545 towed for the first time....System Too Hot Vehicle Shutting Down

skadax · Jul 19, 2015

Was out and about driving around Saturday morning and received error message 1144 Powertrain Problem Service Required. Now I just had my car in for the annual service last week and it was giving me this message at that time also so I thought no big deal, will take it back in this week. However, this was quickly followed by a Red Fault light, then a PowerLimit light. I then noticed the PEM temps starting to creep up and finally I got error message "System Too Hot Vehicle Shutting Down." I was able to pull into a gas station luckily.

I called the 24/7 Tesla support line and they still had my car listed under the previous owner, even though I purchased CPO through Tesla! (I started another thread about this).

Ultimately they were able to get me a tow truck out and have it taken to the Scottsdale SC. The SC was actually open on Saturday (they recently changed the hours to by appointment only on Saturday) and they were able to get me into a loaner model S. Likely won't start looking at the car until Monday. Let's see what they find...

jbadger · Jul 19, 2015

I had the same thing happen to my Roadster, #506. It's likely the fan went out and since you have a 2010 you may want to upgrade to the double fan assembly. It's louder and costs more, but it's suppose to do a better job at cooling and lasts longer.

Power Train Problem Service required

skadax · Jul 20, 2015

jbadger said:
I had the same thing happen to my Roadster, #506. It's likely the fan went out and since you have a 2010 you may want to upgrade to the double fan assembly. It's louder and costs more, but it's suppose to do a better job at cooling and lasts longer.

Power Train Problem Service required

I had the fan upgrade done last year at my annual service. I'm thinking they will end up replacing it....let's see, hoping to hear something from tesla today.

AEdennis · Jul 20, 2015

skadax said:
I had the fan upgrade done last year at my annual service. I'm thinking they will end up replacing it....let's see, hoping to hear something from tesla today.

Good luck and keep us updated. If there's anything you Arizona rEVolutionaries do, it's definitely "heat test" the EVs for the rest of us.

Galve2000 · Jul 20, 2015

skadax said:
View attachment 87954

View attachment 87955

what a beauty!

skadax · Jul 20, 2015

Thanks guys.

So I heard from Tesla today, apparently one of the harness connectors to the PEM shorted. They are not sure how or why, interesting that it was just serviced last week and apparently looked fine at that time. They are now going to replace the harness as well as give me a new PEM ($$$!!!) since this is all under warranty. Should take a couple more days. I'm driving the model S loaner around in the mean time and my wife is getting too used to the luxury of it....

hcsharp · Jul 23, 2015

Did they say which connector it was? Probably something happened while they were servicing it. Like maybe they pinched a wire somewhere when pulling the connectors out or moving the heavy PEM around.

shrink · Jul 23, 2015

Glad it was diagnosed and to be fixed! You and I only have about a year left on our warranties. Glad you're taking advantage. I should too. I've only put 6000 miles on the car in 2 years of ownership. I should drive it a lot more this year, but my work commute is also very short, my neighborhood is walkable, and I'm about a block from the light rail. My wife takes the rail to work and I drive 7 miles RT to work in our Model S.

I have not had the fan upgrade done. Is that something I can ask for or were you having a lot of power limited messages from this crazy desert heat?

Trust me, you'll be happy when you get the Roadster back and turn in the Model S. The latter is comfortable and convenient, but not nearly as fun...

skadax · Jul 25, 2015

hcsharp said:
Did they say which connector it was? Probably something happened while they were servicing it. Like maybe they pinched a wire somewhere when pulling the connectors out or moving the heavy PEM around.

I figure it has to be somehow related to what they did recently. They got the new PEM earlier this week and just got the harness a couple days ago. They are still working on everything. I'll ask which harness when I get the car back.

shrink said:
Glad it was diagnosed and to be fixed! You and I only have about a year left on our warranties....

I have not had the fan upgrade done. Is that something I can ask for or were you having a lot of power limited messages from this crazy desert heat?

Trust me, you'll be happy when you get the Roadster back and turn in the Model S. The latter is comfortable and convenient, but not nearly as fun...

hey shrink, I've been driving much more than you and I only had about a 1000 miles left on my warranty when this happened. I did buy an additional 3 yr/36K miles at the last annual service a week before this happened as well. The fan upgrade was done for me at last years annual service because the old fan was plugged up. I'm sure you can ask them to have it done. It's a bit of work as they have to change the rear anti-roll bar to accommodate the new fan. supposedly helps with our heat.

I can't wait to get the roadster back.....been a week today. Hope to have it back soon.

shrink · Jul 27, 2015

skadax said:
hey shrink, I've been driving much more than you and I only had about a 1000 miles left on my warranty when this happened. I did buy an additional 3 yr/36K miles at the last annual service a week before this happened as well. The fan upgrade was done for me at last years annual service because the old fan was plugged up. I'm sure you can ask them to have it done. It's a bit of work as they have to change the rear anti-roll bar to accommodate the new fan. supposedly helps with our heat.

I can't wait to get the roadster back.....been a week today. Hope to have it back soon.

I was hoping to buy another warranty when my CPO one runs out. Good to know it might be an option for me. I'll ask about the fan upgrade. My annual service is due very soon.

Hope you are re-united soon. Can't believe you got a new PEM out of it! That's awesome.

skadax · Jul 28, 2015

Finally reunited with my roadster! The model S was nice but I missed the feel of my roadster.
They replaced the PEM and the wiring harness (not sure which one, wasn't told specifics).

