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Picked up my 2023 AWD LR today....loud hum from front motor?

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Hearing a significantly noticeable hum from the front motor on my brand new 2023 M3 LR AWD. I feel like this is not quite normal. Our 2022 Kia Niro EV has *much* less noticeable motor noise. I test drove a used M3 last week and don't remember hearing any motor noise. The noise isn't noticeable at highway speeds but down around 40 and under it seems far too obtrusive. Something I should have checked out? Anyone else had this issue?

Also, steering wheel is scraping when turning around 2:00. This seems like just a small QC issue but it's *really* obnoxiously noticeable....pretty sad they didn't catch it and address it when moving the car around. It's a blatantly obvious scraping sound. Seems like the steering wheel is just scraping on the trim behind the wheel when it turns so probably nothing major but......I don't think this should happen on a $60k car. Was a three hour drive home in the dark so I'll look at it more closely tomorrow and see if I can adjust something a bit. Otherwise its another issue I need to get addressed.
 
Sorry to hear. These and similar issues are expected, but still sad to see this late into production and so many manufacturing revisions in (plus its more of a $20K car with $20K worth of batteries and tech and $20K markup).

Re the motor noise, was the car perhaps preconditioning for a supercharger or other L3/L2 charging stop?
If not, it could be as simple as the attachment points for the grounding straps for the electric motor/s needing some TLC or replacement.
Or potentially something else entirely (a particular tire, wheel hub bearings, etc).
Try changing the regen and driving/brake modes available to you on the 2023 and see if that makes any difference.

For the steering wheel, the plastic shroud is fairly easy for the service center, mobile service to remove, adjust, replace.
If that doesnt do the trick, it could be the steering wheel shell rubbing on the electrical connectors under the airbag. Happens often with steering wheel replacements so not out of the question on a rushed factory install.
 
Update; I made a service request. Tesla was very responsive...did some live chat with them this morning; appt is scheduled for Jan 2 and he said he'll have someone there that can address the problem and that it sounds like something they can adjust.
 
Brought the car in. They fixed the steering wheel rubbing noise, was just something rubbing that they adjusted. As to the motor hum, they said it was normal. It sounds louder than it should be to me. Our Kia is basically silent once the low speed virtual sound fades away. The Tesla has an obvious whine from the front motor.....I'm not thrilled with it but I wouldn't say it's obnoxious, just noticeable. I may test drive another M3 to see if there's much difference....I didn't notice it on the test drive before I purchased but it was rainy(louder roads) and I wasn't paying close attention for it.

As far as the motor intentionally running inefficiently to supply heat, I can't rule that out, although it hasn't varied or changed *at all* even on a 60 degree day without HVAC.
 
Brought the car in. They fixed the steering wheel rubbing noise, was just something rubbing that they adjusted. As to the motor hum, they said it was normal. It sounds louder than it should be to me. Our Kia is basically silent once the low speed virtual sound fades away. The Tesla has an obvious whine from the front motor.....I'm not thrilled with it but I wouldn't say it's obnoxious, just noticeable. I may test drive another M3 to see if there's much difference....I didn't notice it on the test drive before I purchased but it was rainy(louder roads) and I wasn't paying close attention for it.

As far as the motor intentionally running inefficiently to supply heat, I can't rule that out, although it hasn't varied or changed *at all* even on a 60 degree day without HVAC.
There's artificial noise made a low speeds to warn pedestrians, maybe it's that?
 
There's artificial noise made a low speeds to warn pedestrians, maybe it's that?

I'm certain that's not it....I expect there to be some sound at low speed due to pedestrian warning....so it's more so when I'm driving 30-40 mph that I really notice it. Our Kia has a much louder virtual engine sound, so it's *very* apparent when it goes dead silent after 25 mph. At this point, it is much quieter than the Tesla, and the Kia is front engine. If the high pitched sound is "normal", I could probably get used to it. But if it's abnormal, it's kind of a constant reminder that it's not quite right, or is a bit louder than normal. I'll schedule a test drive soon.
 
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Here's a link from another thread that somewhat illustrates the sound mine makes:


Here's a link to the (old) thread:
What's normal AWD Front Motor Sound?

In most cases, it seems like quite a few owners resolved the issue either by replacing the ground straps or simply tightening them a bit.
It's difficult to make out the specific sound from that video. (And I know it can be really difficult to capture such sounds distinctly with a microphone even if they're quite apparent in person.)

If you haven't yet you really really need to go ride in another dual motor Model 3, or ideally a couple more, back-to-back with yours for comparison.

I'm guessing yours really does have louder front motor whine in the cabin than average but it's so hard to say without a back-to-back comparison.

In every single dual motor Tesla I've ever driven, the front motor sounds louder in the cabin than the rear. In early dual motor Model S the front motor was especially loud, not bothersome to me but definitely heard it loud and clear compared to the rear.

When the rear motor of a P85D loaner failed on me and I was driving only on the front, it was almost shockingly loud. I would've known in an instant just from the sound that it was using the front motor only.

Tesla has quieted down their front motor whine/hum over the years (across the whole lineup). Model 3 front motor is not so loud in my experience. But it's still audible, I can make out its sound easily at local road speeds if there isn't too much ambient noise. Despite that this is still the overall quietest car I've ever owned, even compared to our RWD Model S, so ours is really not bad at all...maybe yours does have something off about it, maybe adjusting the grounding will help. Good luck!
 
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Our Kia has a *much* louder virtual engine sound than the Tesla....it's a very noticeable whirry spaceship sound. A bit too loud for my taste. After 25, it is dead silent. Drastically quieter than the Tesla. In fact, I'd say the motor whine on my M3 i.e. above 20 mph when it should be silent, is as noticeable as the low speed virtual engine sound on the Kia. It's only at highway speeds i.e. 60+ mph when wind and tire noise is loud enough to drown it out. I feel like that's a lot of noise needed before the sound is no longer noticeable.

