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What else can break on my 2014 Model S?
- Thread starter Cooloke
- Start date
I've got a 2016 S 90D -- got it from tesla in 2019 when they were offering the 4 year B2B used warranty. I'm on my last month of the warranty and having them address a clunk somewhere in the suspension/drivetrain
This is what I remember; not in order:
* several door handles (not all of them though)
* several door panels -- constantly working their way loose from the door
* 12v battery
* steering rack
* suspension sagged -- they replaced the pump and the rear springs
* air conditioning system was replaced
* air conditioner drain got plugged -- they had to clear the drain hose
* steering wheel buttons / scroll wheel stopped working reliably
* MCU memory issue
* parking brakes got replaced
* brake disks / brake pads had to be replaced (not under B2B; don't remember if it was all 4 or just the front)
I think a bunch of these are in the $1000-$4000 range to fix. I guess I'm kinda nervous about owning the car going forward, but I do like the car.
This is what I remember; not in order:
* several door handles (not all of them though)
* several door panels -- constantly working their way loose from the door
* 12v battery
* steering rack
* suspension sagged -- they replaced the pump and the rear springs
* air conditioning system was replaced
* air conditioner drain got plugged -- they had to clear the drain hose
* steering wheel buttons / scroll wheel stopped working reliably
* MCU memory issue
* parking brakes got replaced
* brake disks / brake pads had to be replaced (not under B2B; don't remember if it was all 4 or just the front)
I think a bunch of these are in the $1000-$4000 range to fix. I guess I'm kinda nervous about owning the car going forward, but I do like the car.
Interesting that my mid 2017 only had, from your list, the MCU previously and only needs brakes at 130k miles. The driver’s door panels they’ve comped a couple times but not gotten right.
Tesla must have comped the 12v without telling me as 6 years is a long time for that to last.
At how many miles did it yours need brakes?
The car's got 88k on it; the brake pads (and rotors!) were done at 85ish. The electric parking brake started throwing errors last week and they're replacing them. Still in the B2B for another 27 days; I wonder what else will break while it's not on my dime. I thought it was pretty crazy that they were offering a 4 year / 50k mile warranty on a car that was already 3ish years old with 45k miles on it (in 2019, when I bought it) -- but they were also right in the middle of going out of business, so I'm not sure they were paying attention to long-term bad investments like funding a warranty obligation that was going to cost them more in the end...
xAgyex
Member
Sub-frame = which will run you over $5000 to replace at Tesla Service
Sub-frame = which will run you over $5000 to replace at Tesla Service
Do the small motor car's break subframes?
xAgyex
Member
To my knowledge same sub-frame is used. I don't think the sub-frame breaking is related to if you have small or large motor in the rear, but I'd have to leave it to others to comment on this. Just know that it can happen. But keep in mind I have done countless cross country trips and really put a lot of miles on my S. I love to drive her.
More likely the normal suspension forces of potholes and cornering. It's just flat out bad engineering that they fail at all. Thank goodness Tesla changed the design on my version.
To my knowledge same sub-frame is used. I don't think the sub-frame breaking is related to if you have small or large motor in the rear, but I'd have to leave it to others to comment on this. Just know that it can happen. But keep in mind I have done countless cross country trips and really put a lot of miles on my S. I love to drive her.
It broke at how many miles?
xAgyex
Member
At 125,353 miles...So after some time for sure. What sucks is I am the drive that tries to avoid every pothole and drives super slow over bumps. So the only thing I can think of is that just the amount of miles I put on it each year is the issue. So that leads me to believe every Model S until 2021 can have this issue if driven a lot. I also had been driving Chill Mode for almost a year...so ya the old grandpa broke the sub-frame of the MS. Strange to me.
What was the date of the change? Or, if you don’t know, what month and year is your car?
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I don't know, but as I understand it's when they switched to mega castings for the rear.
xAgyex
Member
What do you mean? Like check to see if there is going to be a failure? I have no clue. My failed very all of a sudden. And then I was SOL and needed to pay for a replacement. Lucky I didn't die on the high way when I was driving and the issue occurred.
You would have to have the mount "magnafuxed" to check for cracking that would lead to failure.
Magnafluxing - Magnetic Particle Inspection, MPI - Circle Track Magazine
Find out how to use magnafluxing to detect cracks in your racing parts. - Circle Track Magazine
If I owned one of those cars with the bad design, I would seriously consider finding a shop that can do aluminum welding to add gussets to strengthen the mount which would prevent needing to pay $5000 for a major surgery, and maybe dying if it broke while going over a curved, elevated freeway overpass at 70mph or sent me into a head on collision with a truck on a 2 lane country road.
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You would have to have the mount "magnafuxed" to check for cracking that would lead to failure.
Magnafluxing - Magnetic Particle Inspection, MPI - Circle Track Magazine
Find out how to use magnafluxing to detect cracks in your racing parts. - Circle Track Magazinewww.motortrend.com
If I owned one of those cars with the bad design, I would seriously consider finding a shop that can do aluminum welding to add gussets to strengthen the mount which would prevent needing to pay $5000 for a major surgery, and maybe dying if it broke while going over a curved, elevated freeway overpass at 70mph or sent me into a head on collision with a truck on a 2 lane country road.
Presumably that means finding a shop that can pull the rear subframe off the car, is happy to weld it, and then put it back on?
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0266/3772/9858/products/IMG_8653_1800x1386.jpg is an example of such a thing?
What's the labor of pulling one of these off? Let's say I bought this one or something similar...
What else would you want to swap while the car was apart? The car's also got suspension members that are known to fail.
I have a Jan 2017 MS90D build with almost 100k miles.
Non maintenance/upgrade expenses: Under $1k. (Because I hit a major pothole.)
I did pay for upgrades like MCU2 and CCS charging capability. But were not mandatory.
Under warranty, did have 12v replaced once after the first year and a half.
On 3rd set of tires.
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brainhouston
Active Member
I think we can call this one off... never heard of similar case without major accident...
