To follow up, the above list was as of 2012-04-19.
In the three and a half years since then... Nothing. Car has been working just fine. Shakes, rattles, and squeaks, of course, but other than that all the major components have been fine.
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To follow up, the above list was as of 2012-04-19.
In the three and a half years since then... Nothing. Car has been working just fine. Shakes, rattles, and squeaks, of course, but other than that all the major components have been fine.
Tesla should open source the Roadster. There's nothing cutting edge about it anymore. I'm sure that the Tesla lawyers wouldn't be too excited about this. Bonnie, could you tweet Elon about open-sourcing the Roadster? No doubt, he'll announce it tomorrow if you ask.
1. Passenger window leak
2. TPMS
3. Rear Logo letters falling off
4. Speedometer
5. Headlight fogging
6. TPMS
7. Rear view mirror fell off
8. 12V battery
9. PEM fan
9. Headlight coating
10. TPMS
11. Rear Logo letters falling off
12. GPS antenna
13. HVAC knobs falling off
14. Did I mention TPMS?
2. TPMS
3. Rear Logo letters falling off
4. Speedometer
5. Headlight fogging
6. TPMS
7. Rear view mirror fell off
8. 12V battery
9. PEM fan
9. Headlight coating
10. TPMS
11. Rear Logo letters falling off
12. GPS antenna
13. HVAC knobs falling off
14. Did I mention TPMS?
In the early days my Roadster had a few issues. Some were firmware related. Had some key fob issues. HVAC wasn't charged properly at the factory (Tesla was in denial about that one). There's a rear suspension squeak that I have to lubricate once in a while.
Knock on wood: It's actually been pretty reliable. Yeah the cheap HVAC knobs break, and the TPMS loses its wheels for no reason. But it's actually been way better than my Model S.
I ignore the TPMS.
Knock on wood: It's actually been pretty reliable. Yeah the cheap HVAC knobs break, and the TPMS loses its wheels for no reason. But it's actually been way better than my Model S.
I ignore the TPMS.
wiztecy
Active Member
Looks more like a Christmas list to me!
My 1.5 has been the most reliable vehicle I've had. Know that this is a one of a kind car that's skating a prototype, so I hope you knew that before purchasing. As for issues on the Model S, its their first mass production vehicle and that'll have issues too. The TPMS issue should be a recall item on the 2.x's and one could argue its skating the lines of safety if you have no readings on your tire. But then again cars in the olden days never had TPMS. At minimum Tesla should be resetting the errors for free and no be selling the faulty components that haven't addressed the issue at a retail price to the customer if they don't want to recall.
My list of new parts received over the last year (covering 65000km):
The PEM fan is now only 6 months old, but needs replacement again...
- All Brake discs and brake pads (warranty).
- Xenon headlights fogging up (warranty).
- Driver seat rail (warranty).
- PEM fan (warranty/goodwill).
- Standard EU mobile charger 230V 13A (warranty).
The PEM fan is now only 6 months old, but needs replacement again...
I have only owned my 1.5 for 14 months and have put about 13K miles on it. So far I've had no real problems with it. It's now over 5 1/2 years old so recently had to replace the TPMS units because the battery in one of them died so did them all. Didn't really expect the TPMS batteries to last much longer than that anyway.
3.0 battery on order. Waiting...
3.0 battery on order. Waiting...
Looks more like a Christmas list to me!
LOL! Wish that it were. I have ~30k miles, so everything has been done under CPO warranty. The TPMS problem has been the wheel modules. It wouldn't be so bad if the other three would continue to work when one goes out. Hopefully they're all new ones now.
I must say that the folks at Villa Park have been very accommodating, but...I forgot to mention the GPS. I noticed it after it came back from HID headlight install. I don't normally use it, so it might have been down already, but the map screen shows "searching for satellite" When I was checking out the new lights, I noticed what I think is the GPS antenna comes up behind the left headlight. I mentioned this fact, but they said the head unit needs to be replaced, and the sound system is only a 2 year warranty. They quoted me $1600 to replace it. Bwahahaha! NFW! If that is the antenna, could they have pinched it during the headlight install? If so, would that cause it to act like it is?
There are two GPS antennae - one for the Tesla display screen, and a JVC one for the head unit. The one near the headlight is the Tesla one. Sounds like it's the other one that's bad now. You can try removing your head unit and seeing if everything in back is connected well, you'll just need the JVC 'keys' that might have come in the JVC radio box you got with the car?
I have the Alpine, not the JVC, but I've had the same problem - the Alpine has a reset button on the panel, does the JVC? You might try that before pulling it all out. Works for mine....
I have had my 2.5 roadster for about 1.5 years, only one previous owner. Just rounded 70.000km.
I don't know the complete service history before I got it, but at least there was some issue with the paint getting "bubbles".
In this 1.5 years of ownership I have had the following issues:
- Dead PEM fan
- Needed window adjustments (water coming in).
