Hi all,
You probably saw my posts in the P85D Delivery Tracking Thread about my brand new P85D failing less than 48 hours after taking delivery. Many of you requested the story, so here it is. It's really not that interesting now that it's done but I hope you find it useful.
BACKGROUND: I'm new to the forum but I purchased a Tesla-driven Model S P85 in early 2014 after having driven BMWs for most of the last decade. I purchased a P85D the day that it was announced and I upgraded from the 2013 Model S P85.
Here was the chronology:
12/19: Picked up P85D from Tesla Fremont and dropped off my P85 there. Did factory tour. Drove vehicle home that night and really enjoyed the "Insane" power level. I pushed the car with "spirit", very hard.
12/20: Clocked about 100 miles of pretty spirited driving
12/21: Was driving on Embarcadero in SF and turned left on to Green street. Heard a loud pop and immediately felt a major loss of power in the vehicle. I saw the warning light go on so I pulled over expecting to see a flat tire but it actually showed the screenshot pasted below. It said, "Front motor disabled" and that the car needed service. I was able to drive vehicle home at about 30% power and park it in my garage. The main battery had around 70% charge. Didn't bother calling Roadside Assistance.
12/22: Woke up that morning to drive to Tesla Burlingame at 9am and pick up a loaner on my way to work but car would not power on. I called Roadside Assistance and Tesla had a flatbed at my house about two hours later. My garage is a nightmare for Tesla if the car is dead. I park on the third floor of a very narrow parking garage and my car sits 2" from a concrete slab. Needless to say, George got way more of a workout than he bargained for and we got the car safely outside without power steering and brakes.
Before we flatbedded the car, George tried jump starting the battery. The car briefly booted up but was now throwing a 12V battery error message in addition to the Front Motor messages but then about five seconds later, all systems go dead again. We were able to very briefly start the car just long enough to get it into tow mode, but I think we just got very lucky. Given my experiencing multiple failures of the 12V system in my P85, I am disappointed that this is still a problem for Tesla. 12V battery failures of any form in a Tesla could become a problem with fatal but avoidable consequences.
In any case, got the car to Tesla Burlingame. Obviously everybody was very surprised to see a P85D in just two days after they came off the assembly line.
12/22 - 12/31: Car was being repaired. Basically during this time, I learned from my rep that my vehicle raised every red flag in the book at Tesla up and down the company. Obviously they would be concerned that their new halo car had a major malfunction nearly right away. From what I understand, they first tried to diagnose the problem under the assumption that the motor didn't actually fail. After a few days, they isolated the problem to the front motor and 'condemned' it.
The car was flatbedded back the factory in Fremont and then the team that assembled the car, did the repairs. It turns out that the SCs aren't even yet trained on dual-motor vehicles so Burlingame was unable to repair the vehicle by itself just yet.
The car was then flatbedded back to Burlingame and I picked it up on 12/31 in the evening.
12/31: Car works great since then. Like other P85D owners, I was worried about the energy consumption but it's coming back to normal since the last two firmware updates. I finally received the paperwork for the vehicle yesterday via PDF and it indeed confirms a "Front motor replacement". There isn't even a database code for this type of problem so it took a few days for that to get created.
Unfortunately, I have no further information as to why the front motor failed or the 12v battery failure. The report does NOT indicate a 12v battery replacement and so I think the front motor failure caused the whole vehicle to fail somehow.
Overall, it's an amazing car. It has its quirks but it's just great. I love mine now that it's working again
Note that the corruption in the image below was caused by my iPhone and wasn't actually on the screen in the Tesla.
You probably saw my posts in the P85D Delivery Tracking Thread about my brand new P85D failing less than 48 hours after taking delivery. Many of you requested the story, so here it is. It's really not that interesting now that it's done but I hope you find it useful.
BACKGROUND: I'm new to the forum but I purchased a Tesla-driven Model S P85 in early 2014 after having driven BMWs for most of the last decade. I purchased a P85D the day that it was announced and I upgraded from the 2013 Model S P85.
Here was the chronology:
12/19: Picked up P85D from Tesla Fremont and dropped off my P85 there. Did factory tour. Drove vehicle home that night and really enjoyed the "Insane" power level. I pushed the car with "spirit", very hard.
12/20: Clocked about 100 miles of pretty spirited driving
12/21: Was driving on Embarcadero in SF and turned left on to Green street. Heard a loud pop and immediately felt a major loss of power in the vehicle. I saw the warning light go on so I pulled over expecting to see a flat tire but it actually showed the screenshot pasted below. It said, "Front motor disabled" and that the car needed service. I was able to drive vehicle home at about 30% power and park it in my garage. The main battery had around 70% charge. Didn't bother calling Roadside Assistance.
12/22: Woke up that morning to drive to Tesla Burlingame at 9am and pick up a loaner on my way to work but car would not power on. I called Roadside Assistance and Tesla had a flatbed at my house about two hours later. My garage is a nightmare for Tesla if the car is dead. I park on the third floor of a very narrow parking garage and my car sits 2" from a concrete slab. Needless to say, George got way more of a workout than he bargained for and we got the car safely outside without power steering and brakes.
Before we flatbedded the car, George tried jump starting the battery. The car briefly booted up but was now throwing a 12V battery error message in addition to the Front Motor messages but then about five seconds later, all systems go dead again. We were able to very briefly start the car just long enough to get it into tow mode, but I think we just got very lucky. Given my experiencing multiple failures of the 12V system in my P85, I am disappointed that this is still a problem for Tesla. 12V battery failures of any form in a Tesla could become a problem with fatal but avoidable consequences.
In any case, got the car to Tesla Burlingame. Obviously everybody was very surprised to see a P85D in just two days after they came off the assembly line.
12/22 - 12/31: Car was being repaired. Basically during this time, I learned from my rep that my vehicle raised every red flag in the book at Tesla up and down the company. Obviously they would be concerned that their new halo car had a major malfunction nearly right away. From what I understand, they first tried to diagnose the problem under the assumption that the motor didn't actually fail. After a few days, they isolated the problem to the front motor and 'condemned' it.
The car was flatbedded back the factory in Fremont and then the team that assembled the car, did the repairs. It turns out that the SCs aren't even yet trained on dual-motor vehicles so Burlingame was unable to repair the vehicle by itself just yet.
The car was then flatbedded back to Burlingame and I picked it up on 12/31 in the evening.
12/31: Car works great since then. Like other P85D owners, I was worried about the energy consumption but it's coming back to normal since the last two firmware updates. I finally received the paperwork for the vehicle yesterday via PDF and it indeed confirms a "Front motor replacement". There isn't even a database code for this type of problem so it took a few days for that to get created.
Unfortunately, I have no further information as to why the front motor failed or the 12v battery failure. The report does NOT indicate a 12v battery replacement and so I think the front motor failure caused the whole vehicle to fail somehow.
Overall, it's an amazing car. It has its quirks but it's just great. I love mine now that it's working again
Note that the corruption in the image below was caused by my iPhone and wasn't actually on the screen in the Tesla.
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