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AWD front motor sounds

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Anyone have updates about this issue? Our AWD 3 is currently in the shop for these exact symptoms but we haven't gotten any word yet on whether Tesla thinks it's a problem / something they'll fix.

What "issue"?

The front motor makes noise, without a doubt. Under hard acceleration they whine. If someone claims their's does not they probably have lost some high frequency hearing... or they drive the car like there's an egg between their foot and the accelerator.
 
I've been meaning to ask about this for a while.

P3D+ My front motor makes the standard whine under load, electric regen noises when doing regen, etc. Those all seem normal and actually seem good. It's hard for me to determine whether those noises are coming from the front or rear.

There may also be a very very quiet "beeping" when under no load. But that seems very subtle and not always there for me.

But what I wonder about is the quite noticeable "droning" (but not grinding or vibrating) noise between about 37 and 41 mph. It kind of sounds like the very early stages of a bad bearing, I don't know how else to describe it. I noticed it immediately after picking up the vehicle the first time I got to 37mph. However, my passengers in the back did not seem to be able to hear it when I asked them. All I can say is it continues to be quite annoying to me.

Generally, my solution is to avoid those speeds, it's annoying enough (to me) that there is an incentive to do that. I figure it probably is a motor or bearing issue and it will simply work itself out with time! These things have a way of "fixing" themselves; that's what I have found with bearings. :) But maybe it is something else.

Anyone else have the modestly loud droning, 37-41mph ONLY?
 
I just had my appointment today. We went for a test drive and the technician said that he thinks mine sounded normal, it wasn't loud enough to worry about anything, he mentioned that when there is a problem he barely has to drive out of the lot before we can hear it, to reassure he suggested jumping into other dual motors M3s at the SC to confirm they all have similar noise, but I didn't want to since I was late for work. At the end of the day I am more worried then annoyed with the sound but knowing that it is normal is good enough... And the fact that my concern is on the record if a problem occurs later in life of the car.
 
I just had my appointment today. We went for a test drive and the technician said that he thinks mine sounded normal, it wasn't loud enough to worry about anything, he mentioned that when there is a problem he barely has to drive out of the lot before we can hear it, to reassure he suggested jumping into other dual motors M3s at the SC to confirm they all have similar noise, but I didn't want to since I was late for work. At the end of the day I am more worried then annoyed with the sound but knowing that it is normal is good enough... And the fact that my concern is on the record if a problem occurs later in life of the car.

Thanks for following up about this. Mine also does it at 60-65 mph so glad to hear that’s normal. Mine isn’t too loud but I’m sensitive to noise.
 
I've been meaning to ask about this for a while.

P3D+ My front motor makes the standard whine under load, electric regen noises when doing regen, etc. Those all seem normal and actually seem good. It's hard for me to determine whether those noises are coming from the front or rear.

There may also be a very very quiet "beeping" when under no load. But that seems very subtle and not always there for me.

But what I wonder about is the quite noticeable "droning" (but not grinding or vibrating) noise between about 37 and 41 mph. It kind of sounds like the very early stages of a bad bearing, I don't know how else to describe it. I noticed it immediately after picking up the vehicle the first time I got to 37mph. However, my passengers in the back did not seem to be able to hear it when I asked them. All I can say is it continues to be quite annoying to me.

Generally, my solution is to avoid those speeds, it's annoying enough (to me) that there is an incentive to do that. I figure it probably is a motor or bearing issue and it will simply work itself out with time! These things have a way of "fixing" themselves; that's what I have found with bearings. :) But maybe it is something else.

Anyone else have the modestly loud droning, 37-41mph ONLY?

Yes, I have this on mine as well at around those speeds. I think it's normal.. but I think a few of us should try to record the sound so we know we're all talking about the same thing.
 
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They all whine. End of story.

There was a lengthy thread about the beeping that was occurring even with an RWD car and I believe the person reported a firmware update fixed it.

Yes, MS, MX and dare I say M3 all whine, its normal, and in my opinion a very nice sound. All Healthy sounds in an electric car. Love the Saleen in the video from page one here, with its new high performance drive gears. It actually burns rubber also. NICE
 
They all whine. End of story.

