Toolbox 3 setting up computer before starting subscription

Recently helped @mr_hyde to setup toolbox 3 to diag a 2014 MS with the most economical 1 day subscription. Seems like most first timers spend quite awhile dealing with computer IT/connection issues. 1 day subscription could even expires before even getting proper connection to the car working. Here is a quick summary how to set up connection before before starting subscription.

Toolbox 3 is server based. This means the entire diagnostic software is running on Tesla server with Chrome web browser as interface. Very different from traditional car diagnostic tools.

Diagnostic Hardware Interface

Tesla keeps on changing these with each new car model. Here is a summary on page 4. Some of these are cheap ($50 on Amazon for the 2014 MS) while others are quite expensive (21-22 MS/X Powered Media Converter Box)

https://service.tesla.com/docs/Public/service-subscription-faqs/service_subscription_faqs_11AUG2022.pdf

Configuring Computer and Test Connection to car

On this 2014 MCU2 car with a Mac, here is a good video

General steps are as follows

• Setup a ethernet connection to the car and view its internal diagnostic webserver (presumably running on MCU CPU) at 192.168.90.100:8080 This is just like using a specific url address and port number (the 8080) to access say a router or network printer administrative server page. This step confirm your computer is talking to the Tesla properly through the hardware diagnostic cable.
• Enable unsecured content to properly communicate with toolbox server over the internet

I don't really know how macOS knows to route 192.168.90.125 to the ethernet dongle and toolbox.tesla.com over internet connection but it works on macOS. For Windows, may need extra steps to ensure this dual network connection works (saw some info online but didn't end up using windows)

Unfortunately, Tesla seems to have removed the server at 192.168.90.100:8080 with recent firmware ( link ) so will probably get 404 not found instead. To test, make sure

• Get 404 not found at 192.168.90.100:8080 (this confirm computer is talking to the Tesla properly via diagnostic interface cable)
• Make sure can connect to internet by hitting a website

MCU1

For MCU1 cars, I think need to run a proxy windows app. This car was MCU2 so didn't need to do this step.

Enable Unsecured Content on Chrome

This is a must (above video shows how to but its already enabled so didn't show the actual transition). Without this, get some kind of ODIN failure message trying to connect to Tesla's toolbox server. Test it with a unsecured content website to confirm setup properly. I use a unsecured content Chinese headunit firmware server as test

https://file.xygala.com/

enabling/disabling unsecure content wasn't straight forward. We would enable unsecure content for toolbox.tesla.com but hitting the website would still show a lock icon instead "Unsecured Content" to the left of the url. Eventually it worked and not sure how (tried some closing and opening new tabs but not sure that was the solution). But it is a must you need to see Not Secured to the left of url to work properly.

Subscribe Toolbox 3

After everything above works, IT/computer issues should be solved. Then pay for your subscription and hopefully spend most of the subscription time using toolbox rather than fighting IT issues.

Successful Connection

Looks like this

Remote Desktop

If know someone who knows how to setup toolbox (or more IT savoy) can use a remote desktop solution (@mr_hyde and I used free realvnc) for them to drive your computer to setup

Of course this requires keeping internet connection alive during the process for remote desktop. Might be a challenge if Windows present too much roadblock trying to setup 2x network connections (1 to car, 1 to internet)

 

[mr_hyde]

Thanks Howard - good summary. To reiterate, the thing that slowed me down was that security setting. I did it once and it didn't seem to 'stick' so there were a lot of clicks and troubleshooting before we got back to checking that again. I usually use Firefox so I also temporarily set Chrome to be the default browser.

From there, connecting to the car is easy (once it works) although I had a lot of strange glitches. You'll be a lot less stressed out if you get the month and take your time to learn to navigate the menus. If you do just get the 24 hours, I recommend making a list of things you want to do so you don't forget anything. Professor Kelly at Weber does a nice video on it but I couldn't get to several things he showed to work and my experiment was cut short by a coolant leak... but that is in a different thread!

 

[zoomer0056]

Recently helped @mr_hyde to setup toolbox 3 to diag a 2014 MS with the most economical 1 day subscription. Seems like most first timers spend quite awhile dealing with computer IT/connection issues. 1 day subscription could even expires before even getting proper connection to the car working. Here is a quick summary how to set up connection before before starting subscription.

Toolbox 3 is server based. This means the entire diagnostic software is running on Tesla server with Chrome web browser as interface. Very different from traditional car diagnostic tools.

