You know the conversation really well - 'The Tesla seems great but isn't it really expensive to fix if something goes wrong?'
This website is about the HV battery which is the single biggest repair expense you can can have on a Tesla. The other elephant in the room is the motor - specifically the Large Drive Unit (LDU) found in many of these cars.
Many Model S and Model X produced between 2012-2020 have the LDU with a fatal flaw on the rotor coolant seal. They will ALL leak eventually. ALL rear wheel drive cars and all P-Performance dual motor cars have this LDU. Only the non performance dual motor cars have a different motor without the issue. Model 3/Y and the newest S/X (2021 and up) are also safe.
Fortunately, checking to see if your LDU is starting to leak is really easy and everyone with one of the affected cars should do this NOW and again at least annually. This Video shows how to check the encoder/speed sensor for blue coolant. If yours is leaking, the best fix to stop the leak and keep this from leaking in the future is to do a coolant delete. Tesla released the Revision U in the fall of 2023, effectively giving up trying to make the rotor seal work. This revision deletes the coolant from the rotor but maintains the coolant flow to the inverter, stator and the ‘flyover’ tube cooling the gearbox. That is Tesla's official solution.
I was helping a friend with his LDU and came up with an incredibly easy way to do a coolant delete without paying Tesla $7,000 for a Revision U. It is a simple stainless steel cap with two stages that presses into the stock coolant manifold similar to a freeze plug in a traditional engine. The parts are on eBay and if you are a shop that is going to install many of these, reach out to me for wholesale pricing. This is the best and least expensive coolant delete option you will find anywhere. It is designed to be retrofitted onto the original motors but it must be done BEFORE the car shuts down when the motor is flooded with coolant. If you wait for that, the motor is likely trashed and your your only option will be the $7,000+ bill from Tesla or rolling the dice on a used motor.
Here is a good video showing the (not simple) process of removing the motor. The cap is shown about 27 minutes into the video. This shows how easy it is to install the cap itself when you get the motor out. Lastly, here is a sister-site to this battery site that focuses on the LDU. In a lot of ways, the battery is easier!
If you can fix your own battery and LDU, there is really nothing on the Model S/X you can't handle!
I'll add other bits here that some might find useful. This is a Google Site from a Facebook user named Neil Petrarca. It covers some information on changing out the contactors, coolant pump and the LDU. A couple of editorial notes on the page - not an inclusiveness list.
I don't like the video that shows the removal of the battery. The YouTuber is trying to use a small lift table rated for 500 pounds. Don't do this - Use the 4 floor jack method I show here. It is much better in every regard.
The guy on the video removing the contactors is doing an EV conversion so the parts he is installing is a little different. Most of all, don't go digging around near the contactors unless you remove the fuse. He is lucky he didn't blow himself across the room...
The LDU section doesn't really talk about the coolant delete which is now the standard repair. I didn't watch the subframe removal video but that is where you want to use the lift table if you have one. For the definitive knowledge base on the LDU, review this site.