Dead truck.

[TorqMonstr]

In my experience, customer service is a major gap with Tesla. I’ve had my CT in 3 times, it’s in an SC now, for an issue with the front drive unit. The techs ride with me and agree it’s not right but then “big Tesla” refuses to fix it because the noise level is “within spec.” So, it’s not right but not loud enough to matter. But it’s “engineering” that makes the decisions. Ridiculous. To me this is a major area they should work on.

Can you share more about what you are experiencing? I had a problem with my vehicle. Intermittent roughness leaving stops. I used my Picoscope and current probes to record any abnormalities and I did capture correlation. I shared that with them and a month or two later the problem was resolved. I believe that the issue was related to phase angle.

Additionally. Has Tesla checked the drive unit oil level? I read service docs that talk about this and if low, they are to top it off and log this info in their system. It’s possible for a low oil condition due to assuming line calibration errors.

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[Sjohnson20]

Good to know what the cost is if this happens. $2600 is not too bad. I thought it would be worse. Sucks it seems to fail so soon though. The inconvenience of this happening somewhere away from home outweighs the cost for me.

 

[HaulingAss]

So, is this case an argument for an extended warranty for CT’s? What does that even look like if it’s a real thing?

What does an extended warranty look like for a CT?

I don't know (or care) if they exist but, if they do, simple logical deduction can tell you this truth:

It's a bad risk/reward ratio for purchasers of such coverage. Because the company offering extended coverage has to price it high enough to cover all the claims they pay and all their staff, including those who job it is to deny claims that are not covered. And the lawyers fees when customers sue for denied coverage. And the office and equipment and utilities that processes claims.

This is true even if the issuer is incompetent and erroneously prices the coverage too low to break even. Because they will likely go out of business and leave you without the coverage you thought you paid for.

My advice: Don't overspend on "living expenses" that are not necessities, save money for a "rainy day" fund before buying luxuries. If the truck needs a repair out of warranty, dip into the rainy day fund. If it doesn't need repairs, let the rainy day fund grow to cover possible repairs on future vehicles. That will save you all the extended warranty money for the rest of your life. In effect, YOU become the insurer. Extended warranties just create more wasteful layers of "bureaucracy" and keep consumers from becoming masters of their own financial destinies.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

What does an extended warranty look like for a CT?

I don't know (or care) if they exist but, if they do, simple logical deduction can tell you this truth:

It's a bad risk/reward ratio for purchasers of such coverage. Because the company offering extended coverage has to price it high enough to cover all the claims they pay and all their staff, including those who job it is to deny claims that are not covered. And the lawyers fees when customers sue for denied coverage. And the office and equipment and utilities that processes claims.

This is true even if the issuer is incompetent and erroneously prices the coverage too low to break even. Because they will likely go out of business and leave you without the coverage you thought you paid for.

My advice: Don't overspend on "living expenses" that are not necessities, save money for a "rainy day" fund before buying luxuries. If the truck needs a repair out of warranty, dip into the rainy day fund. If it doesn't need repairs, let the rainy day fund grow to cover possible repairs on future vehicles. That will save you all the extended warranty money for the rest of your life. In effect, YOU become the insurer. Extended warranties just create more wasteful layers of "bureaucracy" and keep consumers from becoming masters of their own financial destinies.

Summary: Never bet against the house.

 

[daveog]

Can you share more about what you are experiencing? I had a problem with my vehicle. Intermittent roughness leaving stops. I used my Picoscope and current probes to record any abnormalities and I did capture correlation. I shared that with them and a month or two later the problem was resolved. I believe that the issue was related to phase angle.

Additionally. Has Tesla checked the drive unit oil level? I read service docs that talk about this and if low, they are to top it off and log this info in their system. It’s possible for a low oil condition due to assuming line calibration errors.