Diagnostic Hardware Interface

Tesla keeps on changing these with each new car model. Here is a summary on page 4. Some of these are cheap ($50 on Amazon for the 2014 MS) while others are quite expensive (21-22 MS/X Powered Media Converter Box)

https://service.tesla.com/docs/Public/service-subscription-faqs/service_subscription_faqs_11AUG2022.pdf

Configuring Computer and Test Connection to car

On this 2014 MCU2 car with a Mac, here is a good video

General steps are as follows

• Setup a ethernet connection to the car and view its internal diagnostic webserver (presumably running on MCU CPU) at 192.168.90.100:8080 This is just like using a specific url address and port number (the 8080) to access say a router or network printer administrative server page. This step confirm your computer is talking to the Tesla properly through the hardware diagnostic cable.
• Enable unsecured content to properly communicate with toolbox server over the internet

I don't really know how macOS knows to route 192.168.90.125 to the ethernet dongle and toolbox.tesla.com over internet connection but it works on macOS. For Windows, may need extra steps to ensure this dual network connection works (saw some info online but didn't end up using windows)

Unfortunately, Tesla seems to have removed the server at 192.168.90.100:8080 with recent firmware ( link ) so will probably get 404 not found instead. To test, make sure

• Get 404 not found at 192.168.90.100:8080 (this confirm computer is talking to the Tesla properly via diagnostic interface cable)
• Make sure can connect to internet by hitting a website

MCU1

For MCU1 cars, I think need to run a proxy windows app. This car was MCU2 so didn't need to do this step.

Enable Unsecured Content on Chrome

This is a must (above video shows how to but its already enabled so didn't show the actual transition). Without this, get some kind of ODIN failure message trying to connect to Tesla's toolbox server. Test it with a unsecured content website to confirm setup properly. I use a unsecured content Chinese headunit firmware server as test

https://file.xygala.com/

enabling/disabling unsecure content wasn't straight forward. We would enable unsecure content for toolbox.tesla.com but hitting the website would still show a lock icon instead "Unsecured Content" to the left of the url. Eventually it worked and not sure how (tried some closing and opening new tabs but not sure that was the solution). But it is a must you need to see Not Secured to the left of url to work properly.

Subscribe Toolbox 3

After everything above works, IT/computer issues should be solved. Then pay for your subscription and hopefully spend most of the subscription time using toolbox rather than fighting IT issues.

Successful Connection

Looks like this

Remote Desktop

If know someone who knows how to setup toolbox (or more IT savoy) can use a remote desktop solution (@mr_hyde and I used free realvnc) for them to drive your computer to setup

Of course this requires keeping internet connection alive during the process for remote desktop. Might be a challenge if Windows present too much roadblock trying to setup 2x network connections (1 to car, 1 to internet)

Excellent write-up!

 

[danielk04]

I am at my wits end, can't find toolbox subscription offer, all I get is service mode. Where is it?

 

[mr_hyde]

At the top of that screen, click on 'Purchase'. It should give you the options. Once you buy, toolbox will show up below where you are showing just Service Mode.

 

[danielk04]

Click on "purchase". Got it, thanks.
It's the same, only different.

 

[kirkusss]

For small operations have used the 1h subscription using an european country for an additional account.

 

[howardc64]

For small operations have used the 1h subscription using an european country for an additional account.

Interesting. What is 1 hr cost? 24 hr in US is $165

 

[kirkusss]

Was around 35 euros + VAT

 

[mr_hyde]

Did you need to run a VPN or any other shenanigans or just register a 2nd account and say it was from the EU?

 

[howardc64]

Was around 35 euros + VAT

Doubtful Tesla did it voluntarily haha. Most likely EUs better right to repair culture. Hope EU eventually pressure Tesla to release battery and drive unit repair info and parts. Helps to unblock aftermarket service and repair availability. Critical when power train warranty ends with Tesla SC providing low core exchange value on expensive reman power train components replacement.

 

[MP3Mike]

Hope EU eventually pressure Tesla to release battery and drive unit repair info and parts. Helps to unblock aftermarket service and repair availability.

It seems like Tesla has made some progress along these lines, as @Recell now has the ability to request remote diagnostic access to your vehicle through Tesla. (With your approval.) So, Telsa is supporting at least some third-party repair shops.

 

[livesmith]

It seems like Tesla has made some progress along these lines, as @Recell now has the ability to request remote diagnostic access to your vehicle through Tesla. (With your approval.) So, Telsa is supporting at least some third-party repair shops.

Yep, just saw a note from Tessie that they are in the works to start off more information from this as well. I get the impression that this may be the level of info from ScanMyTesla but will no longer require physically connecting to the car.

 

[mr_hyde]

It seems like Tesla has made some progress along these lines, as @Recell now has the ability to request remote diagnostic access to your vehicle through Tesla. (With your approval.) So, Telsa is supporting at least some third-party repair shops.

Tesla, as a company, is in big trouble. Their batteries are starting to fail left and right and that reputation is starting to get around - 'neat car, but you don't want to own one out of warranty'.

