Living with a car from the future: Tesla Model 3

I got home from a trip to Miata Reunion in California and there were some big red boxes waiting for me!

Those are the new Koni Special Active shocks for the Model 3. A couple of days later, I got a chance to put the car on the lift and start shufflin' shocks. I took on the front first as it looked to be harder, but not too hard.

Step 1, denude the frunk. Really, all I did was remove the plastic liner by removing 7 bolts but it sure looks dramatic.

The most difficult part was removing these nuts. They have a 13mm head, but the holes in the unibody are just big enough to let my 3/8" drive 12mm socket in. Obviously that wouldn't work, but I found my 1/4" drive 13mm was a perfect fit.

Well, it would have been perfect if the nuts weren't slightly offset in the holes on one side. How did they put this together?

The solution was a short bit of work with the die grinder to open up the holes slightly - the Sharpie mark in the previous pic shows the direction I needed to move, and I had to take off maybe a millimeter.

Exploded front shock assembly - not a strut, this is a double wishbone setup.

There was a plastic cap that was pressed on to the top of the stock shocks, but after I removed it from one shock (that's it just above the end of the shock shaft in the pic) it looked like it was there to protect a seal on the stock unit. It also has little grooves to let air release - which is the purpose of the slotted teflon washer that comes with Konis. Since the Koni had a properly protected upper seal, I left that cap off. You do need to be careful with the alignment of that upper mount, it's asymmetrical and you have to eyeball the alignment - more importantly, you have to know that you need to do that :) I had to take one corner assembly apart twice once I realized.

Speaking of double wishbones, this ball joint is apparently problematic. Water can pool on top of it and damage it, if I understand correctly. Not so much in our climate, and the aftermarket has come up with replacements at a good price. Mine felt good, nice and tight but smooth. Check out the cool design of this plastic insert on the bottom of the control arm.

The rears were unremarkable to remove. Two bolts on top that are accessible through the wheel well, one bolt to remove an aero cover, one bolt at the bottom of the shock and it comes right now. Quick and easy. Three hours after starting, I had all four shocks changed out.

Drive report? Very nice. The car definitely has better body control, but the edges of the sharp bumps have been smoothed off. Expansion joints that used to be a bang are now more of a thump. Roll is reduced, responsiveness is improved but the ride quality is also better. The car moves with more purpose, if that makes sense. Primary ride is more controlled, secondary is more compliant. Basically, this is what the Frequency Selective Damping (FSD, but not THAT FSD) is supposed to feel like. I'm pretty happy. We'll keep driving the car (obviously) and I'll report back as I get more seat time.

Otherwise, the underside of the car looked pretty good at 40k. All the shocks that came off looked fine. Brakes look basically new. The weird fuzzy wheel well liners don't even seem to hold dirt. I also changed out a set of HVAC filters, they've got a two year lifespan and we were starting to get the occasional whiff of funk. I splurged on the real Tesla parts which means that cost $34 shipped. 

Had a rattle from the right rear that sounded exactly like a loose upper shock shaft nut, so I pulled it out to check it. Yup, a loose upper shock shaft nut.

The shock shaft is free to rotate in the shock, so there's a hole for a 5mm hex in the top of the shaft to hold it while you tighten the nyloc nut. Nothing I haven't seen before - but these nuts are fully recessed into a fairly small hole so you can't get a wrench on it. To tighten them I had to put some flats on a 17mm short socket, hold that in place with a wrench and use the allen to tighten it up. I think the wrench must have slipped on this one or I somehow screwed up. Anyhow, easy fix and it took about 25 minutes.

I have to say I am very impressed with these Special Active shocks for this car. The Miata implementation is handicapped by the short suspension travel available (we're experimenting with some options) and some damping choices I would not have made. I think the Sport works better for that application. But the Tesla one is great. Cornering is noticeably flatter, turn-in feels better and the ride quality has improved. Janel has commented on how it follows the road surface more, but it's not to the point where you're getting head toss. Two big thumbs up here.

One of the things that everybody "knows" about Teslas is that they don't support DIY...I'm not sure that's true. It may have been, but today it's pretty well documented.

