Whether or not you can drive (AWD) on a failed motor would depend on what the failure is. A failure in the motor/inverter electronics would probably result in you still being able to drive. A mechanical failure with a bunch of banging noises is a different story.
Rear drive unit fail
- Thread starter peter67
- Start date
Birdman325
Member
Sitting in Tesla Lawrence. Service tech came in the car and we drove, maybe 5 feet in the parking lot and we heard the click. “Yup, axle click” he said. Turned around, drove inside the service centre and they all said “axle click?”, “yeah, axle click”.
Seems to be a well known issue. They said it should take about an hour so I am waiting.
Seems to be a well known issue. They said it should take about an hour so I am waiting.
Last edited:
Techniques
Member
Thanks for the details. I will keep an ear open for this on my AWD for sure.Forward, Reverse, slow, fast, accelerating or decelerating; it's really easy to hear if I go over a bump or hop onto a private drive way from the road that's a little higher than normal. It's like a clip being snapped. I read that it may be loose bolts/nuts on the rear axle in the Model 3 forums. I'll find out next Tuesday during my appointment.
I also got some ramps to jack up the car with to rotate tires. Will remove all the rocks and get back to you on that theory
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
Windows down = 100% you'll hear it (if your car has the issue). Even with windows up, it'll make it's way through the floor too with the music off.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Active Member
Wow, that could have been pretty serious, good thing the failure occurred on a lower speed road.
Peter, what approx. is your VIN? Hopefully Tesla has resolved drive unit failures in current builds.
pcons
M3 AWD+
Oooh, that sucks. They did this on purpose, or could he not call and get it removed? Seems dumb they would do that. Part of the advantage of getting a P loaner is it plants the seed for your next Tesla to be the performance version
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
Oooh, that sucks. They did this on purpose, or could he not call and get it removed? Seems dumb they would do that. Part of the advantage of getting a P loaner is it plants the seed for your next Tesla to be the performance version
I drove the 100D loaners and rather have the 3
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
Hope OP's new drive arrives and his 3 is all good. For everyone else, here's a clip of the sound at 0:06, 0:46, and 0:52 drive of 1km from A&W back to the office (yes, I'm too lazy to walk).
Scrubbing to 0:04/5 is easiest time stamp to hear the "Snip" before I got onto the road.
Scrubbing to 0:04/5 is easiest time stamp to hear the "Snip" before I got onto the road.
Techniques
Member
Thanks for sharing this, I do hear a sort of click around 4-5 seconds. Man I hate trying to spot noises like this, only because the amount of small cars/toys my kid has in the backseat, i'm gonna have to empty the whole car to ensure I can spot it.
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
It's way louder in person and very distinct. Fact that it always occurs = rocks stuck or metal snip/snapping back to place after something bent it.
My VIN is 29,xxx. At this point nothing for me to do but wait until the new drive comes in. Hopefully they fixed whatever the issue was and this unit will be more reliable...
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
The click noise you hear in the rear is called a rear wheel axle click. Service centre should be able to fix it by greasing the bolt and tightening it. If you search the forum for "rear wheel sounds or click", there's a whole thread about it.
