Previously, Part 3: Trunk Insulation
I am sad to say that I am halting this project for the time being. I've done a lot of disassembly and planning, but I haven't bought speakers and amplifiers yet because I'm not sure that I'm actually going to keep my Model 3. My Model 3 has had major performance issues since the day it was delivered. Specifically, the computers don't like to stay on. The car has a low-power sleep mode that it goes into when idle, and in my car that apparently causes the computers to freeze or crash. The result is that almost every time I get into the car, I have to sit and wait for up to three minutes before I can drive. Over the course of a day, I might spend twenty minutes sitting in my car waiting for it to turn on, feeling like an idiot. I've brought the car in for service several times and several times the Service Center has pointed their finger at Technical Support and Engineering. I called Technical Support, and several times they've pointed their finger at Service or Engineering. I can't call Engineering. Long story short, I live in Texas and there's no way I want to own a car that heats up to 140ยบ during the summer and then the air conditioning won't turn on for the first 1-3 minutes. So I need to replace the car before about April. I might buy another Tesla Model 3, since I do not believe this is anywhere near the norm, but I might not. There isn't anything comparable on the market just yet. Maybe I'll buy a cheap used car and plan to buy one of the many other electric models that will be available in next two years. We'll see.
Update:
I brought my car in for another service appointment, expecting that nothing would change. The Texas Lemon Law requires that I give the manufacturer ~4 attempts to fix the car, so I was creating a paper trail at least four invoices long. But what do you know, on the third attempt they actually seem to have fixed it. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, I was told something about voltage rails not latching on startup, but I haven't had a single problem with the car not turning on in the nine days since I got it back. Great. I don't have to return it now and I can continue with the install.
I am sad to say that I am halting this project for the time being. I've done a lot of disassembly and planning, but I haven't bought speakers and amplifiers yet because I'm not sure that I'm actually going to keep my Model 3. My Model 3 has had major performance issues since the day it was delivered. Specifically, the computers don't like to stay on. The car has a low-power sleep mode that it goes into when idle, and in my car that apparently causes the computers to freeze or crash. The result is that almost every time I get into the car, I have to sit and wait for up to three minutes before I can drive. Over the course of a day, I might spend twenty minutes sitting in my car waiting for it to turn on, feeling like an idiot. I've brought the car in for service several times and several times the Service Center has pointed their finger at Technical Support and Engineering. I called Technical Support, and several times they've pointed their finger at Service or Engineering. I can't call Engineering. Long story short, I live in Texas and there's no way I want to own a car that heats up to 140ยบ during the summer and then the air conditioning won't turn on for the first 1-3 minutes. So I need to replace the car before about April. I might buy another Tesla Model 3, since I do not believe this is anywhere near the norm, but I might not. There isn't anything comparable on the market just yet. Maybe I'll buy a cheap used car and plan to buy one of the many other electric models that will be available in next two years. We'll see.
Update:
I brought my car in for another service appointment, expecting that nothing would change. The Texas Lemon Law requires that I give the manufacturer ~4 attempts to fix the car, so I was creating a paper trail at least four invoices long. But what do you know, on the third attempt they actually seem to have fixed it. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, I was told something about voltage rails not latching on startup, but I haven't had a single problem with the car not turning on in the nine days since I got it back. Great. I don't have to return it now and I can continue with the install.
Next, Part 5: Electronics