Anyone else bothered by the M3's fan noise level and noise signature? It bugs me so much that I turn off climate control till the road noise exceeds and masks the fan noise at highway speeds. "Auto mode" does not ever seem to use less than level 3 fan speed. Level 1 fan speed in "manual" mode is tolerable, but that's too much fooling around with the controls too frequently. A tech at the San Francisco SC sat in another customer's M3 and assured me it had the same issue. We both think it is caused by a lack of complicated ducting and poor impeller design. IE, optimized impeller blades would progressively get more aggressive to minimize the hard cut against the air.
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Fan Noise
- Thread starter langineers
- Start date
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- Model 3 User Interface
I agree that the fan often sounds like its working harder than needed compared to some other cars (and my S) and is of course more obvious since its the ONLY noise when sitting still. I find that its much higher if the rear seat vents are on so I'll turn them off until summer when they are needed. I had a BMW X5 that was similar, I often got in and found that the fan sounded like it was working real hard and would discover my kids had the rear climate controls set to some extreme setting.
I cannot stand the fan noise in my Model 3. Its loud, grindy, whiny, sounds like a low power leaf blower / hair dryer. I can hear it while driving at high speeds and is the only thing I don't like about this car. It also emits some kind of weird electronic noises. Overall, I feel relief when I shut off the whole system and I try not to turn it on. I noticed it right away and put it on the Due Bill during delivery. My dad has a Model S and it is dead silent. I'm not talking about the sound of the air moving, but the motor.
lunitiks
Cool James & Black Teacher
insaneoctane
Well-Known Member
Hope that everyone that is bothered by it reports it to Tesla so that they can start the revision 2.0 fan motor design as soon as possible....
insaneoctane
Well-Known Member
Good question. Depending on what service told me, I might contact customer service and/or post on Twitter?
Me neither. Certainly no worse than my S. Sounds like the OP needs to get it looked at.
i brought my car in for service and sat with the tech, he said the grind sound was normal to the 3 but it really drives me crazy. i'm quite disappointed with it.... much worse than my S. the S to me sounds like a whoosh, the 3 sounds like whoosh + grinding + whining + rattling + weird electronic noises. the rattling of my fan he said will need to be replaced if he can replicate it. (of course it didn't happen while we were in the car). they still have it and it should be out soon. i'll update then.
Happy to help give a baseline comparison if you'd like. Park the car in your garage or somewhere similarly quiet, and run a decibel measurement app on your phone. LMK the app you use (ideally on iPhone so I can give direct comparison) and I'll do the same. Measure at 3 or 4 manual fan levels, and make a note of which vents you're using so I can duplicate.
Msjulie
Active Member
I notice it because the car is otherwise so quiet but if I were to say it bothers me, it would only be while stopped at a light etc w/o music playing (which is rare for me)
I also tend to prefer open windows then climate control and I guess I get away with that 'cause California..
I also tend to prefer open windows then climate control and I guess I get away with that 'cause California..
Of course it is winter. I would have said the same thing until I got into my car after it was sitting in the sun over the weekend, and suddenly though "wow, I see what people mean about the fan." I had to manually turn the fan speed down.
I took some measurements with the Model S loaner I had while my car was in service for the last couple of days and will take measurements with the 3 under the same conditions after I leave work.
Yeah, that rear climate control on the BMW X5 was annoying; it's not that my kid was trying to change it, but in her booster seat her feet are in the perfect place to kick those controls. You could reset to the front profile in the menus, but you couldn't prevent override anytime anyone disturbed the rear controls.
But a problem of the past, finally got rid of the X5 this weekend to make way for our new Model 3 picked up today! I did notice the fan when I picked it up, though primarily because the radio was muted when I first drove it; and otherwise the car is fairly silent at a stop light. I think it'll be less noticeable with radio and family noise most of the time.
