Warranty expiring - List of typical failures

[TaoJones]

Scary. Mine is same vintage as yours. What aew the shafts, and how do you know if they're bad?

Google for pictures of both. Evidently they claim a new manufacturer/design for the half shafts. This was back in the summer of 2017.

Symptom will be vibration upon acceleration. Not hard acceleration - just everyday acceleration.

Also consider finding the best alignment shop you can, since factory spec isn't always... implemented optimally.

Once properly aligned and with non-failing half shafts, the car should feel as smooth as glass on decent tires.

And don't settle for the "oh, that's normal" from the SvC, which is what they tried once before replacing the 2nd set.

 

[Lasttoy]

After reading this, i will go to church Sunday and thank the Lord i have only had 2 door openers break. I fixed them.
BUT
Tesla broke my car last November with v9. I have Jan 2013. 132k miles
I cannot supper charge at any OLD super charger. Only at a Gen 5 new charger.
AND Tesla has done nothing to fix my problem, except to say they r working on it.
Good luck on your adventure without a warranty.

 

[ahkahn]

Google for pictures of both. Evidently they claim a new manufacturer/design for the half shafts. This was back in the summer of 2017.

Symptom will be vibration upon acceleration. Not hard acceleration - just everyday acceleration.

Also consider finding the best alignment shop you can, since factory spec isn't always... implemented optimally.

Once properly aligned and with non-failing half shafts, the car should feel as smooth as glass on decent tires.

And don't settle for the "oh, that's normal" from the SvC, which is what they tried once before replacing the 2nd set.

Very interesting info. I have experienced this before, but it's not consistent. Is the vibration upon acceleration consistent or occasional? I've noticed it, but it does not always do it. Is it pretty pronounced or subtle? I'm at 50k right now, so I'm really nervous about my car... and it's going in next week for some other issues that I've gotten assurance on they would warranty.

 

[peakay]

@SSedan How can I check the twin chargers for full functionality if i don't have that setup in my garage? I'm taking it in TODAY for TPMS errors randomly popping up when driving - will they just update the central module or do they replace the actual sensors in the tires too? Hopefully tire sensors get updated to V2 -- if so will have them rotate the tires too. Thanks for your speedy reply -- 1pm PST appt today!

Also, what about the battery heater and how can I check that?

@abasile - have found no stains on the headliner or leaks that I can see. Any way to check the roof though or verify if it has V1 vs V2 roof version? We also park outside exclusively, but are down the hill from you in Newport where we don't see much weather (except recently!)

 

[SSedan]

The TPMS system update is the module and sensors, I paid $628 I think.

Far as the charger test, ask them to plug it in at 80amps, I am sure they have the capability while in for service. The Center I use has wall connectors.

 

[peakay]

The TPMS system update is the module and sensors, I paid $628 I think.

Far as the charger test, ask them to plug it in at 80amps, I am sure they have the capability while in for service. The Center I use has wall connectors.

Thank you @SSedan . I am still under CPO, so do you think will they replace the module and sensors to correct? Will the sensors be later model/V2 sensors? Just wondering as I might buy a set of 19" wheels for the car and will need to know which to get. Thanks!

 

[SSedan]

You would have to ask them, mine was a private purchase already out of warranty.

 

[abasile]

@abasile - have found no stains on the headliner or leaks that I can see. Any way to check the roof though or verify if it has V1 vs V2 roof version? We also park outside exclusively, but are down the hill from you in Newport where we don't see much weather (except recently!)

I'm not sure how to check the roof version. The issue with our old roof was the rubber seals failing prematurely. You could at least try inspecting the visible portion of your roof's seals.

By the way, our 2012 car's first owner is/was in Newport Beach. It only took a month of having the car parked outside, up here in the mountains, with some heavy rain, before the roof leak became evident. Perhaps the original owner kept the car garaged at home and used a parking garage at work (?). And 2012-2016 were relatively dry years in SoCal.

 

[peakay]

So I took the car into Tesla yesterday. In the end, they are updating the TPMS system to V2 (including the wheel sensors) for free under warranty. However, its the first time I had an experience that started to feel like a car dealership. :/

There was a "tech" assigned who felt more like a denier/closer type who measured with a monitor the battery level on our tire sensors and said they were all low, then tried to upsell me to the new system. He said they'd cover the labor to change the sensors since they had to do that anyway, but I'd have to pay for all the parts. After some back and forth, one of the normal guys I deal with got involved with and granted it since the car is under CPO. It wasn't terrible treatment, but not the platinum treatment Tesla has been spoiling us with during our warranty period. Probably inevitable given all the Model 3s and struggles with profitability.

Thanks you @abasile - appreciate the background. Where do you live BTW? My Mom lived in Running Springs for many years and I spent a fair amount of time up there years ago. I looked at our sunroof in some detail before bringing it in and it all looks good to me. I asked them to check it, but I think it is fine. We also have an older BMW 335i convertible with the "origami" retractable hardtop and I'm used to lubing the mechanism and seals once or twice a year for longevity. Will probably start doing the same for this car.

