This seems to be a problem I'm hearing more and more of - the limitation of 32 amp charging. I know of more than one locally with the issue and one of them just last week came by my house to confirm the same limited charging on my WC.

The SC wouldn't even look at his car or allow his appointment until he proved it was not his own WC. He had someone else charge on his WC and got the full 48, that wasn't good enough, he had to go to one that was working and show that his car behaved the same on more than one WC. If they don't do this out of good will for you, I'd make sure to keep receipts as some day they might acknowledge an issue and reimburse. Long shot, but this one seems it could be a weak part not holding up.

 

Good point! I'll find a 48A wall connector (destination charger) nearby and try it there!

Just because my Model Y charges fine doesn't mean there isn't something funky with my setup in the garage.

 

I'll bet they have a Gen 1 UMC also. I'd go to a service center if I were you. If its not too far.

 

Yeah - car is in for service now. He stopped by Plano after confirmation from my WC. They gave him Uber credits, then after getting into the next day realized they had to order parts, so they got him in a loaner.

 

I have been getting a poor grid alerts a lot lately. It throttles it down to 32 Amps and then it seems to work fine. I actually have two wall V2 wall connectors in my garage and I've tried it on both, with the same results. It does not say what is wrong with the grid, or if I'm having sags or swells or what the deal is. I do think there's a good chance it is software related.

 

The voltage looks good at 241V but that ;s at reduced Amperage. What is the Volts before the charge starts and at full use (48A)?

 

It's likely the Power Converter, but you'll need Tesla to confirm that. I have an appointment scheduled.

Middie's out of warranty, but some have claimed to get this replaced until the battery warranty, although that's like saying you expect a free new drive shaft just because it's attached to the motor!

 

There have been a few reports of issues and PCS failures from folks who charge at the full 48A.

I used to work with someone who worked on the design of it and they even said it barely worked and got super hot at 48A.

Perhaps Tesla has improved it by now, but if you can duplicate the problem at another 48A-capable wall connector (they are hard to find) then I would certainly report it to service.

The few times I had the opportunity to use a 48A connector, I turned it down a bit to 44A just to give it some headroom

 

Good news! Tesla is replacing my PCS for free next Friday, covered by the HV Battery Warranty!

I guess my analogy changes to "anything that the battery pack needs to get the power ready for charging" is part of the warranty!

 

I'm very happy to hear this!

 

Well, I didn't get the cooling parts list added to my final invoice. Of course, the parts and installation was covered under warranty as it was Tesla's fault.

 

Update:

Service Advisor called... they found damage to Middie's cooling system while replacing the PCS.

Seems this damage occurred back in 2018 while the car was in transit before delivery.

Waiting on more parts, could be Wednesday or Thursday before I get her back.

And to think this car just hummed along for 56,000+ miles with a damaged cooling system on many roadtrips in the middle of nowhere.

I'll share more details on the actual parts once I get the final invoice.

I am impressed. I did NOT get this from service. Can I bug you for a few more details to use as ammo when I call back? I really would like to fix this but 2k k for moderately faster charging is ... not rational.

DM me if you don't want to post but I am thinking where you are, what rough vin range you are, miles when the problem happened and who you talked to (meaning a local service or national)

Thank you!

Jay

 

No problem sharing for others to benefit.

Here's the details from the invoice. I'd share the file, but it's a PDF with my personal info too:

Concern: Customer states: Getting PCS_a019 when charging with v2 wall connector, get 32a
instead of 48a, my Model Y still charges at 48a
Verified customer concern. Replaced Power Conversion System. Verified Proper Operation.
Correction: Power Conversion System (Remove & Replace)

Total Parts (USD) 0.00
Total Labor (USD) 0.00
Discount 0.00
Subtotal (USD) 0.00
Tax 0.00
Total Amount (USD) 0.00
Total Paid (USD) 0
Payment Due (USD) 0.00
Parts Replaced or Added
Part Quantity
ASY,Power Conversion
System,PCS,48ACD,
1PH(1135558-04-A)
1.00
ASY,PCS,48A,1PH,MDL3(1135558-
00-D)
1.00
Correction: Miscellaneous Labor
Pay Type: HV Battery Limited Warranty

My VIN is in the 21XXX range, I'd say it happened after the normal warranty was over but don't know exactly. It was around the time I started the pilot for EV.Energy and just thought it was related to using their software (which it wasn't). I worked with the Chesterfield MO Service Center. Any of the service techs there were agreeing this was covered under the Battery warranty, so it wouldn't seem to me to be some kind of "favor" done for me at all.