First, the car has a Service Mode. It's easy to access, you just do a long press on the VIN and enter the passcode SERVICE (which is available on the Tesla website, so it's more to prevent accidental access than anything else. There are two levels of access, a standard one and Service Mode Plus that requires a subscription to Toolbox - available on a daily, monthly or annual level.  Here's a rundown of the whole thing: https://service.tesla.com/docs/Public/Diagnostic/

So I could use that to do diagnosis of the car, as it shows all sorts of information on things like steering torque and electrical component status and will even do a full battery health check. It allows me to calibrate things after replacement/repair. More after the screenshots. I do not have a subscription to Toolbox, so this is the free version available to anyone.

Remember that Homelink install I had done a few years back? That's now a DIY job. As is the CCS modem upgrade. Before you do this, you have to unlock the gateway for programming which requires physical control manipulation (right turn indicator plus brake pedal for 15 seconds) so you don't do anything by accident. You can see GTW UNLOCKED at the bottom of the screenshots.

Also, if I change any of the controllers I can have the car recode them and do a software reinstall - unlike my E39, which had to have the airbag controller recoded by a dealer and that involved a 500 mile round trip. I just checked the procedure for replacing the BCM and yup, you use service mode to recode it.

There's some stuff in there on messing with the coolant system as well, I didn't take a screenshot. That's all in the free level.

Also, there's a full service manual available. You have to have a free Tesla account to access it, but if you have a Tesla you have a Tesla account :) You don't NEED to own a Tesla to sign up for one, though, so if you feel like taking a peek go right ahead.

https://service.tesla.com/user/vehicle-models/Model3

Here's part of the service manual documentation for a front shock install. It starts off with required special tool list  - note the special socket for those 13mm upper mount nuts mentioned. It also tells you at the start all the torque settings and what fasteners to reuse vs replace.

It's not just suspension. There's motor R&R, battery R&R (125 steps!), HV wiring harness R&R, battery coolant refill and leak tests - it's a pretty complete manual from what I can tell. The high voltage isolation/insulation test has an impressive number of warnings including the recommendation to have an electrical safety hook on hand and ending with "only technicians who have been trained in High Voltage Awareness...are permitted to perform this procedure".

There's also a full parts fiche online along with exploded diagrams, always fun and interesting. It's a parts fiche and not a storefront, so prices and availability are not listed. No subscription or Tesla account required.

https://epc.tesla.com/en-US/catalogs/2

Overall, that's pretty solid documentation and some good onboard tools. I've got access to the same level of documentation for an ND Miata, but that's restricted to dealers and is not publicly available.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

That's pretty cool!

 Am I missing something? Is there another route for buying the parts to actually use that documentation? Just checked Tesla's site, found the parts department, and observed that you can get wipers, wheel covers, floor mats, and cabin air filters. Though not for all models. Their separate online parts catalog has an application to buy parts, labeled "businesses only".

 The tools look super useful for swapping used replacements or if third parties start supplying parts, but I can't say they're looking super DIY-friendly at this point?

 As much as those tools look hopeful, it feels pretty optimistic to think that retail parts sales are just a matter of catching up on production or something like that.

 Again, I feel like I missed a memo or something?

Well, you can't buy Miata parts directly from Mazda via their website either :)

I checked with some friends who have purchased parts, and they said you can open a service chat and drop in a part number, or swing by a service center. The latter is basically equivalent to visiting the parts counter at a dealership. For the former, my friend said a ranger (mobile Tesla tech) just swung by his house in the Bay Area and dropped it off, or they can ship.

I've never had to use it, but you have the ability to start a service chat from the app at any time. It also has an "emergency roadside help" button on it.

Ha, and while looking at that to make sure I described it properly I discovered that the parts for the rear harness recall are available. But they want me to take it to a service center to have the work done, how 20th century. Even the new "local" service center is 100 miles away, which is 150 miles closer than the closest Mazda or BMW dealer at least. I'll look up the swap procedure and see how involved it is, then maybe do it myself...

In reply to Keith Tanner :

No, but Mazda will point you to a dealer. 

