It's that time again - embarrassing loud AC compressor

[paulkva]

I'm taking my car in to Rockville tomorrow (well, technically today) for tire rotation and underbody reinforcement. While I'm there I've asked them to look at my AC (and a couple other minor things). I have the buzzing / "bad computer fan" sound (like yobigd20's video way upthread), not the squeak/whine that ken830 posted more recently. And for me it's intermittent. Fortunately I have a very short video of my own, which I just emailed to the service center.

 

[nirvanaman]

I have struggled with this as well. The noise is horrible and there is a bad vibration as well. Passengers have commented on it asking if something is wrong with the car. I recently had the acoustical blanket installed. It hasn't made any difference.

 

[scaesare]

Wow, 250-280 Wh/mi *with* A/C on?! I'm seeing summer-time power usage around 310 Wh/mi (with lows as in the low 200s), but when I turn on the AC I'm immediately in the 370-380 Wh/mi range. :-(

Are other people seeing the AC power impact as minimal?

Relatively minimal, yes... the last couple of weeks have been in the mid-80's to low 90's around here. My 65 mile round strip commute, a good portion of which is spent at 70MPH (with occasional excursions above ) or so nets me an overall average of around 280Wh/mi. This is with the A/C set at 68 and the fan anywhere from 5-9 typically...

 

[EarlyAdopter]

I have struggled with this as well. The noise is horrible and there is a bad vibration as well. Passengers have commented on it asking if something is wrong with the car. I recently had the acoustical blanket installed. It hasn't made any difference.

Just the acoustic blanket, or blanket plus bracket? I think both are needed to make a difference.

 

[shepali]

When we started to heat up here in the desert a couple months ago, I immediately noticed the loud AC noise. I also felt a vibration through the floor, pedals, and steering wheel. I called the main Tesla number and asked if all of this was normal. They told me it does make noise, but that I should have it looked at, just to be sure. The Scottsdale SC told me that the wires were touching the body of the car, making the vibrations. They said they fixed that an alluded to some insulation. But I don't think it was the SB you guys are all referring to (I'm going to ask though). If it was...then it really hasn't done much of anything. As I drove away from the SC, it was just as loud. The vibration is significantly reduced, but the noise is very loud - particularly in our 110+ temperatures. It doesn't really bother me though. I tell people that it sounds like its going to levitate, and that its part of the rocket ship characteristics of the car. But I agree....its loud for sure.

I didn't connect the dots until reading this thread, but my loaner was a 60 and now that I think about it, it was not nearly as loud as my 85. I wonder if that has anything to do with the extra cooling that may be required for the larger battery?

As for impacting my kw/mile, I haven't really noticed an overall increase in my averages. I keep the AC at 68 or 69 degrees, in full auto mode. At the very beginning of my drive, it does go off the charts (I've even seen up to 1000/mi), but as I cover more miles it quickly returns to my normal ranges. And actually...my normal ranges have been decreasing over the past couple months. I was assuming that its the firmware upgrades, as I don't really feel like I've changed my driving habits.

My average is pretty high compared to others - 355 life to date (8k miles), and it generally runs about that on a daily basis too. I blame that on what my father describes as my 'disproportionately large right foot' :biggrin:

As a side note, I also sat in my very hot garage one day when I got home for about 20 minutes watching the energy usage with the AC going (essentially at full blast on auto). It barely impacted my remaining range, and I don't think it moved the total energy used or kw/mi very much, if at all. I was actually kind of surprised, but happily. As that makes me realize I don't really need to worry about it too much on a long trip.

 

[jerry33]

Wow! What speeds do you drive at? I don't think I've ever been at 230, except very short periods.

That was on my normal commute where 50 is the maximum speed (the speed limit is somewhat lower). On my best days it's sub-200 but everything has to click. Today I drove 180 miles to attend a car show and the average was 251 but that includes some rocket launches. My average over 25,600 miles is 255 Wh/mi.

 

[andrewket]

Wow! What speeds do you drive at? I don't think I've ever been at 230, except very short periods.

Me either. Cruise control at 65 and I'm happy to get 300. 21" wheels though.

 

[FlasherZ]

As a side note, I also sat in my very hot garage one day when I got home for about 20 minutes watching the energy usage with the AC going (essentially at full blast on auto). It barely impacted my remaining range, and I don't think it moved the total energy used or kw/mi very much, if at all. I was actually kind of surprised, but happily. As that makes me realize I don't really need to worry about it too much on a long trip.

This is one of the more commonly asked questions - how does A/C affect the range? I think Tesla did a great job here at minimizing the range impact of the A/C system, even at full blast. There are downsides, of course, the noise of the compressor being the biggest.

 

[chickensevil]

Haha! I actually got a call from Rockville about this as well (last week) and I told the lady that I had previously initiated communication with them and I guess it had fallen to the wayside. I am now scheduled in July to get this taken care of (among other things).

Having now just finished my first road trip (VA to FL and back) I will say I cannot defend the noise any longer.

One driving through 85+ degree weather means the AC is on all the time... even opening the door or cracking a window for 2 seconds rapidly increases the temperature in the car when you get over 90. This of course means that the AC noise is always in your face.

Two plugging in to a supercharger makes this even worse. I found myself keeping the AC on while supercharging (and dropping the temp to like 65) since I was drawing power from the line, it seemed more beneficial to keep the cabin cool rather than wasting that power after I disconnect. The worst locations was Savannah and Santee since I was still very much in the south and even at 10 in the morning it was 85 outside already. Savannah being at the airport parking garage made the noise louder as it echoed and bounced off the concrete. I heard my car from the terminal (which is easily 100 yards or more away). And just to be sure I turned off the A/C and you could immediately hear a huge difference in the garage.