I would pursue getting it replaced as you only need one more circuit to go out to drop to 16A AC charging!

I'm not that popular as a podcaster to get anything special, nor do I recall Tesla playing favorites with anyone on this forum!

 

I had mine repaired yesterday. Actually very good Service experience. They have the parts ready to fix it they said they had already remotely diagnosed it. It took them a little over a day and they gave me a loaner model S. The only hiccup was at one point I could not get the car to go into gear. I tried calling the service center and it went straight to a survey. I then had to call roadside assistance. They would not help me until I gave them the Vin number of my Tesla that was being repaired. It would not show up on my app since the app was in service mode. So he made me go to the web on my phone, log in, give him my vin number, for my protection, only to tell me to put the key fob by the 12v adapter.

 

Same PCS issue here, found during a road trip while charging at a hotel destination charger. Got it replaced after getting home with only 1,500 miles left on the 50k warranty! While in for service, they also replaced my charge port door assembly that has always fit quite poorly and was loose, which was a nice bonus (at my request).

While looking for more info online, I found a clever way to 'prove' it's a bad charging module vs a grid power problem: manually reduce charging current to 32A and the error should clear. Bumping it to 33A should cause it to come back. That shows the issue is happening only when all three charging modules are needed, pointing to one of them being bad. Not sure if that trick is always true, but it worked for me.

 

Same PCS issue here, found during a road trip while charging at a hotel destination charger. Got it replaced after getting home with only 1,500 miles left on the 50k warranty! While in for service, they also replaced my charge port door assembly that has always fit quite poorly and was loose, which was a nice bonus (at my request).

While looking for more info online, I found a clever way to 'prove' it's a bad charging module vs a grid power problem: manually reduce charging current to 32A and the error should clear. Bumping it to 33A should cause it to come back. That shows the issue is happening only when all three charging modules are needed, pointing to one of them being bad. Not sure if that trick is always true, but it worked for me.

This is covered under the Battery warranty.

 

My invoice said it was covered under the basic vehicle limited warranty, not the battery/drivetrain warranty. While researching the issue, I found other instances of warranty application inconsistencies as well. Given the warranty documentation, I'm surprised some have covered it under the battery/drivetrain warranty. I don't think we can be so confident it will be covered as such in the future.

I'm hoping my replacement PCS lasts so I never have to find out. But if I do, I hope I'm wrong. Or plan to swing through MO on my next road trip to the Midwest to replace it, assuming your service advisor there doesn't get fired for misapplying the warranty in the meantime. 😜

 

My invoice said it was covered under the basic vehicle limited warranty, not the battery/drivetrain warranty. While researching the issue, I found other instances of warranty application inconsistencies as well. Given the warranty documentation, I'm surprised some have covered it under the battery/drivetrain warranty. I don't think we can be so confident it will be covered as such in the future.

I'm hoping my replacement PCS lasts so I never have to find out. But if I do, I hope I'm wrong. Or plan to swing through MO on my next road trip to the Midwest to replace it, assuming your service advisor there doesn't get fired for misapplying the warranty in the meantime. 😜

Thanks for sharing the details.

Chesterfield MO was very confident that it was covered. And I'd imagine that SCs will list it under the 4yr/50k warranty if you're still within that time and miles. I wasn't, so the invoice explicitly says HV Battery Warranty.

I'm pretty sure the Mothership has to approve warranty repairs. Just glad it's fixed! It's not a cheap repair.

 

I think a lot of the Tesla service techs get confused about their own warranty and what's covered because the line is kind of fuzzy when it comes to charging equipment. As far as I know, the Mobile Connector and charge port are only covered by basic warranty, and anything inside the battery and penthouse is covered by the battery warranty. But if you mention "charging equipment" to them, they might believe that none of it is covered beyond the basic warranty.

