Brand New 2023 Performance Model Y Drive Unit Failure

[Specnate]

Hello All,
Brand new to the Tesla Family, 8 days since “owning” one. I’m teetering on the verge of absolutely regretting my purchase.
On Wednesday I noticed a puddle of fluid/oil under the rear axle in my garage and initially thought it was break fluid, took the day off to contact Tesla service and they asked me to drive it in that day so they can take a look.
The service advisor took a look and said it just looked like the drive unit had a small leak, 2 hours later they tell me the leak is BAD, so they said they were going to replace the entire drive unit and that there was a “manufacturer defect” w/ the seal. Luckily they had one in stock to replace the unit, but received a message this morning saying that everything is now delayed because they broke a coolant hose while either installing or removing the old unit. Less than 500 miles on the rig, and already 2 major repairs. Has anyone ran into any similar issues on a BRAND NEW vehicle? Please tell me it gets better.

 

[Milehighblue]

Hello All,
Brand new to the Tesla Family, 8 days since “owning” one. I’m teetering on the verge of absolutely regretting my purchase.
On Wednesday I noticed a puddle of fluid/oil under the rear axle in my garage and initially thought it was break fluid, took the day off to contact Tesla service and they asked me to drive it in that day so they can take a look.
The service advisor took a look and said it just looked like the drive unit had a small leak, 2 hours later they tell me the leak is BAD, so they said they were going to replace the entire drive unit and that there was a “manufacturer defect” w/ the seal. Luckily they had one in stock to replace the unit, but received a message this morning saying that everything is now delayed because they broke a coolant hose while either installing or removing the old unit. Less than 500 miles on the rig, and already 2 major repairs. Has anyone ran into any similar issues on a BRAND NEW vehicle? Please tell me it gets better.

No as bad as your's, but 2 weeks and <500 miles on my Model Y LR, and the entire screen was black and did not turn back on after being parked for an hour. Tesla roadside sent a tow, who could not jump the 16V. Turns out, it was a bad computer chip, so they ordered in a new chip and replaced it. Anyways....if you haven't done so, I would ask for a loaner. They didn't offer me one until I asked for one.

 

[Specnate]

No as bad as your's, but 2 weeks and <500 miles on my Model Y LR, and the entire screen was black and did not turn back on after being parked for an hour. Tesla roadside sent a tow, who could not jump the 16V. Turns out, it was a bad computer chip, so they ordered in a new chip and replaced it. Anyways....if you haven't done so, I would ask for a loaner. They didn't offer me one until I asked for one.

Gotcha, yeah they gave me a loaner when I dropped off the vehicle I will say this though, the customer service at my location has been great, just got off the phone with a rep and we came to an agreement to make things right.

 

[Pianewman]

Sorry about your failure. If you do a search here, you can read about others (a few? a lot?) with early drive unit failures. I believe the failures are rare, after reading here daily for almost 3 years.

To clarify your post, though, I would say you had ONE failure, with a 2nd issue created while repairing the original failure. All techs have "oops...WTF...I didn't intend to do THAT" moments.

For sure, this failure is extremely frustrating for you, but you'll be getting a new drive unit anyway, so hopefully you'll be good to go.

 

[Specnate]

Sorry about your failure. If you do a search here, you can read about others (a few? a lot?) with early drive unit failures. I believe the failures are rare, after reading here daily for almost 3 years.

To clarify your post, though, I would say you had ONE failure, with a 2nd issue created while repairing the original failure. All techs have "oops...WTF...I didn't intend to do THAT" moments.

For sure, this failure is extremely frustrating for you, but you'll be getting a new drive unit anyway, so hopefully you'll be good to go.

You are 100% right. *sugar* happens, and it will all get fixed. Don’t get me wrong the 7 days I was able to drive it I absolutely loved it.

 

[father_of_6]

I second what @Pianewman said... I've read a number of posts from owners that have had early drive failures. It's a very rare occurrence.

 

[hollow23]

ask tesla to buy back, this is not acceptable.

 

[SO16]

ask tesla to buy back, this is not acceptable.

Tesla still has a chance to fix it.

 

[richyrich]

Has anyone ran into any similar issues on a BRAND NEW vehicle? Please tell me it gets better.

Yes, and if you go looking it can happen with any vehicle. You just got unlucky. They'll fix it and you'll probably never have to worry about it again.

 

[ilovemytdi]

Rare, I wouldn't sweat it. My 2023 myp had a cooling issue from day one. Turned out to be a bent pin in the condenser fan wiring so the fan wasn't working to keep it cooled off. My 2021 mylr had 50k trouble free miles before it got totaled.

