Audio system looses bass or all sound, and strange clicking

[dansev]

I have a 2019 M3 dual motor that I've loved since day one. Absolutely amazing car and I also love the audio system. To my ears, it sounds excellent. I have however noticed a few quirks in the audio system that I first attributed to software, but now believe, as my warranty expires, that the audio system may have a physical problem. Today, driving to work it seems to happen far more often than it used to, while listening to a Spotify podcast at a modest volume.

First, sometimes the system loses bass for a second, and then gains it back. When that happens, it feels like the sound loses stereo imaging as well, but that could just be psychological as all the bass has dropped off. Second, sometimes the system cuts out altogether and I hear a "clicking" sound. Usually there are three or four (maybe 5?) clicks, and then the sound returns. My warranty expired today (50,123 miles!), but I got the service appointment in on time. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and can confirm whether it is hardware (and can/should be fixed) or is inherent in the software in which case I'll just have to live with it.

 

[GtiMart]

I cannot talk to your other problems, but there's something going on by design with the bass when the car is cold. The sub seems to be turned off when the car is too cold, and it comes back once the car has heated up enough. I don't know what the exact temperature is but it might get cold enough in Boston for that to happen. Definitely happens here in Quebec if I park my car outside The sound when the sub is off is very tinny.

 

[dansev]

Interesting. Was very cold today in Boston (like 8f when I first started heating the car.) I got a lot of the entire system cutting out along with the clicking sound, as well as the bass issues. Although it was perfectly warm in the car at that point. Well, seems like I'm lucky I got the appointment in before the 50k warranty expired. Hopefully they get it resolved at the service center. I am curious if anyone else has had this clicking sound...

 

[bwbrs]

I've noticed twice this winter when it has been very cold out in the mornings, my car audio will not have any bass. Playing with the settings didn't do anything to 'wake up' the sound.

The first time it happened I tried resetting the car but it didn't do anything, only after I had got to work and let it sit until I went out at lunch did the sound come back as normal both times.

Maybe it's just the extra cold winter we're having in NJ, but my car seems a lot more clunky sounding compared to last year's winter.

 

[GAGT]

I've had similar issues since last summer! Bass would cut out when i had the volume maxed or almost maxed but music would still play. I could change to any input and there would be no bass, did a soft reset(steering wheel buttons) and still nothing. I believe I even did the hard reset disconnecting under the rear seat? but I honestly don't remember if I went through with it. Suffered with that for a month or 2 (super busy summer for a small inconvience) and when I was finally sick of it, an update came along and it was gone! It has reoccurred on occasions through more updates but so far so good?

 

[Big Earl]

Do a two scroll wheel reset and see if the problem persists. I'll get audio glitches after a significant amount of computer runtime (multi-day trips) that clear up after resetting the computer.

 

[dansev]

This has been going on since I got the car in 2019. I added it to an upcoming service appointment and they said they’re going to replace the wiring harness. Hope that does it!

 

[brac]

I am having the same issue with the sound and the clicking. Did replacing the wiring harness fix the issue?

 

[Big Earl]

On a recent road trip to New England, I had to reboot the screen about every 6 to 8 hours to resolve audio problems/glitches/clicking. Seems to me like it’s running out of memory, kind of like when you have too many browser tabs open on a computer. I find it highly unlikely that a harness is going to fix this.

 

[jsmay311]

This has been going on since I got the car in 2019. I added it to an upcoming service appointment and they said they’re going to replace the wiring harness. Hope that does it!

Can you report if you got any resolution to this issue?

I have the same issue in my 2018 Model 3 (also recently out of warranty), but for me it's definitely a more recent phenomenon. I.e., it wasn't an issue for the first few years of ownership. I'd guess it started sometime in 2021, but has gotten much worse and more frequent in recent months.

In my experience, the audio cutout problems almost always coincide with a moment when the car is supposed to make a "beep" or "ding" sound inside the cabin, such as when engaging/disengaging autopilot, or initiating a voice command, or a turn signal, etc. That's when audio cuts out temporarily, often accompanied by the "clicking" noises described by the OP.

 

[lUtriaNt]

ive had this issue on my old 3/2020 m3p build. there have been a couple of threads on this forum speaking on this. i noticed it after a software update and it would happen on bluetooth. i have had my new 2/2022 m3p for a month now and ive not heard this. in my experience the clicking/bass dropout would happen randomly with no rhyme or reason of a proceeding beep or turn signal or fsd.

