My FWD door is stuck open due to a botched DIY adjustment

[sorka]

Was going to attempt a secondary hinge adjustment to improve the alignment today which requires propping the door open with a hoist so that you can disconnect the secondary strut on the secondary hinge.

Followed the service manual. Got to the point of disconnecting and removing the secondary strut. Disconnected the harness, and then released the c-clamp door side and pulled the strut back.

Suddenly the strut extended further...about another inch. This is beyond the hinge's extension limit. The problem is the strut is a servo motor that is designed to allow it to open without power but it cannot be forced closed. It can only close by the controller turning the motor inside to retract it.....period.

The service manual says nothing about it extending or what to do if it does extend.

I'm now going to attempt to use the calibration button on the screen to close the FWD with all the other strut harness disconnect except for the secondary strut that is removed. I'm going to plug that back in and hope that as it retract, I can tighten a zip tie that I have looped through strings tied to both ends that will hopefully hold it into place.

I can't believe this what would be required to shorten the strut back to a length that it can be installed. Perhaps the service centers have bench controller that allows them to retract the struts for installation but the service manual doesn't provide any such indication.

Wish me luck!

 

[Damager99]

Seems like a pretty dangerous DIY - especially for alignment purposes. Are you out of warranty?

 

[sorka]

Seems like a pretty dangerous DIY - especially for alignment purposes. Are you out of warranty?

Picked up new in April. It's been to Tesla 5 times for FWD adjustments and each time thye "unadjusted" something else. It's been a complete wack-o-mole experience.

The last time they just refused to do anything and claimed it was within spec. I asked them to show me the spec and they said it was an internal service document not available to customers.

It turns out there IS an internal document that describes in much more detail than the service manual how to do FWD adjustments and alignments which includes measurement specs with minimums and maximums. I found it in the service section. It's Tech Note TN-16-11-002. I went through it and measured everything that was still not aligned correctly and everything was OUT of spec according to their own document.

Picked up the replacement strut this morning at my local service center and re-installed it and it's all working again. I then finished shooting my video while adjusting the door.

The absolutely crazy thing is that there are two roof mounted bump stops that are meant to have FWD's weight rest on the inner seal. Both of the these bumps stops on my X were all the way to the top which resulted in the FWD roof diving below the level of the X roof before latching and being pulled back up. This resulted in the FWD glass seals bending backwards and up every time you close it. When I went to adjust them today while shooting my video, I discovered the bolts were completely loose on BOTH roof bump stops which is why they were pushed to the highest point. This means the entire 5K miles I've driven my X, the entire weight of the left FWD has been 100% supported by the latch. The latch is meant to pull the door closed and hold it closed, not to support a shear load of the door which increases exponentially as you go over bumps.

The Tech Note is very clear about how to adjust these and what their purpose is but they were NEVER adjusted in any of the 5 service appointments.

 

[GWord]

Is the Tech Note something that you could image and post here for posterity?

 

[sorka]

Is the Tech Note something that you could image and post here for posterity?

It's a many page pdf doc. I'd rather not piss off tesla and have them pull service doc access. Anyone can get the doc now with a zero cost subscription. You can find the doc on the service site with TN number I posted.

 

[Art VandeIay]

Is the Tech Note something that you could image and post here for posterity?

DIY Falcon Door Adjustment/Alignment

Hoping someone out there can help me or send me the Service bulletin from toolbox software. When going through the manual there is a note section "If the rear door requires adjustment, refer to TN-16-11-002, "Adjusting the Rear Doors (Falcon Wing Doors) on Model X" for instructions." When I...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[offah]

Picked up new in April. It's been to Tesla 5 times for FWD adjustments and each time thye "unadjusted" something else. It's been a complete wack-o-mole experience.

The last time they just refused to do anything and claimed it was within spec. I asked them to show me the spec and they said it was an internal service document not available to customers.

It turns out there IS an internal document that describes in much more detail than the service manual how to do FWD adjustments and alignments which includes measurement specs with minimums and maximums. I found it in the service section. It's Tech Note TN-16-11-002. I went through it and measured everything that was still not aligned correctly and everything was OUT of spec according to their own document.

Picked up the replacement strut this morning at my local service center and re-installed it and it's all working again. I then finished shooting my video while adjusting the door.

The absolutely crazy thing is that there are two roof mounted bump stops that are meant to have FWD's weight rest on the inner seal. Both of the these bumps stops on my X were all the way to the top which resulted in the FWD roof diving below the level of the X roof before latching and being pulled back up. This resulted in the FWD glass seals bending backwards and up every time you close it. When I went to adjust them today while shooting my video, I discovered the bolts were completely loose on BOTH roof bump stops which is why they were pushed to the highest point. This means the entire 5K miles I've driven my X, the entire weight of the left FWD has been 100% supported by the latch. The latch is meant to pull the door closed and hold it closed, not to support a shear load of the door which increases exponentially as you go over bumps.

