High Frequency Noise/Hum-New Model Y

[Vancitycar]

Hi all, just wanted to update all of you with my experience with this high pitch noise issue. I had to go to the service center twice to get this fixed. 1st time the service advisor went out for a test drive with me and gave me the whole “this is normal sound the motors make”. He mentioned they will charge me if the technician comes back with no issues so I did not press forward with my concern. After reading more about this issue on this forum I decided to go back and told the service advisor the issue is caused by the penthouse seal not being properly installed. A different service advisor went on a test drive with me and agreed the noise is louder than other model y he’s been in. This service advisor really listened to my complaint and didn’t brush me off like the last one. Long story short they replaced the penthouse seal for me and now the noise is gone.

Lesson learned : All depends on who you get at the service center.

 

[freejack]

Same on the MYP I just picked up on 7/30. Service manager said the penthouse perimeter seal looks like it wasn't installed correctly and will be replacing it next week.

While they were troubleshooting, they took the opportunity to replace the filter and oil for the rear drive unit. The grounding cable was tightened upon my request. Neither of these seems to have helped.

Will update once the seal has been replaced.

 

[Bigo604]

Hi all, just wanted to update all of you with my experience with this high pitch noise issue. I had to go to the service center twice to get this fixed. 1st time the service advisor went out for a test drive with me and gave me the whole “this is normal sound the motors make”. He mentioned they will charge me if the technician comes back with no issues so I did not press forward with my concern. After reading more about this issue on this forum I decided to go back and told the service advisor the issue is caused by the penthouse seal not being properly installed. A different service advisor went on a test drive with me and agreed the noise is louder than other model y he’s been in. This service advisor really listened to my complaint and didn’t brush me off like the last one. Long story short they replaced the penthouse seal for me and now the noise is gone.

Lesson learned : All depends on who you get at the service center.

Which service center did you go to? I took it to the Surrey/Langley one twice now with no luck.

 

[oghowie]

Which service center did you go to? I took it to the Surrey/Langley one twice now with no luck.

Tell them your friend had the same issue and they replaced the penthouse seal and it fixed the problem. I'd even send them the picture of the seal from this thread.

 

[gyozaman]

Tell them your friend had the same issue and they replaced the penthouse seal and it fixed the problem. I'd even send them the picture of the seal from this thread.

I did exactly that a few weeks ago At the Vancouver 4th ave location. I attached a picture of the perimeter seal from this thread in to my chat bubble with Tesla service. Also told them many people have the same issue and was fixed by replacing the seal and/or tightening ground cable. Tesla servic had my car 2 times, totalling 6 days, lost my keycard 2 times, and never got to test drive it, or put it on the hoist because they were too busy. They now want my car back a 3rd time to address the same issue.

 

[Kapeejay]

I just pulled up my seat on my 2022 Model Y performance that was experiencing the same high pitched whine. I stuffed foam insulation in the cavity between the motor and the penthouse seal and it only really reduced the noise by about 20%. My service center has told me the noise was normal and not willing to do anything more. I’m going to have to sell this car because it’s just something I can’t live with unfortunately. I’ve only put 200 miles on it this far

 

[freejack]

Picked up my car after getting the penthouse seal replaced and wouldn't you know it, the sound is still there. No difference whatsoever. I'm beginning to think I just have a loud rear drive unit. That or there's another area that hasn't been insulated properly.

Regardless, I've wasted enough of my and the service centers time so I took it upon myself to see if there's something I could do.

Took a few pieces of 1/2" thick foam tiles and cut them to size. Placed 1-3 layers over the entire penthouse. Wasn't expecting miracles but I can confidently say the the sound is 70-80% reduced. I may go ahead and install dynamat underneath if the remaining sound still bothers me.

All-in-all I have to admit, I'm extremely disappointed in Tesla. It's embarrassing that I needed to go through all this to achieve some time of mitigation.

On a side note, my wife cannot hear the sound at all even before the fix. We did a frequency test using this youtube video and it turns out she cannot make out anything over 12khz. My hearing cuts out at 14khz. I believe the sound lies somewhere between that. Since high pitched hearing fades as you age, the sound may not bother older folks. I'm nearing 50 myself and my wife is a little older so if all goes well, I'll be deaf to that frequency in a few years.

Attached picture of my hack job.

 

[Madmacs]

so what happened?

I took my car in and actually drove around with the service manager. He’s been dealing with this issue as they’ve seen quite a few come in for this problem. We took a drive around and he could definitely hear the noise. He did say that it was not the worst he’s heard, but he can definitely hear it. At this time he didn’t think they could actually fix it because “that’s what they do”. So he declined the repair. Even after me pushing back he just said that I probably wouldn’t be happy with what they could do at this time.

So now I drive a slightly whining $70k car that drives me nuts. It’s not as bad as it was the first time, but the whine is definitely there. When I smash the accelerator it sounds like the rear drive unit is going to explode.

I brought this issue up in a local tesla facebook group and now know 6 people who have brought theirs in to the same SC and gotten their rear drive units replaced or seals fixed. I’m hoping we drive enough repair work in that Tesla has to issue a formal recall at this point.

I’m at the point where I’d rather drive my 20 year old Wrangler than my MYP due to the sound.

 

[freejack]

I took my car in and actually drove around with the service manager. He’s been dealing with this issue as they’ve seen quite a few come in for this problem. We took a drive around and he could definitely hear the noise. He did say that it was not the worst he’s heard, but he can definitely hear it. At this time he didn’t think they could actually fix it because “that’s what they do”. So he declined the repair. Even after me pushing back he just said that I probably wouldn’t be happy with what they could do at this time.

