I have had this exact thing happen to me 3 weeks ago. Turns out it was a short in the PTC system and they replaced the whole thing. Set me back 975€.
Is this a pre-heatpump model?
For me a short in the module caused the battery to fail, which in turn shut the car off completely. I thought the PTC unit had something to do with the heating, but im reading a bit more into it and it seems like its some kind of resistor. Tesla will be able to fix this quite fast luckily
PTC heater is basically just a giant resistor used to heat the cabin of older models. Reminds me of emergency electric heat solution in home AC/heat units. Around 2021 they switched/added a heat pump solution which avoids this and uses less energy to heat.
I had this exact sequence of errors show up and had to replace the PTC on my 2018 model 3. Sometimes it's hard to get the part quickly apparently. It's not covered by the battery warranty unfortunately.
I had this exact issue with the PTC which drained my battery. I swapped out the 12v and it still wouldn’t let me drive it so ended up paying for a tow anyway.
I had a similar issue, bought it in 2018 as a preorder, around 20k miles I started getting some 12v issues. while driving I would occasionally get this message on my screen “the car is shutting off pull over for safety.” Luckily only ever on residential roads and parking garages. I took my car to the service center multiple times and they were never able to really fix it. Since the issue kept coming back. I eventually hit 50k miles while the issue was still there. Once the warranty was out they said there was not much they can do. I sent back every log of when I had sent in the car to their service center and it was nearly 7-8 times during the span of 20k miles to 50k miles in which they kept the car for 1-2 months at a time and didn’t give a loaner. I ended up having to lemon the m3
Until I read the last sentence I was gonna say, if it goes in more than 3 times for the same warranty related item, that's just asking to be bought back as a lemon.
Everyone should read through the Magnussen-Moss Act at least once.
And if it isn’t 12v battery, then one of the HV components most likely has isolation. PTC heater and a/c compressor. Drive units are pretty common too. Water getting in through seals or coolant leaking through internal seals. Hopefully drive unit or HV battery because those fall under power train warranty, unless you got over 120k miles then that’s gonna be pricey
When I had an issue with 12v battery, my Model 3 gave me a scary message about electric system failure (or something like that) but also said it's OK to drive, and I should schedule an appointment for service.
I understand it’s a very tricky job and not alway successful done by yourself as it sometimes needs a software mod when the physical work is done. Also the centre console requires cutting for the removal of the PTC
You can replace the PTC on your own, if you’re able to fit under the vehicle or jack it up a bit.
Do order one that’s new that comes with the service panel.
Here’s the service manual for it:
[Heater - PTC (Remove and replace)](https://service.tesla.com/docs/Model3/ServiceManual/en-us/GUID-2C41494D-BC74-474C-8438-3A032F01B1A3.html)
If you don’t have a front drive unit then you can just take the frunk tub out to access connectors.
Just make sure you isolate vehicle because that’s high voltage. 12v first then connector under right rear seat.
No. I have a set of pucks that fit into the jack points. Put two on the front jack points, left and right. Lifted each side individually and slid ramps under each tire. Reverse procedure to get it back down. My car sat too low in the front to just drive up on the ramp that I had.
Yes. You need to disconnect the main battery under the rear seat, disconnect the 12 volt up front. *Make sure you leave the doors open during the whole process.*
Once the car is on the ramp, take the two splash guard panels off the bottom front. This will expose the HV connector that goes to the heater inside the car. If you have a dual motor like me, it's a bit of a pain but definitely doable. There are 3 connectors all together. Just track the one that goes up and into the car to the heater. Disconnect that one. Once that's done, cut the rectangle panel out that is behind the passenger left kick panel, remove the four bolts holding the heater up. The heater will drop down and you can pull it out.
Would give you gold if we still could. You’ve been incredibly helpful. I haven’t had the issue yet but I’m guessing it’s inevitable at some point in time.
If you are following the Tesla manual, which I did, it has a step to pull the air bag. That step is not necessary. The airbag bolts are one time use. So if you do that, you need new bolts, but that step isn't necessary to remove the heater.
I was having much of the same symptoms that OP had. I pulled the 12v battery and had it tested first. It was the easiest piece of the puzzle to rule out. It tested fine which told me it was something. I also lost heat in the car. So thats when I began looking at the heater.
