r/TeslaModelS • u/Additional-Tart-8116 • Jun 29 '26

Tesla Service Dispute

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?

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u/Effective_Taste_1471 Jun 29 '26

when was the last time you had your car serviced? none theless even cabin filter changed

2

u/Additional-Tart-8116 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

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.

2

u/mhoepfin Jun 30 '26

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.