So now I drive a slightly whining $70k car that drives me nuts. It’s not as bad as it was the first time, but the whine is definitely there. When I smash the accelerator it sounds like the rear drive unit is going to explode.

I brought this issue up in a local tesla facebook group and now know 6 people who have brought theirs in to the same SC and gotten their rear drive units replaced or seals fixed. I’m hoping we drive enough repair work in that Tesla has to issue a formal recall at this point.

I’m at the point where I’d rather drive my 20 year old Wrangler than my MYP due t

Posted a long message on my SC experience but it's stuck in moderation. Long story short, changing the seal did not make a difference. Working on DIY fixes now.

 

[jacie6056]

Posted a long message on my SC experience but it's stuck in moderation. Long story short, changing the seal did not make a difference. Working on DIY fixes now.

Keep us updated for the DIY journey!

 

[Madmacs]

Posted a long message on my SC experience but it's stuck in moderation. Long story short, changing the seal did not make a difference. Working on DIY fixes now.

Let me know how that works, I tried sound deadening insulation and it didn’t do anything.

 

[Bigo604]

Anyone have any updates. I'm thinking of making another appointment with the SC. Can't handle this noise especially on longer road trips.

 

[polyphonic54]

Anyone have any updates. I'm thinking of making another appointment with the SC. Can't handle this noise especially on longer road trips.

High frequency NVH is new problem with electric vehicles and all manufacturers are being challenged by it. If you start doing searches you will find myriad SAE publications on different engineering attempts to mitigate these highly annoying sounds. As an example, for the Bolt Chevy sacrificed some torque (~6 nm) and increased the noise floor of their motor to make it less sharp and grating on the ear. More sound was preferable to less sound, which illustrates that sound quality can be important than sound quantity.

In summary, this will take a highly engineered solution. There is nothing the service department can do. Having driven a few Model Ys, I hear it in all of them. Your best bet is to sell the car, unfortunately

 

[ElectricAnt54]

I do not mind the noise i hear when my MYP 2022 is accelerating or decelerating. I like it & it doesn’t seem too loud or painful. My ICE driving pals like the @futuristic” sound of the electric motors when I accelerate hard. HOWEVER, when cruising (or trying to), I am annoyed by the very slight alternation between higher/lower frequency sound as car alternates between electric motor power and regenerative breaking. Same issue on my Volt when it was in gasoline power generator mode. That being said, it is not bad enough to make me hate the car and I usually do not even notice it when there is no music & slight music volume always makes me not notice.
I will try adding foam / noise deadening under the rear seat. The MYP rear motor is the more powerful so might help a tad.

 

[jacie6056]

High frequency NVH is new problem with electric vehicles and all manufacturers are being challenged by it. If you start doing searches you will find myriad SAE publications on different engineering attempts to mitigate these highly annoying sounds. As an example, for the Bolt Chevy sacrificed some torque (~6 nm) and increased the noise floor of their motor to make it less sharp and grating on the ear. More sound was preferable to less sound, which illustrates that sound quality can be important than sound quantity.

In summary, this will take a highly engineered solution. There is nothing the service department can do. Having driven a few Model Ys, I hear it in all of them. Your best bet is to sell the car, unfortunately

Interesting. Where to find the myriad SAE publications for further details? Do you have a link for that? Thanks

 

[3YMimi73]

My MYLR has been as quiet as can be since June. Just went on my first major trip with it and there were no issues with noise. I give road tripping in a Tesla 15 out of 10 stars for sure

 

[polyphonic54]

Interesting. Where to find the myriad SAE publications for further details? Do you have a link for that? Thanks

Powertrain testing: Embrace the new role of testing to develop green drivetrains (slides from an excellent presentation) - pg. 28 illustrates the difference between objective sound pressure level and human perception. In particular high frequency tonal noise is perceived as very sharp and grating. “Prominence ratio” looks at a spectral image of broadband noise along with some quiet tonal noise in the 2-4 kHz range and reframes the image as we perceive it.

Active Masking of Tonal Noise using Motor-Based Acoustic Generator to Improve EV Sound Quality

Recent progress in battery electric vehicle noise, vibration, and harshness

Hope this helps!

 

[DrPhil]

Mine came whisper quiet, but i've been in one that was not. Very different and not just a normal electric motor whine.

 

[gyozaman]

I always had the high pitch noise and SC didn’t fix even after a few visits. Then a few weeks ago, I installed rubber seal strips on all 4 doors, B pilla, frunk and trunk. Now I can hear the high pitch noise for most of my highway drive everyday. The slightest acceleration even for a fraction of a second at high speeds will result in the high pitch emitting. This is in addition to the already reported high pitch when flooring the accelerator from a stop to 70-100 km/hr. But in case anyone is wondering, the rubber seal kit definitely reduces road noise. I can hear my radio stations even at 4 scroll wheels up even at highways speeds now. Before I had to have the volume up around 40-50%.

 

[orion2001]

Unfortunately, I think there is a lot of variability from car to car because Tesla doesn't do a particularly good job at being consistent when it comes to noise isolation within the main cabin. After my SC replaced the perimeter seal, the car has been perfect and I only hear the high pitched whine when gunning it and putting the motors under stress. But that isn't an unpleasant sound and I quite enjoy it. For 99% of the time though, I now get to enjoy a silent car with no grating whine (a constant prior to the seal fix).