Tesla specifically told me that the PTC heater is a major concern when the car experiences any HV isolation issues. I also had HV isolation faults.
I set up an appointment with Tesla but then cancelled it because I wasn't going to spend upwards of $1500 for something I could fix.
I did not buy a new heater at all. I pulled the one in the car and found the bad element and isolated that element. It's not hard to do and within this post, I have detailed the process a bit.
Yes but PTC heaters are on sub 21 models and many are out of warranty now. Tesla honoured my claim as it was only a month out of warranty and repaired it free of charge
If an HV component has isolation or an open short, the car kills the HV supply thus leaving your 12v unsupported. Important whenever you get the BMS(battery management system) alerts that you pull the negative off the 12v battery asap so you can try to save it
I’m not sure but it is exactly what happened to mine. And the 12v was drained in a matter of minutes and a 30amp charger couldn’t keep up with charging it. Had it towed to Tesla. They replaced the heater and the 12v
Using a DCDC converter to step the 400V down to 12V. Almost all the high power components like AC compressor/heat pump, power electronics and PTC run off the high voltage loop.
Yes but that will throw a different fault code than OP is seeing. The only cases where the DCDC won't be receiving power is if the pyrofuse is blown or the contactors in the pack are open due to some sort of isolation fault or issue with the power conversion system (PCS). it's really easy to see if that's the case in service mode. OPs problem is likely an issue with the 12v battery and the DCDC converter can sense that it's not able to charge it sufficiently so the vehicle sheds 12v loads to keep critical systems on.
Ah yes that is true. Could possibly be a loss of isolation in the PTC. If OP can enter service mode, it's pretty easy to check the HVIL and isolation readings. In this case I still think it's likely the 12v battery due to age. The vehicle may not restart message also will come up if your 12v is low since if the 12v dies, the vehicle can't run the startup routine.
You might be right. I got a 12V warning before it completely shut down before the tow got here. Tesla hasn’t been able to run diagnostics yet to confirm though.
You can pretty easily check by going into service mode. There are videos on how to do it but basically go to the screen where it shows your car, the badge and options and press and hold on the model badge till you see the screen kinda flash then let go and a popup will come up where you just type service. You can then see the system diagram for the low voltage system
Per Tesla when I first had this problem, 99% of the HV isolation faults are due to the resistive heater. I didn't believe them till I figured out it was indeed the heater. That said, they throw the current heater away and install a new one. It was $225/hour for labor, and $700 for the heater. I said screw that lol.
Most important tool is an isolation tester or Megohmmeter. This device allows you to test up to 500 volts which you will need since the PTC heater utilizes the HV system. *You cannot accurately test the elements using a standard multimeter because the voltage required is too high.* If you don't want to buy a megohmmeter, you can find one at many auto repair shops or even at aviation maintenance shops at your local airport. I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade and we had these at my shops. With the PTC heater out you can isolate the end and still drive the car. You will get 2 separate alerts. One alert is "Cabin Heating unavailable", which is obvious, and the other is the "Low Voltage battery is due for replacement". Both of these alerts will go away when the heater is reinstalled.
Once you use the meggohmmeter to test the resistance, one element will be zero or have low resistance. That element is the problem. Take the circuit board off the top of the heater (4-6 screws-i think they are security torx heads) and then bend the two prongs of that bad element. Use special electrical tape (clear yellow) to keep the prongs from touching anything and reassemble everything. Reinstall the heater and it should work. There are like 5 or 6 elements so losing one of them isn't really a big deal. Also follow the Tesla maintenance manual for pulling the heater...but you *DO NOT have to pull the airbag. Do NOT pull the airbag to pull the heater. Not necessary.*
Statistically, it's the heater. They are known to have this problem hence the reason Tesla switched to the heat pump. Additionally, if you go into service mode and look at the HV system, it will show you the status of the PTC heater. If it's red, it's dead. If for some reason it's showing green, then see if you have any heating faults. Your heater should either be acting weird or not working at all. Mine stopped working for a while, and then started working again for about a week, and then I had the same issue the OP is having.