The Tech Note is very clear about how to adjust these and what their purpose is but they were NEVER adjusted in any of the 5 service appointments.

Hey sorka- are you able to provide a link to the video you're making?

 

[sorka]

Hey sorka- are you able to provide a link to the video you're making?

When I finish, edit, and upload it...yes.

 

[offah]

When I finish, edit, and upload it...yes.

Awesome! Thanks! Does it include how to remove the garnish as well? I've tried looking through the service manual and it's still a bit unclear.

 

[sorka]

Awesome! Thanks! Does it include how to remove the garnish as well? I've tried looking through the service manual and it's still a bit unclear.

Because it's dragging out I'm going to break it up into multiple videos. Nearly every adjustment, except latch and lower stop, requires removal of the garnishes and brackets, so I'll make that a how to video by itself and then reference it from the other vidoes.

 

[ThomasD]

The alignment specs would have to be available. Body shops would need these specs when performing accident repairs. You might be able to get body alignment specs from a body shop. I would measure the other falcon wing door gaps. Then replicate that to the door you are working on to get it as close as possible to the measurements from the opposite door

 

[sorka]

The alignment specs would have to be available. Body shops would need these specs when performing accident repairs. You might be able to get body alignment specs from a body shop. I would measure the other falcon wing door gaps. Then replicate that to the door you are working on to get it as close as possible to the measurements from the opposite door

Body shops have access to Tesla resources the general public doesn't like Toolbox 3 and restricted vehicle parts.

On the other hand, the alignment specs ARE available to the public.

 

[ThomasD]

Tesla won't let you have access to body alignment specs like this?

 

[sorka]

Tesla won't let you have access to body alignment specs like this?
View attachment 866833

I haven't looked for the rest of the body but the fwd tech note has specs like that.

 

[offah]

Because it's dragging out I'm going to break it up into multiple videos. Nearly every adjustment, except latch and lower stop, requires removal of the garnishes and brackets, so I'll make that a how to video by itself and then reference it from the other vidoes.

Amazing! That would be such a huge help to all MX owners. Looking forward to this!

 

[bionichomer]

Following. Nice work sorka!

 

[sorka]

Forgot to mention, the trick to installing the strut is to just just unlatch the door and pull the door open with the roof completely closed. It turns out this is the maximum articulation of the hinge...far more than when the door is up and open. At this angle, the strut goes on at full extension. It's so simple after you do it the first time but the service manual and tech doc says nothing about this.

 

[offah]

@sorka did you ever manage to make those videos for the FWD?

 

[sorka]

@sorka did you ever manage to make those videos for the FWD?

Shot a bunch. Just haven't had time yet to sit down and edit them. The first one I'm going to upload is a screw another screw up and how I dug myself out of it. Basically, I wanted to adjust the roof side rear secondary hinge inward a fraction and figured all I had to do was disconnect the secondary strut. I didn't realize the primary strut roof side ball joint attachment was actually on the same bracket that holds the secondary hinge. So after I removed the glass roof and loosened the 3 bolts that hold the secondary hinge in place, the door popped out on the rear as the primary strut pushed it out.

The video will be starting from there and what I did to dig my way out which is essentially prop the door up with a mobile floor standing shop hoist, remove the primary strut on the rear, manually closing the door by hand, adjusting the hinge back to where I want it, re-installing secondary strut with door popped part way open, lifting door back up manually and propping it up with the shop hoist. At this point, things got weird again because when I originally removed the primary strut with the door propped up all the way, the lower FWD (not the roof) was pitched downward slightly, but in order to close the door, you have to pull the lower door out which is what the system does when lowering the door so it doesn't strike the body. The secondary struts aren't manually compressible like the primary struts are so the door was out as far as it would go when I propped it back up resulting in me having to raise the floor hoist a ton. I ended up putting the hoist on a table.

 

[sorka]

The three bolts holding the secondary rear hinge:


Popped out after I loosened hinge with primary strut still attached:


Propped up right before removing the rear primary strut:


Propping it back up before re-installing the primary strut:




Not really sure how to get around this next time. The secondary struts aren't manually compressible. Not a huge deal but it does mean you need a stable surface to put a standard 80" shop hoist on. Alternatively, someone could hold this just long enough to pop the primary strut back in place but they'd need to be standing on something unless they're like 6' 5".