Bad noise coming from driver's side headlight after rain

[Golight1]

2016 Model S 90D - Title is a high level summary, but I drove home from work today during a bad rainstorm and when I parked in my garage I noticed a loud mechanical motor sound coming from directly behind my driver's side headlight. It did not happen before the rain, and was still happening if when the car was not plugged in and asleep. The noise stops after about 20 minutes or so of inactivity, but as soon as I get back in the car it starts up again.

Does anyone have experience with this? The service operator on the phone seemed to have no idea what was happening.

If I place my hand on the headlight housing I feel a vibration, and if I listen very closely I can hear water moving (nothing dripping from the car) along with the mechanical sound. Do the adaptive headlights have motors in them? That is my only thought...

Any help is appreciated! Thank you.

 

[Golight1]

Here is a link to the video of the sound.

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Golight1,

I just had some service done on my wife's S 85 D and I believe there is a water/coolant pump underneath
the driver's side headlight... Underneath the frunk tub.
That would be consistent with you hearing water flowing too.
These pumps function for a while after the car has stopped...
From your video it sounds like the pump or its bearings are well on their way to failure...
Keep an eye on it.

Shawn

 

[Golight1]

Hi Golight1,

I just had some service done on my wife's S 85 D and I believe there is a water/coolant pump underneath
the driver's side headlight... Underneath the frunk tub.
That would be consistent with you hearing water flowing too.
These pumps function for a while after the car has stopped...
From your video it sounds like the pump or its bearings are well on their way to failure...
Keep an eye on it.

Shawn

Thanks Shawn. I went out and actually unplugged the power cord connecting the driver's side headlamp and the noise instantly turned off. With that happening, my guess is this thread is what is occuring: Weird Noise/Vibration from Left Headlight. I'll update the post as service let's me know the problem.

 

[Mike’s S]

My model S is making the same noise however I didn’t drive in a rain storm. Golight1 did you solve your problem?

 

[Golight1]

My model S is making the same noise however I didn’t drive in a rain storm. Golight1 did you solve your problem?

Service came out and replaced the headlight. They didn’t know what was wrong but since it was under warranty they just swapped it out.