UMC frozen in charge port, roadside assistant never picked up. Not happy

[RyanDe]

I can say this is the first bad experience I've had with my car but it's also the first time it's been this cold so I'm really worried about what is going to happen this winter. We were in Vermont this weekend and when it came time to check-out in the morning the mobile charger wouldn't come out of the car. I tried everything while on hold with roadside assistant for close to an hour. I restarted and shut down the car. I used the manual release to unlock the charge port and I plugged and unplugged the outlet multiple times until the only light I got was red on the car. I wanted to try and roll the car into the sun to hopefully melt it if it was frozen but you can't put the car in neutral if the charge port is open so I couldn't do that. I had nothing on me to heat it up so I felt helpless on hold, in 20 degree weather 3 hours away from home. I kept trying the same thing over and over and finally, after pulling back and forth for a few minutes it popped out. The only thing I can think of is it was frozen and I finally broke it free. Roadside assistant never picked up this entire time, luckily I had a house to go into but this makes me very very nervous to be driving and get stranded on the road especially in the winter and especially with kids. If we were broken down on the highway for almost an hour in the cold with three kids I probably would be looking for a new car.

As a side note too, the windows didn't come down when I opened the doors so they wouldn't shut as they rubbed on the trim. Bad design? Makes you wonder how much they actually tested these cars in cold weather.

 

[wycolo]

The frozen windows issue was there from the start during the 2012 winter and I posted about using silicone spray on the window seals as a precaution. Also when faced with a stuck window you can run a credit card under and along the entire contact area between glass and seal as a means to free up said window. Then smack entire window with both palms to help shock it free.

In your case it might help to wipe some silicone over the charge port surfaces and the charger plug before hooking up. On a moist day facing a very cold night ahead this ploy might prove helpful. Maybe keep a silicone-soaked cloth aboard in a jar. The silicone spray seems to do no harm and persists for a few weeks at a time.

I'm heading back to the Rockies shortly and might face these conditions myself once again (think Mt Washington!) so your posting is an apt reminder.

"bad design?"

Having the windows rise up into the door frame after each closing greatly strengthens the entire car structure. So this is a 'good thing' and not just a styling accommodation.
--

 

[juliusa]

When I have been in those conditions, I have turned on the heat in the car prior to leaving to make sure I don't have any window or door handle problems. May also help with the charge port.

 

[BerTX]

I'd have been upset, too. There may be some "quirks" with really cold weather on the Model 3 that haven't been encountered yet.

Your problem was probably that the locking pin in the port was frozen or had lodged due to expansion/contraction of the materials in there. The problem with trying to free it up is that the pin actually automatically locks (to keep unauthorized people from unplugging it) unless you manually unlock it. You likely did things to free it up, but then the car actually locked it, as it is supposed to. You probably were fighting the elements at the same time the car was doing what it was supposed to do to prevent theft of your UMC.

I don't live in an area where this is likely to be a problem, but one thing to remember is that the port is made to operate safely in drenching rain. If no other source of heat was available, I would have unplugged the UMC from the outlet, then poured warm water on the car plug area. I know, it is against all impulses to pour water on an electrical outlet, but it would not get to any electrical connections, but would likely warm the area up enough to free up the pin. BUT then you need to be sure that the plug is unlocked on the screen before trying to unplug it.

If you haven't already done so, you might want to go do some investigation, unplugging the handle from the socket under various conditions. Unplug from the wall outlet, let the car sit for a while, then go try to unplug it. Familiarize yourself with what it takes to unplug under all circumstances.

Don't get me wrong here -- I'm not saying any of this is your doing. Just be intimately familiar with how the system works under normal circumstances so that when you get in a situation where the elements intervene, you can calmly solve the problem.

 

[ewoodrick]

It sounds as if it may be a good idea, if charging and freezing rain / snow is imminent, that covering the charge port or the car may be a good idea. I can easily see freezing rain getting into the connector and freezing .

 

[RyanDe]

I'm pretty sure it was frozen. It was raining when I plugged it in so water probably got in plus I didn't wipe the plug clean before plugging it in and it got very cold that night. It also didn't feel locked because I manually released it using that string in the trunk and when I pushed the button it went white for a couple seconds it just wouldn't pull out. Everyone suggested dumping water but that felt very strange, I wasn't worried about getting shocked but more if it was still connected and something was broken with the lock that it might make things worse.

I'm also not that upset it froze more that I couldn't get help, that is what keeps bothering me. I can work around a frozen connector but what if next time I'm stuck somewhere that I need roadside and they don't pick up? BMW assist and AAA would always pick up within a few minutes. Tesla might need a better system to triage roadside assistant.

 

[RyanDe]

It sounds as if it may be a good idea, if charging and freezing rain / snow is imminent, that covering the charge port or the car may be a good idea. I can easily see freezing rain getting into the connector and freezing .

That would mean covering it every other day here in New England.

 

[ewoodrick]

That would mean covering it every other day here in New England.

Yep, that's why people build things like garages and car ports.

 

[RyanDe]

So since this even my windows and door handles have been frozen every day even without rain/snow. WTF, this is going to be horrible this winter.

 

[SMAlset]

I'm kind of surprised in a way to be hearing stories like this since there were people, and I'm thinking YouYou Xue for example, who did his Model 3 Road Trip and drove through winter weather with his Model 3 all over the northeast and into Canada before now. Don't recall hearing he had issues but didn't follow along faithfully.

 

[outdoors]

Also pretty surprised. Did plenty of driving all last winter had none of the issues I am reading about now.

Parking in ice storms. Driving and charging well below zero on occasions. Cold soaked battery.

January

 

[David99]

In over 5 years of reading here and 4 winters with my car that is the first time I heard of a frozen stuck charge port. Sorry to hear the roadside assistance is overwhelmed these days. I always had them on the phone quickly whenever I needed them. I guess now with so many Model 3s they are getting busy.

 

[RayW]

Aren’t you supposed to pee on it when that happens?