 

[peakay]

Air Suspension: really glad nobody is mentioning this -- nobody is having problems? I asked them to inspect ours while the wheels were off for the sensor replacements.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

Air Suspension: really glad nobody is mentioning this -- nobody is having problems? I asked them to inspect ours while the wheels were off for the sensor replacements.

My air suspension completely died at about 101,000 miles almost a year ago to the day. But I was still under CPO warranty. Fixed for free.

 

[roblab]

In case I'm reading this wrong, it sounds like the owner wants "typical failures". Well, in my experience and discussions with others, failure is not typical. Most Model Ss from the 2012 era (I had one) didn't have any problems other than early manufacturing teething problems, and I'd include the failing door handle in that group. I called Tesla and drove my car directly into the shop, where a mechanic had my door panel off before I could sit down in the waiting area. Fixed in minutes for free, never a problem again. Never had any other problems with things on these lists in 80,000 miles.

Sure, there are things that could go wrong. Happens every day to gas cars even (You read about the BMW that self immolated in a parking lot with no one around, the car locked? I saw it happen to a Jaguar, too) But that's not typical.

 

[dgpcolorado]

^ My sense is that drive unit and MCU failures are fairly typical on early cars. DUs are covered under warranty for eight years, so not an issue for the OP quite yet. MCU problems vary in type but seem rather common.

My question for the OP is whether the current MCU is LTE or 3G? If the latter, it may need updating when 3G goes away. I lucked out and had an LTE replacement installed when my old MCU died — new one has been working flawlessly for a year now.

 

[CadillacJack]

I have a 2012 Signature car in Canada, and as my CPO warranty ends in early July this has been weighing on my mind. I love the sig red, but I’m not sure I want to live in fear of the next service problem.

In 3.5 years and 75k total kms, I’ve had:
- sunroof update to v2
- drive unit
- passengers seat replaced for stitching issues
- charge port
- trunk button sticking
- 17” screen bubbling
- steering wheel cover as the T logo was broken
- motor invertor coolant pump as the car wouldn’t charge in the cold this month
- PTC heater because the car wouldn’t get very warm
- frunk latch rusting issues
- frunk carpet falling apart
- 12v battery
- handles were done during CPO process

Even the service manager wished me luck out of warranty on the car.

I’d love to hear from other Sig owners on their experiences. I’ve spoke with a guy who is three serial numbers away from mine and double the kms and he hasn’t had anything but the 12v battery.

 

[tomjonesrocks]

Is the MCU one of those things that just dies every few years or if you had it replaced under warranty are you generally good?

 

[dgpcolorado]

Is the MCU one of those things that just dies every few years or if you had it replaced under warranty are you generally good?

There are owners who have had multiple MCU replacements, although my sense is that it is uncommon relative to those of us who have had one replacement. If one gets a newer LTE replacement my hope is that some of the issues the older MCUs have will not recur. Just guessing though!

There was some discussion in other threads about the cause of the old MCU failures and my impression was that some of it had to do with the SSD being written on too much and eventually corrupted. However that sort of tech stuff is way beyond my expertise, so I may have that wrong. There are experts here at TMC who do understand the issues and perhaps they will weigh in on the subject.

 

[iTech]

Is the MCU one of those things that just dies every few years or if you had it replaced under warranty are you generally good?

@verygreen can confirm, but I believe the early repetitive MCU failures were due to them wearing out the flash memory from log writing.

 

[verygreen]

@verygreen can confirm, but I believe the early repetitive MCU failures were due to them wearing out the flash memory from log writing.

no. While the leading theory is all the excessive writes to undersized emmc chip causes their premature failures, there was also a significant design flaw on old MCU units (until ap2 cars appeared? so ap0 and ap1 vintage?) that led to elevated temperatures inside the MCU and that nand flash hates being hot as well.

So likely it was a combination of factors. We know with MCU2 Tesla also significantly overprovisioned the onboard emmc too (no idea about temps there, AP2+ MCU1 ones had the elevated internal temps fixed.)

You can read some more stats about the too hot running MCU1s in this thread: Tegra temps, hastening the life of the MCU in older Model S'

 

[peakay]

no. While the leading theory is all the excessive writes to undersized emmc chip causes their premature failures, there was also a significant design flaw on old MCU units (until ap2 cars appeared? so ap0 and ap1 vintage?) that led to elevated temperatures inside the MCU and that nand flash hates being hot as well.

So we had our MCU replaced with the screen due to bubbles a couple months ago and it came with an LTE upgrade. Is it safe to assume that we have a later model MCU where this problem has been alleviated? Its on a 2012 pre-AP car. MCU never failed, only the center screen.

 

[verygreen]

So we had our MCU replaced with the screen due to bubbles a couple months ago and it came with an LTE upgrade. Is it safe to assume that we have a later model MCU where this problem has been alleviated? Its on a 2012 pre-AP car. MCU never failed, only the center screen.

lte has nothing to do with it, but if you get a newer mcu with compatibility harness - then yes you got a fixed mcu.