Yes. The sound was "external" just like you described. I could hear it best with the rear windows down, particularly if the rear passenger door was open too (I was moving something big down the street), and the loudest of them all is within an enclosed parking garage it echos off the walls amplifying the effect. Inside the car if you have all the windows up its muffled but still audible because the sound was coming from the drive unit underneath the car.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Drive unit problems explanation by Elon
- Thread starter Matias
- Start date
Yes. The sound was "external" just like you described. I could hear it best with the rear windows down, particularly if the rear passenger door was open too (I was moving something big down the street), and the loudest of them all is within an enclosed parking garage it echos off the walls amplifying the effect. Inside the car if you have all the windows up its muffled but still audible because the sound was coming from the drive unit underneath the car.
Eggplant
Member
So, reading all this has me concerned. I have three noises, two of which I think are getting worse. Do any of these sound like drive replacement worthy issues? I'm at around 25k miles after one year of ownership.
1) A low speed "whirring" or "warble." I hear this around 10 mph up through about 30 mph. It increases in pitch and frequency until I don't really hear it anymore. Not terribly loud, but getting louder recently. I've noticed it only happens when the car is accelerating or going up hill (ie: "in the orange") but never in regen. I can hear it best in the back seat as it appears to be coming from the drive area. With the windows down I can hear it reflecting off of buildings and walls as I pass them. A friend with a more recent Model S commented on it recently as being something he's never heard.
2) A low, loud hum at speeds 70-80 mph. Does not change in pitch with speed, but gets louder the faster I go above about 72. Doesn't change with being in regen or not. Does not go away when shifting into neutral either. I don't think it's tire noise. It's quite loud and annoying around 80 mph.
3) The balloon squeal at high acceleration. This one comes and goes depending on temperature and weight int he car. I think this one is generally accepted as "normal."
What does anyone think? Worth making the service manager take a ride with me?
1) A low speed "whirring" or "warble." I hear this around 10 mph up through about 30 mph. It increases in pitch and frequency until I don't really hear it anymore. Not terribly loud, but getting louder recently. I've noticed it only happens when the car is accelerating or going up hill (ie: "in the orange") but never in regen. I can hear it best in the back seat as it appears to be coming from the drive area. With the windows down I can hear it reflecting off of buildings and walls as I pass them. A friend with a more recent Model S commented on it recently as being something he's never heard.
2) A low, loud hum at speeds 70-80 mph. Does not change in pitch with speed, but gets louder the faster I go above about 72. Doesn't change with being in regen or not. Does not go away when shifting into neutral either. I don't think it's tire noise. It's quite loud and annoying around 80 mph.
3) The balloon squeal at high acceleration. This one comes and goes depending on temperature and weight int he car. I think this one is generally accepted as "normal."
What does anyone think? Worth making the service manager take a ride with me?
Liz G
P03056
I had 2 drive trains replaced that exhibited your issue number 1. Third drive train seems to be OK. I would hear the sound when utilizing between 5 and 20 kWh and faintly when regening between 1 and 5 kWh. Interestingly, I could here the sound even at high speeds if I drove by something, like a concrete wall, that reflected the sound. The sound itself manifested over time. With the first drive train I didn't hear it till I had about 16,000 on it. With the second one it appeared after only 1000 miles.
mknox
Well-Known Member
To muddy the waters further, mine was replaced for a noise that sounded very much like a large power transformer sounds. An obnoxious humm that only occurred when there was power being applied or re-gen taking place. I could make the sound come and go at will by simply modulating the accelerator to the point where the power meter was at zero. To me it was very much an electrical sound that I attributed to the inverter, but no confirmation of this was ever provided by Tesla.
You still have to pay for any service involved on a TSB out of warranty but the TSB makes troubleshooting and fixing easy. Typically, they will have the associated hours of work to execute the TSB and pricing will be based upon that plus parts.
Tesla may ultimately do it differently but this is how Mitsu and VW did it when I brought my car in. The other option you have is to just get the TSB yourself and buy the part and do the fix yourself (e.g. get the zip-tie and secure the cable on your own in accordance with the guidance in the TSB)
:scared: Yeah that'd be a problem. Thanks for providing your experience. I could've sworn that for the last Mazda I had they took care of some TSBs no charge but like you said it could vary from one brand to the next.