 Sounds like the availability is a lot better than I thought, even if they're not advertising it. Which is much better than the opposite.

True. I just went to the Mazda site and found a parts listing. Once you've found a part, you can order it from a dealer and have it sent to you. I guess I'd never actually tried to do that.

So what's missing from the Tesla experience is how to contact them to order the parts once you've dug through the parts catalog. That's just an ecommerce goof, once you know a couple of ways to order the parts from Tesla it doesn't seem radically different from the Mazda experience. 

Mazda doesn't give you that online service manual unless you're a dealer, though, so I think I have to call Tesla more DIY friendly in this case. 

Interesting to hear this - have been on the fence on how long to keep my M3P and serviceability is a definite plus.  I'd like to lower ~2" with a suspension upgrade for both handling and aero efficiency.  The Interwebz say 7-10% of mileage efficiency with a lowering which is a justification for something I want to do regardless.

When we went to Vegas for the F1 race (or more accurately, during the F1 race) we left the Tesla at home and took the E39 M5. A few reasons:

- the main Supercharger cluster in Vegas is right by the Linq, which means it was in the middle of the track and all the attendant chaos.
- the timeshare we were using didn't have charging
- we knew we had a tight schedule on the way home, so charging time on a 500 mile trip  with a (likely) low state of charge at the start was a factor
- the M5 is wonderful for road trips and if you have the opportunity, you should take it

Also, we were meeting a friend. That's one of the extra-spicy Clownshoes with the really good motor, whatever the magic BMW code for it is. These cars occupied BMW showrooms at the same time. Good time to go shopping for an M.

It took a full day before Janel stopped trying to open the BMW's doors by using the window switch - the Tesla's doors unlatch with a button in that same location. Also, the 2002-era nav system in the BMW was completely out of its depth in 2023 Vegas so we ended up navigating with the passenger giving instructions off his phone. Then a window regulator failed and we ended up driving home with black duct tape holding the window up. Ah, old cars.

Leaving Vegas, we were lower on fuel than I'd planned because we'd been running all over the city, so I stopped for fuel earlier than I should have - I'd forgotten exactly where my usual gas stop was, and I wasn't comfortable spearing off into the empty Nevada desert without a full tank. It's not like the old nav system could have helped! Hmm, sounds like range anxiety and a lack of charging stations :)  Overall, we probably saved one charging stop on the way home as we did stop to eat. We got home an hour early (I'd budgeted in some buffer) so the electric would have done just fine.

I also discovered that the BMW's seats are not 7 hour comfortable for me, I found myself squirming around after about 5 due to some leg discomfort. I don't get that with the Tesla despite fewer adjustments. Or in my Dodge truck. Maybe I need to spend more time messing with the BMW seats.

Given the number of "OMG EV resale is awful!!!1!" articles going around right now, I asked KBB what our car is worth. Turns out it's somewhere around 73% of what we paid for it - I forget the exact number. A big reason for this is that I bought the perfect spec - the Dual Motor (now called Long Range) was significantly less expensive than the Performance in 2019, and the cost of new ones hasn't changed much while the Standard Range and the Performance have both dropped quite a bit and taken their resale down with it. Our black car with a mobile charger today would cost $2500 less today than it did when we bought it. The biggest difference is the current credits, they were about $7k when we bought ours and they'd be $12.5k today. Might be different next month. Also, I suspect the financing might be a little more expensive today :( But if I were looking to sell (I'm very much not), we probably would do reasonably well and I don't regret not waiting.

Just checked - the GJ-Vegas trip would have required 50 minutes of charging on the road, assuming I'd left with a full battery. That wouldn't have affected our travel time on the way there since we were stopped for at least that long for food and general human reasons during the trip. Since we used the four seater as transport during the weekend, we would have had to charge at some point. Probably while we were out for dinner, there were a few options for that. So the trip home might have required a little more charging time depending on how that worked out.

Hey Keith,

I really enjoy this blog/thread.

What is the Tesla owners reading on the NHTSA lawsuit?

You seem to be connected to some insiders at Tesla. is there any info that that can/will share?

