Early Model S Resurrection Sagas Continue (lengthily)- Jay's Midnight Star

[Jay Donnaway]

Ok SEVA, it's been a bit, but that's because I've been biting my tongue while waiting. 

You may recall that I acquired a well-worn car from a SEVA member as our SECOND 2013 Model S!  Midnight Star has over 100k miles and a salvaged title, and it dEVeloped a glitch in 2023 that resulted in very little usage by the previous owner (plus it had three failing door handles).  The electronic parking brake would randomly deploy at very slow speeds, usually at less than 5 mph while approaching a stop sign.  I surmised that this was a sign of a failing motor speed sensor, which is the same part to pull for a coolant intrusion inspection on the Large Drive Unit.  WELL, the car only made it about 40 miles into my test before dying in motion and requiring a tow.   I removed the speed sensor and confirmed the coolant leakage, and in comparing the speed sensor to a known good unit, the resistance was very different, so it had failed as well!  Replacing the sensor did not allow the drive unit to wake up, so I surmised there were concurrent failures, and it was time to send the car down to Alex at WattWorks for another LDU Rebuild.

Alex did his rebuild thing, but we discovered after installing the replacement drive unit (upgraded with a Performance Inverter) that the car's "Software Certificates Have Expired" and he could not complete the restart.  That necessitated another tow both to and fro the Portland Service Center (after a couple weeks of delay to get an appointment), because TESLA will only update the certificates onsite and in person!   The only report I received from TESLA was that "the car won't run because it has the wrong drive unit".  

Of course Alex has the skills to implement that upgrade via Tesla's own Toolbox software and the car was driving in no time, but I failed to confirm Supercharging before leaving Portland.   At Centralia I met the "Supercharging Not Enabled" warning!  After multiple stops and tests on different generation SCs to confirm the issue was within the car, I summoned daughter Ruthie in our 2013 MS Matcha for rescue.   Ruthie is an ace at Regen on a Rope, having cut her teeth babysitting for rural clients in the low-range iMiEV!   We continued home from Grand Mound, needing to traverse 48 miles.  This was simply accomplished by setting home as our destination and towing on a rope in full regen at 30-40 mph and watching until the range estimation climbed past the remaining distance to our destination.  No fancy math necessary, and about 20 miles of towing regenerated the 30 miles we needed.    I then confirmed that AC charging worked fine, and there were no other errors, but the car would not DCFC using the CHAdeMO adapter that had been completely reliable before, as some users had testified should still work if TESLA had simply sent a kill command because of the salvage title, but the car threw HV errors and stopped driving again shortly thereafter.     SO, another tow down to Portland...

Always a man of his word, Alex redid the rebuild with new parts, but kept encountering  a High Voltage isolation error, which took some time to narrow down to the Battery Coolant Heater!   (Used to warm up the battery in a legacy Model S).   Alex didn't have a replacement and said it he'd have to order one.  Not to fear- I had one on hand!  Why?   Well, though it may seem futile to pursue consistency in one's very mixed EV fleet spanning four decades, I had used an early Model S coolant heater as the cabin heater in my 1999 Dodge Dakota EV conversion, so I could bring a known good replacement down to Alex right away (and ordered another Tesla heater for the Dodge).   With that nagging issue out of the way, perhaps Midnight Star would Supercharge?   No such luck.  It appears that TESLA has pulled the privilege, and I'm headed for a High Voltage inspection at the Service Center in order to get let back into the club.   The Service Advisor couldn't give me an estimate on the spot, he had to send a request out for approval, and fortunately his $1500 guesstimate was over $500 high, though my estimate curiously arrived right after I exited the property at closing time.  Stay tuned on whether my cherished SC01 is restored, as all legal indications are that TESLA cannot take that away from me after it passes their inspection, but there are many recent owner reports to the contrary from those who lost their Free Unlimited Lifetime Supercharging during January without warning or confirmation from Tesla..

While in the shop, Alex did another video of him rebuilding a door handle on Midnight Star.

Enjoy!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tls08BAB2xM

-Jay

[cb_rad...@riseup.net]

Hi, Jay! Sounds like an ordeal. Sorry you had to go through that. Is
this normal for old EVs? I hope you are doing well. I am doing okay so
far in electrician pre-apprentice classes, but it keeps me busy and I
won't make it to SEVA meetings for a couple months due to Tuesday class.


Corey Ballantyne

On 2026-01-30 17:22, Jay Donnaway wrote:
> Ok SEVA, it's been a bit, but that's because I've been biting my
> tongue while waiting.
> You may recall that I acquired a well-worn car from a SEVA member as

> our SECOND 2013 Model S! _Midnight Star_ has over 100k miles and a

> car, I summoned daughter Ruthie in our 2013 MS _Matcha_ for rescue.

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> [1].
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[Greg Lewis]

Hi Jay, where are you taking your classes? I’ve been wanting to do the same thing.

Thanks!

Greg

Greg Lewis
Windermere RE Co.
206/650-3248

> On Feb 1, 2026, at 2:46 PM, cb_rad...@riseup.net wrote:
>
> Hi, Jay! Sounds like an ordeal. Sorry you had to go through that. Is

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SEVA_list/12b01f677ec23006e885d1f14ee0b1c0%40riseup.net.

[Sophia G20]

Re: SeattleVA Corey Ballantyne

Hey I am having a superbowl thing at my place my other friend Caitlin will be here she is Autistic like me. Good good people. And my partner will be here: just 1.5 hours you have to come.

Feb 08th when the superbowl happens. We will feed you and I can drive you here and where you are staying: please we will say 3:30 PM exactly a week from today.

5037502444

Stephen my partner will be here so yes please come on by I will drive you both ways we would be honored to laugh at football while Stephen talks in tongues :) (: hear soon!!

Or I read my emails really carefully. It’ll be STEM women and I would love it


Yours,

Sophia G20 Grzeskowiak-Amezquita

REALLY WANT YOU THERE

Sent from Proton Mail for iOS.


Yours,

Sophia G20 Grzeskowiak-Amezquita

Sent from Proton Mail for iOS.

-------- Original Message --------

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