Winter Temps Low Coolant Warning and No Charging

[turbosetch]

Kind of an interesting dilemma I have run into.

The other day the coolant low warning came up as an alert. I checked for leaks and the level was in the normal range but still the warning existed. I Also checked the ground points on the front frame rails. Tried a full 12v and main battery power reset. MCU reset etc. Still the warning for low coolant.

I put it off a few days but now as the temps dropped to sub zeros I have found that the battery heater does not come on. It turns out that if the battery temps are too low then the car will not attempt to charge *at all*. It also turns out that if the coolant is low (supposedly) the car will not allow the battery heater to come on. This then in turn leaves you with a car that simply will not charge in low temps yet will not fire up the heater.

Tesla is sending out a new coolant sensor (entire reservoir) and I hope this fixes the issue. I have 60 miles of range left and no way to warm the batteries enough to charge!!

I understand the logic and the need to protect the battery heater from damage or fire but an override might have been cool. This could leave someone stranded in sub zero temps with a dead tesla over a $50 sensor.

 

[Lasttoy]

I would call 877 798, 3752, tell them, they log into your car and read codes. They can determine whats wrong or send you to service spcenter

 

[Rocky_H]

They can determine whats wrong or send you to service spcenter

I am curious how they handle service up there in Palmer Alaska, since the nearest service center is Vancouver, over 2,000 miles away.

 

[turbosetch]

I am doing my own repairs in this case at my shop. The local Tesla rep will then cut me a check. I work with him for diagnostics and things I cannot do alone. Big jobs and Tesla will fly in a person from lower 48 then rent a bay at my shop or another.

 

[Dave_36]

I put it off a few days but now as the temps dropped to sub zeros I have found that the battery heater does not come on. It turns out that if the battery temps are too low then the car will not attempt to charge *at all*

Does anyone know what the temp threshold is for the battery heater to function?

 

[Rocky_H]

I am doing my own repairs in this case at my shop. The local Tesla rep will then cut me a check. I work with him for diagnostics and things I cannot do alone. Big jobs and Tesla will fly in a person from lower 48 then rent a bay at my shop or another.

Huh--that is fascinating. Tesla is very creative about handling service in very far removed areas without having to support the cost of a whole physical building of a service center. Idaho still doesn't have any official Tesla building, but there are enough Teslas in the area that they have a service ranger who is permanently stationed here and lives in Boise and covers a pretty large area around southern Idaho, some of Montana, eastern Oregon, etc. They have another who lives in Spokane, Washington.

 

[Nathan W]

I know this is an old thread but wanted to update. We have a 2014 S 60 and it slowly was losing charge while plugged in with the travel charger. We already have service scheduled for something and noticed the low coolant warning come on the other day and thought we can get that checked while there. Little did I know that the car was not only not charging but losing power slowly with the arctic air setting in. I wouldn't normally have the car outside but I have a project in the works that is taking up that spot in the garage. By the time I noticed what was happening it was becoming a real problem, we were down to less than 20 miles of range on the car. I swapped out the travel charger for the J1772 on the 240 circuit and thought that would be enough juice to fix it. I was wrong and after only a couple of hours at -15 F the car was down to 10 miles. At this point I moved things around and made the car fit into the garage based on the first post. I brought a couple of space heaters and put them under the car and then plugged it back in. After talking with Tesla support and confirming that I could get the car towed in if I had to I felt a lot better.

The best news is that since I repair things quite often I wasn't afraid to take the front panel off and find the coolant tank. It was actually low so I filled it up above full in case there was an air bubble in there and started the car up and shut it down several times to cycle the pump. I went inside and waited for about 30 minutes and was very excited to find that the car was again charging like it was supposed to finally.

 

[Nathan W]

Update, while in the service dept. I had them check the coolant and they actually found a hose with a crack in it, replaced and topped up the coolant again. SC rep confirmed that this is actually an issue but no work around, fill it up so the sensor is happy and the car will charge.