 

[jj3884]

Hello All,
Brand new to the Tesla Family, 8 days since “owning” one. I’m teetering on the verge of absolutely regretting my purchase.
On Wednesday I noticed a puddle of fluid/oil under the rear axle in my garage and initially thought it was break fluid, took the day off to contact Tesla service and they asked me to drive it in that day so they can take a look.
The service advisor took a look and said it just looked like the drive unit had a small leak, 2 hours later they tell me the leak is BAD, so they said they were going to replace the entire drive unit and that there was a “manufacturer defect” w/ the seal. Luckily they had one in stock to replace the unit, but received a message this morning saying that everything is now delayed because they broke a coolant hose while either installing or removing the old unit. Less than 500 miles on the rig, and already 2 major repairs. Has anyone ran into any similar issues on a BRAND NEW vehicle? Please tell me it gets better.

This can happen to any new vehicle, but understand the frustration. People really have a misconception that the manufacturer should test the piss out of our cars; I would be mad if anyone drove my MYP to it's limits, other than moving it for transport, before I drove it... Any outside some high end performance vehicles, it's not common practice.

Don't know what State/Country you're in but regardless document everything independently, even if it's screenshots of the Tesla App and your conversations with Service. Everything should be in the final invoice/repair sheet... But yeah... Just my advice

While you may never ever have a related problem again, some (most?) Lemon Laws take into account when the first issue arose. So 2 years from now it repeats itself or there's a related problem you have grounds to ask for buyback from this issue, which means you functionally get all your money back and not the two years of depreciation factored in.

 

[Occhis]

No as bad as your's, but 2 weeks and <500 miles on my Model Y LR, and the entire screen was black and did not turn back on after being parked for an hour. Tesla roadside sent a tow, who could not jump the 16V. Turns out, it was a bad computer chip, so they ordered in a new chip and replaced it. Anyways....if you haven't done so, I would ask for a loaner. They didn't offer me one until I asked for one.

Why couldn’t they jump the 16v? These kind of reports worry me. How did they get the vehicle on the tow truck without being able to put in tow mode?

 

[Milehighblue]

Why couldn’t they jump the 16v? These kind of reports worry me. How did they get the vehicle on the tow truck without being able to put in tow mode?

I should clarify and say that they did jump the 16V, but it did not come back on.
The tow truck pulled the car up onto the flatbed.

 

[richyrich]

Why couldn’t they jump the 16v? These kind of reports worry me. How did they get the vehicle on the tow truck without being able to put in tow mode?

Same way they do any cars that they can't get out of park - drag em. Not that big a deal.

 

[NLG3Y]

I bought my second Tesla vehicle, a Model Y. After 3 days after delivery the car displayed a "service required" alert. I set up an appointment with the local service center. It has been over two weeks and the vehicle is still there. The latest message I received states that it is going to take an additional week until "the part required" arrives.

Is Tesla's QC procedure so poor that it lets a defective vehicle to be delivered? Can I cancel that purchase?

 

[fiehlsport]

I bought my second Tesla vehicle, a Model Y. After 3 days after delivery the car displayed a "service required" alert. I set up an appointment with the local service center. It has been over two weeks and the vehicle is still there. The latest message I received states that it is going to take an additional week until "the part required" arrives.

Is Tesla's QC procedure so poor that it lets a defective vehicle to be delivered? Can I cancel that purchase?

The failure doesn't occur until after it's delivered. There's no fault to detect before the fault occurs.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Same way they do any cars that they can't get out of park - drag em. Not that big a deal.

Definitely not a big deal for the tow truck driver that doesn't give one tiny little rat's ass about your car, and it's not a big deal to Tesla that puts in the Owner's Manual that they are not going to cover any damage from an incorrectly towed car.

According to Tesla's owner's manual, the tow truck driver is to either put the locked wheels on "skates" that allow the wheels to slide easily on the ground without putting all that pressure on the tires, suspension, and drive train from dragging, or they are supposed to put the car on dollies.

My Model S just got towed from a failed drive unit, and I declined to have the first guy drag it. He told me he does it all the time, but also admitted it's not good for the car and he would never do it to his own $100K car. The next tow company brought an electrical device that connects to the brakes and releases them, which is effectively tow mode. They specialize in towing Tesla's and they told me that I should never allow any tow trucks to drag the car.

 

[EASTCUT Y]

I bought my second Tesla vehicle, a Model Y. After 3 days after delivery the car displayed a "service required" alert. I set up an appointment with the local service center. It has been over two weeks and the vehicle is still there. The latest message I received states that it is going to take an additional week until "the part required" arrives.

Is Tesla's QC procedure so poor that it lets a defective vehicle to be delivered? Can I cancel that purchase?

Same Situation here. Just 3 days after delivery(early Sep at Dublin, CA), my 23Model Y LR has a dead battery with only 85 miles driven. Now it's been in the Service center for almost 2 weeks and a battery replacement is in process. I think their QC procedure is poor, given a number of similar issues posted across this forum recently. I definitely want them to buy back the car, or give me a new Y. Not sure if the battery replacement record will impact the resale value.

 

[Pianewman]

See post #16 above

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Not sure if the battery replacement record will impact the resale value.

From what I have read, Tesla does not release any service history from the previous owners, not even to current owner of the car, much less prospective buyers.