Front motor whining noise on M3 LR 2023?

[Sebs]

My M3P got totaled in Dec and insurance paid me out. I picked up a M3 LR from existing inventory shortly before new years.

Since day 1 it has this noise that seems to come up when the front motor engages. Took it to a SC and they told me it is the front motor but that it’s not loud enough and it’s within spec. Lol.

 

[Stanwood Steve]

I notice when taking my car (2018 M3P) to a supercharger and the car is "preconditioning", I hear a whining noise from the front motor. It's faint but audible. I was told that was normal since as part of the preconditiioning, the car may engage the front motor to assist with heating the battery pack. I have over 87,000 miles on the car now, and have had no problems with the front motor so I have to assume this is normal.

 

[MikeyC]

The front motor on my 2021 has always whined a little at heavy throttle particularly in cooler weather when it is trying to heat up the battery. I've seen responses that the car runs the motors in a less efficient mode to build heat sometimes. Not sure if that's true or not but it's never caused a problem.

Mike

 

[TBrownTX]

I don't think that sounds loud enough to warrant any kind of repair. And color me strange, but I like the sound of the motors whining. I even drive around with my passenger rear seat down (also helps with bass). Coincidentally, there's an inverse correlation where turning the radio up decreases motor whine. Either way good sounds all around!

 

[teslstronaut]

Hi @Sebs, I listened to your video and I have the exact same high-pitched ‘tsssssss… tstssss… tsss... tsssssss tss’ on my Model Y LR from Shanghai. It’s incredibly annoying. Passengers get annoyed too although it seems to come mostly from the front left. The service center said it’s a normal noise from the front motor from when it ’switches from induction to electro-magnet mode’ and vice-versa. I call bullshit. I haven’t had any luck getting them to do something about it. Did you open a service request?

 

[Sebs]

Hi @Sebs, I listened to your video and I have the exact same high-pitched ‘tsssssss… tstssss… tsss... tsssssss tss’ on my Model Y LR from Shanghai. It’s incredibly annoying. Passengers get annoyed too although it seems to come mostly from the front left. The service center said it’s a normal noise from the front motor from when it ’switches from induction to electro-magnet mode’ and vice-versa. I call bullshit. I haven’t had any luck getting them to do something about it. Did you open a service request?

I’ve taken it to 3 diff SC

I just had one today but it was raining and obviously couldn’t hear it.

it’s really intermittent… I have 11k miles on it now and isn’t getting any louder or persistent thankfully…. This seems to be a thing for LR vehicles. On Reddit I found someone else with a m3 LR with the same noise.

 

[Sebs]

Hi @Sebs, I listened to your video and I have the exact same high-pitched ‘tsssssss… tstssss… tsss... tsssssss tss’ on my Model Y LR from Shanghai. It’s incredibly annoying. Passengers get annoyed too although it seems to come mostly from the front left. The service center said it’s a normal noise from the front motor from when it ’switches from induction to electro-magnet mode’ and vice-versa. I call bullshit. I haven’t had any luck getting them to do something about it. Did you open a service request?

@teslstronaut

 

[rpratt]

My 2020 M3LR did the same thing, and I got the same "within spec" answer when I took it in for service. Didn't bother me much but drove my wife nuts. I sold the 2020 and bought a new M3LR at the end of 2021 when used car prices were crazy, since I didn't mind waiting a bit for the new one.
The front whine noise was a decent part of the reason I got rid of it, and the new one doesn't have the problem.
Not helpful in terms of a solution for you, sorry.

 

[Driver4Life]

My 2019 M3LR has this same noise also, and I think I have had that "feature" always (bought it year ago). Rear motor makes noticable sound between 30-45 mph, and it can be greatly amplified by turning back seats down. BUT I havent heard that sound after summer ended here and temperatures dropped quickly. So it's some how linked to hot weather. Sound was coming also when driving constant speed I think, but it wasn't that loud really. Tesla mechanic didn't hear anything.

But now it is winter here and very cold, and front motor is sometimes making noise, starting from 20mph. It sounds like fainter version of the "preconditioning-sound" so I assume (and hope!) that it's actually just warming the battery. Which makes sense, because it is coming from the front motor, and the sound is either on or off, not something between. It would be nice to have some kind of icon showing if it is doing some not-ordered warming sequence to be sure...

Like someone said, keeping radio on, even with very low volume, masks that sound away pretty well. It can be just audio thing, or something wierd is happening when radio is on

 

[YisPatHere]

I'm only at ~1000 miles on my MYLR and I have noticed faint screeching that seems to come from the front motor. To me it sounds almost like the whine that a power drill makes when the trigger is touched lightly.

I find that it most happens when it's cold - I notice it more in the morning or at the beginning of a drive, and is more prevalent in cooler ambient temps. It also tends to be at neutral throttle - mostly when holding a consistent speed, regardless of whether it's on the highway at 60-70mph or on a surface street at 30-40mph. It goes away if I accelerate somewhat quickly or decelerate enough to activate regenerative braking.

It is faint enough that I'm certain service techs would write it off as "in-spec". I wonder if anyone has ever had this issue to a degree that Tesla actually did some service to correct it, and if so, what the fix was.

 

[YisPatHere]

It is faint enough that I'm certain service techs would write it off as "in-spec". I wonder if anyone has ever had this issue to a degree that Tesla actually did some service to correct it, and if so, what the fix was.

Well, my expectations have been exceeded. Today I brought my car into service (After a 3-week wait for an appointment), for an unrelated HVAC error message, but added my concern about the front motor whine to the appointment since it was going to be in their hands anyway. When I arrived they quickly put a technician in the passenger seat and had me drive him around to demonstrate the noise. He didn't say much on the ride, mostly just nodded when I pointed out the sound. When we got back he told the customer service rep something along the lines of "Yeah it's a little worse than some of the other ones", then made note of the speed at which he could hear it the most, which matched well with my observations. I don't know what they'll do to fix it, or if they will be able to, but that they acknowledge the problem exists, and are going to investigate further is already a big hurdle cleared. They estimated they would have it back to me on Thursday (two days), I'll update if I get any additional information.