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Well that sucks [coolant leak]
- Thread starter Black306
- Start date
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Ironically you would hope this is a factory defect (like a loose hose or a leaky component) because it would be covered under warranty. If however, there is a hole because a rock went through it or something, you would have to pay out of pocket or claim insurance, because that is impact damage, not a manufacturer defect.
Car is out of the 4-year warranty, so I wouldn’t expect Tesla to cover the repairs.
Possible, but doubt it’s physical damage; my commute is very short (don’t even get on a freeway) and didn’t see/hear anything hit the car on the way to work this morning. Don’t see any damage from the front bumper/grill either.
Possible, but doubt it’s physical damage; my commute is very short (don’t even get on a freeway) and didn’t see/hear anything hit the car on the way to work this morning. Don’t see any damage from the front bumper/grill either.
wow you drove 11k miles in 4 years? Cars need to be driven or they will break.
I have another one that has 8.2k miles in 21 years. As mentioned, my commute is super short; ~1700/year.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
You don't need a big rock to puncture a hole in a radiator, the fins are pretty tiny. I doubt anyone would notice the impact in a drive. It should be fairly obvious though if they locate where the leak is coming from.
If you are out of warranty and plan to claim insurance, then you may hope the opposite (that it is impact damage).
I would check for sure however what is the color of the water first on the ground (using white paper towel may make the color more obvious). Also the car should throw error messages depending on what it is (low wiper fluid or battery coolant; no message if it is just AC condensate).
Appreciate the comments. Pretty familiar with working on cars, construction of radiators, and realize it is probable the radiator was damaged physically without me knowing. Factoring the distance driven, indirect access to the radiator (compared to traditional cars with more accessible radiators through an open grill and no active grill shutter), and the speed at which fluid is leaking out of the radiator (pouring out heavily when I had one of my kids turn the wheel to access a couple of the lower aero retaining clips), I'd be surprised if it was physical damage. Talk about [bad] luck if it were hit the radiator hard enough or just right to cause this leak without ricocheting off and leaving a mark on the grill or grill shutters.
It's definitely leaking coolant. It's blue, pouring out the middle of the radiator, and the coolant reservoir is getting low quickly. This is what came off the lower aero piece. Puddle at work was a lot more and what was pouring out when my kid started the car was also more.
Doesn't matter what I think anyway; still needs to be fixed. Opened a service appointment, but may end up fixing it myself. Appointment is late next week and doing some research, pulling out the radiator module looks really easy.
One of the reasons I sold my wifes BMW X3 M40i is that she only drives around our local city. Our 3 year lease on that car ended with a total of 6000 miles on it. I owned it another year and we put about 800 miles on it. a 4 year old car at that point, we sold it, and it had less than 7k on it when we sold it.
When I took the BMW for its yearly check up, the service manager I knew chatted with me, telling me "you gotta drive this car, if you dont its going to be a low miles car with a ton of problems, because these cars want to be driven.
I thought to myself "self, an EV is a much better car to sit and drive low miles, no oil pan, etc etc.
My wifes Model Y Performance, purchased in March of 2022 so its a couple months over 2 years old. It has 6k on it now, so almost double the miles we had on the X3. I think EVs are great for sitting a while, or for a short commute, etc.
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
It's trivially simple to pull out the frunk and have a look around, but if you're already up on ramps it's not too much work to pull the splash shield and look in from the below. I'd be pretty surprised if there were anything wrong with the radiator and obviously it can't be damaged by rocks. I'd bet one of the hoses is defective or got yanked during some recent service. I believe there's a coolant bleed routine you can run from Service Mode that will run the pump while you feel around in there.
Lots of info in the online service manual: Service and diagnostic information for independent businesses and individuals involved in the professional maintenance and repair of Tesla vehicles.
Lots of info in the online service manual: Service and diagnostic information for independent businesses and individuals involved in the professional maintenance and repair of Tesla vehicles.
fholbert
Active Member
Not sure how much that applies to EV’s.
- Internal engine parts don’t need an oil film to prevent rust.
- Automatic transmissions don’t gunk up.
- Fuel injectors don’t get plugged.
- Gasoline doesn’t get old.
- Batteries don’t need charged by running the engine.
- Exhaust systems don’t rust from condensation.
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Already did that; yank the tub and under aero panels. Hoses looked good and didn’t see anything obvious. When the pump was running and everything was off, coolant was pouring down the middle of the radiator module. Since the radiator is encapsulated, it’s possible the leak is not in the middle and is working its way down the middle. Again, didn’t see anything obvious. Car never went to Tesla for service, so no one has touched the car since being built.
Could be from rodent damage to a coolant line. I had to have my M3 towed to a service centre due to mice munching on the coolant and electrical lines. Most of the cost was covered by my comprehensive auto insurance.
mtiede
Member
My 2017 Mercedes Benz SLC300 had 2 mouse nests in the engine compartment and they were nibbling on the soy based wiring. Luckily, the whole harness did not have to be replaced, but it still cost $555 to fix. Always park car in garage, but I hadn't noticed the rubber seal at the bottom of the garage door had had a couple of inches on one side nibbled away. Replaced that whole seal. I check under the hood every now and then just to be sure now.