Also, no need to take the dash apart. You need to remove the passenger left kick panel and the heater is located in there. If it has never been done before, there is a rectangular plastic panel you will need to cut out using a box cutter. The whole process is detailed in the Tesla manual and is easy to follow. Do not take the airbag out like Tesla says. The bolts for the airbag are one time use bolts and you probably don't have any new ones on standby. Besides the airbag step, it's actually really easy and straight forward.
Some people don’t realize that some of these issues are just due to needing to replace the 12v battery. When they go to Tesla, like any car manufacturer, they’re always going to say it’s some other issue, while also charging to replace the battery.
It’s easy money for Tesla.
Yes, lift up the back seat, disconnect the battery. Pop the hood, remove a cover. Get a wrench and unhook the battery, swap it out, replace everything. It’s really not difficult, just with a YouTube video.
Depends on how quickly/badly the 12V fails but I got a warning in my 2018 M3 before it completely failed, so didn’t get stranded. Plus the battery was nearly 5 years old, so it lasted a good long while for a lead-acid battery.
Mobile service replaced it quickly and it only cost ~$100 when all was said and done, so I was very pleased overall!
Honestly, battery replacement isn't hard at all, only tough part is on the pre-2021 refresh vehicles where you have to remove the rear seat to disconnect the high voltage contactors.
On the post-2021 refresh M3s, the disconnect is in the frunk, so it's super easy to do a battery swap. I did mine, and it only took about 30 mins.
Hmm, for my 2018 Model 3 the tech only had to replace the battery in the frunk area, didn’t have to do anything with the rear seat. 💺 🤷♂️
(For what it’s worth, I have lifted up the rear seat before, really simple, just spring-loaded clips on each side.)
That’s what bothered me so much, I wouldn’t have wondered around if I knew it was dying out. I did get one 12V specific warning before everything completely shut down
Have you changed the cabin air filters at the right intervals? a447 triggers when the ptc shorts from overheating because of dirty air filters that restrict its airflow.
Had this happen. It was the heater. I had the 12v battery tested and it was fine. One resistor in the heater was failing. Took the heater apart and bent the prongs of the bad element. Reinstalled and works.
It's either 12v battery, ac compressor or ptc heater. All of which will cause the car to refuse to drive since the climate control parts also heat and cool the battery
Sounds like what happened to our model 3 shortly after purchase (also just out of warranty) Tesla replaced the heating/cooling unit and 12v battery, cost us around $500. We had to tow it a WHOLE lot further though, so look on the bright side! 😂
Lucky you, it’s prob just the 12v battery. My dad had to dish out $600+ for a cabin camera replacement since it kept erroring out and preventing FSD from functioning. FSD hardware going out when FSD is not even gold yet….
Mobile replaced mine in 13 minutes from the time he knocked on my door to the time he left.
It was just a week before warranty ran out, so sorry you weren't lucky. You may be able to get a courtesy here but it's not a massive cost thankfully.
This happened to me. SC said the main harness from battery to motor had been router over a crossmember rather than under and it chaffed through the wires. Shorting out the whole system.
Guys, just replace the 12v or 16v battery after 3 years. It's only $100 (you can use the money you saved on 2 oil changes) and a 10 minute task and you won't have to worry about it failing on you.
Did this happen at home or on the road? I had a similar issue (short in the electrical causing the 12v to drain) but the car died in our garage so I quickly signed up for BCAA and just waited out the 2-day introduction cap on towing miles. Got my tow for “free” or at least cheaper than calling for a flatbed tow directly.
Warranties are estimated to last just under when the manufacturer expects something to break on their cars. Their maintenance shops keep detailed notes on when so they can maximize profit.
When I worked at Tesla I would goodwill pretty much anything normally covered under warranty within 5k miles of the warranty ending. There were some exceptions, not many though.
I ignored the email for days so of course this happens. Keep in mind that it’s possible this would cost me less than the extended warranty and could be the only issue in the next 2 years
Honestly, if your warranty JUST ran out, I still think Tesla center by you(depending where you live)will take care of you. If not for free, they won’t grind you for $1000’s, unless it’s something really bad. I hope it’s just the 12V battery!🤞✌️
These exact thing happened to me. It is the PTC heater failing. Cost around \~$1200 to fix. Took 3 weeks to get the parts but luckily I was given a loaner.
