Banging/clunking sound when driving over mountains in cold weather

[1deepthink]

I understand your POV and understand that as Tesla sells cars to the broader “non-early adopter” market they will continually run into customers that will expect a refined experience. Sorry, you aren’t going to get that with these cars. Tesla is on the cutting edge of innovation and are trying to bring a product to the mainstream market. Hate to say it but if you want refined, buy BMW. Right now, buying a Tesla means accepting some of the smaller shortcomings in order to appreciate and support the larger leap in technology and innovation.

Ok there. Listen it’s the best car by far that I’ve ever had...but it’s not perfect.

And sorry, Tesla has not reached the refined production processes of companies like BMW. If that offends you or I’m airing some sort of secret...sorry man. Enjoy the koolaid.

@Matt L I think you've pretty much nailed the fair tone here. Extraordinary car with a steep learning curve in process.

I have this bang/clunk sound too. Same spot going up a steep hill on my way home about 30% of the time. I guarantee you I'm heating up the battery because I love to punch it up the hill! The positives of the car outweigh the learning curve negatives so that I just don't worry about it. Yes, I'm interested. I'm on this forum and noticed this issued being discussed. But that's a long way from being up in arms about it.

 

[1deepthink]

Anyone have any new information on this? We drove to Park City from Salt Lake tonight and there was quite a bit of thunking and clunking from the undercarriage going up and down

 

[1deepthink]

Bounce

 

[voip-ninja]

Anyone have any new information on this? We drove to Park City from Salt Lake tonight and there was quite a bit of thunking and clunking from the undercarriage going up and down

I observed some weird bang/rattle noises coming from the under-carriage for the first time a couple of weeks ago when I had charged the battery to 100%.

I then observed some of those same noises when I drove from the Denver suburbs through the Eisenhower tunnel and back again.

Seems like it is related to battery state and elevation changes.

It's annoying and if I did those drives routinely I would probably complain to Tesla about it, but since those are rare trips for me I'm just going to ignore it.

 

[WATT TF]

I notice this same noise when supercharging (most of the time). It's so loud that it will wake me up if I am taking a short nap. I think it's a metal plate in the undercarriage that is quickly changing temperature and flexing/popping. In my case and yours this plate is probably at a saturated cold temperature. In my case the supercharge is quickly heating it up, and in your case driving uphill is doing the same.

At first I was concerned with the build quality and thought something might be wrong. Now I have a better understanding of the differences between an ICE and EV car and consider things like this perfectly normal. What I found most disturbing was the popping of the rear floor board behind the center console from me stepping on it or pushing on it with my hand. There are a lot of thin, large metal plates under the carpet that are prone to flexing due to rapid change in heat. Same is true with the undercarriage of the vehicle. Although I'm not entirely sure what is popping, it does appear to be normal based on the construction of the vehicle.

 

[kbecks13]

Now I have a better understanding of the differences between an ICE and EV car and consider things like this perfectly normal.

It always amazes me to see some of the mental gymnastics we do around here

Yes EV's are unique and different, but there's no way we can call this "normal" when its not something like a contactor that is unique and required for an EV to work. It is most likely minor buckling/flexing in a thin piece of sheet metal and most likely could be corrected with a different design. Let's not give Tesla a free pass on everything just because its an EV.

 

[XBS9]

I have this same issue on my August build dual motor and it seems to be getting worst. Earliest sc appoint is a month away.

 

[1deepthink]

I have this same issue on my August build dual motor and it seems to be getting worst. Earliest sc appoint is a month away.

Sorry to hear. Please share here if you learn anything. Are you hearing it in warm weather given that you’re in LA?

 

[rosenboss]

Same- I’m glad to hear I am not crazy- it only seems to happen to me when driving to and from mountains -Denver to Breck etc. I have never noticed it in my daily commute around town and have only done the mountain drive when cold outside. Seems to pop/thud 1-2 times per trip. Should we be concerned? It is not always the same spot but rountinely coming from the underside.

 

[1deepthink]

Same- I’m glad to hear I am not crazy- it only seems to happen to me when driving to and from mountains -Denver to Breck etc. I have never noticed it in my daily commute around town and have only done the mountain drive when cold outside. Seems to pop/thud 1-2 times per trip. Should we be concerned? It is not always the same spot but rountinely coming from the underside.

With the cold weather seems to be showing up in many forums. Also found the poll in the link below if you're interested. I have a service appointment Monday and will let you know what they say.
Clunking form submission please help

 

[ivan801]

Anyone have any new information on this? We drove to Park City from Salt Lake tonight and there was quite a bit of thunking and clunking from the undercarriage going up and down

When I drive my car up to Park City it sounds like a whole bunch of firecrackers going off under my car. Especially last couple of miles before the summit. Service Center tells me that is normal and is nothing to worry about. It does scare my family, but I am used to it by now. My whole car vibrates from the bang sounds.