I have an appointment scheduled now for Saturday morning at a good size SC. Hoping to be able to take a loaner/test drive while they work on mine. I included a detailed report of other owners experiencing the same issues, and how it was fixed by tightening or replacing the ground strap. So I requested the ground strap(s) be tightened. We'll see.

Honestly, if this doesn't get fixed, it's going to make me wish I had gotten a ~2020 Hyundai Ionic plug in hybrid with 30 miles electric only range, 60 mpg in hybrid mode, for <$25k with a $4k tax rebate and the remainder of Hyundai's crazy good 10 year warranty. Put the $40k difference into the market! That was my other option.
 
It's difficult to make out the specific sound from that video. (And I know it can be really difficult to capture such sounds distinctly with a microphone even if they're quite apparent in person.)

If you haven't yet you really really need to go ride in another dual motor Model 3, or ideally a couple more, back-to-back with yours for comparison.

I'm guessing yours really does have louder front motor whine in the cabin than average but it's so hard to say without a back-to-back comparison.

In every single dual motor Tesla I've ever driven, the front motor sounds louder in the cabin than the rear. In early dual motor Model S the front motor was especially loud, not bothersome to me but definitely heard it loud and clear compared to the rear.

When the rear motor of a P85D loaner failed on me and I was driving only on the front, it was almost shockingly loud. I would've known in an instant just from the sound that it was using the front motor only.

Tesla has quieted down their front motor whine/hum over the years (across the whole lineup). Model 3 front motor is not so loud in my experience. But it's still audible, I can make out its sound easily at local road speeds if there isn't too much ambient noise. Despite that this is still the overall quietest car I've ever owned, even compared to our RWD Model S, so ours is really not bad at all...maybe yours does have something off about it, maybe adjusting the grounding will help. Good luck!
Yes, I had to turn my laptop basically all the way up to make out the noise in the video....the lower frequency road noises are picked up much better by what I assume is a cell phone in that video. I could hear it better on my headphones, and, although harder to hear in the recording than in my car....seems to exactly match my issue.
 
@TesslaBear FWIW, in my experience Tesla rear motors are pretty much silent in cabin except when using a lot of power. I can't hear the motor of my P85 at all except when I smash the Go pedal aggressively. Then the whine shows up nice and clear in a good way, louder than it ever does in our M3P.

In other words, the quietest Tesla is a RWD Tesla. ;)

I sometimes wish my M3P had a bit more motor whine - I've wondered if there are any soft motor mounts that could be stiffened to transmit more noise. Different strokes for different folks I guess!
 
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Update:
Scheduled my car for service in the next town, about an hour away. They had a convenient early Saturday appointment, and we were able to schedule a test drive on a model Y, which my wife prefers. This killed two birds with one stone as I wanted to drive another AWD Tesla to compare the motor noise. The model Y was *drastically* quieter from 0-50 mph. Cruising, accelerating, slowing down, all much much quieter. So my car is definitely abnormally loud.

I requested the tech ride with me to observe the noise. He acknowledged the noise and I told him about researching on the forums and how some owners found that tightening the ground strap(s) often fixed the issue and how there was even a service bulletin for replacing the ground strap on older models. I was hoping/expecting them to try this, since the last service center said "in spec"

While waiting in the lobby after test driving the MY, I checked my app, and it said:

Replace front drive unit: in progress.

Whoa! Well, looks like they are addressing the issue! Soon afterwards(maybe an hour???), I got a message that they had to keep the car until Monday. They gave us a model S loaner car. I asked for a Plaid. They laughed.

So fingers crossed that Monday/Tuesday my car will be fixed and as beautifully quiet as the MY we test drove.
 
Final update:

The front motor replacement was completed today, so I went and picked the car up. Happy to report that the car is now drastically quieter. If I listen closely, I can still hear a similar sound but it is very subdued and only noticeable in a narrower range of speed. I suspect what I can hear now is completely normal. I even turned off the radio and climate to make things as quiet as possible to listen for it, because I didn't notice it at all at first. Sad that I had to use up quite a few hours of my time to get a brand new car fixed, as it is something that shouldn't have made it past whatever QC Tesla does, but I am happy they took car of the issue and didn't say "in spec". Since it can be hit or miss, I'm glad that my car otherwise seems to be quite well assembled with no other little issues that I've noticed so far.

On another note, the model S loaner car I got has made me appreciate my car a bit more. Not sure what year it was but was a P100D. The interior seemed rather dated, and the car had a lot more squeaks and rattles. I wouldn't be happy owning that car, at all. Also, I much prefer the driving dynamics of the M3. The S seemed a bit like a big cumbersome land yacht in comparison. The M3 drives like a luxurious go cart. The S looked pretty sexy, have to admit. It's low and wide and sinister looking. But I would hate to own the loaner car I drove.
 
@TesslaBear Can confirm, P100D drive like heavy yachts. They make great highway cruisers IMO but overall I much prefer driving - and parking - a Model 3. Hopefully you got to execute a few quick Ludicrous Mode passes though. 😁

Even our old P85 feels notably lighter and more nimble than a P100D. Our P85 is also big soft and numb but not so heavy yacht/tank feeling.

The rattles develop with miles and age, give your new Model 3 some time to catch up on that. ;)

There was a little while in-between those models when Tesla was building Model S with a much firmer, sportier suspension tune. P85+ and then P85D (early ones at least). Even the steering was a lot firmer and sportier on those. Sadly the Model S went backwards by the 100D era. Model 3 is just plain more fun and go kart like than any Model S though!