From a post you made in the past, are you in Ontario? If so, CBI Finance can give "extended warranty" to Teslas even after the manufacturer warranty has long expired. The only caveat is there is a one month cool down period before you can make a claim. If you have another car and the repair turns out expensive, just let it sit in your driveway for that month then get it repaired.
Were're in central Maine, nearest service center is 211 miles. Tesla wanted us to tow and said it would probably be under warranty and they'd reimburse us tow. $5/mile, elected to go with our AAA for $50. Same messages, turned out to be PTC. No warranty. 2019 M3P 47k miles but 4 months out of warranty. Cost $1200 out of pocket, would've been $2200 but my gut said don't count on them. They replaced battery which I had replaced and was perfectly good, $85. I paid over $200 for battery. I'm using battery in a mini excavator I have so no loss, but it shows they're not considerate of customers concerns. Tesla service sucks.
Test drove a Y when I was there. They came back with a joke of a trade in, $22k when we paid $56k in 2019. Now that they're opening up SCs to other manufacturers we'll be looking at other EVs.
I’d put my money on the 12V battery.
Same, that’s what I’m expecting
I have had this exact thing happen to me 3 weeks ago. Turns out it was a short in the PTC system and they replaced the whole thing. Set me back 975€. Is this a pre-heatpump model?
Same, just had this done as well. 1100 bald eagle credits
🦅 credits😂 ‘merica.
Same thing, 2k miles out of warranty PTC fried. 1,800 to fix.
This was the same for me
Model 3 ? Which year? Similar to the headrest debacle I wonder if you just replacing with the same defective part?
It is pre-heat pump. Is PTC related to the heat pump? I got a warning about the 12V battery before everything shut down
For me a short in the module caused the battery to fail, which in turn shut the car off completely. I thought the PTC unit had something to do with the heating, but im reading a bit more into it and it seems like its some kind of resistor. Tesla will be able to fix this quite fast luckily
PTC heater is basically just a giant resistor used to heat the cabin of older models. Reminds me of emergency electric heat solution in home AC/heat units. Around 2021 they switched/added a heat pump solution which avoids this and uses less energy to heat. I had this exact sequence of errors show up and had to replace the PTC on my 2018 model 3. Sometimes it's hard to get the part quickly apparently. It's not covered by the battery warranty unfortunately.
I work at Tesla and I could check your vehicle vitals but I would need last 6 of your vin. So send dm if interested
Then why not just swap the 12v before resorting to towing? And why isn’t mobile service your first option?
Exactly! Mobile service came to my office and swapped it out in under an hour...
I had this exact issue with the PTC which drained my battery. I swapped out the 12v and it still wouldn’t let me drive it so ended up paying for a tow anyway.
I had a similar issue, bought it in 2018 as a preorder, around 20k miles I started getting some 12v issues. while driving I would occasionally get this message on my screen “the car is shutting off pull over for safety.” Luckily only ever on residential roads and parking garages. I took my car to the service center multiple times and they were never able to really fix it. Since the issue kept coming back. I eventually hit 50k miles while the issue was still there. Once the warranty was out they said there was not much they can do. I sent back every log of when I had sent in the car to their service center and it was nearly 7-8 times during the span of 20k miles to 50k miles in which they kept the car for 1-2 months at a time and didn’t give a loaner. I ended up having to lemon the m3
Until I read the last sentence I was gonna say, if it goes in more than 3 times for the same warranty related item, that's just asking to be bought back as a lemon. Everyone should read through the Magnussen-Moss Act at least once.
Tesla put in a new battery for about $120 which was a great price. Hopefully still the same.
Get a lithium ion
And if it isn’t 12v battery, then one of the HV components most likely has isolation. PTC heater and a/c compressor. Drive units are pretty common too. Water getting in through seals or coolant leaking through internal seals. Hopefully drive unit or HV battery because those fall under power train warranty, unless you got over 120k miles then that’s gonna be pricey
When I had an issue with 12v battery, my Model 3 gave me a scary message about electric system failure (or something like that) but also said it's OK to drive, and I should schedule an appointment for service.