A quick look in the trunk certainly confirms a new PEM. It now says "Roadster Sport" on it and mine is not a sport version. I assume this means it's an actual sport PEM and not just a different unit cover. Does anyone know if the PEM units are different in the sport vs non-sport? Does this mean I have some free performance upgrades now :biggrin:?

gregd · Jul 28, 2015

skadax said:
Finally reunited with my roadster! The model S was nice but I missed the feel of my roadster.
They replaced the PEM and the wiring harness (not sure which one, wasn't told specifics).

A quick look in the trunk certainly confirms a new PEM. It now says "Roadster Sport" on it and mine is not a sport version. I assume this means it's an actual sport PEM and not just a different unit cover. Does anyone know if the PEM units are different in the sport vs non-sport? Does this mean I have some free performance upgrades now :biggrin:?

Same thing happened to me. I asked and was told that the PEMs are identical except for the badge and the version of firmware loaded (which they changed to be non-Sport). They said they can change the badge next time the car is in for some other reason (maintenance, etc). Unfortunately, there's no performance advantage to putting a Sport badge on the PEM.

shrink · Jul 29, 2015

skadax said:
Does anyone know if the PEM units are different in the sport vs non-sport? Does this mean I have some free performance upgrades now :biggrin:?

Let's race and find out! Although I think it's a proven scientific fact that very orange is faster than twilight blue. :wink:

Glad you've been re-united! Congrats.

I have to give the Scottsdale SC a call. My annual service is due in a week.

m0rph · Aug 4, 2015

White roadsters are proven to be the fastest in my region.

Fabrizio · Aug 6, 2015

I just had the same issue with my 2010 Roadster, only this is the second time it happened in the last 14 months. The cable bundle that burned was connecting the motor fans to the PEM (it's behind the panel in the trunk). The connector to the PEM burned out and the PEM was damaged. Not sure whether the PEM overheated and burned the connector or vice versa. I was told that this occurs because I drive the Roadster in the Arizona heat which causes the motor fans to run continuously - and sucks up dust and debris which inhibit air flow and causes the PEM to overheat.

It was recommended to me that I have the PEM and fans blown out more frequently to keep the air flow clear and help keep the PEM cool.

I wonder how many other Arizona Roadster owners have experienced this?

hcsharp · Aug 7, 2015

Fabrizio said:
I just had the same issue with my 2010 Roadster, only this is the second time it happened in the last 14 months. The cable bundle that burned was connecting the motor fans to the PEM (it's behind the panel in the trunk). The connector to the PEM burned out and the PEM was damaged. Not sure whether the PEM overheated and burned the connector or vice versa. I was told that this occurs because I drive the Roadster in the Arizona heat which causes the motor fans to run continuously - and sucks up dust and debris which inhibit air flow and causes the PEM to overheat.

It was recommended to me that I have the PEM and fans blown out more frequently to keep the air flow clear and help keep the PEM cool.

I wonder how many other Arizona Roadster owners have experienced this?

No matter where you live or what time of year, the fans run continuously. I'm sure they run stronger in AZ heat. I burned out two of the old style PEM fans driving in the winter below freezing. You couldn't go 2 blocks without overheating. He's right that you should consider cleaning out the PEM and motor more than once a year. That's true where I live, too partly because of the prevalence of dirt roads and partly because of the massive number of leaves and pine needles that we have around here.

skadax · Aug 7, 2015

Fabrizio said:
I just had the same issue with my 2010 Roadster, only this is the second time it happened in the last 14 months. The cable bundle that burned was connecting the motor fans to the PEM (it's behind the panel in the trunk). The connector to the PEM burned out and the PEM was damaged. Not sure whether the PEM overheated and burned the connector or vice versa. I was told that this occurs because I drive the Roadster in the Arizona heat which causes the motor fans to run continuously - and sucks up dust and debris which inhibit air flow and causes the PEM to overheat.

It was recommended to me that I have the PEM and fans blown out more frequently to keep the air flow clear and help keep the PEM cool.

I wonder how many other Arizona Roadster owners have experienced this?

They told me the same thing as well. I find it interesting that I just had my annual service and a week later this happened to me...
At any rate, guess I'll be learning to clean my own PEM fan.

They had mentioned to me at the SC that another owners car was in with issue similar to mine.....must've been you. Hope you have your car back now as well.

Fabrizio · Aug 8, 2015

They are still waiting for a replacement PEM and cable. They showed me that with a leaf blower I can blow air into the vents that are in back, below and on either side of the license plate to help clear the air flow. The SC also offered a PEM cleaning more frequently, not a full annual service, as an option.

shrink · Aug 8, 2015

I'm dropping my Roadster off Tuesday evening for annual service at the Scottsdale SC. I asked for the fan upgrade. Will report back on what they say about and PEM cleaning.

shrink · Aug 12, 2015

Well I asked for the fan upgrade but did not get it.

They basically said that since I'm not getting any "Service Powertrain" messages, the original PEM fan appeared to be doing an adequate job. Oh well - I have another 13 months of warranty!

They did say everything looked great so that's good - and they charged using my Model S UMC with Henry's Model S to Roadster adapter.

I did get the battery coolant flush for another $150, too, for a whopping total of $750 for annual service.

I'll be happy to get it back tomorrow. They gave me a P85+ for a loaner, but I do miss the Roadster.

545 towed for the first time....System Too Hot Vehicle Shutting Down

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