 

[dansev]

I'm picking up my car today from service. The invoice said that when they investigated the audio issues, the solution was a complete computer replacement. They said nothing of the wiring. I'll certainly report back on whether this fixes the issue. I'm also curious if I have been upgraded to the new CPU. I have a thread about this in the firmware section.

 

[dansev]

The very first time I turned on my radio yesterday, I got the clicking sound. It seems like this problem is fairly common. How can they not understand what causes it? How could they replace my entire computer if it clearly doesn’t fix it? This doesn’t give me a whole lot of confidence in Tesla service. My warranty is now expired. I certainly hope they will continue to try to fix the problem at no charge!

Is this a software issue after all??

 

[DFW_MVP]

Lol, surprised you had confidence in Tesla service to begin with.

When my audio system was stock, I often experienced losing all bass, and then having it randomly come back after a few seconds. This hasn't happened since I stopped using the stock subwoofer (replaced with a custom amp/sub setup a few years ago).

 

[Gnarly.]

I have a 2019 M3 dual motor that I've loved since day one. Absolutely amazing car and I also love the audio system. To my ears, it sounds excellent. I have however noticed a few quirks in the audio system that I first attributed to software, but now believe, as my warranty expires, that the audio system may have a physical problem. Today, driving to work it seems to happen far more often than it used to, while listening to a Spotify podcast at a modest volume.


I have noticed this for a while now. Exact same issue. At least for me, I narrowed it down to two possibilities: software issue (highly likely) or slightly loose wiring near sub or (hopefully not) down the line connecting to low voltage system. Software wise, I've gotten the issue to somewhat consistently to come up when there are multiple chimes coming in. It seems the software gets a little confused, freaks out, makes a popping sound, sub cuts out for a moment, and then reverts back to full sound/sub. I've had the subwoofer cut out on a bump or two before which made me think there was a loose wiring somewhere down the line but this hasn't been very consistent. Also, the sub cutting out has only happened recently with the introduction of the separate sub woofer section. I have a '17 Model 3 @ 90k miles. I'm leaning to software issue but go get it checked before warranty expires.

 

[Lashlee]

FWIW, My 2021 M3P with the premium audio (though all speakers are replaced, and aftermarket amps power them) does the same click but I seem to notice it happening when there is an audible indicator being generated by the computer (as in, a turn signal sound, or turning on or off of cruise, etc...), which has led me to think that it's a signal gain mismatch in the OEM amps causing a clip on the input of the OEM amp thus shutting down briefly. Mine has happened at nearly all volume levels as well.

 

[DMVtessie]

FWIW, My 2021 M3P with the premium audio (though all speakers are replaced, and aftermarket amps power them) does the same click but I seem to notice it happening when there is an audible indicator being generated by the computer (as in, a turn signal sound, or turning on or off of cruise, etc...), which has led me to think that it's a signal gain mismatch in the OEM amps causing a clip on the input of the OEM amp thus shutting down briefly. Mine has happened at nearly all volume levels as well.

I've had this same exact issue, whenever the computer makes an audio indicator, the speakers make a bunch of clicking sounds and then skips the audio. It's weird that this issue only started for me in the past few weeks, and I've been on 2021.36.8.8 for almost half a year now not wanting to go to v11.

 

[Mario Veras]

I've had this happen several times as well. I've noticed if I play around with the EQ sliders I can get the bass to turn on, but what really gets rid of the issue for several days is rebooting the computer. I tend to think it is a software issue they have not resolved.

 

[GAGT]

I've had similar issues since last summer! Bass would cut out when i had the volume maxed or almost maxed but music would still play. I could change to any input and there would be no bass, did a soft reset(steering wheel buttons) and still nothing. I believe I even did the hard reset disconnecting under the rear seat? but I honestly don't remember if I went through with it. Suffered with that for a month or 2 (super busy summer for a small inconvience) and when I was finally sick of it, an update came along and it was gone! It has reoccurred on occasions through more updates but so far so good?

Until it just flat out died basically. Anything over 75% was causing it. New amp put in under warranty, 7 months later and its starting to cut out again but with a harsh crackling noise now, oh joy.

 

[Mario Veras]

Until it just flat out died basically. Anything over 75% was causing it. New amp put in under warranty, 7 months later and its starting to cut out again but with a harsh crackling noise now, oh joy.

I’m not following you. 75% of what?