front motor whine around 60mph model Y

[Dangerous Fish]

I cannot tell if someone in this thread has a mechanical problem. What I'm saying is that in "normal" driving the front motor doesn't even get used at all. It's free spinning. It doesn't make any noise. In some situations where the car actually needs to use the front motor (harder acceleration, or gentle acceleration after detecting slipping, or sometimes regen, you'll hear some noise from that engine. When it is used, there's a high-pitched sound from it and that sound is normal. The front motor can also be used to precondition the battery while driving to as supercharger, not by generating thrust but by generating heat by using the inverter in a non-efficient way, and that also produces a high-pitched noise that can be heard. All of this is normal.

This is what I hear and I agree. The problem with noises like this is it's difficult to relate to others what one is hearing, because how one person interprets a sound can be very different to someone else.

 

[Casss]

Maybe some of us are more prone to being bothered by the sound than others, but were talking “dentist drill in your face” here in terms of pitch and volume, not a drone. Is that still what people would consider “normal”?

For me atleast, combined, the motors exhibit a normal electrical spooling noise that is fairly low frequency and at a very moderate level (easily less than road and wind noise when you reach 50mph). But under acceleration, this (expected) electric motor noise is easily masked completely by the high pitch dentist drill noise which I would describe as an electrical whine.

For those experiencing it who are also bothered by the tone and volume, it could easily become unbearable.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

The sound has a somewhat different character to motor whine.. as well as being louder it's higher pitched. Most of the people in the US that this has happened to blame the ground strap, although Tesla are inconsistent at to whether they'll apply the fix..

I found a video from someone suffering from it on a 3 rear wheel drive even..

 

[Fursty Ferret]

My Model 3 LR has a very specific whine from the front motor at 60mph. It hasn't fallen apart yet.

 

[GtiMart]

Yeah, I'm not talking about a noise that loud and as high pitched as what TeslaCanuck reports. @Casss describes it pretty well. More noise from front engine when it's in use vs not, and pitched electric sound when accelerating hard as 300+kW are pushed through the whole circuit.

 

[Steerpike]

My 2022 Model Y AWD has a high pitched whine/whistle sound coming from the front of the car at a very specific steady speed of 59mph and I included this on a list of issues on a visit to the SC today.

I went for a short drive with the Tesla tech and he said that he could hear the sound but did not know the cause. Later he tested another Model Y and that one made a similar sound but at exactly 60mph. The Tesla tech said that he does not know where the sound comes from but does not believe that it is a cause for concern and it will not be investigated further.

Usually I don't spend much time driving at exactly 59mph and so the noise is not particularly important as long as it is not a sign of some serious underlying issue.