 

[Mand M]

If no one knows the cause of this, how do we know this is not a safety issue? For those that do not live/drive in the mountains, you don't know if your car might have this or not, and do not know how distressing it is. It is not tolerable to have the nicest luxury car I have ever known sound like it has baseball bats hitting it from underneath. It happened while changing lanes yesterday, and I thought I hit something. How can that possibly be acceptable to anyone? This is not normal, nor should we expect it to be.

 

[rmlewis]

Same issue on my RWD LR. Seems to occur right around the freezing point and sure enough, when I go into the mountains. Does not seem to be getting worse or better. Not too concerned over here in Denver, CO. Still the safest car on the road in my opinion.

 

[Big Earl]

If no one knows the cause of this, how do we know this is not a safety issue? For those that do not live/drive in the mountains, you don't know if your car might have this or not, and do not know how distressing it is. It is not tolerable to have the nicest luxury car I have ever known sound like it has baseball bats hitting it from underneath. It happened while changing lanes yesterday, and I thought I hit something. How can that possibly be acceptable to anyone? This is not normal, nor should we expect it to be.

The cause is thermal expansion of the battery pack's metal shell. It is not a safety issue.

Yes, it's annoying and I'd rather it not happen. No, I'm not going to lose sleep over it, fret about it or otherwise let it bother me. 16,000 miles and most of the time I don't notice it anymore.

 

[1deepthink]

Check the box on my second Tesla service experience being outstanding. I scheduled an appointment on my app which was only a week out. Prior to coming in I received a call from a service adviser acknowledging the bang/clunk issue, saying there is no fix at this time and confirming there is no safety issue. He also sent me this message:

"Thank you for informing us about your experience with your Model 3. The sound you are hearing while driving is a known behavior of the car and there is no known safety concern. We want to ensure that you have the best ownership experience - therefore Tesla is working on the issue and our engineers are investigating a cause. At this time there is no indication that a repair is required, which means you can continue to drive your car as you wish. We pride ourselves on giving the best in customer service and as soon as we have more information about this, you will be informed."

Verbally he also indicated it is thermal expansion of a cap on the batteries which sounded less relevant than a support or mount.

Although I'm not thrilled with this sound, I can manage knowing there's not a safety issue.

This dialog actually happened when I stopped by the Service Center unannounced. The rep was very nice and while I waited replaced a missing bumper clip that I knocked off on a chunk of ice and added the Dual Motor badge that I wanted.

Now...back to driving!

 

[boiler81]

My 3D also exhibits these distracting noises.
I agree it's not a safety issue, but it's not a idiosyncrasy you expect in a luxury automobile, and the mass market may not be as accepting as us fanboys.

Maybe the "Flufferbot" battery insulation should not have been removed from battery pack construction last spring without fully understanding the ramifications:

"The line kept breaking down because Flufferbot would frequently just fail to pick up the fluff. Or put it in a random location," Musk said during the phone call. The production team tested the battery without its fuzzy insulation, and when they found that it sounded about the same whether it was insulated or not, the flufferbot was let go, Slate reported.​

 

[Big Earl]

My 3D also exhibits these distracting noises.
I agree it's not a safety issue, but it's not a idiosyncrasy you expect in a luxury automobile, and the mass market may not be as accepting as us fanboys.

Maybe the "Flufferbot" battery insulation should not have been removed from battery pack construction last spring without fully understanding the ramifications:

"The line kept breaking down because Flufferbot would frequently just fail to pick up the fluff. Or put it in a random location," Musk said during the phone call. The production team tested the battery without its fuzzy insulation, and when they found that it sounded about the same whether it was insulated or not, the flufferbot was let go, Slate reported.​

If it was tested and found to be the same, that reads to me like the pops and bangs might have been noticeable even with FlufferBot's fluff.

 

[boiler81]

If it was tested and found to be the same, that reads to me like the pops and bangs might have been noticeable even with FlufferBot's fluff.

If it was tested...we wouldn't have an expensive luxury car with clunking sounds that owner's of $20K ICE cars don't have to endure.

Remember with Tesla, the customers are the testers

 

[StealthP3D]

Remember with Tesla, the customers are the testers

I know people who would give their firstborn to be able to be "testers" for Tesla. I must admit, I've been thoroughly enjoying "testing" two Model 3's beginning in May 2018. Neither one has needed to go back to Tesla for anything yet (except to have winter tires installed on the P3D). Yes, this Model 3 "testing" is fun stuff indeed.

Yesterday afternoon I needed to "test" which would leave the line more quickly a P3D or a 5.0L Mustang. It was determined the P3D was quicker off the line by a very significant margin. Our other finding was the 5.0L Mustang made more noise when trying to beat the P3D. Testing is fun!

 

[gshep86]

I observed some weird bang/rattle noises coming from the under-carriage for the first time a couple of weeks ago when I had charged the battery to 100%.

I then observed some of those same noises when I drove from the Denver suburbs through the Eisenhower tunnel and back again.

Seems like it is related to battery state and elevation changes.

It's annoying and if I did those drives routinely I would probably complain to Tesla about it, but since those are rare trips for me I'm just going to ignore it.

I get the same thing driving from Denver to Fairplay on 285. Seems normal