2021 Model 3 ticking sound

[MikeyC]

My 2021 Model 3 has started making a ticking/popping sound every few seconds when I first get in. It goes away after a couple minutes. I said in the video it sounds like an electrical tick from a speaker but I'm not too sure. After recording the video, I pressed down on the left side of the long speaker bar right at the base of the windshield and the first few times I pressed on it, it ticked just like the video. It could be an electrical speaker pop but it also sounds like a tick you'd get if a piece of adhesive tape is being stuck/unstuck from a surface.

Anyone else had this?

Mike

 

[MikeyC]

Any ideas? It's still doing it each time I get in the car. I don't know if this is a clue but my car hasn't slept for 3 days, but the ticking was there when it was sleeping as expected too. I've tried everything to get it to sleep including opening and closing all doors, frunk, and trunk, rebooting several times, powering off, and turning sentry mode off. Still won't sleep. My guess is the two symptoms are not related since the sleep apnea just started 3 days ago and I've had this ticking sound for a few weeks.

Mike

 

[DurkaDurka]

Have you tried putting your ear DIRECTLY on the speaker to see if it comes from it? HVAC on or off causes the sound?

 

[hamtonp]

Are you hearing the charge port ticking? Mine ticks. Others have reported as well. Not sure why but the car does go to sleep.

 

[MikeyC]

Have you tried putting your ear DIRECTLY on the speaker to see if it comes from it? HVAC on or off causes the sound?

I'm pretty sure it is coming from the left side of the fabric grill at the base of the windshield: where the left front speaker is in that grill. The odd thing is that sometimes pressing down on the fabric cover stops it. Sometimes it doesn't. But pressing on that having any effect at all makes me wonder if it's coming from the speaker. HVAC on/off doesn't seem to have an effect: still does it. Can't really get my head in there but I'll try listening through a piece of vacuum hose if I can.

Mike

 

[KaptKamp]

I have had the same exact issue in my 2021. I thought it was speaker too because of the way it sounded, but I am pretty sure that it is the dash creaking when expanding and contracting when HVAC turns on. I believe it is this because I hear it only when the car turns on and there is a large temperature change from the HVAC, either the car was cold and the heaters turn on or the car is really hot and the A/C turns on. After 5 minutes when the temperature stabilizes the clicking sound stops.
Also, I have ruled out speakers because I can encourage the clicking to happen by pressing down on the dash in front of the speaker cover, it is like it is relieving pressure as it expands/contracts.

 

[MikeyC]

I have had the same exact issue in my 2021. I thought it was speaker too because of the way it sounded, but I am pretty sure that it is the dash creaking when expanding and contracting when HVAC turns on. I believe it is this because I hear it only when the car turns on and there is a large temperature change from the HVAC, either the car was cold and the heaters turn on or the car is really hot and the A/C turns on. After 5 minutes when the temperature stabilizes the clicking sound stops.
Also, I have ruled out speakers because I can encourage the clicking to happen by pressing down on the dash in front of the speaker cover, it is like it is relieving pressure as it expands/contracts.

Thanks for checking in. You described pretty much the exact scenario I'm having. As much as it sounds like a speaker pop, I can influence it by pushing on different parts of the dash in the same spot you're talking about. The one time I tested it with HVAC off, it was on at first and then I turned it off. By that time it could have already started cooling things down. I'll have to retest it by turning HVAC off before I leave the car and let it sit for a while, then try again. I could pop parts of the dash and start looking around but it's not worth it: if it's just some sort of contraction if parts, I can live with it. My main concern was that a speaker pop could indicate some sort of electrical issue.

Mike

 

[iZi.Lego]

I have the same issue!
I thought it was the speaker because I installed the module to activate the unused speaker. ( It basically tap the unused speaker to the active one)

I will test the HVAC theory later.
Thank you

 

[MikeyC]

I was finally able to confirm that this is the trim flexing as the car changes temperature. After a year of ownership, it has pretty much gone away, but I can make it happen at will. If I press on the dash trim to the left of the steering wheel just under the white strip (wood strip if you have black interior), it makes the same ticking sound.

Mike

 

[22Blue]

My 2018 model 3 started making the clicking noises every second for the first time today. I was unable to play any music. Reset power and the noise went away and now I am able to play music again without the clicking noise. Hope it doesn’t happen again

 

[_Kris_]

I'm having the same issue, 2023 Model 3 Performance. It occurs when the temperature is 40 Fahrenheit or less, the clicking noise hard to pinpoint, but seems to come from the driver's side A-pillar area/ dash and after the vehicle warms up it does cease making noise. In service right now Tesla Wexford.