HELP! MCU1 died. Anyone know how I push to get MCU2?

[BlancoTessie]

I have a Feb 2017 Model S 90D. My MCU1 completely died. I dropped it off at service center and asked if I can pay the difference in price to upgrade given the car is under warranty. Might as well, right? But, he said only Tesla owner's who have been given the offer can upgrade. Is that true? Anyone know how I push this? Only problem I see is that it parts may not be available in my area (Burlingame, CA) due to factory being closed.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Altes]

My Nov 2016 S MCU died and SF service said it could not get MCU2. Service very hit or miss right now WRT to anything more than make my car run again. Mine was replaced w MCU1 and now has a 15-30 second lag for the dash screen to reboot every single time i go anywhere

 

[cucubits]

My Nov 2016 S MCU died and SF service said it could not get MCU2. Service very hit or miss right now WRT to anything more than make my car run again. Mine was replaced w MCU1 and now has a 15-30 second lag for the dash screen to reboot every single time i go anywhere

Most likely the refurbished unit they put in still had some issues. Did you ask them about the lag? I'd expect the typical answer that "it's normal" sadly.

So far I haven't seen any accounts of owners with bad MCU1s getting the option to go straight to MCU2 unless they received the offer to upgrade. If out of warranty and the car drives and can be charged, I'd probably just stick to the dead MCU1 for a while until upgrade is possible. In the mean time, best bet is to maybe shop around for "aftermarket" MCU repair options.

If it's within warranty, then yes, I'd probably do it but as noted, it's a gamble. Who knows what else will be broken in the replacement MCU they put in. I believe all of these are used/refurbished ones. For sure they're not building any new MCU1s for warranty replacements.

 

[MP3Mike]

asked if I can pay the difference in price to upgrade given the car is under warranty.

Yeah, people have been told that they won't ever do that. Warranty will only cover putting the same thing back in, and they won't apply that cost toward the upgrade. So if you want MCU2 it is going to cost you $2,500, plus taxes, regardless of if your MCU1 is dead or not.

So you might as well let them replace your MCU1 under warranty and just wait for the upgrade to become available to you.

 

[cucubits]

Yeah, people have been told that they won't ever do that. Warranty will only cover putting the same thing back in, and they won't apply that cost toward the upgrade. So if you want MCU2 it is going to cost you $2,500, plus taxes, regardless of if your MCU1 is dead or not.

So you might as well let them replace your MCU1 under warranty and just wait for the upgrade to become available to you.

Sort of on this topic, what would Tesla say if an owner wants to keep his MCU1 when he buys the $2.5k upgrade to MCU2? The reasons don't matter, be it he wants a new paper weight or for ebay. Just thinking out loud, surely they can't deny this, can they? What would the core charge be, if any?

 

[MP3Mike]

Sort of on this topic, what would Tesla say if an owner wants to keep his MCU1 when he buys the $2.5k upgrade to MCU2? The reasons don't matter, be it he want's a new paper weight or for ebay. Just thinking out loud, surely they can't deny this, can they? What would the core charge be, if any?

The people that have asked were told that the core charge to keep MCU1, and IC1, was $1,000.

 

[BlancoTessie]

Yeah, people have been told that they won't ever do that. Warranty will only cover putting the same thing back in, and they won't apply that cost toward the upgrade. So if you want MCU2 it is going to cost you $2,500, plus taxes, regardless of if your MCU1 is dead or not.

So you might as well let them replace your MCU1 under warranty and just wait for the upgrade to become available to you.

Thanks MP3Mike. Actually, the svc advisor said he would see if any are available (likely not) and then Ashley (service coordinator) came out and told me she thinks they may be able to help me with adjustment even after the fact. I.e., they replace my dead MCU1 and then I get the offer to get the upgrade and they somehow/way give me a discount. I'm gonna hold her to that. But, it is all Tesla so who the heck knows.

 

[cucubits]

they replace my dead MCU1 and then I get the offer to get the upgrade and they somehow/way give me a discount

I would dare say that's 100% not going to happen. Unless you get something official in writing, there's no way they'll honor that.

 

[Lectric_Agent]

My Nov 2016 S MCU died and SF service said it could not get MCU2. Service very hit or miss right now WRT to anything more than make my car run again. Mine was replaced w MCU1 and now has a 15-30 second lag for the dash screen to reboot every single time i go anywhere

Just had mine replaced and none of the settings carried over. Did you check The Energy Saver settings under displays?

With that setting ON, my Instrument Cluster display will also take 10-20 sec to boot up if i haven’t sat in the car for a certain period of time.

Energy saver off, and the IC turns on instantly, but obviously you will have more phantom drain

 

[Altes]

Just had mine replaced and none of the settings carried over. Did you check The Energy Saver settings under displays?

With that setting ON, my Instrument Cluster display will also take 10-20 sec to boot up if i haven’t sat in the car for a certain period of time.

Energy saver off, and the IC turns on instantly, but obviously you will have more phantom drain

THAT, is hilarious I actually brought the car in for service due to this bootup issue and NO-ONE at the service center thought to check this or even KNEW about it. That was the issue and now it comes on instantly THANK YOU

 

[hdhawan]

well my 2015 85D blacked out yesterday while i was driving. Just made an appointment, but from the sound of it looks like every Tesla will encounter this at some point. Not sure what else to do, granted we know that any electronic device has a life span, but didn't expect that it would be such a massive cost. While the major advantage of a tesla are numerous the limited repair was a major determination in our decision (we have 2 MS).

 

[Allanf]

According to below links, for HW2 owners, Tesla is scheduling MCU1 to MCU2 (pay for) upgrades NOW and will be scheduling HW2 to HW3 upgrades in late May. Today is May 15, so they should also be scheduling HW2-3 upgrades in a week or two. Also was told couple of weeks ago we would get an email when we can make an appointment for the MCU1-2 upgrade and HW2-3 upgrade. Per the SC would be done at the same time. At that time Tesla was cutting back hours at the Highland Park, IL SC due to lack of work. I had the yellow ring around the touch screen and asked forthe MCU2 upgrade but at the same time but they said they didn’t have the parts. I seem to remember all this was going to be available last year. So Maybe May, Maybe Not. :-(

Infotainment Upgrade

Full Self-Driving Computer Installations

 

[P100D_Me]

but from the sound of it looks like every Tesla will encounter this at some point. Not sure what else to do, granted we know that any electronic device has a life span

The disturbing part is the eventual bricking of the MCU1 was/is caused by Tesla's sloppy programming, people who dive deep into the code of these discovered this as being the cause.