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Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

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Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#481

Post by [deleted] »

zamalek wrote: post #367
jws wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But why are you calling it a hack fix? My first question would relate to "dezincification". A chemical process where the zinc leaves brass and leaves a copper sponge behind. Does the coolant cause dezincification? Is zinc tolerable in the coolant? Learned this one in my home when my city water dezincified a kitchen faucet causing water to escape through to "solid" surfaces. My second question would be about how tha…

> Does the coolant cause dezincification? Is zinc tolerable in the coolant? I watched the actual video. The mechanic, who previously worked at Tesla, indicated that brass would handle the coolant just fine; a friend of his had been driving the same fix for quite some time. > My second question would be about how that female threaded material holds up under vibration over time. Adhesive.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#482

Post by rainbowzootsuit »

londons_explore wrote: post #422
kumarvvr wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could use a booster pump + accumulator system to get constant pressure. Pretty cheap and easy to install. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Water-Booster-Pump/s?k=Water+Booste...

Got one. It's super noisy, the sound vibrates through all the pipes in the house, and sometimes the water can't even get as high as the inlet to the pump. It would just be better if the utility company supplied a decent pressure. But they don't want to do that because their pipes have thousands of leaks in, and the higher the pressure the more water leaks out. This is the problem of living in a place where most of th…

https://product-selection.grundfos.com

Look for the "booster set" to make a selection.

Consider adding in a vibration isolation to the pump connection. This article describes some of the different types. Probably for your application the "hose and braid" would be what I'd be looking for. This is a pretty standard part from a hardware store.

https://www.pumpsandsystems.com/isolation-noise-vibration-hv...

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#483

Post by alien_ »

kumarvvr wrote: post #325
crmrc114 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mate, your talking about a brass nipple being threaded into a broken plastic part to replace a plastic reducer that was [probably] poorly ultrasonic welded in place. What I see in the article is a common sense repair. Anyone who turns a wrench is laughing at the Tesla fanboy pearl clutching over this. Not an attack on your post btw, just a general statement that every Tesla owner comes out of the cracks in these post…

I agree with the pearl clutching part. Unless Tesla can state exactly how this fix is inferior to it's original design. Putting a brass nipple in a plastic pipe is a tried and tested process. The stated pressure is 2 psi, or max 5 psi during testing. 5 psi is about 3.5 meters of water column. So the pressure is equivalent to what you get in your home. The piping is essentially house plumbing level stuff.

I'd probably compare it to patching tires or installing a replacement tire valve. The pressure in a car tire is around 2.5-3 bar, the bike tires go up to 4-4.5 bar.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#484

Post by sgerenser »

ghaff wrote: post #251
quickthrowman wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Buying 10 year old cars that are nearly fully depreciated is where you save big money. Not in my experience. You either pay in depreciation or in maintenance, there is no escaping car expenses. A 10 year depreciated car may need a timing belt/water pump, possible head gasket issues, possible transmission issues, etc.

You're also just paying for predictability. While lemons are a thing, they're less so than they used to be, and there's something to be said--if you can afford it--for buying a car that can probably run for 10+ years with minimal risk of serious maintenance issues. And, in snow belt areas, you start to run into rust issues 15 or so years on.

I used to live in the snow belt (or salt belt, if you will) and it took much less than 15 years to have rust issues.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#485

Post by Chris2048 »

crmrc114 wrote: post #303
namdnay wrote: post #3

A bit of a stretch to classify this under right to repair.. if you rent a car from tesla, it’s going to be up to tesla to choose how it’s repaired. And it doesn’t seem unreasonable that they won’t accept a hack fix (however safe it may be) - that car is going to be sold to someone once the lease expires, they just can’t take the risk I would read this as a cautionary tale against renting your cars. If you can’t buy i…

Mate, your talking about a brass nipple being threaded into a broken plastic part to replace a plastic reducer that was [probably] poorly ultrasonic welded in place. What I see in the article is a common sense repair. Anyone who turns a wrench is laughing at the Tesla fanboy pearl clutching over this. Not an attack on your post btw, just a general statement that every Tesla owner comes out of the cracks in these post…

> only Dell/HP should make computers

When was the last time you insured your PC for 3rd-party damage?

