Dedmo
Well-known member
- First Name
- Don
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2023
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 125
- Location
- North Carolina
- Vehicles
- 2017 Model S, 2022 Model X
- Thread starter
- #1
I’ve had 5 different Teslas, 250,000 miles and never had any significant issue until today. And it was awful.
On a 350 mile trip back to home. Half way I plugged in to supercharger at 18% charge, went in to pick up some snacks, left the dog with dog mode on. About 20 minutes later at 50% got a “critical“ alert notification to “return to truck immediately“, “environmental system error and dog mode inoperative”. Went back to the truck, looked ok except the same alert at the bottom of the screen and it had stopped charging. Decided to try a different charger but…
-The charge cable would not release. Figured out how to pull the emergency release cable in the tailgate and got the charge cable out.
-Charger port door wouldn’t close. Screen was still working but the “button” did nothing. Same with the control on the app.
-Pushed in the brake to see if that would turn on the car and everything went black. No power to anything.
-Couldn’t open the door to get out. Had to use the emergency lever. Important to note that someone has to be in the truck to open the door when it’s dead. No way to open from the outside if it closes. Also the window doesn’t open slightly as usual so when you do shut it you could easily brake the glass on the outside of the frame.
-While waiting on hold with Tesla roadside it was getting dark and very cold (22F) so wanted to get some layers out of luggage in the back but without power tail gate nor tonneau cover can’t be opened. Same with frunk.
-Had to crawl from the front to the back seat and figure out a completely different emergency release for the back door so I could get the golden retriever out for a walk on the now frozen ice rink of a parking lot.
-Tesla service had me try a “2 minute“ reboot. Didn‘t work. They sent a tow truck. After two very cold hours he arrives.
-Used his jumper box to open the frunk and then attached it to the low voltage terminals behind the plastic at the top of the frunk. (Youtube and an iPhone is a lifesaver).
-Truck woke up, opened the tailgate, etc and the screen came on so I could put it in tow mode. But…
-Started winching it up on the flatbed but was angled wrong. Tried to turn the wheel slightly and I felt a pop in the steering and everything went dead again, including the steering. Also the wheels all locked up so must have cancelled out the tow mode.
-Disconnected and reconnected booster to low voltage terminals and tried again. Everything woke up again, but immediately died when I tried to do anything with the wheel. Repeated a couple of times but his booster box was too low on charge and the doors would no longer open. (I’m wondering if the booster had a better charge if the steering would have stayed alive longer?)
-Had to use “go jacks”(?), little sleds under each locked wheel, and finally, after snapping one tow rope, he was able to drag it, locked wheels and all, up on the flatbed. (Why he was using a rope along with the tow straps I have no idea.)
-It’s now on the way to a service center a couple of hours away. It’s well past closing so we will find out tomorrow (hopefully) what the problem is. -In the meantime we found a pet friendly Uber and a nearby pet friendly hotel and are checked in and warming up. Very rough day. But learned a lot. To be continued.
On a 350 mile trip back to home. Half way I plugged in to supercharger at 18% charge, went in to pick up some snacks, left the dog with dog mode on. About 20 minutes later at 50% got a “critical“ alert notification to “return to truck immediately“, “environmental system error and dog mode inoperative”. Went back to the truck, looked ok except the same alert at the bottom of the screen and it had stopped charging. Decided to try a different charger but…
-The charge cable would not release. Figured out how to pull the emergency release cable in the tailgate and got the charge cable out.
-Charger port door wouldn’t close. Screen was still working but the “button” did nothing. Same with the control on the app.
-Pushed in the brake to see if that would turn on the car and everything went black. No power to anything.
-Couldn’t open the door to get out. Had to use the emergency lever. Important to note that someone has to be in the truck to open the door when it’s dead. No way to open from the outside if it closes. Also the window doesn’t open slightly as usual so when you do shut it you could easily brake the glass on the outside of the frame.
-While waiting on hold with Tesla roadside it was getting dark and very cold (22F) so wanted to get some layers out of luggage in the back but without power tail gate nor tonneau cover can’t be opened. Same with frunk.
-Had to crawl from the front to the back seat and figure out a completely different emergency release for the back door so I could get the golden retriever out for a walk on the now frozen ice rink of a parking lot.
-Tesla service had me try a “2 minute“ reboot. Didn‘t work. They sent a tow truck. After two very cold hours he arrives.
-Used his jumper box to open the frunk and then attached it to the low voltage terminals behind the plastic at the top of the frunk. (Youtube and an iPhone is a lifesaver).
-Truck woke up, opened the tailgate, etc and the screen came on so I could put it in tow mode. But…
-Started winching it up on the flatbed but was angled wrong. Tried to turn the wheel slightly and I felt a pop in the steering and everything went dead again, including the steering. Also the wheels all locked up so must have cancelled out the tow mode.
-Disconnected and reconnected booster to low voltage terminals and tried again. Everything woke up again, but immediately died when I tried to do anything with the wheel. Repeated a couple of times but his booster box was too low on charge and the doors would no longer open. (I’m wondering if the booster had a better charge if the steering would have stayed alive longer?)
-Had to use “go jacks”(?), little sleds under each locked wheel, and finally, after snapping one tow rope, he was able to drag it, locked wheels and all, up on the flatbed. (Why he was using a rope along with the tow straps I have no idea.)
-It’s now on the way to a service center a couple of hours away. It’s well past closing so we will find out tomorrow (hopefully) what the problem is. -In the meantime we found a pet friendly Uber and a nearby pet friendly hotel and are checked in and warming up. Very rough day. But learned a lot. To be continued.
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