Decibelle
Member
I had a "rattle" from the front end after a second or two of acceleration that turned out to be the front half shafts. I don't think this is what this thread is about, but maybe what CaliMS is experiencing.
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This is a feature we have on our 2016 refresh S 90D with air suspension. We live on a private road that has a section,600 feet, of base rock. The clunky, rattle sound is significant. We thought something was wrong with our new car and took it to the service center. They duplicated the sound on another rough road and could not fix it. They tried. They took another car off the showroom floor just like ours and it made the same noise. Other than that unusually rough road, or car is just fine. It is the nature of the beast. Cars with coil springs do not have this issue.
Bill D
Member
I have air suspension and 19" wheels.
No need to remove the wheel to see it. It is visible if you lay on the ground in front of the car.
The part of my right front suspension that broke is called a Fore Link. The piece that broke off was laying in my driveway.
This looks like this failure could have been very dangerous it it happened at a high speed.
Here's some photos before and after warranty replacement of the Fore Link.
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@Bill D did you have the suspension noise? In all of your posts above it seems your issue was related to the wheel turning and contacting the wheel well...not necessarily the suspension noise.
Did you have the noise?
Agreed that your problem was significant and dangerous! Just wondering if your problem was related to front suspension rattle. Thanks!
Did you have the noise?
Agreed that your problem was significant and dangerous! Just wondering if your problem was related to front suspension rattle. Thanks!
Bill D
Member
I believed that my noise was the front suspension rattle described in this thread when I first posted here (post 31) and said: "A few days ago, a right front suspension rattle/clunk that fits this description began occurring in my 13,000 mile P90D. I know it wasn't occurring before because it's loud enough that I wouldn't have missed it. Dania Beach, Florida service will be looking at it tomorrow and I'll report back here what I learn."
After I posted that, my right front wheel jammed when backing out of my driveway with the wheels turned full right. Later I discovered the broken piece of my Fore Link laying in my driveway at that same spot.
Maybe initially, the Fore Link only had one crack that let it slide up and down on the bushing making the rattle and later the aluminum fatigued making another crack and the piece between the two cracks fell off, which allowed the steering knuckle to move backwards an inch or two.
I later posted my experience in another thread: "cracked forelink".
Now that the repair is done, there are no rattles or clunks.
Bill D
Member
Continuing my theory above, anyone that has this mysterious rattle could try tapping on the top and bottom of their aluminum Fore Link with a hammer and see if it slides up and down on the steel bushing cover adjacent to the rubber boot shown in my photos above.
I believe that movement was the source of my low speed parking lot rattle before my Fore Link completely broke. If my theory is correct, the rattle is a precursor to Fore Link failure.
All speculation on my part, but this theory seems to fit the evidence.
I believe that movement was the source of my low speed parking lot rattle before my Fore Link completely broke. If my theory is correct, the rattle is a precursor to Fore Link failure.
All speculation on my part, but this theory seems to fit the evidence.
Confirmed. I got my 75D in Dec 2017 (not even 3 months ago).
How widespread is this?
Does anyone have this issue with a car manufacturered in 2018?
Electric_Zen
Member
I have this issue with a Dec 17 manufacture date. It seems to have slightly gotten worse; ODO is at 1500 miles
Same full throttle from low speed front shaft rattle, getting worse with time. It less noticeable with range mode on.
Chasedrgc1223
Nearly Insane
The low speed rattle and the full throttle shimmy/rattle, in my opinion, are not correlated. In my 2015 85D, I had the low speed rattle and the half shaft rattle that was never completely fixed after multiple half shaft replacements. However, in my 2017 100D, I have the low speed rattle but absolutely zero vibration on full throttle at any speed, unlike my 85D. I took my 85D to 97k miles and I'm up to 18k in my 100D. Half shaft vibration was present on my 85D around 10k miles, yet on my 100D, which I drive harder, no symptoms of that acceleration rattle.
I do have it off.
FWIW, i took it in for service on both issues. That was Friday... still in the shop, no useful update yet. Stay tuned...
update: Got my car back. Here is the text from my repair sheet. In my case they acknowledged what others have said about it being with engineering, but they also replaced one strut and an Air Spring Module. I've not driven it yet enough to see if it helped at all, but interesting that they replaced parts.
Corrections: Suspension - Front - Check Torque
Retorqued the front suspension. This noise is a known issue with the DAS 2.5 steering
racks, and is currently under engineering review. No further repairs to be performed until
fix is released. Vehicle is safe to drive.
Corrections: Air Spring Module - Front - RH
Removed and replaced the right front strut.
Corrections: Suspension - Front - Check Torque
Retorqued the front suspension. This noise is a known issue with the DAS 2.5 steering
racks, and is currently under engineering review. No further repairs to be performed until
fix is released. Vehicle is safe to drive.
Corrections: Air Spring Module - Front - RH
Removed and replaced the right front strut.
Same exact thing going on with us - known issue but they are replacing a strut anyway. Car is suppose to be ready tomorrow - crossing my fingers! We have two sept 2017 MS 100D's both with the same issue. If the problem is solved tomorrow I am going right back with our other car for the same fix. I will post tomorrow with results.
Ok. I don't hear it anymore - mostly. At this point, the low-speed rattle is gone or nearly gone. The full-throttle rattle I had is also gone, but it was intermittent, so I "need" to drive fast more to confirm.. you know.. need to.
Anyway, I should mention in my service report it did acknowledge the rattle as unfixed/known.
(from repair sheet)
Concern: Customer States In Low speed a rattling noise in the front end of the vehicle.
Inspect/Advise.
Corrections: Suspension - Front - Check Torque
Retorqued the front suspension. This noise is a known issue with the DAS 2.5 steering
racks, and is currently under engineering review. No further repairs to be performed until
fix is released. Vehicle is safe to drive.
Corrections: Air Spring Module - Front - RH
Removed and replaced the right front strut.
Anyway, I should mention in my service report it did acknowledge the rattle as unfixed/known.
(from repair sheet)
Concern: Customer States In Low speed a rattling noise in the front end of the vehicle.
Inspect/Advise.
Corrections: Suspension - Front - Check Torque
Retorqued the front suspension. This noise is a known issue with the DAS 2.5 steering
racks, and is currently under engineering review. No further repairs to be performed until
fix is released. Vehicle is safe to drive.
Corrections: Air Spring Module - Front - RH
Removed and replaced the right front strut.
CaliSol
Member
@ptekngo I took my car (2017 S90D built 9/2017) to the San Rafael SC first in 11/2017 and then again 2/2018 for this same issue - low pitch rumble-rattle noise low in the front of the car on uneven roads at low speeds. Both times they say there’s no fix, no known cause and that engineering was working on it. At this point, I’m quite frustrated. Based on this thread this has been a known issue for a long time. One would think that Tesla would have diagnosed it by now, especially if they were to devote their engineering team to it. My gut feeling is that this is low priority for them and a solution will not come soon. Do we have any recourse for this problem? Will a group letter to Tesla help?
Its only been a few days but the strut seems to have fixed it - I will post again after a few more miles. I made an appointment for our other MS that has the same noise but much worse - they said they were willing to "throw a strut at that one too". That one is so bad I will know in the first 20 feet of driving it if it is fixed. Both our cars are Sept 17 builds.
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