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Dreaded Drive Train Clunk - FALSE ALARM

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My 2013 P85 has 23,000 carefully-driven miles. About a month ago I began noticing a clunking noise in the drive train when transitioning between regen and mild acceleration. With the windows down, I could hear it quite clearly when gently starting up from a full stop. This symptom seemed to match the classic drive train clunk that has led a number of owners to have their drive train replaced (under warranty of course). Apparently, in some cases the gear reduction unit has suffered premature wear due to the substantial torque load it has to handle, and this leads to some "play" in the drive train.

Yesterday, I dropped my car at the Tesla service center in Watertown, MA to have this and a few other minor issues addressed. To my delight and surprise when I picked up the car, the clunk was not coming from the gearbox. Instead it was caused by the velocity joints on the driveshafts. They simply re-torqued the bolts on the velocity joints and the problem went away.

This a further proof that an occasional visit to a Tesla service center is a good idea. They also performed a number of minor factory upgrades, many of which I was not aware of. Great car. Great company.
 
Thanks for that. Mine, with about 31,000 miles, is in today for the same thing (along with some other minor things). They say it is "normal" for most cars to have this symptom and to be fair, the loaner P85 with only a couple of thousand miles has it worse than mine. I guess I'll find out this afternoon.
 
Helpful - I assumed this was the inverter, not the velocity joints on the driveshafts. I learn a little every day. MKnox let us know what you found when you brought your car in, please.
And Thanks, Todd, for the insight (and hope hope hoping they'll get that White River Junction SC up soooooon).
 
MKnox let us know what you found when you brought your car in, please.

As I mentioned up thread a bit, the loaner I had was much worse than my own car. On the loaner I could not only feel the clunk, but could hear it at just about any speed with the windows up and audio playing. Mine is a lot more subtle than that, and as suspected, they told me it is "normal" for the drivetrains to have or develop a little bit of play like that.
 
While mine returned a few days after re-torqueing and re-greasing, this week it has gotten progressively worse. I did a recording. It doesnt show as well on the recording of course, but it is now loud enough to Echo off the garage from 20 ft away.

Opinions?

 
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While mine returned a few days after re-torqueing and re-greasing, this week it has gotten progressively worse. I did a recording. It doesnt show as well on the recording of course, but it is now loud enough to Echo off the garage from 20 ft away.

Opinions?

That's pretty loud, sounds like the drive unit needs replacement for sure. Has anyone tracked this problem enough to know if it happens more often with the P85? It seems like the additional torque would contribute to a higher probability of drive unit failure.
 
That's pretty loud, sounds like the drive unit needs replacement for sure. Has anyone tracked this problem enough to know if it happens more often with the P85? It seems like the additional torque would contribute to a higher probability of drive unit failure.
I have a 60. I would have thought being a 60, and running what, 40% less power is it then the S85 would help extend the life?
 
I have a 60. I would have thought being a 60, and running what, 40% less power is it then the S85 would help extend the life?

No, the P85 having more initial torque should give an extra jolt causing it to happen more often in the 60. Interesting they haven't been able to fix this problem, the drive unit doesn't appear to be all that complicated...definitely less complicated than a Falcon 9 rocket.
 
I think you meant "more often THAN in the 60"? And that is just what islandbayy assumed ...?

Whos on first...haha, yes, more often than in the 60. Read his post a second time, got it now. I mistook "is it then the S85 would help extend the life?" to be a question, asking if the S85 would help extend the life.

Islandbayy, to answer the question, yes your assumption makes sense. I just wonder if it's true, or if the probability of a problem is exactly the same across the 40, 60, 85 and P85 models?
 
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