I plugged the cable into my Tesla this evening and it refused to charge. Troubleshooting app said to reboot the car by holding both thumb wheels for a few seconds.
Car reboots and says that the Battery Management System (BMS) has limited me to a 50% of capacity charge to prevent further damage. I’m currently only at a 28% charge but it’s still not charging.
Chat-GPT tells me that if it still won’t charge at 28% with the 50% of capacity error code, Tesla will likely replace the high voltage battery under the 8-year, 120,000 mile battery warranty.
The only downside is that I’m sure my car will be out of service for a month or two with the typical delays in scheduling Tesla service.
I guess that since I’m now maintaining a 3 mph walking speed with the rollator, I can return to my policy of walking everywhere within a 3 mi radius of my home.
The high voltage battery in my 2019 Model S died a few weeks ago. 7 years and 174,000 miles. Tesla replaced it under warranty with a brand new one, and the range in the car is now greater than it was when I bought the car in May 2019. (The warranty on my car was 8 years, unlimited miles). My car also came with unlimited free supercharging, of which I make liberal use. I’ll drive this car until the wheels fall off.
How long did it take to do the repair? Did Tesla give you a loaner car while your vehicle was disabled?
The first service appointment they offered me was June 29th. But the Tesla app says that the required “parts are in transit” to my local Service Center.
The repair itself was only two days. But an additional three days while waiting on a part.
I didn’t ask for a loaner. The car died in my driveway in Wyoming; Tesla towed it 260 miles from my drive to the repair center in Utah at their expense. But they didn’t bring it back to me, I had to catch a ride to Utah and drive it home. I didn’t mind that, as I have lots of time and enjoy the occasional time in Salt Lake City.
I’m happy the battery failed during the warranty period. When I bought the used vehicle last year from Tesla it had a 92% max on the charge, so it suffered a little bit of degradation in its first 75,000 miles.
@intercst The charging limit or a red light code at the charging port? Either a problem?
The simplest and most common fix when a Tesla won’t charge is to perform a hard reboot of the car’s computer. Put the car in Park, hold down both scroll wheels on the steering wheel until the touchscreen goes black, and wait about two minutes for the system to restart before trying to charge again. [1, 2, 3]
If the quick reboot doesn’t work, troubleshoot the issue in this order:
Unplug and re-plug: Disconnect the charging cable from both the car and the power source. Re-seat the connector firmly in the charge port to ensure a secure connection.
Check the Charge Limit: Open the charging menu on your touchscreen or the
Tesla Mobile App
and ensure your charge limit isn’t accidentally set too low.
Check for errors: Look at the color of the light around the charge port. A blue or green light is normal, but a red light indicates an error. If it is red, refer to the Tesla Troubleshooting Guide to identify the specific fault.
Try a different outlet: If charging at home, test a different wall outlet or check the main electrical panel to ensure the circuit breaker hasn’t tripped. [1, 7]
If you let the car sit with a 0% battery for a long time, the low-voltage 12V battery might have died. This prevents the main battery from taking a charge and will require a jump-start or professional service. [8, 9, 10]
Could you tell me:
What color is the light ring around the charging port?
Are you charging at home or at a Supercharger?
I can give you a more specific fix for your situation!
I’m pretty sure that Tesla has already downloaded the telemetry from my vehicle’s computer and Tesla’s AI has diagnosed the error codes from the battery pack. (The car was in my garage and connected to my home’s wi-fi when I discovered the charging problem. I already received an update last night that the needed “parts are in transit” for the repair.
The only issue in question is will I score a loaner car for the period of time my vehicle is disabled. Loaners are apparently in short supply and my service visit is scheduled for June 29th – more than 3 weeks away.
I sent Tesla a text identifying myself as a recent above-knee amputee with restricted mobility, and a proud, 30-plus year veteran of FIRE. I hope that elicits some sympathy. {{ LOL }}
Tesla sent me a message early Monday morning, before the 8 AM opening time of the Service Center, saying that they understood my amputation issue and would definitely be providing a loaner car for the duration my Model Y was disabled. “Bring your vehicle in as soon as you can.”
I figured I’d give them the morning to arrange the loaner vehicle and showed up about 2 PM.
Service Advisor John says all they have is CyberTrucks. I told him the that CyberTruck won’t fit in my garage. He laughs, “Yeah, very few customers are in a position to accept the CyberTruck. That’s why they’re always available.” He says, "I’ll go talk to the Sales Dept and see if I can hook you up with a 2026 Model Y demonstrator. And then, could you come back in a few days when we have a Service Dept loaner Model Y? I said sure, I only live 2-3 miles away.
It takes the Sales Guy about 5 minutes to set up the demonstrator for me. He checks my Driver’s License and I offer to show him my proof of insurance. He says, “That’s fine, I don’t need to see that.” I thought it might be a problem when he discovered I don’t carry collision & comp, but I guess not.
So they gave me a 2026 Model Y AWD with Basic trim.
The vehicle doesn’t have a gear shift on the steering wheel column like my 2020 model, now you shift gears on the touch screen. It took me a while to figure out how to disable FSD since it appeared to boot up on “Start”. By this time, Service Advisor John sees me still sitting in the vehicle and comes over and asks if he can help with anything. I say, “Yeah, how do you bring up the FM Radio screen?” On My vehicle, I just say “Show radio” and it pops up. He says, "Let me go over to the passenger seat and see if I can bring it up. He fools around with it for a while and says, “It’s been a while since I’ve done that. Let me go talk to the sales guys.” He comes back a minute later and says, “Basic Trim doesn’t come with a radio.But I can show you how to set up your smart phone and have the radio app play through the vehicle speakers.” I said, “That’s OK, I don’t need the radio if I’m only going to have this vehicle for a day or two.” John said he’d try to find an older Model Y loaner that’s set up like I’m used to.
So I drive the vehicle home, and I remember that I’ve set up the mirrors on my Model Y to automatically retract when I get within 50 ft of the garage door. I’ll have to do it manually, now.
I say, “Fold mirrors” Vehicle responds, “That function is not supported on this model” Then I look at the side mirror and it’s cheap plastic with no obvious way to fold it in. Seems like “Basic Trim” has eliminated a lot of the functionality of the vehicle.
I will say that the 2026 Model Y has a much softer ride than my 2020 model and has much less road noise. So they’ve make a lot of improvements in those areas.
I give Tesla 5 Stars for my service experience, so far.
You should have taken the cybertruck, at least for a few days and park on the street instead of the garage. I got one as a loaner during a recent service visit, and it is a dream to drive. So comfortable, and the steer-by-wire is absolutely terrific.
After a week of high speed rollating, I now have a painful case of tennis elbow on the left side. (I’m right handed and never got tennis elbow when I was playing 3 sets of tennis a day.) I also noticed that the front left wheel on the rollator is worn smooth while the right side still has a lot of thread depth.
I think that some imperfection in my gait surfaces above 2 mph. I don’t know if it’s me, or something about how the Robo-Leg is set up. I’ll have to ask the prosthetic people when I see them next week.
I just got a message from Tesla that my vehicle is ready for pick-up. Yesterday when I pickup the loaner vehicle, the guy said that once the battery gets here, they’ll move fast. Either they solved it without replacing the battery, or they worked overnight.
{{ Edit: Chat-GPT tells me that Tesla spends 3-7 man-hours on a battery replacement. It takes weeks to get the parts – usually.
I reported the battery problem about 7PM Friday June 5. Later that evening I got a text that the required parts were in transit. On June 11 at 3PM Tesla said the car was ready for pickup.}}