they're exotic it is surreal they're
just like nothing else in the road so
much engineering time effort and hours
went into creating these masterpieces
but there's also a flipside
Tesla stands are rebuilding vehicles is
only they should be able to do it
I would say I'm the first person to
bring a Tesla that's completely dead to
running and driving almost showroom
floor quality independently by
themselves at this point I would
consider myself to dr. Frankenstein or
Tesla's people need to know more about
the products they own if you own
something if you purchase something free
and clear then you should be able to fix
it yourself I don't want people to think
that they're too small to have a major
company make changes don't feel that
you're not being heard you do have a
voice
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my name's rich and I run a YouTube
channel called rich rebuilds I also go
by uncle rich car guru you're probably
asking yourself car guru what are you
doing in that sweet sweet racecar bed
well you think my life is all fun and
games here's some of the things you have
to deal with when you hobble together
two broken Tesla's to make one working
Tesla this cars been sitting for so long
you just don't know what's gonna happen
I think if it's more it'll wash the
channel they probably describe me as a
DIY enthusiast to the extreme slash
Tesla vigilante honestly they probably
say you may hear some clicks you may
hear some buzzing the car may explode I
don't know what's gonna happen
no freakin way the door handles just
extended oh Jesus
oh my god this cars been sitting for
over a year I want people to have their
cars work I want people to enjoy them
I'm just trying to help I may not come
across that way sometimes but you know
there's a reason why I've only ten
myself personally there's a reason why I
physically touched and help people build
over a hundred cars array Oh first time
it's ever happened that's all right
Tesla is the gatekeeper to us repairing
our own goods because they want control
over Tesla fixing the cars they want
control over Tesla send you the parts
they just want everything under their
control how am I help you hey how you
doing today I have a p85 I need those
little lug nut covers oh sorry hold hold
on one second hold on one of the things
I enjoy is calling about their mistakes
he comes out here playing games Tessa
wants answers oh hello sorry sorry about
that you still there I think a
fundamental consumer right is your
ability to fix whatever you rightfully
own the fact that people don't have
another alternative but they're going to
manufacture that's a huge huge issue
there's a lot of gray area as to what
you actually own with with these cars
because in order for the major functions
of the car to work they have to talk to
Tesla
out of in Massachusetts and in
Massachusetts that have a right to
repair act it does protect what I do it
makes it easier I mean to get the tools
that I need but the language is very
interesting your language states that
you have to have the same tools
available that the dealers do to fix
their cars well guess what tested of
them have dealerships that's a loophole
right there all right so this is my
basement full of Tesla parts these are
the all of the parts that are required
to put a Tesla back together effectively
these right here I have all the battery
modules that go on the battery pack I
have the other coolant pumps that are
here I have a few MC use which is the
media control units the main master
screen of the car but these are the
things that you have to do to keep a
Tesla on the road you know to have a an
inventory of spare parts so that you
don't run out of stuff when you need it
the most I mean it really is a goldmine
because you can't find a lot of these a
lot of these parts back at Tesla I get
my parts from other cars so what I have
to do is I have to purchase other
wrecked vehicles take the parts I need
from those and then harvest those parts
for the cars that I need parts for in
terms of being tricky it's extremely
tricky because if you need a specific
part you have to hope and pray that the
car that you're taking the parts from
has it what I'm doing right now fixing
these cars you know under the radar from
Tesla is setting myself up for some big
legal problems in the future potentially
but because I think the cars are so
great and I want to help people in that
sense I just think it's just something
that I have to do
I have this part right here and this is
the visor that was in a Model S that
actually was severely burned you see the
burn marks on top of this and you know
to the untrained eye you could probably
just throw this part away that's what's
the point it's burned but if someone
needs the spring that actuates the the
hinge for the visor or if someone even
needs this part right here this could be
recycled you know you shouldn't just
throw it away as is a lot of these
things are still useable like these
hooks right here this could probably be
cleaned up really nice and putting
another visor piece we live in a day and
age where people just throw things away
there's plenty of benefits to fixing
your own cars you know it's less waste
eco friendly creates jobs eases pressure
off the manufacturer it just it just
makes sense all in so I figure if I
could you know do something to
contribute helping him back on the road
give him new life I think it's a win-win
for everyone
so a while back a friend of mine said
that he got a job at Tesla and he was
gonna bring one by and we took a ride in
it I said to myself I could see myself
owning one of these things for sure
about a year after that I purchased my
first Model S that was in the flood and
I started working on it
I spent $14,000 in a car that didn't run
or drive and showed no signs of light I
had no support from the manufacturer I
was getting the water so I thought about
it I said to myself I'm already in
14,000 let's just go all-in so I
actually ended up purchasing another car
that wasn't in a flood I brought it home
I had two Tesla's side by side and in
each garage bay and over the course of
you know several months I slowly
transplanted electronics from one car to
the other and it was just but I couldn't
believe it slowly people started saying
maybe he's onto something here maybe
he's not that crazy after all
maybe this can be done
so today we're gonna check this burnt
Tesla Model S out this Tesla Model S was
I hit in the front by another car the
other car caught fire and as a result
the front of this car burned as well I
saw this car online for the first time I
I just lit up I mean the front end was
completely toast
everything was everywhere the wheel was
actually in the back and it was
completely undriveable but there were a
couple pictures that I saw the interior
the back seats were still good so I knew
the second I saw this one I had to buy
it even though it seems like you know
it's not much to look at and there's
literally trees growing inside of it
this is still worth a lot because for
some of that's been rear-ended instead
