Balloon sound getting substantially worse?

[ebbrey]

They mentioned that they used a RECORDING at differing speeds that was sent to engineering, well that's what I was told.

Yeah, had that slap in the face back in august. Havent heard back yet.

 

[apacheguy]

It's got to be a cost savings move. Somebody ran the numbers on what it was going to cost to fix/replace every clunking drivetrain and decided to set some threshold for repair. Maybe this explains why mine is being replaced and others aren't. I complained about the clunking at my very first SC visit when the car was 1 month old, and it's gotten substantially worse since then. It's downright loud and completely unmistakable even to passengers not so in-tune to typical car noises.

So maybe not a full fledged replacement. But I don't see why they can't at least apply the TSBs Elon referenced in his blog about DU replacements. AmpedRealtor will be having his DU bearings serviced locally without a replacement.

I think Tesla owners should expect more than this. Being told that an annoying noise from the drive unit is acceptable because failure is not imminent says that issues are only important if failure is around the corner. Or said in another way, we don't want to service expensive components unless they are about to fail. Or in other words, we can only replace said component once you are close to being in harm's way due to a drivetrain failure. Sure, makes sense. Go Tesla!

This is a $100,000+ car that should not be making clunking or droning noises. If your car was once quiet, the motor should not be getting noisier over time. If the car you test drove did not exhibit this sound, you have every expectation that your personal vehicle should also not exhibit this sound. If it did, I would expect it to be taken seriously and repaired immediately.

Agreed!

 

[Gizmotoy]

So maybe not a full fledged replacement. But I don't see why they can't at least apply the TSBs Elon referenced in his blog about DU replacements. AmpedRealtor will be having his DU bearings serviced locally without a replacement.

As far as I'm aware, the blog post simply noted that the warranty on the drive units was being increased to match the battery (Infinite Mile Warranty | Blog | Tesla Motors). I think what you may be referring to are Musk's comments on the earnings call (DailyTech - Following Reports of Drive Motor Replacements, Tesla Ups Model S Powertrain Warranty
).

I specifically asked about this, thinking perhaps it was the cause of my balloon droning noise going away after hitting a bump. It seemed logical: hit a bump, cable moves, noise disappears. The SC's tech who went on the test drive with me claimed they've had little to no success with the change noted by Elon on the call, and while I'm reaching my own conclusion here it sounded like they don't even consider performing it any more. That is, it was quickly dismissed as being a potential cause.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I have mentioned the balloon squeal on my P85 several times to my techs and they say my car is normal. At the current volume the noise is tolerable but if it increased to the point where it was bothering me or I found out it was a safety or reliability concern I would push the issue a lot more for sure...