Model 3 Maintenance Schedule

Frédérick St-Laurent · Apr 5, 2018

Any current Model 3 owner received details (and price) about the Maintenance Plan for the Model 3? I googled on the subject and couldn't find any satisfying answer.

zkmusa · Apr 5, 2018

I don't believe Tesla has announced a maintenance plan (or extended warranty) for the model 3.

According to the owner's manual, maintenance is much more basic for the Model 3:

Regular maintenance is the key to ensuring the continued reliability and efficiency of your Model 3. Rotate the tires every 6,250 miles (10,000 km). Maintain the correct tire pressures. It is also important to perform the daily and monthly checks described below.

They also recommend brake fluid changes every 25,000 miles or 2 years, and battery coolant replacement every 50,000 miles or 4 years.

See more on page 111:

https://www.tesla.com/content/dam/tesla/Ownership/Own/Model 3 Owners Manual.pdf

Rocket Coug · Apr 11, 2018

Was told that the plans will be out in a couple months during delivery yesterday.

Scot Proctor · May 28, 2018

So is that all the maintenance you need for these? I assume you need tire rotation, but what other regular maintenance is needed for this vehicle?

garsh · May 28, 2018

Tires, wipers, and cabin air filters.

TeslaModel3Owner · May 30, 2018

It would be nice if Tesla had a list of all maintenance needed and how often we should do them. I know it's not the same as ICE cars, but there should still be tire rotation, alignment, etc.

zkmusa · May 30, 2018

https://www.tesla.com/content/dam/tesla/Ownership/Own/Model 3 Owners Manual.pdf

See page 112

Recommendations are tire rotations every 6250 miles, brake fluid every 2 years or 25,000 miles, battery coolant every 4 years or 50,000 miles.

osovega40 · Jun 11, 2018

Does anyone know if the car will give you maintenance reminders for the brake fluid and battery coolant?

Triangles · Jul 11, 2018

I am curious about the service interval for the gear box oil and oil filter.

garsh · Jul 11, 2018

The interval is "never".

The Model S required one service after 12,500 miles, and no service thereafter. I assume this was to remove any little pieces of metal shavings resulting from the reduction gears wearing in. The addition of a filter in the Model 3 will remove these wear-in contaminants so that the oil never needs to be replaced.

Triangles · Jul 16, 2018

garsh said:
The interval is "never".

LOL in fantasy land maybe. Lubrication breaks down with time and use. That is a fact in the real world. If Tesla does indeed say it never needs replaced then what they are really saying in layman's terms is that it will out last the warranty period. If that's the case then I'll guestimate it will last slightly longer than the oil in a MTX and replace it at about 100k miles.

Vladimír Michálek · Jul 25, 2018

well, the powertrain warranty is 8 years / 120k miles. The transmission has only a differential and one or two gears from the motor. This is what, 1/10th of a classic manual transmission? I think the oil should last much longere here.

Bert van Sas · Nov 11, 2018

Model 3 Maintenance notes

Waiting for Model 3 ( in the Netherlands ! ) I did put together some DIY maintenance notes (links, pics in a pdf file)
Conclusion: annual check of tires, windshield wipers and key fob batteries, is for the time being all the maintenance required. Enjoy!
PS.
And as the figures from theseMaintenance notes show below, do not forget to....

Triangles · Nov 13, 2018

JWardell said:
Like the rest of the drive system, it should be totally sealed against moisture or else the oil will be least of your troubles. Everything on the 3 was designed differently and to entirely new levels of engineering than the S & X, you should not base assumptions on any system based on other Teslas or especially any other brand's drivetrain. All that said, of course no one has the milage yet to prove durability.

Sorry but you are wrong. No gearbox is completely sealed and Tesla is no exception. If you want to know why ask any mechanical engineer. Suffice it to say it boils down to expansion and what would happen if the gearbox was sealed. Item #13, part# 1101758-00-A in the diagram below is the gearbox breather on the TM3. You can see it in the picture below the diagram as the black knob looking thing with the Tesla logo on it on the top of the gearbox.

JWardell · Nov 13, 2018

Yes but the whole point of a Gore-tex breather is to equalize pressure while blocking any moisture from entering the system.

Triangles · Nov 13, 2018

You just can't let it go when you are wrong can you? Look it's nothing personal, I'm just trying to provide people with accurate information. I didn't know that the breather was made with Gore-Tex. Where did you find this info? By the way even if the breather is made with Gore-tex, Gore-tex DOES NOT stop water vapor. It only stops liquid. As you may know water vapor can and does condense into a liquid.

JWardell · Nov 13, 2018

I am simply reiterating that you should not state assumptions as fact, and especially should not make assumptions on Model 3 based on data from other vehicles. Only someone who worked on this design for Tesla knows for sure what the facts are for the durability of the drive system, and like I said both Tesla and Elon publicly stated it is designed differently than other vehicles for more than a million miles. No one else has the definitive knowledge to tell others they are right or wrong.

JasonF · Nov 13, 2018

Can any tire stores can handle tire rotation on a Model 3? Or should I only trust the service center with it? I'm suspicious of tire stores, they kept tampering with the air filter box in my previous car at every visit until it broke. I shudder to think what they'll try and tear apart in the Model 3.

As for the gear oil, is there a hydrophobic additive Tesla might have used to keep water vapor from condensing in the oil?

PNWmisty · Nov 13, 2018

JasonF said:
As for the gear oil, is there a hydrophobic additive Tesla might have used to keep water vapor from condensing in the oil?

No. But something like that isn't necessary. The oil itself is hydrophobic. As long as the only moisture entering the system is from normal humidity and normal breathing due to temperature and barometric pressure changes, the warmth of the gear/motor operation will constantly be driving excess moisture off. The heat of operation will keep the gearbox at a lower humidity than the average atmospheric humidity. The only way moisture would be a problem is if it got sucked in from being submerged or the breather design allowed splashed water to enter directly.

Tesla designed the system, is fully familiar with it and they have specified that the oil doesn't need to be replaced. To me, this says they are confident water can't get in, at least not in normal situations. Which is why I will not be replacing the gear oil in either of my two Model 3's unless something unusual happens (like floodwaters) or Tesla upgrades the recommended oil to something with even less friction.

Karl Sun · Jan 16, 2019

PNWmisty said:
You would have to pry my P3D out of my cold [dead] hands ...

"Your proposal is acceptable."
-MiB

ADK46 · Jan 17, 2019

Rotate the tires when and if you want. At worst, you'd face the same situation as presented by cars that have staggered tires — different sizes front and rear. We have four such cars. The only serious issue is when you want to change to a different type of tire — handling can be affected by having different tires on different axles, so it's best to change all four at once.

I wonder if wear will be uneven for dual motor cars. It certainly is on the rear-drive cars I've owned with staggered tires, even though they've had 50:50 weight distribution.

Model 3 Maintenance Schedule

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