Thx,

Rog

Do you mean the official NHTSA recall for Autosteer announced a few days ago? I think it's good. The problem with Autosteer is that it's basically a Level 2 autonomy lane centering tool, but it's so good at it that people try to use it as a Level 3 tool for hands-off driving. I'd like to see Tesla dumb it down to the point where it clearly cannot be used as such. Note that Autosteer is standard equipment on every Tesla and is not an extra-cost option, and that it's not the same as Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC aka radar cruise) or the extra cost Advanced Autopilot and Full Self Driving features. I don't use Autosteer so any recall will have no effect on me. I do use TACC.

If you're talking about the various complaints about FSD (it's hard to keep them straight), I think there's a lot of validity to those complaints. It all comes down to the fact that Level 3 autonomy is inherently flawed, and that users (spurred on by Musk) keep trying to use FSD as such. I think Level 4 autonomy will be worthwhile when it arrives and Level 3 will never work properly - although it may work better than a distracted/tired/drunk/incompetent driver on average. Society will never accept that "on average", though.

Most of my connections at Tesla are on the energy storage side, although I do have a friend that was involved in FSD for 5 years and was publicly fired by Elon in 2019. Obviously he doesn't have a lot of up to date insider knowledge!

While Christmas shopping at a craft fair today, we took refuge in the car to eat our food truck sandwiches (Underdog Cheese makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches!). It was raining and not far above freezing, so the ability of the car to almost immediately come up to temp and keep our butts warm while we ate was really appreciated. We also put the roaring fireplace video ("Romance Mode") on the big screen to add a bit of atmosphere :) 

Thanks!

Great summary.

Rog

It's a weird day today. Apparently the new versions of my car (now called the Long Range) have switched to LFP batteries. That's a good thing overall, I think, although it may have blunted performance a bit in exchange for a battery that charges faster over 80% and can be run at 100% all the time. Potentially longer lived as well and a lower fire risk. That will open up a few more options on long trips through areas with few chargers, that faster 80-100% charge. Wouldn't have made any real difference to any of our trips I suspect.

What's weird is that the LFP batteries use enough overseas components that they're no longer eligible for the $7500 federal tax credit as of Jan 1. But the Performance, which still uses the li-ion packs found in our car, is still eligible. Until Tesla (invariably) adjusts their prices, that means that it's less expensive to buy a Model 3 Performance than a Long Range today. You'd have to have a really, really good reason to chose a LR right now. At the moment, the least expensive Tesla is the RWD Model Y.

Until the end of the year, it actually would have been possible for me to buy a RWD Model 3 for $26,500. That's less than a BRZ :)

Something I was thinking about this past week. We get our power from a solar array that's a bit oversized, so it produces more power over the course of a year than we use. Our utility gives us credit for any excess production, but only in the form of credits towards power - we can't cash out. The result is that it doesn't matter how much we drive the EV day-to-day from a cost perspective as the incremental cost is zero. I'm not sure that's a good thing, really. It also means that if we did get another EV, it would also not cost us anything to fuel.

The Tesla needs a new battery!

No, no, not that one. We got in the car yesterday and there were two warnings on the screen. Clicking "Learn More" popped up some detailed info.

Apparently this warning shows up with roughly a month to go before failure. Changing out the low voltage battery is a fairly easy DIY procedure and it's a normal Group 51R on my car. I think I actually have a couple of those sitting on my shelf in the shop because guess what a Miata uses? None are brand new, though, and I'd rather not roll those particular dice. Later Teslas have a lithium low voltage battery, but not mine.

So I opened up the Tesla app and typed "I need a new low voltage battery" into the service request. Got an immediate estimate of $117.09 to have a brand new OE battery installed. Price breakdown is $85 for the battery and $25 to install, plus $7 worth of tax. I can't buy the parts for that, it's ridiculous. Also, the outstanding recall on the trunk wiring harness (which includes the backup camera wiring, thus the recall) will be performed without me having to mention it. They also offered to rotate the tires because the car says it's overdue, but I need to do a brake service anyhow so I'll do that myself.

The next screen was a scheduling one, offering me the first appointment on Monday morning. There's a new service center in Gypsum, about 2 hours away and on the same side of the mountains as I am, and obviously service availability is much improved since I had the Homelink installed back in 2020.

