Normal Model S Sounds

[mknox]

Be sure to post here when you get your car back. I'm curious to hear what they find.

Seems to be several threads with this drivetrain noise topic. Tesla replaced my entire drive unit and the car is back to being completely silent.

 

[Mayhemm]

Nice! Hopefully Tesla will isolate the source of these noises and eliminate them by the time I get my car. It can't be cheap for them to frequently replace entire drive units.

 

[rdrcrmatt]

Do any of you guys get a very light clunk from the rear of the car on power transitions at slow speeds / light throttle? In parking lots it is most pronounced as the car switched from accel to regen and back again I hear a light clunk. Tech told me it was gear lash but I only noticed it in the past month. 15,000 miles on the car.

 

[jerry33]

Do any of you guys get a very light clunk from the rear of the car on power transitions at slow speeds / light throttle? In parking lots it is most pronounced as the car switched from accel to regen and back again I hear a light clunk. Tech told me it was gear lash but I only noticed it in the past month. 15,000 miles on the car.

The only clunk I have noticed is from the brakes releasing after a rain if I don't get the rotors sufficiently dry before parking (13,700 miles).

 

[brianman]

Do any of you guys get a very light clunk from the rear of the car on power transitions at slow speeds / light throttle? In parking lots it is most pronounced as the car switched from accel to regen and back again I hear a light clunk. Tech told me it was gear lash but I only noticed it in the past month. 15,000 miles on the car.

Can you elaborate on the sound a bit (or maybe have someone record it in your garage)? I had a sound in my vehicle (that they fixed) but I would describe it differently so I suspect it's something different.

 

[digitaltim]

Do any of you guys get a very light clunk from the rear of the car on power transitions at slow speeds / light throttle? In parking lots it is most pronounced as the car switched from accel to regen and back again I hear a light clunk. Tech told me it was gear lash but I only noticed it in the past month. 15,000 miles on the car.

Clink or more of click?

I had something similar and it ended up being a bearing.

 

[DRK]

Had mine in for service to find the cause of the clunking. Solution is a new drive unit on order.

 

[howardc64]

Do any of you guys get a very light clunk from the rear of the car on power transitions at slow speeds / light throttle? In parking lots it is most pronounced as the car switched from accel to regen and back again I hear a light clunk. Tech told me it was gear lash but I only noticed it in the past month. 15,000 miles on the car.

I have now got a clunking sound and lows speeds when I gently add power and come off power in stop and go traffic. Sounds like a bad u-joint type sound coming from the rear end. Service wants to look at it and claim they have heard of this prior to me reporting it. Once I get an answer I will report back.

Had mine in for service to find the cause of the clunking. Solution is a new drive unit on order.

Yep, I've got this issue at 7000 miles on my MS. Very easy to reproduce. Accelerate lightly and then just let go of the accelerator quickly. Rear end drive train produces a sound somewhere between click and clunk. Not quite a light clicking sound but not quite a loud clunking sound either.

Taking it into Tesla tomorrow to get it looked at.

 

[Tommy]

Yep, I've got this issue at 7000 miles on my MS. Very easy to reproduce. Accelerate lightly and then just let go of the accelerator quickly. Rear end drive train produces a sound somewhere between click and clunk. Not quite a light clicking sound but not quite a loud clunking sound either.

Taking it into Tesla tomorrow to get it looked at.

I had the sound, produced exactly as you described. It turned out to be a broken axle washer. Those following these threads will remember some cars were delivered with loose axle nuts. Mine was one of them and the nut(s) were re-torqued. The SC wasn't sure if I got a defective washer or the nut was over torqued. In any case, both washers were replaced and that eliminated the clunking sound.

 

[howardc64]

I had the sound, produced exactly as you described. It turned out to be a broken axle washer. Those following these threads will remember some cars were delivered with loose axle nuts. Mine was one of them and the nut(s) were re-torqued. The SC wasn't sure if I got a defective washer or the nut was over torqued. In any case, both washers were replaced and that eliminated the clunking sound.

Cool Thanks!!! I'll bring this thread in for Tesla techs

Love the Telsa owner community... seems like a bunch of tinkerers like me

 

[howardc64]

Yep, I've got this issue at 7000 miles on my MS. Very easy to reproduce. Accelerate lightly and then just let go of the accelerator quickly. Rear end drive train produces a sound somewhere between click and clunk. Not quite a light clicking sound but not quite a loud clunking sound either.

Taking it into Tesla tomorrow to get it looked at.

I had the sound, produced exactly as you described. It turned out to be a broken axle washer. Those following these threads will remember some cars were delivered with loose axle nuts. Mine was one of them and the nut(s) were re-torqued. The SC wasn't sure if I got a defective washer or the nut was over torqued. In any case, both washers were replaced and that eliminated the clunking sound.

Well, took the car in and Tesla techs say the sound is normal. Just a little slack that is getting taken up in the drive train. My service loan P85 made similar sounds using this procedure. I guess I'll monitor it for now

 

[Doug_G]

I've been noticing for a long while now, that there's a faint whirring noise - almost a groaning sound - coming from the back of the car when driving at low speeds. It seemed to pop up mostly when running at slower speeds on cruise control (something I do often to avoid accidentally speeding). Today I happened to notice it while driving with my foot on the pedal. I took the opportunity to wiggle my foot. Yep, it comes and goes depending on the throttle setting. Kinda like the balloon sound, but low frequency and at low throttle.