That was about the worst case scenario I could put the A/C in since I was charging at 120kWh AND trying to cool the cabin to 66 at the same time. Poor car... she sounded so bad...

Anyway, hopefully this will be fixed soon and it will be much quieter and less vibrations as you drive.

 

[SarahsDad]

Wow I too received an unsolicited email from my SC stating:


"I received an e-mail from Tesla asking me to contact you regarding your AC Compressor noise."


I hadn't mentioned it anywhere except this thread so I guess they do monitor it. My AC blanket is scheduled for the end of the month.


Gotta love the proactive approach…

 

[rogerkang]

Same here. They called me after my post here and wanted to fix it. Great service.

 

[justaddsun]

Can't believe they didn't do a search and find my post about this from last August! Loud AC sound from outside (video)

Where's my call? Kidding

 

[znino]

Mine has become ridiculously loud. For a good first minute it sounds like my car is going to take off. I had previously mentioned it to the service center last year but they kept insisting it was normal. Now that I see everyone getting calls to go put that insulating blanket and bracket I think I'll bring it up again. So useful to have these forum threads as backup to show when they say it's normal

 

[FlasherZ]

Got a call today to install the blanket and bracket. By coincidence, wife was in the area (I live ~50 mi. from svc ctr) so they dispatched the loaner, did the work, and swapped it back in a jiffie.

 

[Mayhemm]

My car is currently in getting the radiator replaced (due to damage). Do you think they will apply the TSB? I'd hate to get the car back only to have to turn around and get it done.

I'm seeing a lot of parallels between this thread and the one for the "balloon noise".

 

[pete8314]

My car is currently in getting the radiator replaced (due to damage). Do you think they will apply the TSB? I'd hate to get the car back only to have to turn around and get it done.

I'm seeing a lot of parallels between this thread and the one for the "balloon noise".

Not wanted to take this thread off on a tangent, but was there ever a 'fix' for the balloon noise? My car has always had it, but the last couple of loaners I've had did not.

 

[dsm363]

My car is currently in getting the radiator replaced (due to damage). Do you think they will apply the TSB? I'd hate to get the car back only to have to turn around and get it done.

I'm seeing a lot of parallels between this thread and the one for the "balloon noise".

Worth calling them to ask.

 

[Jeeps17]

I had the TSB applied to my car yesterday, and after my car sat in the (Montreal) sun all day I turned on the climate while standing outside, and could barely hear the AC ! My baseline was a Cessna prepping for takeoff.

Then I realized I still had the car in range mode... D'oh!

Turned range mode off, and put climate on full auto inside the car with barely a change in noise levels, but a slight vibration in the steering wheel.

I will repeat the test over the coming few days (warm weather in the forecast) without the range mode potential confounder, but so far colour me impressed !!!

Not wanted to take this thread off on a tangent, but was there ever a 'fix' for the balloon noise? My car has always had it, but the last couple of loaners I've had did not.

FWIW the head mechanic at our service center told me the balloon noise is normal with all 85 kWh batteries under heavy acceleration.

My loaner was a new S85 (VIN 38,3xx - 3,600 km on the odometer), completely silent while driving, and when safe to do so I progressively floored it and got the balloon sound, less intense than in my P85, but otherwise identical.

Completely off-topic, but that loaner was a multi-coat red, and (1) the colour is drop dead gorgeous in the sun, (2) I got so many looks I am sure I would have a ticket in no time compared to my "stealth" dolphin grey.

 

[chickensevil]

I had the TSB applied to my car yesterday, and after my car sat in the (Montreal) sun all day I turned on the climate while standing outside, and could barely hear the AC ! My baseline was a Cessna prepping for takeoff.

Then I realized I still had the car in range mode... D'oh!

Turned range mode off, and put climate on full auto inside the car with barely a change in noise levels, but a slight vibration in the steering wheel.

I will repeat the test over the coming few days (warm weather in the forecast) without the range mode potential confounder, but so far colour me impressed !!!




FWIW the head mechanic at our service center told me the balloon noise is normal with all 85 kWh batteries under heavy acceleration.

My loaner was a new S85 (VIN 38,3xx - 3,600 km on the odometer), completely silent while driving, and when safe to do so I progressively floored it and got the balloon sound, less intense than in my P85, but otherwise identical.

Completely off-topic, but that loaner was a multi-coat red, and (1) the colour is drop dead gorgeous in the sun, (2) I got so many looks I am sure I would have a ticket in no time compared to my "stealth" dolphin grey.

Yeah, all the cars I have been in has the balloon noise (never knew what to call it until now, haha). I assume we are all refering to the engine whine when you floor it and hit really high kw usage? Mine starts to whine at me above 160kW, regular 85, and the couple P85s I have had the pleasure of riding in, when they floored it, it seemed to whine a little sooner, but I would assume all of this is "normal".

You are spinning the AC motor REALLY fast at that point which is what that noise is. Anything with a fast enough spin will have some kind of noise it is amazing it stays quiet as long as it does

Note, the roadster is much more noisy, and you can hear it pretty easily from outside the car even. (If this is not the noise to which you all are talking about then I am sorry and forget everything I have been saying.)

 

[yobigd20]

I think it's funny how as the thread owner and how I even posted recording above that I haven't got contacted yet everyone else has lol. Perhaps that's because I'm over 50k miles and out of warranty and the good service is over? I'm hoping that's not the case. They should have me on record complaining back this way back summer of 2013 because if I recall i think they even responded in the service notes saying that they don't have a fix for it yet and this was way back somewhere between 10-20k mile marker. We'll see. I'm actually scheduled for some service work soon anyway due to some other pre-50k issues I've had that they've noted so perhaps they'll just tack this onto that as well.