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"Power limited - OK to drive. Vehicle may not restart" message

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DonV71

Member
Dec 23, 2021
59
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44133
#1
I got the following messages yesterday: "Power limited - OK to drive. Vehicle may not restart" AND "Acceleration and top speed reduced"

A month ago I got "The electrical system is unable to support all features. Shutting down features to conserve energy" I also got something along the lines of 12 volt battery power low transferring high voltage power.

So far everything is ok. During the latest message I also noticed the car had little to no regenerative braking.

Ideas?
 
#2
Turn on Sentry and remove all the checkmark exclusions, this should keep the car awake. When the car is awake the HV battery supplies power to the low voltage side via the DC-DC converter, the battery is not used, only charged. This should work. BTW, what is the charge state of the HV battery? If it is low charge it.

Go into your app and submit a service ticket to get this fixed. You should have done this a month ago when you got the first message.
 
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#4
ATPMSD thanks! I scheduled service with a brand new location and kept messaging and asking question, like loaner car, remote diagnose etc. I got no response and could not afford to be stuck there or waste a lot of time. I was hoping it was jsut the 12v battery but now I do not think so. I have a mobile service appointment tomorrow afternoon. The HV battery was always over 20% - I think over 50% every time.
 
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#5
When I got these same alerts I was told by Tesla Service to come in ASAP. Had to drive over 100 miles but other than the reduced acceleration and lack of regen I had no issues. They ended up replacing the entire rear drive unit (2018 LR RWD) and the original 12V battery, all covered by the 8 year drive train warranty.
 
#6
Got some pics today
tesla error pic.jpg
 
#9
DonV71 said:
ATPMSD thanks! I scheduled service with a brand new location and kept messaging and asking question, like loaner car, remote diagnose etc. I got no response and could not afford to be stuck there or waste a lot of time. I was hoping it was jsut the 12v battery but now I do not think so. I have a mobile service appointment tomorrow afternoon. The HV battery was always over 20% - I think over 50% every time.
Click to expand...
What was the outcome of your service appointment? Thanks.
 
#10
I have just had the "Power limited - OK to drive" error. I reported it in the App and received the message saying to schedule a service appointment. But sadly I have the error message in the app "connection failed - an unknown error occurred" so I cannot actually schedule the appointment. I have rebooted the iphone and deleted and reinstalled the app but no joy. I am waiting for a call back from Tesla service. Technology, eh?
 
#11
AnthonyLR said:
I have just had the "Power limited - OK to drive" error. I reported it in the App and received the message saying to schedule a service appointment. But sadly I have the error message in the app "connection failed - an unknown error occurred" so I cannot actually schedule the appointment. I have rebooted the iphone and deleted and reinstalled the app but no joy. I am waiting for a call back from Tesla service. Technology, eh?
Click to expand...
OK there was an issue at their end causing the app issue. When I spoke to them on the phone they called the service centre that did something and then I could schedule the appointment using the app. Mildly annoying. Anyway, I have an appointment in one week when they will look at it.
 
#13
gryphon said:
What was the outcome of the service appointment?
Click to expand...
My aircon compressor had been poorly fitted and had worked itself loose. It then ruptured the coolant pipe so the computer was overheating. They didn't have the pipe so had to order it, gave me a loaner M3, found out they had ordered the wrong pipe a few days later, so ordered another one. Then when the right pipe arrived the heating diagnostic failed as they had overfilled the aircon compressor, so when they worked that out everything was fine. They had my car for a week when it should have been one day.
 
#14
ATPMSD said:
Turn on Sentry and remove all the checkmark exclusions, this should keep the car awake. When the car is awake the HV battery supplies power to the low voltage side via the DC-DC converter, the battery is not used, only charged.
Click to expand...
Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by this? I always have Sentry set to be off while my car is parked at home. Should it be on all the time so the HV battery charges the low voltage 12V battery? I confess I never pay attention to what kind of charge either of the batteries have. :oops:
 
#15
Tezzie said:
Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by this? I always have Sentry set to be off while my car is parked at home. Should it be on all the time so the HV battery charges the low voltage 12V battery? I confess I never pay attention to what kind of charge either of the batteries have. :oops:
Click to expand...
From my understanding is if the 12V Battery is having issues Sentry mode keeps the HV battery connected to power the cams and provide power to keep 12 v batt charged and keep the Computer mostly awake. if you aren’t having battery issues then its not an issue.
 
Last edited:
#16
cbigfoot said:
From my understanding is if the 12V Battery is having issues Sentry mode keeps the HV battery connected to power the cams and keep the Computer fully awake. if you aren’t having battery issues then its not an issue.
Click to expand...
I was asking because I booked an appointment with the Service center after getting the alerts "Vehicle may not restart" and "Acceleration and top speed reduced" twice in a week. After doing some remote diagnostics, they said it might be something with the high voltage battery, and to bring the car in immediately (before my scheduled appointment next week). I made it to the SC, no problem, but I noticed there was no regenerative braking.

I always keep my car plugged in at night and set to charge to 85%. I was told that was how to keep the batteries in good shape. I never heard this advice with Sentry Mode. I never have it on at home, but if it will help prevent this issue from happening in the future, I'll keep Sentry Mode on.

Still don't know what the issue is, but they are planning for a loaner car, so it must be something under warranty. The new car warranty expired in August and even though this is probably covered under the battery/drivetrain warranty, I'm wishing I had opted for the extended warranty.
 
#17
Had this same issue as noted by OP. 2018 M3 dual motor. Ended up having the rear drive unit inverter replaced. Took them over a week and a half to get my car back. They said they also thought they heard an abnormal sound in the front end during post repair test drive. Requested the 1hr diagnostic go to that. Couldn't find it. Asked if they could have another hour. Couldn't find it. Then asked if I wanted them to take the front seat out and some carpet which would be another 4 hrs. I said no. If they're going into the interior that means it's not front suspension related like they said. I then requested that I'm not paying the 2 hrs diagnostic cause it's not an issue I brought up and they can't find anything. Sounded a bit like they were trying to make up money for the warranty work. Probably won't be going back to that SC again.
 
#18
Tezzie said:
I was asking because I booked an appointment with the Service center after getting the alerts "Vehicle may not restart" and "Acceleration and top speed reduced" twice in a week. After doing some remote diagnostics, they said it might be something with the high voltage battery, and to bring the car in immediately (before my scheduled appointment next week). I made it to the SC, no problem, but I noticed there was no regenerative braking.

I always keep my car plugged in at night and set to charge to 85%. I was told that was how to keep the batteries in good shape. I never heard this advice with Sentry Mode. I never have it on at home, but if it will help prevent this issue from happening in the future, I'll keep Sentry Mode on.

Still don't know what the issue is, but they are planning for a loaner car, so it must be something under warranty. The new car warranty expired in August and even though this is probably covered under the battery/drivetrain warranty, I'm wishing I had opted for the extended warranty.
Click to expand...
So, the car may not start message is related to the 12V battery going flat or the car going asleep. If sentry mode is on, the car does not go to sleep and the 12 V battery is charged by the HV battery. If you are getting this warning, then keeping the sentry on is a workround to keep the car mobile. If you are not getting the "car may not start" warning there is no need to keep sentry on (unless you want to use sentry).
 
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