Probably they all whine and that is normal. The other sounds (excess gear lash probably) vary from vehicle to vehicle. The demo P3Ds seemed to be selected to be quieter - at least the one I drove was very quiet (had the standard whine on acceleration and regen noises of course)). I was listening for these noises because I had driven an AWD with the “beeping”. The demo had neither the beeping nor the weird noise between 37 and 41mph (which is obvious and I think would be minorly annoying to most people - it just kind of drones away at those specific speeds - I was glad to hear confirmation from @paranoidroid that he has it too - I wonder what it is?).

EDIT: I wonder if it is some sort of resonance from a very slightly misbalanced motor rotor or something. They usually have to drill some material out of these things to get them perfectly balanced...and there would be some tolerance on that. END EDIT

Definitely no point in taking it in though! Maybe it will break. Kind of hoping for that I guess. Though mine has only very minor “beeping” (I actually would not describe it as beeping in my car for this particular noise, just using the same term as others) so I think my gear lash is probably just fine.
 
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Probably they all whine and that is normal. The other sounds (excess gear lash probably) vary from vehicle to vehicle. The demo P3Ds seemed to be selected to be quieter - at least the one I drove was very quiet (had the standard whine on acceleration and regen noises of course)). I was listening for these noises because I had driven an AWD with the “beeping”. The demo had neither the beeping nor the weird noise between 37 and 41mph.
This.

The demo P3D I drove was very quiet, not rear wheel drive S quiet, but nice. I changed from LR3 TO P3D based on that drive. So off to service center I go. Ugh.
 
This.

The demo P3D I drove was very quiet, not rear wheel drive S quiet, but nice. I changed from LR3 TO P3D based on that drive. So off to service center I go. Ugh.

What is your specific noise you are hearing (maybe I missed it earlier in the thread)?

I just figure going to the service center is dangerous for the car, so it’s not really worth it for me. But maybe your noise is a lot worse. As long as I don’t drive at the 37-41 speed things are basically good for me.
 
I only drove my 3D for a week and heard the motor whining noise when accelerating and decelerating. The noise is coming out from the front. I got a S75D loaner while my car is in service for paint issue and test drove a P3D while I was at the SC, both the S75D and P3D have the same motor whining noise. I think that's normal for dual motor, unless the noise is different and very loud.
I agree with you.
 
What is your specific noise you are hearing (maybe I missed it earlier in the thread)?

I just figure going to the service center is dangerous for the car, so it’s not really worth it for me. But maybe your noise is a lot worse. As long as I don’t drive at the 37-41 speed things are basically good for me.
I get some droning, lots of front motor whine and surging under 35 - 45. It's like the front doesn't know to be applying power, do nothing, or regen, and then is not in sync with the rear.

I once had a Dodge Ram 4x4 that came from the factory with different final drive ratios in the front and back (which is bad). So the first time I engaged 4-wheel drive in the snow, it was a sugar show.

Obviously my P3D is not like this, but something about the way it acts reminds me of my Ram.

Yeah, the more I ponder it, it's time to schedule a service visit.
 
I get some droning, lots of front motor whine and surging under 35 - 45. It's like the front doesn't know to be applying power, do nothing, or regen, and then is not in sync with the rear.

I once had a Dodge Ram 4x4 that came from the factory with different final drive ratios in the front and back (which is bad). So the first time I engaged 4-wheel drive in the snow, it was a sugar show.

Obviously my P3D is not like this, but something about the way it acts reminds me of my Ram.

Yeah, the more I ponder it, it's time to schedule a service visit.

Oh, I guess mine seems fine then. Nothing like this!
 
I found a video of someone recording the front motor pulsing sound that I hear. Turn the volume up because it's faint. It's most evident around 0:13-0:15 when he's at 33mph.

It's a faint high pitch pulsing - and not a steady whine like you may hear instead at higher or lower speeds. The faint pulsing sound almost sounds like a bad bearing and happens at certain speeds.

As far as I know this is completely normal and I hear it too. Is this the same sound others hear?

 
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