 

late 2018 Model 3 LR Dual Motor had a defective PCS (limited to 32A) brand new, replaced under 50k miles warranty. New PCS failed again and replaced w/ charge inlet under 50k miles warranty. Out of 50k miles warranty (99k miles) and PCS failing again.

Is this supposed to be a wear item? I can't afford $3k maintenance repairs every year. Is it user swappable?

 

Is this supposed to be a wear item?

Shouldn't be.

Is it user swappable?

Probably shouldn't be.

 

After 3 days of sitting in service, I finally heard back from the advisor after I called in (they were unresponsive via app). They claimed again that it won't be covered under warranty and sent me the PDF. The PDF actually isn't very clear in that it just says "Battery" and doesn't define anything else in the Battery warranty. In some ways it may make the case even stronger as I understand the PCS is inside the battery pack/case. I asked to talk to a manager or escalate, so will keep you all posted.

The disappointing service experience continues as they still aren't even replying to my question about a loaner (after waiting 3 days).

 

After 3 days of sitting in service, I finally heard back from the advisor after I called in (they were unresponsive via app). They claimed again that it won't be covered under warranty and sent me the PDF. The PDF actually isn't very clear in that it just says "Battery" and doesn't define anything else in the Battery warranty. In some ways it may make the case even stronger as I understand the PCS is inside the battery pack/case. I asked to talk to a manager or escalate, so will keep you all posted.

As long as they get it fixed, you always have the option to sue Tesla afterwards if they won't cover this under the drivetrain warranty.

 

Update - Finally got the car back with a new PCS after about 2.5 weeks in the SC. It's a 2.5 hour job (per billed rate).

At the end, I ended up not paying for it (would have been ~$2k), although it took many calls + escalations. It was officially covered as "goodwill" and not "HV Battery Warranty" although that is what I was pushing for. I ended up having to reach out to many senior service levels including up to the regional service manager + higher to get someone with decision making ability to review my case.

A couple things helped, that I'd recommend those who are stuck with this issue aim for:
1) Read around on the threads, but a friend helped me find a couple examples of this specific issue being covered by the "HV Battery Warranty" on their invoice. This was a huge helped as I had to point them to it.
2) Ask for the to be replaced PCS part back. If you end up paying for the service, this is your right and I believe it did have an impact on their desire to cover the charge. My sense is if there really is a design flaw (which I agree with @Deadbattery) this could help you in the future and they likely don't want these defective parts flying around for legal liability. If you end up paying for it, filing a complaint with NHTSA may help if they get many of the same issues. I'd even recommend referring to the bulletin below.
3) Check if your M3 falls into this Service bulletin for this same exact issue: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10148850-9999.pdf

Finally, at the end the regional service manager really did want to help out. I made 2 requests that he follow-up with Tesla corporate with, that he said he already initiated and will keep me apprised of any change. Both of which I really thought were important for fellow Tesla owners who come across the same problem:
1) Have the service bulletin team re-look at the above SB. My sense is this is a flaw that extends beyond that VIN range, as my car (and at least 1 other friend) had the same issue with cars that were 4-5 months earlier than that window.
2) Have their legal/compliance team update the warranty agreement to specifically define the "Battery". This is EXTREMELY vague and makes it impossible for the service centers.

Good luck!

 

Only time I have my Mid-Range charge at 16 amp is if the pack is really cold, starts charging on its own due loss of % again due to cold. Or I use scheduled preconditioning.
If I use the app and turn on climate then it goes to 32 amps. Never happens when the pack is warm either.

 

Hi, I'm ran into the same issue with Tesla and my local service center is refusing to replace my PCS under HV battery warranty. Can I possibly to ask you to send a copy of the invoice PDF with your PII removed? The manager claims if I'm able to prove this has been approved before they can make an exception. Ty!

 

Talk to the service manager, be as nice as possible, and emphasize that charging stops (if it does). You have a better chance if the car will not charge consistently.