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#486

Post by mnw21cam »

londons_explore wrote: post #378
userbinator wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The piping is essentially house plumbing level stuff. Much lower pressure, actually - domestic water is supplied closer to 50-60psi. This fix is only inferior to Tesla because it exposed a design flaw and removed their chance to massively overcharge for a tiny repair.

> Much lower pressure, actually - domestic water is supplied closer to 50-60psi. Cries in England where domestic water can be as low as 10 psi and sometimes won't even reach the top of your house and you have to go downstairs to get water...

That's pretty unusual in England. Most places I have tested have about 3-5 bar of pressure in the water main at the house tap.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#487

Post by Chris2048 »

novok wrote: post #273
namdnay wrote: post #3

A bit of a stretch to classify this under right to repair.. if you rent a car from tesla, it’s going to be up to tesla to choose how it’s repaired. And it doesn’t seem unreasonable that they won’t accept a hack fix (however safe it may be) - that car is going to be sold to someone once the lease expires, they just can’t take the risk I would read this as a cautionary tale against renting your cars. If you can’t buy i…

If I rent an apartment and the landlord doesn't fix something, I can fix it with my own repairman and charge them the bill. There is nothing special about renting.

If the pipes in an apartment fail, the building won't murder someone on the highway.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#488

Post by simondotau »

busterarm wrote: post #166
namdnay wrote: post #3

A bit of a stretch to classify this under right to repair.. if you rent a car from tesla, it’s going to be up to tesla to choose how it’s repaired. And it doesn’t seem unreasonable that they won’t accept a hack fix (however safe it may be) - that car is going to be sold to someone once the lease expires, they just can’t take the risk I would read this as a cautionary tale against renting your cars. If you can’t buy i…

Plans for future Tesla vehicles are for the batteries to be structural. As in non-replaceable. In that future and without right to repair, a crack in this tiny plastic hose fitting would total the car (heck, depending on your insurer, this already does). Remember that car insurance costs are pooled. This kind of behavior makes _everyone's_ driving more expensive.

Tesla also plans to be the preferred insurer for their own vehicles. This is great, because it will provide a financial signal to Tesla to make their cars cheaper to repair.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#489

Post by rswail »

People forget that the original reason for the dealership model was entirely to protect consumers against manufacturers doing shit like this.

If it's a fundamental flaw like this (easily breakable part exposed directly to road debris), then that is a design failure by Tesla that they should repair for free under a "fit for purpose" consumer protection law.

It shouldn't require someone to find an alternative fix to avoid Tesla's own design failure.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#490

Post by simondotau »

drtgh wrote: post #241
busterarm wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plans for future Tesla vehicles are for the batteries to be structural. As in non-replaceable. In that future and without right to repair, a crack in this tiny plastic hose fitting would total the car (heck, depending on your insurer, this already does). Remember that car insurance costs are pooled. This kind of behavior makes _everyone's_ driving more expensive.

It seems Tesla, Inc. makes most of the profit by selling Carbon-Emissions Credits to other vehicles manufacturers. I would not be surprised if they expects from that future making extra profit by "recycling" damaged structures, or something related to such structure. Something for cover the decline in carbon-emissions sales in such future. Anyway, I think that is called "Programed obsolescence". It's like when led bu…

Tesla's core business of car manufacturing is extremely profitable. Their automotive gross margin is substantially higher than most of their competitors, including the likes of Mercedes and BMW. It's only after you add on the costs of growth (capital expenditure, R&D, etc) that overall company profits become marginal.

This is because Tesla is doing exactly what you'd expect from a company undergoing rapid growth: they're spending every dollar they can on growing. Yes, Tesla have received a windfall of cash from credit sales, but all these have done is turbocharged their growth spending. If they didn't have this extra cash, they probably would have had to wait 12 months before beginning construction in either Berlin or Texas.

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