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High pitched noise from drive unit

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For us, the whine started after 3 or 4 months. It seems to be not so much a function of speed as of power. That is, it is whiniest when there is just a little of the power bar, either black or green. Say a quarter inch or so. When using more power or getting more regen than that, the whine goes away.
 
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RWD
VIN 28,xxx
75K Kms

Was told that this is to be expected with mileage increase and the Rear Drive Unit wears in.

That is crazy!

Not happy.

Vin
Agree it's completely ridiculous that an unpleasant (and at times screechingly loud!) noise is an "expected" occurrence after a few thousand km. I was similarly told that once you hit around 20-30,000 km it is "normal". How is this acceptable??
 
For us, the whine started after 3 or 4 months. It seems to be not so much a function of speed as of power. That is, it is whiniest when there is just a little of the power bar, either black or green. Say a quarter inch or so. When using more power or getting more regen than that, the whine goes away.

I'm at 28K and mine has started to become noticeable as described by CharleyBC. I guess I just need to turn up the sound system loader, since I don't think Tesla would do anything about it.
 
My noise started after the service centre had the car for about a week to re-paint the frunk (delivery defect). Coincidentally was the week of the 'range increase' software update... not sure if one of these things triggered the problem (car was driven over 200km to another place to get painted.
 
My noise started after the service centre had the car for about a week to re-paint the frunk (delivery defect). Coincidentally was the week of the 'range increase' software update... not sure if one of these things triggered the problem (car was driven over 200km to another place to get painted.
It's not related to painting anything..... Could be related to a software update.
 
Lol, I didn't think it was paint related, but I wondered if something stupid like removing the trunk and leaving it outside happened... or whether someone managed to drive my car in a manner more spirited than I usually do hahaha, and that somehow caused the weird noises to start. Seems to be worst from Feb-April, then goes away for the most part...
 
I'm still unclear whether there's a consensus on this being a result of Tesla's reprogramming of the inverters (software update) or is a result in deterioration/aging of the inverter FET's.
If it's programming, there is hope Tesla may fix in the future. If it's a wear issue, Tesla will say it's normal.
 
I'm still unclear whether there's a consensus on this being a result of Tesla's reprogramming of the inverters (software update) or is a result in deterioration/aging of the inverter FET's.
If it's programming, there is hope Tesla may fix in the future. If it's a wear issue, Tesla will say it's normal.

It’s programming, not aging.
I know because mine was whining a lot right after an update About a year ago.
Another update came along, and it all but went away.
It’s kind of back again now, but not as bad after a recent update.
So, I don’t worry about it anymore, now that I know it’s programming, and not aging.

I’d rather not have it, but it certainly doesn’t bother me anymore.
 
Seems like a disproportionate number of Maple Leaf posters on this thread. Did Canada get a batch of these whiny motors, or are Canadians particularly sensitive to this frequency? Should we take a poll on mfr dates? I know you can put a motor produced 6 months ago into a newly mfr'd 3, but unless everyone pulls off the under tray and looks at their motor mfr date, that's the best one can do.

That observation aside, I started to hear this intermittent whine just recently. Car is a bit over 10k miles, my hearing can hear up to 14k according to that audiology test, car speed between 38mph and 45mph. Sounds like it's from the rear motor. I did notice that one person who got their motor replaced, I think it was in Denmark, said it was the front motor. Anyway, it's not too bad, but maybe that's because it's only started and will get worse over time; or perhaps, now that I started noticing it, I can't not try to notice it.
 
Seems like a disproportionate number of Maple Leaf posters on this thread. Did Canada get a batch of these whiny motors, or are Canadians particularly sensitive to this frequency? Should we take a poll on mfr dates? I know you can put a motor produced 6 months ago into a newly mfr'd 3, but unless everyone pulls off the under tray and looks at their motor mfr date, that's the best one can do.

That observation aside, I started to hear this intermittent whine just recently. Car is a bit over 10k miles, my hearing can hear up to 14k according to that audiology test, car speed between 38mph and 45mph. Sounds like it's from the rear motor. I did notice that one person who got their motor replaced, I think it was in Denmark, said it was the front motor. Anyway, it's not too bad, but maybe that's because it's only started and will get worse over time; or perhaps, now that I started noticing it, I can't not try to notice it.

There could be a correlation between colder temps and whining as well.
For example; the same whining sound you hear driving is the exact sound heard during preconditioning one cold weather. The preconditioning sound is way louder though.
So, more Canadians could have whine as it relates to colder temps. Colder temps = More whine.
 
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I do find that certain speeds, or 'amount' of regenerative braking result in a worse whine. For example, there are times I find myself speeding just to make the whine go away. Don't know if I can use that as an excuse if I'm ever pulled over though.... but I definitely hit the accelerator pedal a bit more so the noise goes away.
 
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Add me to the list as well. My car is in right now for it's second check for this issue (first time it was raining out and harder to hear the noise on wet roads). Tesla Service is saying nothing abnormal compared to other similar Model 3's.
So if their reasoning is it's just as broken as other similar Model 3's they have, how does it make this a non-issue? One of my co-workers has a VIN 50k LR RWD (21k miles) and it sounds just like my VIN 23k LR RWD (24k miles). He also recalls his car not making this sound until about 6 months into ownership.
I have another coworker with a VIN 452k LR AWD (13k miles) and his does not make any high pitch sounds.
I have a friend with a VIN 302k SRP (20k miles) and his also does not make this sound.

So either A, the sound begins with all models over time (unlikely due to my friends SRP not making the sound) or B, early models only exhibit the issue over time.

I'm really curious if anyone with a VIN beyond 300k has this issue.

Here is a video I took of the noise. It is most noticeable when I hit 49MPH. Sorry the video file is so large... Turn your speaker(s) up for full effect.
Meet Google Drive – One place for all your files
 
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Interesting, I heard two whines, brief first one at 45/46mph, and then the more prominent one at 48/49mph. Sounds alot like mine, but mine is spread over a wider range from about 38mph to 48mph.

Glad you were able to record it. Does it sound louder/softer in real life than the recording?
 
Interesting, I heard two whines, brief first one at 45/46mph, and then the more prominent one at 48/49mph. Sounds alot like mine, but mine is spread over a wider range from about 38mph to 48mph.

Glad you were able to record it. Does it sound louder/softer in real life than the recording?
It's not so much about loudness. It is piercing and annoying at any loudness because of the frequency of it. It's hard to say how loud it is because you can adjust your speakers and not all speakers play at the same volumes. So I can't really answer your question.
 
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I'm experiencing the same issue. What did you have to do to convince them to replace drive unit?

All model 3 awd’s whine. Some software updates make it worse.
In my opinion they’ve replaced drive units unnecessarily in some cases.

Just because it whines, doesn’t mean you need a new drive unit.
I once was concerned that I did. Then a software update reduced the whine substantially. It comes and goes with updates.
In my opinion.
 
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