 to 45 minutes Tesla Service called back and said it was going to be at least 2 hours for the tow truck to arrive. I was already freezing cold. The rep asked if I wanted to try to start the car again, so I tapped the brake and nothing. As we spoke, I could hear clicking and banging from under the car and suddenly the dash lit up and said something about systems re-starting. Eventually the 17" came to life and the heater came back on! I put the car in Drive and had power! The rep suggested that I try and make my way to the Service Center and so I did, being extremely gentle on the accelerator.

When I arrived at the SC, they pulled up my car's details on their screen (it connects as soon as you get near the SC) and said they weren't seeing any error codes. They were doubtful that it was the HV contactors in the battery because they said when they fail, they fail for good. It sure seemed to me like I lost high voltage.

Anyway, I have a loaner and they'll let me know tomorrow what they find.

Sorry to hear what happened. I'm glad it didn't happen to you during the really cold weather we had last week. (Wish it hadn't happened at all.)
It will be interesting to see what Tesla finds as the root cause of this event.

 

[mknox]

Mine was finished in what was essentially a day. The first day they ran my heater on full blast to get down below 50% SOC. The second day they replaced my drivetrain and contactors. It was test driven that night by around 8pm, and I picked it up the following morning.

Mine was in the shop for about a week, but it was more due to scheduling the technician than anything else. I dropped the car off at about 60% SOC and noticed that they plugged it in and charged it before the work was done. (They didn't turn remote access off this time). I'm guessing they would have had to bleed that off, but never checked the app or otherwise noticed. Last night, after the work was completed, they put it on charge but on my app I could see the driver's door was open all night. Not sure why that would have been done. I received several "Charge Complete" notifications through the night. I assume with the door open, the HVAC was running the pack down then it would top itself off again. I picked it up this morning and the heat was set to HI. I always note before and after odometer readings and see that 104 miles were put on the car during it's stay. That seems like a lot, so maybe that's how they drew the battery down?? All seems well, and these are just my observations for interest's sake.

 

[FlasherZ]

Windows down, heater at full, 100 miles at 100 km/h. Tends to take the charge off a battery pretty well.