Anyone else have this?

 

[Brass Guy]

I have been getting the odd noise at a very narrow power level, either + or -. It can be duplicated by feathering the accelerator, and yes the cruise can make it happen when the terrain changes subtly. It seems to be evolving. I first heard it at around 20 KW draw a few months ago. Now it's at a very low draw, like 3 KW. The pitch is speed related.
Also I'm getting the click/clunk at very low speeds (5 MPH) when switching between accelerate and decelerate.
I mentioned these to service, but they say they haven't heard any unusual noises, and couldn't duplicate the click/clunk.
I think I will have to get one of them in my car while I have it make the noises. Hammering a broken washer or bad bearing will cause damage to other parts over time.

 

[Wacarguy]

I noticed a clunk in the rear end around 2500 miles and wasn't sure if had always been there or if it was new. It happens in parking lots and heavy stop and go traffic when the throttle is pushing between a little throttle and no throttle I hear a definite clunk as if the drive system has excessive play. I called the service center in Bellevue and the came right out the next day and took my car from my work. Later they returned it (washed) and said that they were able to get there loaners to do it as well so they concluded it as "normal". I have 6000 miles now and I'm convinced it's getting worse.

 

[mknox]

I've been noticing for a long while now, that there's a faint whirring noise - almost a groaning sound - coming from the back of the car when driving at low speeds. It seemed to pop up mostly when running at slower speeds on cruise control (something I do often to avoid accidentally speeding). Today I happened to notice it while driving with my foot on the pedal. I took the opportunity to wiggle my foot. Yep, it comes and goes depending on the throttle setting. Kinda like the balloon sound, but low frequency and at low throttle.

Anyone else have this?

That was one of the symptoms I had that led to a drive train replacement. I would have a "drone" sound at highway speeds that I could make come and go with the accelerator and I also had a less pronounced noise at a different pitch during in-town driving that would also come and go with accelerator position. It was the louder highway drone that bothered me the most.

 

[woof]

I took the opportunity to wiggle my foot. Yep, it comes and goes depending on the throttle setting. Kinda like the balloon sound, but low frequency and at low throttle.

Anyone else have this?

Yep, had that. I could send morse code with just a shift of my toe. They replaced my drive unit--all better now.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

I have been getting the odd noise at a very narrow power level, either + or -. It can be duplicated by feathering the accelerator, and yes the cruise can make it happen when the terrain changes subtly. It seems to be evolving. I first heard it at around 20 KW draw a few months ago. Now it's at a very low draw, like 3 KW. The pitch is speed related.
Also I'm getting the click/clunk at very low speeds (5 MPH) when switching between accelerate and decelerate.
I mentioned these to service, but they say they haven't heard any unusual noises, and couldn't duplicate the click/clunk.
I think I will have to get one of them in my car while I have it make the noises. Hammering a broken washer or bad bearing will cause damage to other parts over time.

I had this same clunk develop. Took the car in a few weeks ago to have my tires rotated and it's gone now and hasn't come back. My theory is the lug nuts had worked themselves a tiny bit a little loose causing the wheel to rotate every so slightly on the hub and they got torqued back to spec with the tire (wheel really) rotation.

Try torquing your wheels and see if that helps.

 

[brianman]

@mknox, @woof
Your replacement motor: Refurb or new?

 

[mknox]

@mknox, @woof
Your replacement motor: Refurb or new?

No idea... the Service Order just said something like "drive unit replacement"

 

[brianman]

I've been noticing for a long while now, that there's a faint whirring noise - almost a groaning sound - coming from the back of the car when driving at low speeds. It seemed to pop up mostly when running at slower speeds on cruise control (something I do often to avoid accidentally speeding). Today I happened to notice it while driving with my foot on the pedal. I took the opportunity to wiggle my foot. Yep, it comes and goes depending on the throttle setting. Kinda like the balloon sound, but low frequency and at low throttle.

Anyone else have this?

Doug_G, does it sound anything like this? Not the road noise (in the 1st video) but the other hum (which is more precisely filtered in the 2nd and 3rd).

Note: the warbling is an artifact of the filtering I did, not part of the sound I'm referring to.

For personal future reference (and perhaps useful to others), my processing was:

1. copy MP4 files from BlackVue card
2. load MP4 files (1) in GoPro CineForm Studio
3. convert to AVI
4. load AVI (3) in VirtualDub
5. save WAV
6. load WAV (5) in Audacity
7. high pass filter 150 Hz, 48 dB
8. low pass filter 200 Hz, 48 dB
9. export (as wav)
10. back to VirtualDub
11. load AVI (3)
12. use Audio/AudioFromOtherFile to substitute WAV (9)
13. save as AVI
14. convert AVI (13) to WMV with Expression Encoder
15. upload WMV to youtube

Yes, this is a total PITA because everything is finicky about supported input format.