Overall, I'd call this a really good experience. The car gave me clear warning that there was a problem, explained the problem and took steps to minimize the effects.  Then, I was able to arrange for an inexpensive replacement in my own driveway in four business days in about 3 minutes via an app. We'll see how the service appointment goes. But so far, this whole experience is more convenient and less expensive than getting the oil changed in my truck :) I was expecting this at some point soon, as it is a known consumable and the battery is now 4.5 years old.

It's my understanding that a bunch of the car - anything not involved in actual propulsion - runs 12v, and the low voltage battery is constantly being recharged by the big one. Kinda like the alternator on your ICE, really. Apparently when the low voltage battery fails, the big one can keep things alive enough to allow the car to sleep but at some point it basically fails completely and shuts down all the 12v. I've had Optimas fail like that.  In very likely related news, Janel got in the car yesterday and the screen was blank. She had to reboot it (press and hold both steering wheel buttons for about 10s). I'm guessing the 12v battery reached a threshold while the car was parked and she couldn't get the systems back up and running until the big battery had jammed some life into it, as the next time we drove the car it had the warning. I'll take that over the way the first battery in our WJ died, which was a previously happy car that exhibited a total no-crank/no-start situation without warning when we were parked at the beach in California in the middle of a road trip.

But so far, this whole experience is more convenient and less expensive than getting the oil changed in my truck :) 

Come to think of it, it's less expensive and arguably more convenient than refilling the fuel tank in my truck :)

That's pretty cheap for a battery. Add in delivery and installation and that's ridiculously cheap. 

The last battery I bought was damn near $200 and I had to install it myself. 

The last battery I bought was at Costco and it was 250 bucks 'cuz the Audi calls for an AGM unit...

I think this one's an AGM as well, but it's not a huge one. The big AGM I have in the trunk of the E39, though, twice the width of a normal battery...shudder.

One thing to note is that if the 12v battery does completely fail, it's possible to jump the car to life. There's an external jump point hidden behind an access panel in the front bumper. I assume that's enough to close the contacts for the high voltage system and then the car will function. However, you can't use the jump point to jump an ICE vehicle because the wiring simply isn't built for that sort of amperage. Maybe you could if you connected directly to the posts of the low voltage battery, but I'd be a little concerned about hooking up a struggling electrical system to my rolling computer.

Hope your mobile service goes well. Still love my car, but my tech for a little cosmetic issue ended up frying my whole charge port module and controller. It took Tesla over a week to come out and replace it. 

rdcyclist said:

The last battery I bought was at Costco and it was 250 bucks 'cuz the Audi calls for an AGM unit...

The battery for many Hyundais is like $900. 

Its an AGM that is larger than a Group 94.

A couple of extra notes:

Janel is finding out what doesn't work on the car when it's in restricted power mode. So far, heated seats for sure. She said the heater didn't seem as strong as usual as well. Also, the wireless phone charger that I installed, which basically means power to the USB ports. She also had trouble answering an incoming call, so maybe Bluetooth voice?

When I requested the service, I didn't have to give any info about the car because the car is already identified in the app. This meant Tesla knows what kind of battery I have (AGM instead of lithium) and it may even have access to the error code the car is throwing. The recall services was added automatically. It could not have been easier, I literally typed in "I need a new low voltage battery" and I got a text message saying my estimate was ready for approval. 

Due to overlapping commitments and the need to carry hockey gear, I was driving the Grand Cherokee today. Good lord does it make a fuss about accelerating. It can do it just fine and it makes some good open intake big V8 noises, but I'd forgotten just how effortless the Tesla makes it feel. 

Keith Tanner said:

I think this one's an AGM as well, but it's not a huge one. The big AGM I have in the trunk of the E39, though, twice the width of a normal battery...shudder.

I think my R53 uses the same battery.  It's overdue for replacement, but I keep procrastinating.   

I've heard the Tesla 12V battery isn't charged while the motor battery is getting charged, so if the car may sit for some time owners should still use a trickle charger for the 12V battery, even if the main battery is topped off.