P85D Rear Drive Unit failure

mindsweeper · Jan 19, 2016

Last Friday I took my P85D to our vacation house, supercharged as planned before arriving while shopping for the weekend. It was cold, -10C (14F) driving up there.

Had to get the snowblower out as we had 1ft snow on arrival.

Saturday morning was a little colder, but we had some fun in the snow with the kids, and it started to snow at night.

Later at night it started to get really cold, we saw -18 (0F) and according to my weather station it was as low as -22 (-7.6F) during night.

Now. Here is where the excitement starts, Sunday morning I need to go for a ride, and start preheat from my iphone. Nothing out of the ordinary until I check the app, and see that the car is not pulling any current even though being plugged in. So I look outside and notice a small greenish color behind the right rear wheel.

Car tells me it is low on coolant (no **** Sherlock)

So, I call Tesla - they say a flatbed will pick it up.

And I am stuck with what is probably the most boring loaner anyone ever had

But, just over 2 days later, new DU is installed, car is cleaned inside and out at no cost

Really happy with the way Tesla fixed this, they really went the extra mile. Service guy called me several times asking if all was ok and if I made it home without the car. Then picking up a clean car was just delightful.

But, how many other P85D had a DU replacement? The service center told me they had never seen this failure before, and I havent really heard abou any other D´s with DU replacements at all

jeffro01 · Jan 19, 2016

Good stuff but... I have to ask, the snowflake icon next to the battery level in one of the shots, is this "new" and at what temperature does it display???

Jeff

3mp_kwh · Jan 19, 2016

You've been "greenwashed".

Todd Burch · Jan 19, 2016

This is a really rare failure as far as I can tell. Seems like a coolant hose burst or leaked. Perhaps some water got into the system, expanded when it froze, and caused a leak?

Super_Popular · Jan 19, 2016

That snow is really pretty. I wish we got snow like that in Oregon.

apacheguy · Jan 19, 2016

jeffro01 said:
Good stuff but... I have to ask, the snowflake icon next to the battery level in one of the shots, is this "new" and at what temperature does it display???

Jeff

Been there since 4.x but the implementation changed due to the UI refresh. I've never seen it myself.

Electric700 · Jan 20, 2016

I'm sorry this happened but glad to see they fixed the issue quickly for you.

The water intrusion and expansion theory seems to be plausible. I expect the service center would have more details, and they will probably be sending the old drive unit to the factory for a more thorough analysis.

tcampos · Jan 20, 2016

mindsweeper said:
But, how many other P85D had a DU replacement? The service center told me they had never seen this failure before, and I havent really heard abou any other D´s with DU replacements at all

I just had BOTH of my drive units replaced. My problem started off as a 12V battery problem. I had to have the car towed into the service center. It took them 3 days to decide to replace the rear unit - apparently because it was leaking. Then after they replaced it they decided to replace the front unit because that was the source of the 12V issue. 2 weeks later I got my car back.

This is my 2nd Tesla and I have to say service did a pretty good job keeping me informed. However, why I had to replace BOTH drive units for a 1 year old car with 12.5k miles on it is way beyond me.

tomas · Jan 20, 2016

tcampos said:
I just had BOTH of my drive units replaced. My problem started off as a 12V battery problem. I had to have the car towed into the service center. It took them 3 days to decide to replace the rear unit - apparently because it was leaking. Then after they replaced it they decided to replace the front unit because that was the source of the 12V issue. 2 weeks later I got my car back.

This is my 2nd Tesla and I have to say service did a pretty good job keeping me informed. However, why I had to replace BOTH drive units for a 1 year old car with 12.5k miles on it is way beyond me.

Tesla has decided to centralize most DU repairs for now. So, they replace and then send back to remanufacture unit, and it is dispatched as replacement for someone else. Thus, it is hard to know the exact severity of each repair that is needed. Using ICE analogy, you might have had something as insignificant as a timing belt adjustment, or as significant as a valve job. This whole "DU failed" discussion certainly gets people nervous because they jump to "geez, engine failed, needed to replace the whole thing". Because specific knowledge of each problem is opaque to owner, you can assume the worst or the best. As long as Tesla is paying for all severity via warranty, this is really a minor issue. Question is: what range of repairs will eventually be done at Service Centers at a reasonable cost, and what proportion of repairs does that cover?

CuriousG · Jan 20, 2016

tcampos said:
I just had BOTH of my drive units replaced. My problem started off as a 12V battery problem. I had to have the car towed into the service center. It took them 3 days to decide to replace the rear unit - apparently because it was leaking. Then after they replaced it they decided to replace the front unit because that was the source of the 12V issue. 2 weeks later I got my car back.

This is my 2nd Tesla and I have to say service did a pretty good job keeping me informed. However, why I had to replace BOTH drive units for a 1 year old car with 12.5k miles on it is way beyond me.

They they give you brand new DUs or were they remanufactured?

steph280 · Jan 20, 2016

It's all fine and dandy they replace the DU now. But what if we were stuck with the replacement bill after warranty expires? This can't be a cheap thing to replace, refurb or not.

tomas · Jan 20, 2016

steph280 said:
It's all fine and dandy they replace the DU now. But what if we were stuck with the replacement bill after warranty expires? This can't be a cheap thing to replace, refurb or not.

Plz read post 2 up. Thx. Don't panic yet.

Uncle Paul · Jan 20, 2016

The drive unit may not have failed at all. Maybe just a hose or loose connection.

Tesla elected to take out the entire unit rather than just tighten up a loose connector out of an abundance of caution.

The probably want the entire unit to determine exactly what went wrong, and gave you a rental and new drive unit to optimize your service experience.

Instead of a headline saying drive unit failure, perhaps it should have said Excellent service from Tesla Motors on a sub freezing night.

mindsweeper · Jan 22, 2016

Todd Burch said:
This is a really rare failure as far as I can tell. Seems like a coolant hose burst or leaked. Perhaps some water got into the system, expanded when it froze, and caused a leak?

That was my thought as well, but since all the coolant was still very fluid I am wondering why that water would not have been mixed with glycol anyway.

Could it be condensation in the DU?

Uncle Paul said:
The drive unit may not have failed at all. Maybe just a hose or loose connection.

Tesla elected to take out the entire unit rather than just tighten up a loose connector out of an abundance of caution.

The probably want the entire unit to determine exactly what went wrong, and gave you a rental and new drive unit to optimize your service experience.

Instead of a headline saying drive unit failure, perhaps it should have said Excellent service from Tesla Motors on a sub freezing night.

According to the SC, the DU had a crack in it. So definitely a failed DU as I see it, even if not with grinding noises as is the "normal" DU failure. Up to the coolant spillage my DU has performed perfect with no sounds, clanks or anything for 10 months and 17k km.

But yes, I agree with you - the title could be different, because Tesla really did go out of its lengths to help me and very swiftly so. I received four phone calls from the support center after my initial call where they just wanted to 1. inform me that a flatbed was on its way, 2. check if the flatbed had picked up the car and that it went as planned, 3. to check again if I was really ok getting home without a loaner straight away and 4. calling me later at night checking if I got home ok and all was fine.

What other car company would do such a thing?

Search

P85D Rear Drive Unit failure

mindsweeper

Member

jeffro01

Active Member

3mp_kwh

Active Member

Todd Burch

14-Year Member

Super_Popular

Well-Known Member

apacheguy

S Sig #255

Electric700

Active Member

tcampos

Member

tomas

Out of warranty...

CuriousG

Active Member

steph280

Member

tomas

Out of warranty...

Uncle Paul

Well-Known Member

mindsweeper

Member

Similar threads