Too many service appointments?

[Sulkymonkey]

First post here (although I have been lurking for a while).

I have been driving my M3 for 6 months now (2021 model) and although generally I am very happy with the car I am getting frustrated by the number of times I have to take it to get serviced - which is made worse by the fact that I live in Swansea which is an hour away from the nearest service centre.

Firstly in April I needed to take it to get the side camera replaced under warranty because it had stopped working, the 3 weeks ago I had to take it in to get the heat pumps replaced (which went from a simple job to a difficult one and I had to be given a loaner), and this weekend after installing the latest update (2012.12.25.7) the car came up with an error that requires a service visit to install new software - and in the meantime I have lost lots of functionality in the car (no cruise control amongst other things).

Is this common with Model 3s? To be fair they have been out long enough that I am not exactly an early adopter, and this level of servicing is starting to become a pain.

 

[hcdavis3]

You might have a lemon.

 

[GRiLLA]

Sounds like some bad luck.

There does seem to be a number of people on here with issues with camera issues from new on the last batch that arrived. For comparison my August 2019 car was part of a batch where the rear windows cracked after using the heaters. I've not heard much mention of heat pump issues, what went wrong with it? There have been a few people that had the error with that software update, but that's also the first time I've heard of an issue with a software update. I've had about 30 updates so far without issue.

In 2 years my car went to the SC three times. Most recently for camera callibration after a windscreen replacement, I don't really count that as a car fault. The others were for the rear glass replacement after the crack, and also 2 weeks after new to fix the snagging issue with paint and a weird noise from one wheel which was a misfitted seal.

 

[NigelT]

Does sound unlucky, I've had one service appointment which was to replace the rear spoiler, a common issue I believe.

I hope your luck improves from now on!

 

[Durzel]

I've had about 5 appointments I think, annoyingly it has all been for silly stuff that really ought not to have happened - e.g. chrome trim realignment, a couple of paint chips on delivery, sticky rear doors, the legendary rear light condensation, etc.

 

[Teddy69]

I got the latest update 2 days ago and when parking up at home an hour ago got a nasty error message

"incompatible vehicle modification detected/potential risk of damage or shutdown"

I've a M3LR with speed boost (I think that's what causing the problem)

Is that what you got? I'm letting it sleep for a few hours and will check to see if it's gone away, similar to you I'm 90 minutes from nearest service.

I've rear light condensation too, need that fixed next time I'm near service centre.

 

[Durzel]

The official acceleration boost from Tesla, or the Ingenext one?

 

[tomorrowman]

I got the latest update 2 days ago and when parking up at home an hour ago got a nasty error message

"incompatible vehicle modification detected/potential risk of damage or shutdown"

I've a M3LR with speed boost (I think that's what causing the problem)

On the basis also have the M3LR with tesla speed boost and have the 2021.12.25 SW version and it's working fine - might be something else

Is that what you got? I'm letting it sleep for a few hours and will check to see if it's gone away, similar to you I'm 90 minutes from nearest service.

I've rear light condensation too, need that fixed next time I'm near service centre.

I can confirm Mobile Service can fix this i.e. no trip to the service centre

 

[Teddy69]

The official acceleration boost from Tesla, or the Ingenext one?

The official one, I wasn't even aware there was a third party until today

 

[Envchem]

I had 2 SC visits since I got the car (almost 2 years and 35k miles ago). First one for headrest peeling off and error message which resulted in changing the power harness and the pre-emptive repairs for the cables on the steering wheel (water ingress issue). Second visit front motor replacement...

 

[AndrewGR]

Couple of visits after collection to sort out issues that should have been dealt with by a PDI and for water in front fogs and rear lights. Since then nothing in around 20,000 miles apart from camera recalibration following windscreen replacement. Still get frequent cameras blocked or blinded messages, especially in low sun, dark or heavy rain, but they seem to be endemic. Not worth worrying about.

 

[Nick77]

The official acceleration boost from Tesla, or the Ingenext one?

I thought that was just for SR/SR+ models?

 

[Adopado]

I thought that was just for SR/SR+ models?

From their website:
"This product will only work if you have a Tesla model 3 DUAL MOTOR. It doesn't work for Standard Range or Long Range RWD."

Edit: Just saw that they do a separate version that is for SR+

 

[Nick77]

Cool. Looks easy enough to install. I'd just worry that it'd be bricked by some future software update from Tesla if they become annoyed about losing revenue from them.

 

[Teddy69]

My “bug” went away after leaving car for a few hours…

 

[Adopado]

Cool. Looks easy enough to install. I'd just worry that it'd be bricked by some future software update from Tesla if they become annoyed about losing revenue from them.

Definitely ... I wouldn't risk it.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

I’ve had my fair share, more than there should be but less than to become irritating. My cars currently in at the moment as it happens.

I’m a believer in the bigger ones software resets to cure a lot of software gremlins, including unplugging usb devices etc when you do which have been suggested as stopping the car properly shutting down. I’ve even seen a suggestion that changing the wheel type in software (and back again) can cause a reset that fixes some issues (guess it’s resetting the car config). I can’t find where I read it but you get the idea. Won’t help with hardware problems other than problems occurring after a software update when its worth a try

 

[Rustybkts]

Hmmmm, no issues here in over 18 months and 13,000 miles. Not even a service.

Am I in a club of one?

 

[Adopado]

Hmmmm, no issues here in over 18 months and 13,000 miles. Not even a service.

Am I in a club of one?

I've had one visit to Service Centre... just coming up for 2 years. (It was for the known issue of water ingress in the loom and causing issues including power steering failure. Dealt with promptly.)

 

[Godsense]

Apart from the time my car got flat bedded less than 24 hours after delivery the few issues I've had have all been done my mobile service.

Can sometimes be hard to get one but if it's a minor issue might be easier than your long round trip