A beancounter might think this will drive more sales but what it really does is drive down resale value and shrink the market willing to pay $X for a car that will be worth $.1X as the warranty runs out. How do they fix it? I see two solutions:

1. Elon says the new batteries and motors will last 1,000,000 miles. Cool. Warranty that. Obviously, that will never happen but if he wants to put his money where his big mouth is, he could crank up the battery and motor warranty to 15 years and 250,000 miles. Heck, if that was offered, I'll go buy a new Tesla in the morning.
2. Make batteries affordable. $15k for a used battery is insane. What is the cost to refurbish something they got for free as a core charge from the last owner? $5k tops? Start selling batteries at cost and suddenly the narrative starts to change.
2a. If you don't want to be in the battery refurbishing business, let 3rd parties do it. Publish some manuals. Remote access to a handful of shops isn't going to move the needle. They have blocked every effort to develop a secondary market with every effort they could muster. Make parts like the lids available. I would GLADLY pay $500 for a new lid and hump for my pack. I'd even go pick it up from the SC. When I started asking about parts for the battery pack (listed on their website), my SC blacklisted me and wouldn't even sell me a jug of wiper fluid. Someday, they are going to tell me I need a new pyrofuse. I'll tell them it is fine and what part number is there. They will complain that I didn't buy it from them. I will scream, "I BOUGHT IT USED ON EBAY BECAUSE YOU ******S WOULDN'T SELL IT TO ME!!!!!" I digress...

People have been buying used cars as long as there have been cars. Toyota and other OEMs are proud of the residual value their cars hold and savvy buyers pay attention. The value of many used Tesla is already under $20k. That number is going to keep falling until the cost of keeping the cars on the road starts falling. Tesla has a problem...

 

[howardc64]

Tesla is quite disabling of DIY and aftermarket efforts in general on both HV battery and drive units. No disassembly info (like other traditional car manufacturer's EVs) or majority of the parts significantly hampers efforts. Its mostly salvaged parts or aftermarket alternatives (risky proposition, read below). Lacking disassembly info also increases deadly HV risk as everyone learns for themselves initially without guidance.

A quite damaging impact to aftermarket alternative efforts is whenever Tesla offers a revision solution (usually companied by chaotic logistics and release decisions), then it kills the aftermarket effort's business investment. Most commonly known example is the MCU1 eMMC failure. A few groups developed a solution only to lose the business after NHTSA forced Tesla's hand. Same thing is now happening on large drive unit rotor coolant seals (some people developed solution as Tesla doesn't provide the part) and potentially coolant delete manifold (again Tesla doesn't provide the part). On coolant delete drive units, Tesla even disable their own SCs forcing customer to buy the equivalent of an engine to change the equivalent of a badly designed water pump. What could have been a $1k preventive maintenance at SC turns into a $7k engine replacement. In general, it can be quite risky to do Tesla aftermarket business as Tesla logistics and design improvement revisions efforts are so chaotic.

BTW, the recent demise of 057 is an interesting anecdote. MS first came off power train warranty in 2020 (2012 low volumes) and only in 2021 did a little higher volume 2013s came off warranty. So realistically MS battery rebuilders have only received higher volume pack repair business since 21+ (most of pack failures handled by Tesla SC before 20/21). It’s risky to do Tesla aftermarket business. The longest survivors are Roadster repair shops which Tesla formally stopped servicing. I also know shops that only repair used car dealer model S battery packs and not end consumers. Pack is mechanically complex and hard to offer warranty. Anyway, it’s not for the faint of heart. Need to applaud the risk most of these aftermarkets are taking. Most are doing out passion for the technology with little Tesla enablement. 057 even tried to provide an ultra cost effective extended warranty battery solution (based on their long history of recycling all parts of a pack such as selling modules etc) only to get the wrath of higher than expected battery and HV system failures. Any HV failure (including non battery) could easily be misdiagnosed and sent their way and ratchet up the work load.

Every owner of off warranty Tesla is losing large amounts of money. 2nd owners, Rental cars, used car dealers etc from the crazy repair costs with high failure rates. Off warranty working MS is hard to command much more than $20k now. Battery failed car probably $7k tops. I kind of think the real business model for battery rebuilders is to buy a fleet of failed battery off warranty Tesla @ $5k/car, repair and used as Taxi / Amazon delivery fleet especially if the car can still charge on Tesla for free. Kind of like that guy that ran MS taxi service between LA and LV in the early days on unlimited super charging. Racked up 450k miles, 2 batteries (escaped time based battery failure) and 3-4 drive units, and all the fuel on Tesla.

 

[MP3Mike]

On coolant delete drive units, Tesla even disable their own SCs forcing customer to buy the equivalent of an engine to change the equivalent of a badly designed water pump.

What are you saying here? Tesla disables their Service Centers?

We have heard that Tesla is working on, or started delivering?, new revisions of the large drive units that don't have coolant pumped through the rotor...

