#1144 PEM fan problem

BartJ · Aug 27, 2015

Last friday my rear fan unit was replaced with a new one.
now I'm getting again error message #1144 each time the fan kicks in.
The fan is working fine because I hear it running and it cools down the PEM properly.
I suppose a bad sensor or a bad contact somewhere....
any idea's ?

bonnie · Aug 27, 2015

I'd have the service center take a look - they installed the new fan, yes?

- - - Updated - - -

The Roadster Wiki suggests calling the shop - but also checking coolant level for possible overfill.

BartJ · Aug 27, 2015

bonnie said:
I'd have the service center take a look - they installed the new fan, yes?

- - - Updated - - -

The Roadster Wiki suggests calling the shop - but also checking coolant level for possible overfill.

yes the new fan was installed by the SC.
i already mailed them to fix a new appointment
problem is they are very busy so hope to get a new appointment soon...

gregd · Aug 27, 2015

BartJ said:
Last friday my rear fan unit was replaced with a new one.
now I'm getting again error message #1144 each time the fan kicks in.
The fan is working fine because I hear it running and it cools down the PEM properly.
I suppose a bad sensor or a bad contact somewhere....
any idea's ?

I would have the SC check the connector on the PEM that drives the fan. It's the one far right as you stand at the back of the car, on the bottom. My car's PEM had one of the contacts "burned", so it wasn't making a good (low resistance) connection to drive the blower. I'm guessing that the contact is a bit under-rated for the application, and over time will fail in this manner.

bonnie · Aug 27, 2015

BartJ said:
yes the new fan was installed by the SC.
i already mailed them to fix a new appointment
problem is they are very busy so hope to get a new appointment soon...

They did the work. As far as I'm concerned they have not yet finished it snd that puts you to the front of the line.

m0rph · Aug 28, 2015

gregd said:
I would have the SC check the connector on the PEM that drives the fan. It's the one far right as you stand at the back of the car, on the bottom. My car's PEM had one of the contacts "burned", so it wasn't making a good (low resistance) connection to drive the blower. I'm guessing that the contact is a bit under-rated for the application, and over time will fail in this manner.

²²²²²

dsm363 · Aug 28, 2015

I saw this and thought 'what's wrong with my PEM?'

gregd · Aug 28, 2015

m0rph said:
²²²²²

The motor that runs the fans that cool the PEM get their power from the last connector on the underside of the PEM. If the connector isn't making good electrical contact, the motor doesn't run quite like it should, and the PEM (being overly fussy about such things) notices that the fan isn't blowing like it should, and pops up with that error.

At least, that was one of the problems found on my car. The PEM side of the connector may be fine, with the problem on the cable's end, or the other way, or both (my case).

BartJ · Aug 28, 2015

Just called SC Antwerp ( because they did not reply to my e-mails).
They are 90% sure that I need a new PEM.
They are not willing to look at the car before the new PEM has arrived.
There are no new PEM's in europe and there is a waiting list in the US....
This could take weeks... months... I'm afraid.

I specifically told them about the connector under the PEM.
They told me they had checked all connectors last week when replacing the FAN.
But then I asked them: did you remove the PEM last week. They said no.
So how can you have checked the connector under the PEM then ?

Again they told they will order a new PEM and only then start looking at the car again...
I 'm afraid they are using this as excused for not having to look at the car because they are overbooked.

HELP
what can I do
go to another SC ?

Car is just out of warranty. and I don't want to pay 6K for a new PEM because of a damaged connector...

BartJ · Aug 28, 2015

Thanks to this great forum and all of you I was able to solve the problem myself this evening !I looked at the connectors on the bottom of the PEM, more specially the last connector on the right site.
i was able to look at them by removing the little square plate that is fixed in the trunk with 4 screws towards the PEM.
Then I was able to see the 4 connectors.
I saw that the last connector was under quite some tension, also the cabling was twisted with the cabling of the other connectors.
By using my fingertips in between the outer trunk and the PEM I was able to loosen the tension of the cables and remove the twisting.
This must have happened during the my last yearly maintenance end of april !

Went out for a spirited test drive and no more #1144 errors !
Hurray !

Many thanks to Gregd, dsm363 and especially M0rph for providing very clear pictures of the connectors in his threat about PEM cleaning !

Probably it was not even neccesary that the SC replaced my rear fan last week for 800 euro. It was just a bad contact because of the tension on the cable/connector.

I'm seriously thinking about doing my PEM cleaning by myself in the future !!

Many thanks to this great community !!!!
(You saved me 6K for a new PEM , because that was the next move of the SC...)

hcsharp · Aug 28, 2015

BartJ said:
...
Probably it was not even neccesary that the SC replaced my rear fan last week for 800 euro. It was just a bad contact because of the tension on the cable/connector.

Good chance you did need the fan but when they installed the new one they routed the cable wrong.

coyote1b · Aug 31, 2015

PEM Fan Connector

Thanks all for posting about PEM fan problems. I had a problem with my PEM fan and tracked it down to burned contacts at the PEM connector. It is good to know that others have also experienced this type of failure. I got the car running again by wiring in an inline replacement connector as a temporary fix until I could find new original connectors. Based on the comments about the possible under rating of the original connectors I may just leave my fix in place. It probably has a higher current rating that the original equipment.

m0rph · Sep 1, 2015

Great news Bart, DIY rocks! Let's organize a PEM cleaning party one day.. :wink:

BartJ · Nov 12, 2015

I'm still occasionally getting 1144 errors, just now and then ,every few weeks.
fan was replaced about three monhts ago.
should I worry about these ?
Consider pem cleaning ?
or just ignore them ?

m0rph · Nov 17, 2015

Since a while, I'm getting those errors again, and fan was replaced about 5 months ago. In half an hour, I have an appointment at the SeC to see if it needs replacement again.

BartJ · Nov 17, 2015

ask them to check the connector underneath the PEM

m0rph · Nov 17, 2015

Mine is making funny noises.. So there's more going on than faulty errors caused by a bad connector. Now enjoying free coffee and the view of a dozen Model S's in the SeC.

safi · Apr 21, 2016

Hi all,

I'm having the same issue and Tesla also recommends to replace the fans. When asking whether they checked the connectors they couldn't answer. Do any of you know if they check on this or if they will just propose to replace the fan unit? I don't want to replace it every few months...
Tesla also states that this 1144 error indicates that the fan stops running, but I would expect that this would result in rising PEM temperature which is not the case.

Regards,
Sander

gregd · Apr 21, 2016

safi said:
Hi all,

I'm having the same issue and Tesla also recommends to replace the fans. When asking whether they checked the connectors they couldn't answer. Do any of you know if they check on this or if they will just propose to replace the fan unit? I don't want to replace it every few months...
Tesla also states that this 1144 error indicates that the fan stops running, but I would expect that this would result in rising PEM temperature which is not the case.

Regards,
Sander

Really, I'd have them specifically check the connectors, closely. It's the one at the far end of underside of the PEM on 2.x cars. The contacts seem to be a bit under-rated, and mine were burned (blue-ish colored) from the heat. Unfortunately, the problem usually comes in pairs, the cable (easy to replace) and the PEM itself (can be expensive if you can't get them to swap you with a repaired unit).

If the connectors check out ok, try checking the gasketing around the duct work between the fans and the PEM. If it's not sealing properly, the leaking air will make the system think the fan's not working right.

safi · Apr 21, 2016

Thanks for the tips @gregd, will check this out!

#1144 PEM fan problem

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