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unstable supercharge performance - thermal issue ?

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Good day to you all,

I'm currently driving a S 100D from late 2017, now with 146 000 km on the odometer, a great car overall.

I started to have supercharge issues last year. A charge would quickly ramp up to 135-142KW, but after a few minutes would start throttle at 100-110KW.
After a service request (and 2 months just for getting the part !), local service center changed the 3 way-valve in January and I thought all was resolved, had no more issues, however I was not supercharging much, perhaps 4-5 times only since, and always in cold weather.

Yesterday during a long trip I started to have these issues again.
1st supercharge starting at 15%, car went up to 140 then start throttling at around 110KW (I was still in the 20%30% range). I could hear the fans starting for a few minutes then stopping then starting again full speed, stopping and so soon. 2nd supercharge starting from 5%, same behaviour or even worse, I was below 100KW before reaching 35%. Normal conditions (temperature outside 13-15°C, on german motorway... but crowded).

I've opened the service mode during this second attempt and I can see several times the same alerts popping up:
- THC_w0145_rfrgSuctPressRange
- THC_w0142_rfrgSuctPress

I guess all of this is linked again to thermal management issues but which ones? I searched a bit on the internet but could not find these error codes anywhere.
I've opened a new service request but will need to travel soon, so if anybody knows what's happening and what I should do to avoid any problem that would be welcome.
 
If the interpretation of error messages is somewhat correct, it's likely you have a low charge in the AC system. If the suction side of the system triggers a low-pressure alert, that's low refrigerant. Have you had the AC system opened in previous maintenance to replace the desiccant bag? Maybe it wasn't properly charged and/or some fitting is leaking resulting in low refrigerant.

Also, I use this rule of thumb on my 100D. Add the percent battery to the charge rate (yeah, they're not the same units). If that is 120 or higher, then all is good. At a V3 SuC, it will be around 160. recently at V2 SuC, it is around 140. So you are not too far off.
 
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thanks @TMeister , looks indeed pretty likely.

I had the full AC service being done when I bought the car two years ago, including desiccant bag. I guess if something was wrongly done I would have seen it before. If this was related to former maintenance I would more suspect the last repair in January.

On my 100D (european with CCS adapter) I never go above 145KW, but I'm used to see a sort of plateau between 136-145KW, from 10 to 35%.

I just received this morning a 992 € quote from Tesla, change of two sensors (called "press & temp hi" / "press & temp lo") and change of refrigerant.

I hope they have a good clue of what is happening, as a similar story occured a few months ago. Hope they don't change me the whole system part per part every 3 months.
 
Those errors are the chiller to chill the battery (part of the AC system, and an error in refrigerant suction pressure. If you still have these, you need service. They would definitely supress Supercharging speeds.

Is the THC_d0016_chiller related to a certain part ? Because the person from the service center told me this is a general error and they don’t know exactly what is the fix 🤷‍♂️

On the internet I can actually find this..


Looks to be the part that would need fixing 🤷‍♂️
 
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But in my case, would it explain why the AC doesn’t work when the battery is too hot ? And starts working again when battery is cooled down ? I mean the battery didn’t get cooled but also the cabin didn’t get cooled.. so maybe it’s both the AC compressor and the chiller ? But if it’s the compressor.. then why would the AC work when the battery isn’t hot.

I’m sorry but I’m just a n00b
 
Did it get resolved ? I also have the same issue and get these errors

THC_w0142_rfrgSuctPress
THC_d0016_chiller

In addition AC didn’t work anymore till the car cooled down.. then it worked again.
Yes. For me it was finally a small leak somewhere in the A/C circuit. The "rfrgSuctPress" was related to the loss of refrigerant.
They could not find anything at the beginning, had to put a tracker, and I came back two weeks later. Bill is pretty expensive given what was done at the end (900€, to find the leaking gasket - they had to renove front bumper twice, repair it and refill).
 
44CF3509-7DEA-42C0-A695-92B60C9E6CEB.jpeg


Is this conclusive ? That’s it’s a sensor ? Reason why I’m also positive it’s a sensor… after a day of driving. Hooked up to a suc with AC on.. and I have never had a charging session as quick.. around 20kw faster than I’m used to.. even 80kw at 65% SOC.. normally this is around 60-70 max
 
A little off-topic, did a photo shoot with the VP of the company that makes the Chiller Unit way back in 2013. Neat device, extremely reliable. Realistically not much to fail, though they can. Anyways, here is a little video from visiting & doing the photo shoot back in 2013 including a quick photo of the Mode S prototype chiller :)