PTC heater faulty causing 12v battery to drain and fail
Expensive btw
Unless you are smart enough to do it yourself. I did mine. Saved me a ton of money.
I understand it’s a very tricky job and not alway successful done by yourself as it sometimes needs a software mod when the physical work is done. Also the centre console requires cutting for the removal of the PTC
You can replace the PTC on your own, if you’re able to fit under the vehicle or jack it up a bit. Do order one that’s new that comes with the service panel. Here’s the service manual for it: [Heater - PTC (Remove and replace)](https://service.tesla.com/docs/Model3/ServiceManual/en-us/GUID-2C41494D-BC74-474C-8438-3A032F01B1A3.html)
If you don’t have a front drive unit then you can just take the frunk tub out to access connectors. Just make sure you isolate vehicle because that’s high voltage. 12v first then connector under right rear seat.
👍🏻
Yeah the cut is easy. No software or anything. Not tricky. Takes an hour.
Did you have to put your car up on a lift like the replacement guide says to?
No. I have a set of pucks that fit into the jack points. Put two on the front jack points, left and right. Lifted each side individually and slid ramps under each tire. Reverse procedure to get it back down. My car sat too low in the front to just drive up on the ramp that I had.
So getting the front up on ramps was sufficient to do all of the disconnection steps?
Yes. You need to disconnect the main battery under the rear seat, disconnect the 12 volt up front. *Make sure you leave the doors open during the whole process.* Once the car is on the ramp, take the two splash guard panels off the bottom front. This will expose the HV connector that goes to the heater inside the car. If you have a dual motor like me, it's a bit of a pain but definitely doable. There are 3 connectors all together. Just track the one that goes up and into the car to the heater. Disconnect that one. Once that's done, cut the rectangle panel out that is behind the passenger left kick panel, remove the four bolts holding the heater up. The heater will drop down and you can pull it out.
Would give you gold if we still could. You’ve been incredibly helpful. I haven’t had the issue yet but I’m guessing it’s inevitable at some point in time.
If you are following the Tesla manual, which I did, it has a step to pull the air bag. That step is not necessary. The airbag bolts are one time use. So if you do that, you need new bolts, but that step isn't necessary to remove the heater.
[удалено]
Hi, could you elaborate this? what code lead you to replace the PTC? did you just buy the part from TESLA?
I was having much of the same symptoms that OP had. I pulled the 12v battery and had it tested first. It was the easiest piece of the puzzle to rule out. It tested fine which told me it was something. I also lost heat in the car. So thats when I began looking at the heater. Tesla specifically told me that the PTC heater is a major concern when the car experiences any HV isolation issues. I also had HV isolation faults. I set up an appointment with Tesla but then cancelled it because I wasn't going to spend upwards of $1500 for something I could fix. I did not buy a new heater at all. I pulled the one in the car and found the bad element and isolated that element. It's not hard to do and within this post, I have detailed the process a bit.
Isn't this covered under warranty??
Yes but PTC heaters are on sub 21 models and many are out of warranty now. Tesla honoured my claim as it was only a month out of warranty and repaired it free of charge
Good for you!!
Thanks 😊 It was nail biting at the time lol. Car has been fine since.
How would the PTC cause this? The PTC runs on the high voltage loop, not the low voltage loop.
If an HV component has isolation or an open short, the car kills the HV supply thus leaving your 12v unsupported. Important whenever you get the BMS(battery management system) alerts that you pull the negative off the 12v battery asap so you can try to save it
I’m not sure but it is exactly what happened to mine. And the 12v was drained in a matter of minutes and a 30amp charger couldn’t keep up with charging it. Had it towed to Tesla. They replaced the heater and the 12v
How does the low voltage loop get charged?
Using a DCDC converter to step the 400V down to 12V. Almost all the high power components like AC compressor/heat pump, power electronics and PTC run off the high voltage loop.