of waiting you know four to six months
for parts from Tesla you know they could
just have the back half of this car
bring it to a body shop and have up and
running in a couple weeks so many
engineering hours have gone into making
these why throw it away when I could
just take parts from this one and help
someone in need
seeing an abandoned car like that having
it sit in the field abandon being
covered by snow and ice and dirt and
rocks and it almost hurts in a way it's
technology is my thing so seeing
something like that is just it hurts
almost if the mission and the motto is
is sustainability then you know a car
like this could stick in this state of
the insurance lot for years before it
gets picked up my idea is to actually
cut the front half of the car remove
some plastics recycle the aluminum and
then I'll use the back half for a car
that was rear-ended that needs fixing
it's aluminum so it's not that hard to
cut so I probably get a sawzall and I
just thought about right here
I'd do it myself yeah I'd do it myself
this is the storage area I keep a lot of
my parts in I have a rare seat cushion
from a tough so that's been sitting here
kind of getting mold all over it
there's just parts is part two
everywhere I think I am obsessed I
didn't think about that I think I am
this is a lot of I can't throw
anything away
until the project is done and the
problem with me is the project's never
done it definitely goes against Tesla's
mission statement but if there's an
issue with one of their tests list and
if only they can fix it and no one else
can it sits in the field for years how
is that sustainable I'm doing very well
thanks I have a 2012 Model S and it's
giving me an issue charging I've
narrowed it down to one of the Chargers
under the rear seats how much of those
go for oh sorry about that sure my VIN
number is a five we actually can't sell
you any parts for that car either
thought I was 50 sinless okay
all right no parts at all
unfortunately not there I've expressed
my frustrations to Tesla mostly over the
phone but I've expressed a lot of my
views a lot of the things I've gone
through on my my personal Channel people
at Tesla they do notice the channel and
they do they do know hey guys your boy
rich here and a buddy of mine that's
also into tesla rebuild game he recently
got a letter in the mail from tesla
saying that there was an airbag recall
there was an issue a while back where
there was a recall for airbags and Tesla
just refused to replace airbags on cars
that they felt that they shouldn't
support so I made a video saying what do
you guys think this doesn't seem right
to me let me know what you guys think
about this one in the comment section
should toss to be allowed to determine
which cars it does and does not service
or should they abide by the nhtsa's
rules and make sure that all cars are
repaired free of charge and three weeks
later Tesla called my friend up and said
hey come back in for an appointment
it's gonna be great let's get that
airbag all set for you they won't make
it easy but eventually they're going to
have to make it so that they help people
or third-party repair shops build their
vehicles
the project that I'm working on right
now it wasn't a flood so that motor and
that battery they're just toast so I
have to get a trailer and pick up the
motor and battery from a car that was in
a rollover to transplant into the
flooded car looking at the front of this
battery it looks like in the crash the
top case may have popped off slightly it
looks like some water got into the
battery not feeling great right now I
probably have to pop that cover off and
see how much if any water is in there I
[Music]
think that that there's a quiet
revolution starting it's getting louder
and louder for sure now that people have
various platforms to state their cases
and native voice is known
this defi revolution coming so right now
we're at advanced technologies and
Gloucester mass with my buddy Lee shops
and he's been helping me out a lot with
a lot of the heavy lifting of the
battery packs and the motors themselves
he actually saw me in the channel and
he's like hey you know what like I like
what you're doing I think it's really
cool I don't want to help you out so
he's actually letting me keep my car
here as well as help me work on it you
know and give me access to all this
tools so it's a pretty cool I'm working
on these cars a lot of really
interesting things that could happen
sometimes things are just not ready for
I mean I was taking off the battery pack
I discovered an actual crack in the side
of the battery pack and we're gonna
check that crack out right now so we're
gonna see when it fell off the top cover
and we're gonna see if there's anything
we could do is save that what I do is
extremely dangerous it's very
intimidating working with you know a
high voltage battery pack has enough
power to to power a house for days or to
just kill you within seconds so I think
when I open my first battery pack I had
my linemen gloves on I had like a full
body suit it's like I'm gonna go in
there and the deep blue yonder and now
I'm just like now it is what it is you
know lick the terminals yeah
whatever doesn't matter it's coming up
so this is what a Tesla Model S battery
module looks like and there's 16 of
these each has its own individual
section it kind of lives in isolated in
firewall from the next one what I want
to do now is I want to actually test the
voltage that I'm seeing on these two
bricks to see if they're still good give
a voltmeter Lee all right so we're
getting 23 volts out of this one which
is good yeah
23 6 3 each battery brick is about 24
volts so the fact that it's that high is
that via a good sign it looks like those
bricks are good so I feel as if these
two modules are good that I feel safe
saying if the rest of them we're good as
well you know what Lee I'm going to put
the cover back on and then just kind of
light loosely tighten it and then maybe
we could start the motor itself
[Music]
an individual rich is a really steering
the the frontline for the backyard
mechanic kind of thing but really
learning every inch of Tesla other
companies can do it but individuals
taking on the task with a huge
undertaking Tesla has an image to keep
up as a cutting-edge auto manufacturer
and if you do fix your own car and
something happens and another Tesla gets
into an accident is gonna make national
news they don't want to see that I am
completely sympathetic with their
concerns it's their brand I totally get
it but it's not gonna stop me
that's not a reason why someone
shouldn't do it
worst-case scenario Tesla reaches out to
me and says you know sent me a cease and
desist they stop doing what you're doing
stop your YouTube channel stop doing
close-ups of the inside electronics and
motors and how they work but they could
say that I'll still do it even though
it's not the intention I see myself
opening up my own test a repair shop
they won't let that happen but I'd like
to do that I like to help people this is
unchartered territory this is cutting
edge this is the future
[Music]