wire soldering issue [Can I take it someplace other than tesla to repair wiring harness?]

[ebadawy]

Hi guys,

Few mice decided to chew up on some wires and that ended up disabling the ultrasonic sensors! Tesla would fix this for about $600-$700

given that it is just a single cable of wires that needs soldering, is there any other place where I can go and fix it at a lower cost? I am in the Bay area.

 

[afadeev]

Hi guys,

Few mice decided to chew up on some wires and that ended up disabling the ultrasonic sensors! Tesla would fix this for about $600-$700

given that it is just a single cable of wires that needs soldering, is there any other place where I can go and fix it at a lower cost? I am in the Bay area.

Tesla wont be soldering the wires, they will replace the entire wiring harness.
Soldering rodent-eaten wires is a loose-loose proposition to a shop - there is always more damage to the harness that first meets the eye, and the labor that will be required to trace and repair it all properly, and then re-test and make sure now other breaks elswehre, is likely to exceed the cost of replacing the harness in the first place.

Good luck looking for an independent shop that will agree to touch a Tesla.
If money is no object, I would have the harness replaced at a SC.

 

[ebadawy]

Tesla wont be soldering the wires, they will replace the entire wiring harness.
Soldering rodent-eaten wires is a loose-loose proposition to a shop - there is always more damage to the harness that first meets the eye, and the labor that will be required to trace and repair it all properly, and then re-test and make sure now other breaks elswehre, is likely to exceed the cost of replacing the harness in the first place.

Good luck looking for an independent shop that will agree to touch a Tesla.
If money is no object, I would have the harness replaced at a SC.

I thought they are going to replace the cable as well.. but from what they told me they will only solder the wires as they said replacing the whole cable will cost a lot more!

 

[jjrandorin]

Hi guys,

Few mice decided to chew up on some wires and that ended up disabling the ultrasonic sensors! Tesla would fix this for about $600-$700

given that it is just a single cable of wires that needs soldering, is there any other place where I can go and fix it at a lower cost? I am in the Bay area.

I have no idea if you will find someone to do that work, but even if you do, you would be setting yourself up for a fight if you ever had any situation at all where you expected warranty work for something connected to that wiring harness.

Said another way, I wouldnt even consider it unless I was outside of warranty.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I thought they are going to replace the cable as well.. but from what they told me they will only solder the wires as they said replacing the whole cable will cost a lot more!

I had to look it up, and you are right, it is in Tesla repair procedures to solder wire where that is appropriate.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10174930-9999.pdf
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10184229-9999.pdf

I guess it depends on how much effort it would be to take out that harness vs just soldering it. If it's something that is short and they can just unplug easily and replace, they probably will do that. If it involves a lot of disassembly and unravelling other wires, then soldering would be a better choice.

 

[Watts_Up]

I thought they are going to replace the cable as well.. but from what they told me they will only solder the wires as they said replacing the whole cable will cost a lot more!

If any connector is damaged, splicing wires seems simpler than replacing the whole harness.

There are tons of videos on Youtube, If the damaged areas are easy to access you could do it yourself if you are a litt;e bit handy.

 

[AZAV8R]

We had two of our trucks get chewed up by roof rats. Insurance took care of all.

 

[Big Dog]

did you check with your insuarnce?

 

[ebadawy]

Oh, didn't know that will violate the warranty! well in this case I will have to do it through them. I don't think I can do it myself as it is not easy to access.

My insurance won't cover that up since the cost of repair is less than the deductible amount, so I would still pay for it.

 

[jjrandorin]

Oh, didn't know that will violate the warranty! well in this case I will have to do it through them. I don't think I can do it myself as it is not easy to access.

My insurance won't cover that up since the cost of repair is less than the deductible amount, so I would still pay for it.

Its not that it would "invalidate the warranty" per se, its just that it would be a repair to an electrical system that was performed outside of tesla. Your account would have "customer declined repair" or some such in it, so if there was ever any issue at all with anything connected to that harness, what you would be told would be "take it back to whomever repaired your harness".

So, not "invalidate the warranty" but anything connected to the harness would end up being deferred by tesla to whoever fixed your harness, and whoever fixed your harness would want no part of that.

Thats sort of why (in my opinion at least) @afadeev said "good luck looking for an independent shop that will touch a tesla" as most independent shops wont want anything to do with the above, and if they do, they are likely going to charge you close to (or maybe even more than) tesla would charge for something like that.

 

[ebadawy]

I see. that makes sense.. I was mainly looking for the repair to be outside Tesla just because of the cost.. since it is going to be relatively the same plus the hassle that I might get if I did the repair somewhere else, probably it is better to do it through Tesla then.

Thanks for the help guys!