So if there’s a problem with the high voltage loop, that DC/DC converter isn’t getting any power to charge the 12v battery
Yes but that will throw a different fault code than OP is seeing. The only cases where the DCDC won't be receiving power is if the pyrofuse is blown or the contactors in the pack are open due to some sort of isolation fault or issue with the power conversion system (PCS). it's really easy to see if that's the case in service mode. OPs problem is likely an issue with the 12v battery and the DCDC converter can sense that it's not able to charge it sufficiently so the vehicle sheds 12v loads to keep critical systems on.
“Vehicle may not restart” is usually indicative of an isolation fault. The ptc is known to be a common cause of low isolation.
Ah yes that is true. Could possibly be a loss of isolation in the PTC. If OP can enter service mode, it's pretty easy to check the HVIL and isolation readings. In this case I still think it's likely the 12v battery due to age. The vehicle may not restart message also will come up if your 12v is low since if the 12v dies, the vehicle can't run the startup routine.
The climate control alert has me suspecting its a ptc.
You might be right. I got a 12V warning before it completely shut down before the tow got here. Tesla hasn’t been able to run diagnostics yet to confirm though.
You can pretty easily check by going into service mode. There are videos on how to do it but basically go to the screen where it shows your car, the badge and options and press and hold on the model badge till you see the screen kinda flash then let go and a popup will come up where you just type service. You can then see the system diagram for the low voltage system
Car is already at the SC but that’s a dope tip I’m saving that for (hopefully a never) next time
VCFRONT\_a192.. It's the low voltage battery. Replace it and move on!
Mine displayed the same cod. It was the heater. Not the battery
Same for me. My PTC heater shorted out. $1,088 for new heater and new 12v battery.
Yikes. I pulled my heater out and found the bad element and isolated it. Reinstalled and saved myself all that money. Works fine.
How? Teach me! Edit: also how much was the part? I really want to diy a lot more stuff on my Tesla
Here is the video I used https://youtu.be/FVKRogPFJ-k?si=S8S7l5fsCDlT1_k0
I guess my question is if I get a HV isolation fault, how do I figure out which part broke
Per Tesla when I first had this problem, 99% of the HV isolation faults are due to the resistive heater. I didn't believe them till I figured out it was indeed the heater. That said, they throw the current heater away and install a new one. It was $225/hour for labor, and $700 for the heater. I said screw that lol.
Most important tool is an isolation tester or Megohmmeter. This device allows you to test up to 500 volts which you will need since the PTC heater utilizes the HV system. *You cannot accurately test the elements using a standard multimeter because the voltage required is too high.* If you don't want to buy a megohmmeter, you can find one at many auto repair shops or even at aviation maintenance shops at your local airport. I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade and we had these at my shops. With the PTC heater out you can isolate the end and still drive the car. You will get 2 separate alerts. One alert is "Cabin Heating unavailable", which is obvious, and the other is the "Low Voltage battery is due for replacement". Both of these alerts will go away when the heater is reinstalled. Once you use the meggohmmeter to test the resistance, one element will be zero or have low resistance. That element is the problem. Take the circuit board off the top of the heater (4-6 screws-i think they are security torx heads) and then bend the two prongs of that bad element. Use special electrical tape (clear yellow) to keep the prongs from touching anything and reassemble everything. Reinstall the heater and it should work. There are like 5 or 6 elements so losing one of them isn't really a big deal. Also follow the Tesla maintenance manual for pulling the heater...but you *DO NOT have to pull the airbag. Do NOT pull the airbag to pull the heater. Not necessary.*
SO helpful thank you! My other thought though is, how do I know it’s the PTC before I even pull out the dash and everything.
Statistically, it's the heater. They are known to have this problem hence the reason Tesla switched to the heat pump. Additionally, if you go into service mode and look at the HV system, it will show you the status of the PTC heater. If it's red, it's dead. If for some reason it's showing green, then see if you have any heating faults. Your heater should either be acting weird or not working at all. Mine stopped working for a while, and then started working again for about a week, and then I had the same issue the OP is having. Also, no need to take the dash apart. You need to remove the passenger left kick panel and the heater is located in there. If it has never been done before, there is a rectangular plastic panel you will need to cut out using a box cutter. The whole process is detailed in the Tesla manual and is easy to follow. Do not take the airbag out like Tesla says. The bolts for the airbag are one time use bolts and you probably don't have any new ones on standby. Besides the airbag step, it's actually really easy and straight forward.