BTW, the recent demise of 057 is an interesting anecdote.

We don't know that there has been a demise, just that it appears to have been sold, and moved, and the new owner isn't being very communicative.

 

[howardc64]

What are you saying here? Tesla disables their Service Centers?

We have heard that Tesla is working on, or started delivering?, new revisions of the large drive units that don't have coolant pumped through the rotor...

Yes. Rev U coolant delete LDUs are being deployed. It’s a simple manifold part change. If Tesla HQ allowed SCs to replace this simple manifold on drive unit that hasn’t failed as customer desired preventive maintenance. It’s $1k vs $7k drive unit replacement. Just like buying an engine to replace a water pump revision. Certainly inefficient. Cost customer $$$. Not allowing SC to do this as a HQ policy is why I call it disabling SC. Teslas whole HQ decided every repair policy for SC severely restricts end point closest to customer evolution. From many brains close to customer to few brains at HQ far away from customers and locales. (Works better for simpler products like phones rather than complex cars) Getting rid of dealership profitable end points eliminate one layer of middleman cost (cheaper new cars) but also reduce better end point servicing capability which Tesla mostly address by throwing $ at warranty repairs that is critical for word of mouth future cars sales viral marketing.

We don't know that there has been a demise, just that it appears to have been sold, and moved, and the new owner isn't being very communicative.

Yes of course no details. Just noting the high risk of after market operations with 1) unknown battery longevity stats as everyone including Tesla is learning in real time (various battery gate firmware adjustments) Personally I think cost effective extended battery warranty is likely fail business concept. 2) Teslas often feast and famine reliability solutions which affects aftermarket efforts. Imagine what happens if Tesla drops reman battery with 4 year warranty to < $10k. Tesla might be eating a loss if reman quality remains poor but probably damage aftermarket rebuilder business significantly. Hence roadster is much more stable after market business as Tesla has forego maintenance responsibility.

 

[MP3Mike]

Yes. Rev U coolant delete LDUs are being deployed. It’s a simple manifold part change. If Tesla HQ allowed SCs to replace this simple manifold on drive unit that hasn’t failed as customer desired preventive maintenance. It’s $1k vs $7k drive unit replacement. Just like buying an engine to replace a water pump revision. Certainly inefficient. Cost customer $$$. Not allowing SC to do this as a HQ policy is why I call it disabling SC.

OK, that makes it more clear. (I was wondering if you were saying that Tesla disabled Supercharging on vehicles were people did a coolant delete themselves, but that makes no sense.)

I understand why Tesla has that policy, they don't have enough service center staff to have the service centers tear down and rebuild motors and packs. They are pretty much treated as a single part. And that may be the right decision. (It seems the aftermarket companies that do drive unit repairs seem to charge just about as much as Tesla does for a reman replacement, but they have a much shorter warranty.)

As far as $1k, does that even cover all of the labor of dropping and reinstalling the drive unit? Not even getting into the repair/retrofit portion. (If you supplied your own drive unit I thought third party companies charged about $2k for a R&R, Remove & Reinstall.)

 

[howardc64]

As far as $1k, does that even cover all of the labor of dropping and reinstalling the drive unit? Not even getting into the repair/retrofit portion. (If you supplied your own drive unit I thought third party companies charged about $2k for a R&R, Remove & Reinstall.)

I based $1k on teslas own labor charge quotes on LDU replacements (~$600) suggesting 3 hour labor. This is quite time efficient I must say. SCs with lifts and hydraulic scissor tables makes this quick. LDU + subframe is removed, LDU then removed from subframe.

Coolant delete manifold is small part openly accessible at the end of motor once LDU pulled from subframe. 7 10mm bolts and rtv sealant in fully open accessible environment after pulling from subframe. Much simpler than water pump replacement. Pretty much entry level auto mechanic skill set. Not master tech. Of course if coolant leak damage already occurred. It’s a more involved LDU rebuild so this replacement would be strictly a preventive maintenance. Leak diagnostic is the trivial speed sensor pull inspection (1/2 hour labor)

Coolant delete manifold part is a small single molded piece of aluminum alloy? with no moving parts. About as simple of metal auto part as possible. QC Charge made small run machined version for $600. Tesla part is fraction of this to make.

So that’s the basis for $1k assessment. $1.5k tops. Most is LDU removal install labor with existing quoted price.

Not selling the manifold to aftermarket prompting developing alternative solutions creates chaos for the aftermarket vendors and limit owners options.

 

[MP3Mike]

Coolant delete manifold part is a single molded piece of aluminum alloy? with no moving parts. About as simple of metal auto part as possible.

So that’s the basis for $1k assessment. Most is LDU removal install labor with existing quoted price.

Did they really make no other changes to the drive unit, or inverter firmware, to support the coolant delete? (I would think it would make the drive units less capable, and more prone to overheating.)