Those of you that have had to replace drive units…

[Deisic]

How long did it take to diagnose and then repair your vehicle? Mine has been at the service center since Wednesday, and they seem to have maybe done a diagnostic but haven’t told me anything as of this afternoon. I do understand they want to fully understand the issue, but I was hoping to have some kind of insight into what is going on by now.

I am also trying to gauge the long-term reliability of Air's that have had a major issue. Did you have any other catastrophic failures before or after that drive unit replacement?

 

[Adnillien]

How long did it take to diagnose and then repair your vehicle? Mine has been at the service center since Wednesday, and they seem to have maybe done a diagnostic but haven’t told me anything as of this afternoon. I do understand they want to fully understand the issue, but I was hoping to have some kind of insight into what is going on by now.

I am also trying to gauge the long-term reliability of Air's that have had a major issue. Did you have any other catastrophic failures before or after that drive unit replacement?

It took about a week to diagnose that the rear drive unit needed to be replaced and about two days to replace it. Scottsdale probably has better parts availability than many service centers so there was no waiting on parts. After the drive unit, my car has only been in the service twice. Once for annual service and once to replace the steering wheel due to a broken switch.

 

[Deisic]

It took about a week to diagnose that the rear drive unit needed to be replaced and about two days to replace it. Scottsdale probably has better parts availability than many service centers so there was no waiting on parts. After the drive unit, my car has only been in the service twice. Once for annual service and once to replace the steering wheel due to a broken switch.

Dang, that's a long time for diagnostics! Good to know and thank you for the insight.

 

[Adnillien]

Dang, that's a long time for diagnostics! Good to know and thank you for the insight.

There is some reason to long diagnostic cycle on my car. My car drove fine during most situations and was not throwing any error codes. It had a very noticeable shudder during heavy acceleration. It was the first time that service had seen this type of issue so the engineers had to create a method to see what was happening in the drive unit and determine if it was the front or rear drive unit. It involved putting a scope on some the drive unit signals and driving the car under heavy acceleration. It took a few iterations between engineering and service were finally able to see the issue and determine that it was the rear drive unit that was a fault.

 

[Deisic]

There is some reason to long diagnostic cycle on my car. My car drove fine during most situations and was not throwing any error codes. It had a very noticeable shudder during heavy acceleration. It was the first time that service had seen this type of issue so the engineers had to create a method to see what was happening in the drive unit and determine if it was the front or rear drive unit. It involved putting a scope on some the drive unit signals and driving the car under heavy acceleration. It took a few iterations between engineering and service were finally able to see the issue and determine that it was the rear drive unit that was a fault.

Oh okay that explains it. Well I’m on day 3 and no word, I think my situation is probably more common. But from what I understand my car is at a satellite service location that only has one bay to work on cars.

 

[CraZ8]

My car one day just seemed to lack any power to he point I was pressing the accelerator nearly to the floor just to go up the seeep road to my house. No error codes and the problem resolved itself the next day. Lucid picked the car up and within two days determined it was the controller for the front motor. They Gave me a whole new motor and control unit. I had the car back after a week

 

[hmp10]

I think there are so many variables in play that it's hard to pin down a "normal" time for diagnostics and repair.

When the HV battery and the rear drive unit failed in our Air Dream, the problem was tentatively diagnosed while first on the phone with Lucid Customer Service, as they told me to park the car and not try to drive it or reboot it. The firm diagnosis came shortly after the car arrived at the Service Center in Miami the next day.

However, replacement took a while. They first told me they had a replacement pack and rear drive unit on hand, but then they realized that they were not Dream Edition parts. (The Dream has the 118-kWh hour Samsung pack instead of the 112-kWh LG Chem pack, and it has a rear drive unit that uses different metallurgy from the lower-trim cars.). The nearest Service Center with the correct parts on hand was in Virginia, and they had to be trucked down, which took about a week.

FWIW . . . this problem didn't shake me up too much. The same thing happened with our 2015 Tesla Model S P90D. Once its HV pack and rear drive unit were replaced, we drove the car another four years with no recurrence, and we've now had a 2021 Model S Plaid for two and a half years with nothing similar happening. (Remember that these components are under the 8-year / 100,000 mile warranty, not the 4-year warranty.)