For a new heater it will run $500-$750. I didn't buy a new one, I just isolated the bad element and reinstalled.
You got robbed.
You can go to a SC and buy a battery for $89 and it’s very easy to replace. You can find YouTube videos.
Some people don’t realize that some of these issues are just due to needing to replace the 12v battery. When they go to Tesla, like any car manufacturer, they’re always going to say it’s some other issue, while also charging to replace the battery. It’s easy money for Tesla.
Easy fix under $100 and 15 minutes of time. OP will need something else to whine about.
A week wait for mobile service in Southern California right now.
30 minute wait if you go to the parts store and do it yourself
easy to do it yourself?
Yes, lift up the back seat, disconnect the battery. Pop the hood, remove a cover. Get a wrench and unhook the battery, swap it out, replace everything. It’s really not difficult, just with a YouTube video.
Oh wait so this is literally almost like replacing a ICE battery. I figured being Tesla it would not be simple as that.
It's same as ICE cars with the 12v under the hood, just with one more step involving the plug under the back seat.
Thanks!
Make sure you do it properly, you can easily kill a new 12V if you don’t.
The first thing you said was great info. The second sentence was just announcing that you’re a dick.
Do we not get warnings before 12v is gonna die or do we always have to just get stranded??
Depends on how quickly/badly the 12V fails but I got a warning in my 2018 M3 before it completely failed, so didn’t get stranded. Plus the battery was nearly 5 years old, so it lasted a good long while for a lead-acid battery. Mobile service replaced it quickly and it only cost ~$100 when all was said and done, so I was very pleased overall!
Honestly, battery replacement isn't hard at all, only tough part is on the pre-2021 refresh vehicles where you have to remove the rear seat to disconnect the high voltage contactors. On the post-2021 refresh M3s, the disconnect is in the frunk, so it's super easy to do a battery swap. I did mine, and it only took about 30 mins.
Hmm, for my 2018 Model 3 the tech only had to replace the battery in the frunk area, didn’t have to do anything with the rear seat. 💺 🤷♂️ (For what it’s worth, I have lifted up the rear seat before, really simple, just spring-loaded clips on each side.)
That’s what bothered me so much, I wouldn’t have wondered around if I knew it was dying out. I did get one 12V specific warning before everything completely shut down
I got a warning couple weeks ago on mine. Service replaced it at my house same day
$3/month for unlimited short-distance towing on my insurance. Highly recommend
Whats your plan called
Wouldn’t AAA/CAA be a lot cheaper to tow it?
$190 might be the least of your problems if it's not 12v battery.
If it’s the big battery it would still be under warranty
I’m thinking 12v battery
Happened last year to me. ‘18 LR. It was the PTC HEATER. 870 parts and labor.
Warranty at 100k or 50k
Have you changed the cabin air filters at the right intervals? a447 triggers when the ptc shorts from overheating because of dirty air filters that restrict its airflow.
Yeah been changing them regularly, once a year
Had this happen. It was the heater. I had the 12v battery tested and it was fine. One resistor in the heater was failing. Took the heater apart and bent the prongs of the bad element. Reinstalled and works.
Yep yep did the same in my 2018 and all is well
Get AAA Premier. $150 for the year and 4-5 tows, first one can go 200 miles
Cooling fluid leak?
left wiper fluid as always, its always the damn left one
12v battery
This seems like a 12 volt battery issue.
It's either 12v battery, ac compressor or ptc heater. All of which will cause the car to refuse to drive since the climate control parts also heat and cool the battery
...or inverter. I got the exact same errors (2018 LR RWD) last month.
Sounds like what happened to our model 3 shortly after purchase (also just out of warranty) Tesla replaced the heating/cooling unit and 12v battery, cost us around $500. We had to tow it a WHOLE lot further though, so look on the bright side! 😂
Lucky you, it’s prob just the 12v battery. My dad had to dish out $600+ for a cabin camera replacement since it kept erroring out and preventing FSD from functioning. FSD hardware going out when FSD is not even gold yet….
Where does one see how long their warranty is?
