I’m keeping this on the back burner incase this was an error and it is the drive unit then I most likely will go this route and have it rebuilt since the car drives perfectly fine and does not feel any different from prior to the notifications. So I would assume the whole DU doesn’t need to be replaced
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Drive unit replacement worth it?
- Thread starter Thizz11
- Start date
brainhouston
Active Member
i don't think its necessary to rebuild unless u detect moisture on speed sensor..
drive it till its starts leaking then rebuild but do check speed sensor regularly, like every 1k mi?..
VegarHenriksen
Member
That's why I said to do it when you have had the car diagnosed as a failing DU.
brainhouston
Active Member
This has happened to me 2 times once in warranty and the other out. Tesla tech told me it’s super common on these cars once they go out of warranty range and has seen them happen annually (mine went out for the second time just outside of the parts warranty at 1 year 3 months). Decided to take the $7500 fix along with some other issues the car had. Fast forward two years and the battery is gone and I wish I’d sold it. Car had 130k which is less than half of what I’ve held my ICE cars for. These are throwaway cars period. I’d get yourself into one with warranty, and get rid of it once it’s out, or new car altogether.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
islandbayy
Active Member
brainhouston
Active Member
Not if it's within original warranty period.
I think that's what that post meant, the way I read it...
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
I also read that the first replacement was free under warranty. But in that case there’s no explicit parts warranty at all - only the remainder of the 8 year warranty that came with the car.
No CO2
Member
From post #11 of this thread....
I did go the "QC Charge" route.
Excellent shop and excellent communication. Their customers (including me) are naturally on edge due to getting a large car repair bill.
They handled it professionally.
The QC Charge shop is a victim of their own success - they are too busy.
It was a four month turnaround for my car, not from bad work, just too busy, due to the volume of cars running thru their shop.
It was a trying time not having a car for four months.
My cost was $5,500.
Five months later, no issues, and a dry speed sensor.
In my opinion, if you are faced with this DU failure in your car, getting another Tesla DU is not fixing the problem. The stock DU has a design flaw, so "third party rebuild" to fix the design flaw was my only option.
I did go the "QC Charge" route.
Excellent shop and excellent communication. Their customers (including me) are naturally on edge due to getting a large car repair bill.
They handled it professionally.
The QC Charge shop is a victim of their own success - they are too busy.
It was a four month turnaround for my car, not from bad work, just too busy, due to the volume of cars running thru their shop.
It was a trying time not having a car for four months.
My cost was $5,500.
Five months later, no issues, and a dry speed sensor.
In my opinion, if you are faced with this DU failure in your car, getting another Tesla DU is not fixing the problem. The stock DU has a design flaw, so "third party rebuild" to fix the design flaw was my only option.
Question, anyone in the Atlanta Ga area with another choice for placing 2014 Model S ( Drive Unit ) other than Tesla ? They quoted $7,500.
Car has about 87,200 miles on it. Purchased it from 1st Owner about 5 months ago. Milling Noise when Accelerating up to about 30 mph. then it smooths out.
It drives very well. That is my only issues.
Thx's
Car has about 87,200 miles on it. Purchased it from 1st Owner about 5 months ago. Milling Noise when Accelerating up to about 30 mph. then it smooths out.
It drives very well. That is my only issues.
Thx's
islandbayy
Active Member
Since it's out of pocket anyways, I'd just drive it as is. Might get a month out of it, might get 5 years or longer before failure. Either way, repair is going to cost the same.
brainhouston
Active Member
Only if planning to do at Tesla.
For 3rd party repair, i'd ck with them if they need a core or will just rebuild urs...
More miles, more damage it does...
canasion35
Active Member
Mine is still doing the same…is it really a gamble as you state ie could be a month or could be 5 years?
I have a 2013 Model S 85 with 73K miles and I am now looking at my third drive unit. Got the May not restart and reduced performance warnings and took it in to Tesla with an estimate of $7600 for a new drive unit. Since the last replacement was less than 2 years ago and under 15K miles I asked if they could take something off the price. They informed me their requirement for replacement under warranty is to keep the vehicle driveable until the end of the warranty period, period. Once it is past the warranty period whether it be a day or 2 years they have no responsibility. This seems surprising to me for a high end car like the Tesla Model S particularly since the problem appears to be a design problem with the drive and not the fault of the owner.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
This is indeed what the warranty says and how Tesla operates.
Good news is the replacement you pay for comes with a 4 year 50k warranty.
canasion35
Active Member
Following up on this note...anybody just keep driving with a noisy DU and it still is performing OK? I feel like the claims on it lasting a month longer or 5-years is a far range and not all that helpful.
Looking to see if anybody has driven on only a noisy DU for extended periods of time without being stranded... or if you did end up being stranded because of driving on a noisy DU - that would be a good data point too!
I would understand this if my car was a Kia or Toyota but for such a high end vehicle I would think they would be more conscious of their customer experience. When we purchased our Tesla it was new, exciting and unique and the customer service we got was exemplary, now we barely get a return phone call. Certainly you can tell your customers to go pound sand but if you do eventually you will have no customers since Tesla is no longer the only game in town.
As an aside we had contacted Tesla two weeks ago about trading ours in on a new Tesla. Now we are not so excited to do so and are looking at other options.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
As is your right.
Tesla’s original 8 year unlimited mile warranty was quite generous. I don’t find it particularly reasonable for you to expect compensation or some other discount in year 10 because Tesla is “high end”.
I knew of a Model S, that was a local cab, that I heard drive around with the milling noise for at least a year. I assume it got loud enough that they finally got it replaced. I personally have never heard of a failure that was caused by the milling noise.
The failures are mostly caused by a coolant leak, so if you can check, or have someone check, the speed sensor for coolant that would be your best guide for how much longer your drive unit has.