- Car started living it's own life after water intrusion in the electronics (was unable to turn of the car, all sorts of warnings and general crazy behaviour)
- Two knobs fell off
- Returning trunk problems, solenoid changed twice, lock changed once. Still needs lubrication monthly in the winter to keep it working.
- Door lock problems, had to use the key for a month while Tesla got hold of parts. Then another 3 months for new keys.
- Passenger door inner panel loose
- Wiperblade failure (metal wire)
But Tesla has been great, even if my local tesla center had no experience with the roadster at all. So the key programing issues (3 month delay) ened up beeing the technician following the manual for a 1.5 Roadster, and he did not find the right "box".
Almost everything has been sorted on goodwill, even if the car is out of warranty.
I don't know the complete service history before I got it, but at least there was some issue with the paint getting "bubbles".
In this 1.5 years of ownership I have had the following issues:
- Dead PEM fan
- Needed window adjustments (water coming in).
- Car started living it's own life after water intrusion in the electronics (was unable to turn of the car, all sorts of warnings and general crazy behaviour)
- Two knobs fell off
- Returning trunk problems, solenoid changed twice, lock changed once. Still needs lubrication monthly in the winter to keep it working.
- Door lock problems, had to use the key for a month while Tesla got hold of parts. Then another 3 months for new keys.
- Passenger door inner panel loose
- Wiperblade failure (metal wire)
But Tesla has been great, even if my local tesla center had no experience with the roadster at all. So the key programing issues (3 month delay) ened up beeing the technician following the manual for a 1.5 Roadster, and he did not find the right "box".
Almost everything has been sorted on goodwill, even if the car is out of warranty.
Gabner
Member
Hey Doug,
I have a squeek from the drivers side rear. I hear it when I get in and out of the car as well as driving.
Where to lubricate?
Thank you.
Gary
Hmm... I'd have to see it to remember. Can you pop off the wheel and post a picture of the suspension in that area?
Doug
DeedWest
2008 VP & 2011 2.5 Sport
It sounds like it could be the control arm bushings, which is a very common issue on Roadsters. I would suggest lubricating those first.
dhrivnak
Active Member
I had an issue with the Charge Port Light ring. It appeared that water had gotten in and shorted out some of the LED diodes. Service was good as a mobile tech corrected last week. Very pleasant and a job well done. I think the part was about $400 and then $100 for labor which I thought was more than fair for a 12 year old car.
![IMG_7095[1].JPG](https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/data/attachments/524/524175-a6c7195751700538a86f34d2f2e738a6.jpg "IMG_7095[1].JPG")
dhrivnak
Active Member
Yes sir great memory. I am assuming water seeps in around the power inlet and runs down to the electronics that are below the inlet. Bad design. I was going to put some clear vinyl wrap along the lower half of the inlet so water does not seep in.
Could have been your car had this de-bonding issue which caused water ingress.
My Roadster, which was my daily driver from 2011 to 2018, (sold 2019) had three things go wrong with it that I remember:
1. It overheated on a very hot day driving on a rural highway. It gave me a warning and I stopped at the next opportunity and phoned Tesla. They did a remote diagnostic and told me I would be okay to drive home but don't push it hard. They replaced the fan assembly under warranty.
2. One of the shifter buttons quit and they replaced that. Unfortunately, that happened right around the time the Model X came out, and the Ranger for Spokane had been called back to the factory to help work on the many defects they were busily correcting in those early Model X units, so I had to wait two weeks for the repair.
3. One of the heater-control knobs fell off and disappeared (probably beneath the seat, an inaccessible black hole). I never bothered having it replaced as it would have been expensive and it didn't prevent me from operating the control.
The charge-port door was very hard to open when I first got the car. So much so that I made a little tool for prying it open. The Ranger fixed that at my first annual maintenance. I'm not counting it as something going wrong because it was just a minor adjustment that never interfered with using the car.
Overall, the Roadster was not as reliable as either my '89 Honda Civic (sold 2004) or my '04 Prius (sold 2019), but for the first car from a start-up company I think they did a darn good job of it.
1. It overheated on a very hot day driving on a rural highway. It gave me a warning and I stopped at the next opportunity and phoned Tesla. They did a remote diagnostic and told me I would be okay to drive home but don't push it hard. They replaced the fan assembly under warranty.
2. One of the shifter buttons quit and they replaced that. Unfortunately, that happened right around the time the Model X came out, and the Ranger for Spokane had been called back to the factory to help work on the many defects they were busily correcting in those early Model X units, so I had to wait two weeks for the repair.
3. One of the heater-control knobs fell off and disappeared (probably beneath the seat, an inaccessible black hole). I never bothered having it replaced as it would have been expensive and it didn't prevent me from operating the control.
The charge-port door was very hard to open when I first got the car. So much so that I made a little tool for prying it open. The Ranger fixed that at my first annual maintenance. I'm not counting it as something going wrong because it was just a minor adjustment that never interfered with using the car.
Overall, the Roadster was not as reliable as either my '89 Honda Civic (sold 2004) or my '04 Prius (sold 2019), but for the first car from a start-up company I think they did a darn good job of it.
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