I believe Tesla will do the right thing but if not I'll make sure to have a backup plan. I'm all for them giving us an extended powertrain warranty.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Agreed. Mine makes a lot of different noises, but I have no idea if it matches any of the ones described here.
The exception being the "balloon squeal" which, while being a pretty accurate description of the sound, also had videos posted.
If a TSB is associated with a recall then it has to be done free of charge. Those are probably what you received through Mazda, but I have no first hand knowledge of this.
Kraken
Member
Oddly enough, my car started making the same sound as your while I was driving back to Utah. The description sounds the same as theirs. We really do need to get some of these sounds recorded.
Kraken
Member
Per your suggestion, I did talk to Peter. We ran into each other at the supercharger in Gilroy. He had never heard the sound my car was making. We ran it behind a strip mall, so we got lots of echo effect. He then suggested we run his car, now that he knew what to listen for. Sure enough, at a very fine point, we could hear it in his car too (again, he'd never heard it before). It wasn't for as much of the range of acceleration, and it wasn't as loud.
Contagious indeed! Although, perhaps it's a perception thing. Once you've heard it, you realize it's there... it's just worse in some cars and perhaps gets worse over time. Maybe we don't want these sounds recorded and posted or else everyone will suddenly realize they have it and become annoyed by it!
Would be nice to know when the sounds is a non issue, and when it is a big deal though.
Krugerrand
Meow
No, the milling sound is not speed sensitive. It is throttle sensitive. As you adjust the power level the sound changes.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Mine must have definitely been electrical then. I would get a loud transformer-like hum whenever the power meter was in the Orange or Green zones and would go away when the power meter was at zero. It did not vary with speed or get louder when more power was applied except for the fact that it was more noticeable above about 60 MPH. The "pitch" of the sound did not change either.
No, that's dogs and cats living together.
- - - Updated - - -
For me, the milling sound of #1 was most prominent when:
- speed in the 70-80mph range
- fresh tar in CA
- warm weather (and no precipitation)
- no other cars within 50ft
- hold pedal at zero(ish) on the power arc then press to 160+kW, release to full regen, repeat
For that scenario, it was very clear it was directly correlated to power amplitude on the arc.
I do not have the humming sound. That certainly seems like it would be an inverter related issue and should be replaced asap.
I have the milling sound and it is loud enough to be noticed by pedestrians on the sidewalk or folks sitting on their rowhouse stoops. They might think: here's a car with no engine, only a phaser sound that is directly proportional to acceleration.
On a 'scope the audio waveform would have a sharp attack like the cicada sound. When you go into regen the sound abruptly stops. It begins as a pshaw pshaw sound with each rotation of the wheels. By 8 mph it has become a cicada sound which gets louder up to 20 and 30 mph at which point it becomes mixed in with tire slap and rumble. As I recall, cicadas start out slowly but always with the sharp attack. Where are those little buggers when we need them?
I have made videos (audios!) but can't post until I get home, this 3g browser being somewhat limited.
I have never noticed the balloon sqeal but might have dreamed that I did at some time in the past. But being 2200 miles from home hard launching is not part of one's repertoir.
--
I have the milling sound and it is loud enough to be noticed by pedestrians on the sidewalk or folks sitting on their rowhouse stoops. They might think: here's a car with no engine, only a phaser sound that is directly proportional to acceleration.
On a 'scope the audio waveform would have a sharp attack like the cicada sound. When you go into regen the sound abruptly stops. It begins as a pshaw pshaw sound with each rotation of the wheels. By 8 mph it has become a cicada sound which gets louder up to 20 and 30 mph at which point it becomes mixed in with tire slap and rumble. As I recall, cicadas start out slowly but always with the sharp attack. Where are those little buggers when we need them?
I have made videos (audios!) but can't post until I get home, this 3g browser being somewhat limited.
I have never noticed the balloon sqeal but might have dreamed that I did at some time in the past. But being 2200 miles from home hard launching is not part of one's repertoir.
--
Last edited:
Eggplant
Member
Tesla is stalking me in this thread. I'll try to make some audio recordings before I go in for my service appointment next week.
Similar threads