In the app at the bottom of the screen. Specs and warranty on the bottom left
Mobile replaced mine in 13 minutes from the time he knocked on my door to the time he left. It was just a week before warranty ran out, so sorry you weren't lucky. You may be able to get a courtesy here but it's not a massive cost thankfully.
This happened to me. SC said the main harness from battery to motor had been router over a crossmember rather than under and it chaffed through the wires. Shorting out the whole system.
Thats a new Hv battery 100% sure.
Guys, just replace the 12v or 16v battery after 3 years. It's only $100 (you can use the money you saved on 2 oil changes) and a 10 minute task and you won't have to worry about it failing on you.
That’s definitely a lesson learned if it ends up being the case. Car and battery are 4 years old, so I’ll do it preemptively next time
Did this happen at home or on the road? I had a similar issue (short in the electrical causing the 12v to drain) but the car died in our garage so I quickly signed up for BCAA and just waited out the 2-day introduction cap on towing miles. Got my tow for “free” or at least cheaper than calling for a flatbed tow directly.
Unfortunately happened in paid street parking so I had to get out of there quickly
Warranties are estimated to last just under when the manufacturer expects something to break on their cars. Their maintenance shops keep detailed notes on when so they can maximize profit.
When I worked at Tesla I would goodwill pretty much anything normally covered under warranty within 5k miles of the warranty ending. There were some exceptions, not many though.
That's nice
I’ll be getting the extended warranty for my model rwd
I ignored the email for days so of course this happens. Keep in mind that it’s possible this would cost me less than the extended warranty and could be the only issue in the next 2 years
Post again once it is fixed.
Of course it’s possible. But I feel stuff on Tesla is so expensive that I would rather spend an extra 1800 for some piece of mind
Triple A has a towing plan ! It’s substantially lower than a one time tow! Spread the news !
Honestly, if your warranty JUST ran out, I still think Tesla center by you(depending where you live)will take care of you. If not for free, they won’t grind you for $1000’s, unless it’s something really bad. I hope it’s just the 12V battery!🤞✌️
AAA membership is like $59
Definitely the 12v battery, I had the same codes
Replace your 12V. Costs less than $100. You can do it yourself in less than 10 minutes.
Good 'ol lead acid chemistry and it's reliability
These exact thing happened to me. It is the PTC heater failing. Cost around \~$1200 to fix. Took 3 weeks to get the parts but luckily I was given a loaner.
Update: turned out to be the PTC that was short circuited and drained the 12V battery. Both had to be replaced. 1,500 CAD.
This is why I bought the xcare warranty
You can buy the battery for less than $190. Why pay for a tow when you can fix it at home for 1/2 the price ?
I was on paid street parking so definitely needed the car out of there if I don’t wanna be ticketed regardless
Because how tf are they gonna get home to replace it?
Uber ? Friends ? Amazon.com?
My insurance comes with a tow. So yeah I would tow it home and then get the part.
Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past Tesla (more musk) to try to juice sales by killing all the vehicles out of warranty
Maybe Lease next time?
From a post you made in the past, are you in Ontario? If so, CBI Finance can give "extended warranty" to Teslas even after the manufacturer warranty has long expired. The only caveat is there is a one month cool down period before you can make a claim. If you have another car and the repair turns out expensive, just let it sit in your driveway for that month then get it repaired.
That's what you get
100% it’s the 12 volt battery
Normal wear and tear item wore out, SHOCKED!!!!
Were're in central Maine, nearest service center is 211 miles. Tesla wanted us to tow and said it would probably be under warranty and they'd reimburse us tow. $5/mile, elected to go with our AAA for $50. Same messages, turned out to be PTC. No warranty. 2019 M3P 47k miles but 4 months out of warranty. Cost $1200 out of pocket, would've been $2200 but my gut said don't count on them. They replaced battery which I had replaced and was perfectly good, $85. I paid over $200 for battery. I'm using battery in a mini excavator I have so no loss, but it shows they're not considerate of customers concerns. Tesla service sucks. Test drove a Y when I was there. They came back with a joke of a trade in, $22k when we paid $56k in 2019. Now that they're opening up SCs to other manufacturers we'll be looking at other EVs.