Dreaded milling sound appeared today — have a 400 mile drive home: Advice sought

[artsci]

On my way to Emerald Isle North Carolina from Baltimore the dreaded milling sound appeared in my last hour of the drive. Prior to that I got a vibration on hard acceleration — that’s been there for about a month. Assume the drive unit has a major problem and will have to be replaced.

I’m here for two weeks on vacation, so not much driving to do. But I have a near 400 mile trip home.

What are the odds that the drive unit will fail leaving me stranded? What advice would others give to avoid a failure of the DU?

 

[Frank T]

From what I have read on this forum you should be able to enjoy your trip. What I gather from what I have read is that it is not a safety issue and is a result of bearing pitting in the older metal bearings. I would call the Tesla people and double check of course!

Frank

 

[DDotJ]

It won't leave you stranded at all, I drove for about 6 months with the milling noise. Just call Tesla Service to set an appointment to get that fixed up

 

[artsci]

Thanks -- that's a relief.

 

[TaoJones]

The vibration if from the front upon hard acceleration in my case turned out to be half shafts. Both were replaced with "a new design from a different supplier". 10,000 miles later, the vibration is back, but this time they say it's normal due to torque. Bleh. I have a note to get a second opinion from a different SvC one of these days.

As noted above, have no worries about the "standard" milling noise - I also had that appear during a road trip one day. The SvC said it would continue to get louder and to deal with it when I got home. So about 15,000 miles later, it was added to an annual service visit - extended the service appointment by just one day.

Here is a list of Tesla noises both normal and abnormal. Please see #14.

Also, this discussion from last year might be of some use.

 

[Rockster]

My milling noise appeared while I was in Tampa, FL on a trip from Dallas. I drove home from FL and drove for another couple of months before Tesla replaced the drive unit. Other than the annoying sound, there was no issue whatsoever.

 

[Bet TSLA]

No short term worries. One minor advantage to combining this with a regular service is that you might be able to get them to reduce the cost of the service because some parts of the service may not need to be done due to replacing the drive unit. Saved me a few bucks.

 

[eye.surgeon]

I drove with the milling noise for several months. After replacement it's been silent for the last 10k miles.

 

[macbeth]

I had the milling sound and vibration for almost a year. Rockville fixed it and both the milling sound and vibration are gone. You should have no problems making it home.

 

[henderrj]

You've already got the idea but I'll add to the point about having other things done at the same time. I bought a used one that had been in a relatively minor accident, and the current owner was sure that Tesla wouldn't cover the drive unit under warranty. I went ahead and scheduled the 50,000 mile inspection, since I was at 48k, and they not only did the Drive Unit under warranty but a whole bunch of other things as well. Best $800 I ever spent!

 

[artsci]

I asked for advice and I got it, and it was great. Thanks everybody for all of you information. I have a service center appointment the week I get home.