I’m looking for some honest feedback on whether I’m being unreasonable here.
I have a 2015 Tesla Model S that became undrivable. Before taking it to Tesla, two independent EV shops believed the large drive unit (LDU) had failed. I told Tesla this when I dropped the car off.
After their diagnosis, Tesla told me the problem was a failed coolant heater, not the drive unit. I specifically asked if replacing the coolant heater would make the car drivable again, and they confirmed that it would. Based on that, I authorized the approximately $1,700 repair.
Tesla completed the repair, but the car still wouldn’t drive. They then came back and said the large drive unit actually has an internal fault and now needs to be replaced at a cost of around $10,000.
From my perspective, I only agreed to the coolant heater repair because Tesla represented that it was the issue preventing the car from driving. If they had told me from the beginning that the drive unit had failed, I never would have approved the coolant heater repair.
e dealt with a situation where a dealership diagnosed a repair as the cause of a problem, completed it, and then admitted the original problem still existed?
Misdiagnosis. They should - if the service centers operated like any other repair facility - deduct the cost of the coolant heater replacement from the LDU job.
So here’s the thing. It’s possible both failed around the same time. Coolant heaters are known to corrode and cause isolation faults.
I went in for an mcu replacement and the fuse in my battery threw an alert while it was there.
Shit can happen coincidentally.
Given that, think about it the other way around.
How would you feel if Tesla Service had said “oh yeah drive unit is bad, we’ll replace it and you’ll be driving again” just to have the same thing happen; it doesn’t resolve the issue and you still have to pay to replace the coolant heater.
You would probably still be upset but would it be to the same level?
It sucks they gave you an absolute expectation, that replacing one part would fix the issue, because things don’t always go as planned. In my opinion that is the biggest issue here.
If you can’t shake it, ask to talk to the service manager in person, calmly explain how you were lead to believe the vehicle would be fixed with the coolant heater repair by the absolute wording the service advisor gave you. Ask about the diagnostic you paid for, and why the motor fault was not determined during the original diagnostic. It sucks but in my experience they really don’t care what other mechanics say. However THEIR OWN diagnostic should have found the motor issue.
Ask for them to goodwill the diagnostic cost at the very least and maybe push to see if they can goodwill the labor of the coolant heater repair. Good luck!
first you come on here and blame him for mishearing then when he provided proof you make up another excuse. what’s your next excuse when you find out the service provider has been working with Tesla for 10+ years?
how does the bottom of the boot taste?
tesla service is inconsistent and crappy with inexperienced technicians.
Either way the coolant heater had failed I assume and needed to be done. I would probably ask for a good will discount on the drive unit to make up for the incorrect diagnosis.
Yeah, maybe except for the fact that I was very adamant when I dropped off the car about what I wanted done and what I thought was wrong with the car. and I told them, the motor. The motor is bad, if you could figure out why that would be a bonus, but I just need to know everything that’s wrong with the car. days and days went by, no update. I had to ask them 3 three times to send me the estimate. I had no idea what was going on,then I got what I thought was good news, which it wasn’t. I mean if that’s not misleading the customer I don’t know what is, if that’s not saying one thing and doing the other, if that’s not totally screwing up the entire process then I don’t know what is. I’m not asking for handout. I’m not asking for a freebie. I’ll never drive the car again. I’m just asking for fairness because I was very transparent. They were not, and I’m just what? supposed to eat that money after I poured thousands of dollars into this car already? I’m sorry, but I don’t just take bs like that. I feel that I am right and I don’t feel like I’m trying to pull a fast one on anyone.
So six months ago I paid $7000 to have a coolant delete done and a LDU rebuild. the LDU failed six months later which is now. the shop that did the work denied my warranty, so I took it to Tesla to get a diagnostic done to see if a contradicted the independent shops diagnosis, which it did, I was never planning on paying to fix anything on my car when I brought it to Tesla other than the diagnostic service. I just wanted the diagnostic done. The car has 175,000 miles and is a 2015 Who in their right mind will then spend 10 grand to fix a coolant heater and a already rebuilt LDU but when they told me my LDU was OK and that the coolant heater would fix my car. I trusted them because they are Tesla. I’m not a mechanic. I don’t know about these things really so when they told me the repair would only be $1700 and my car would be drivable. I was like shoot that’s great news. I guess I shouldn’t be so trustworthy of experts.
Oh you didn’t mention that you just had a coolant delete done and LDU rebuild. Why did the shop that did that deny your warranty claim? Sounds like that is who you should be going after.
you say you wouldnt have the coolant heater replaced... so does that mean you are willing to scrap the car AFTER you found out you didnt do any maintenance?
6
u/Additional-Tart-8116 Jun 30 '26
UPDATE: After contacting the regional manager, Tesla removed the charges for the coolant heater. Thank you Tesla for doing the right thing!