Sorry for the delayed response. I'm so pissed at Tesla right now and need to vent. I dropped my truck off last week for the same drive unit droning and grinding noise I've taken it in for multiple times, and continues to get worse over time. I've driven other loaner CTs in those times, and none of them have made the same noise. Further, when I dropped it off this time, the tech who drove it with me told me it should not be making that noise, and if it were up to him, he'd replace the drive unit. He explained that early CT drive units all made that noise all the time, but mine had newer drive units that insulated that noise, and I shouldn't be hearing it, especially only at certain speeds. So I dropped it off. Then I get the same damn standard reply. "We've thoroughly tested your vehicle...blah blah blah." So I called back and complained that I'm just going to keep bringing it back. Today, they called me and assured me they've driven brand new ones, and they all make the same noise mine does. When I confronted them with the fact that the loaners don't, I got a lesson that there's a difference between the 3-motor version and 2-motor version (mine is not a beast). No shit, thanks for the info. Even if the AWD were built shittier and just made more noise than the version with the extra motor, it still wouldn't explain away the fact that their techs tell me it's not a normal noise. So, apparently, they don't trust the people they pay to fix the vehicles. I'm just beyond aggravated. I don't enjoy driving the truck anymore because all I do when I drive it now is listen for and hear the noise that they told me was NOT normal, but also is normal and won't do anything about. Ford, Chevy, Honda, Toyota, name one would fix an issue after multiple complaints and multiple techs confirming the complaints. I've had them all, and they all had issues, but the issues were all fixed without having to argue about it over and over. Hell, at this point, they've probably spent more money repeatedly looking at it than a drive unit costs them to replace.

 

[TorqMonstr]

Sorry for the delayed response. I'm so pissed at Tesla right now and need to vent. I dropped my truck off last week for the same drive unit droning and grinding noise I've taken it in for multiple times, and continues to get worse over time. I've driven other loaner CTs in those times, and none of them have made the same noise. Further, when I dropped it off this time, the tech who drove it with me told me it should not be making that noise, and if it were up to him, he'd replace the drive unit. He explained that early CT drive units all made that noise all the time, but mine had newer drive units that insulated that noise, and I shouldn't be hearing it, especially only at certain speeds. So I dropped it off. Then I get the same damn standard reply. "We've thoroughly tested your vehicle...blah blah blah." So I called back and complained that I'm just going to keep bringing it back. Today, they called me and assured me they've driven brand new ones, and they all make the same noise mine does. When I confronted them with the fact that the loaners don't, I got a lesson that there's a difference between the 3-motor version and 2-motor version (mine is not a beast). No shit, thanks for the info. Even if the AWD were built shittier and just made more noise than the version with the extra motor, it still wouldn't explain away the fact that their techs tell me it's not a normal noise. So, apparently, they don't trust the people they pay to fix the vehicles. I'm just beyond aggravated. I don't enjoy driving the truck anymore because all I do when I drive it now is listen for and hear the noise that they told me was NOT normal, but also is normal and won't do anything about. Ford, Chevy, Honda, Toyota, name one would fix an issue after multiple complaints and multiple techs confirming the complaints. I've had them all, and they all had issues, but the issues were all fixed without having to argue about it over and over. Hell, at this point, they've probably spent more money repeatedly looking at it than a drive unit costs them to replace.

Thanks for the update and I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. Yes, my vehicle (Beast) has a permanent magnet (PM) motor up front and twin induction motors at the rear. Your's has an induction up front and a PM at the rear.

If you're up for investigating further (perhaps this has already been performed?) you can disable a drive unit in Service Mode to see if more intel can be surfaced.

From the NVH analysis section within Toolbox I found the following steps after all the other items have been addressed:

1. Obtain sound recordings of the actual NVH to hear the noise thoroughly.
   • Take recordings of the NVH from inside the cabin using TASCAM recorder.
     • Videos of the drive unit from under the vehicle or outside are not helpful, as they are not customer representative.
   • Compare the noise recordings with exact driving conditions like speed, acceleration (does the sound happen while accelerating or during regenerative braking?), road conditions, and any other specifics that correlate with the NVH complaint.
   • Is the sound reproducible with the vehicle on a lift? Or is it only when the drive unit is loaded (vehicle is on the ground)?
   • Does the sound go away if either the front or the rear drive unit is disabled?

