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Before anyone types out a wall-o-text pearl clutching about how all mechanical systems are unknown black boxes and surely the indy shop couldn't have sufficient

Before anyone types out a wall-o-text pearl clutching about how all mechanical systems are unknown black boxes and surely the indy shop couldn't have sufficiently fixed the issue without compromising safety you may want to look at the discussion from last time a similar thing happened. You can likely find something in there to copy+paste and save yourself some time. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27814621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27814621

zamadatix 5y ago
I started out already on the side of "this is something a 3rd party shop could easily fix in a solid way" but after reading your link I'm actually less sure about that than when I started. The case in this thread doesn't seem like a "we screwed a replacement piece on to fix the coolant leak" level fix like that thread, it sounds like serious work to the battery pack. I don't think it's pearl clutching to have concerns on $5,000 worth of unspecified repairs to a battery unit knowing Tesla does not hand out the information on how to properly service the vehicle to that level. I think Tesla should support this kind of fix by 3rd party shops though but barring that at the moment I think it's a fair question to ask.
- theshrike79 5y ago
  This is the age-old problem with PR. If a 3rd party shop botches a battery fix and the car burns down killing all the passengers the headlines won't be "3rd party botch-job kills family in EV" It will be "TESLA BATTERY FIRE KILLS FAMILY" and _maybe_ they'll mention the fact that the battery had 3rd party repairs in the middle of the article. This is why companies don't want random 3rd party shops fixing sensitive stuff. No matter how good they are.
- Corrado 5y ago
  There was also a comment on the video that mentioned that the fix probably wouldn't last. The battery packs are a unit and they don't like it when pieces are older / newer than the rest of the unit. Tesla might know that while replacing a single cell would fix the immediate problem it would eventually cause the whole battery to shut down. Maybe this is similar to when you have something really bad happen to an ICE motor (ie. broken valve), but you drain and flush the engine oil, which "fixes" the problem. And then 6 months later the engine grenades requiring a full replacement.

zamadatix 5y ago

I started out already on the side of "this is something a 3rd party shop could easily fix in a solid way" but after reading your link I'm actually less sure about that than when I started. The case in this thread doesn't seem like a "we screwed a replacement piece on to fix the coolant leak" level fix like that thread, it sounds like serious work to the battery pack. I don't think it's pearl clutching to have concerns on $5,000 worth of unspecified repairs to a battery unit knowing Tesla does not hand out the information on how to properly service the vehicle to that level. I think Tesla should support this kind of fix by 3rd party shops though but barring that at the moment I think it's a fair question to ask.

theshrike79 5y ago
This is the age-old problem with PR. If a 3rd party shop botches a battery fix and the car burns down killing all the passengers the headlines won't be "3rd party botch-job kills family in EV" It will be "TESLA BATTERY FIRE KILLS FAMILY" and _maybe_ they'll mention the fact that the battery had 3rd party repairs in the middle of the article. This is why companies don't want random 3rd party shops fixing sensitive stuff. No matter how good they are.
Corrado 5y ago
There was also a comment on the video that mentioned that the fix probably wouldn't last. The battery packs are a unit and they don't like it when pieces are older / newer than the rest of the unit. Tesla might know that while replacing a single cell would fix the immediate problem it would eventually cause the whole battery to shut down. Maybe this is similar to when you have something really bad happen to an ICE motor (ie. broken valve), but you drain and flush the engine oil, which "fixes" the problem. And then 6 months later the engine grenades requiring a full replacement.