 

[daveog]

Thanks for that info. Thing is, why is Tesla making their customers do all this investigating, isn’t that their job? I don’t have the time, skills, or resources to do any of that but they certainly should. Unfortunately, it seems all they are willing to do is measure decibels and say it’s not annoying enough yet. That’s great until the unit up and fails on the road somewhere.

 

[TorqMonstr]

Agreed, they should be doing better. I'm making no excuses for them but this new platform is a testbed and I believe that most of their technicians/mechanics are there to make repairs and not investigate root causes etc. I would say that it is likely that there is a smaller subset of "Diagnostic (research) technicians and their bandwidth is likely limited. I would only assume that the frequent condition reports from your visits should have pushed this to a higher tier.

However, Tesla's ecosystem around diagnostics is extremely impressive to me and it possesses the tools to help them grow their knowledge index from field service reports and experience. But it takes time for their techs to post "stories" and if they don't report success it's hard to ensure that this information gets properly distributed.

After I posted I browsed a few more articles and found a couple of interesting items.

Do you know if they inspected the drive half-shafts and the mating surfaces of the front hubs?

If you'd like, I can remote into your vehicle and run a test that would look over a specific time period at conditions that could help identify an issue. The reports would look something like this:

PM me your VIN and email and I'll perform an owner authorization request to gain remote access. Provide a date/time period that you observed the vibration and as long as it has occurred within the preceding 30 days we can examine the logs.

My goal here is to learn as mush as possible about this platform since it will help me further my career as a service professional.

 

[65SoYoLO]

Got the truck back last night, drove it some miles today. $2500.
This computer is massive. 23" x 10" x 2". I have the old part and I am wondering what the value would be for a used, failed part.
I can't help but feel like I have purchased an old Yugo with lipstick.
I am seeing way to many of these parts failing to be considered normal wear and tear. Lucky for most, they have been covered under warrenty.
vin is 6794.

 

[CT425]

Got the truck back last night, drove it some miles today. $2500.
This computer is massive. 23" x 10" x 2". I have the old part and I am wondering what the value would be for a used, failed part.
I can't help but feel like I have purchased an old Yugo with lipstick.
I am seeing way to many of these parts failing to be considered normal wear and tear. Lucky for most, they have been covered under warrenty.
vin is 6794.

What is the part number of your failed PCS?

 

[Wraven]

It's totally dead, tried the key, card can't open the tonneau cover, can't open the tailgate, can't open the door. I tried restarting my phone no difference. totally dead. I have 59,000 mi on it so the general warranty is expired but the powertrain is still active if it is not the powertrain, I'm screwed.

While this does suck, I don't see this as any different than a single critical point of failure in any other car having an issue out of warranty. If you slip a timing belt and bend your valves... the vehicle is dead.

 

[65SoYoLO]

What is the part number of your failed PCS?

TPN : 1777777-02-D

 

[mongo]

Got the truck back last night, drove it some miles today. $2500.
This computer is massive. 23" x 10" x 2". I have the old part and I am wondering what the value would be for a used, failed part.
I can't help but feel like I have purchased an old Yugo with lipstick.
I am seeing way to many of these parts failing to be considered normal wear and tear. Lucky for most, they have been covered under warrenty.
vin is 6794.

Working PCS go for $400 or so (plus shipping) on ebay.

 

[ChiTownCT]

While this does suck, I don't see this as any different than a single critical point of failure in any other car having an issue out of warranty. If you slip a timing belt and bend your valves... the vehicle is dead.

My Co-Worker is on his third engine on his Escalade, has about 45k on the odometer.. Crazy stuff

 

[CyberGus]

Working PCS go for $400 or so (plus shipping) on ebay.

I see a number of these on eBay as well, no doubt parted-out from totaled trucks. However, "working fine before the collision" does not mean it is still functional lol.

Given the amount of work involved in the R&R, I'd need to be pretty strapped to settle for an untested pull over a factory-fresh original. To perform a functional test, I think you'd need to at least refill the coolant, and an on-road test without the air suspension is ill-advised.

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