Refresh front suspension clunk / knock / thunk

[jm404]

Posting here as there is a lot of short various threads about this and am hoping to have one place to post about this.

3500 miles. Mine sounds exactly like a bad sway bar end link. Sort of a medium pitched clunk from front passenger side. It happened very rarely at first and I didn't give it a ton of attention. Then over the weekend we stayed somewhere with cobblestone driving areas and now it's more noticeable but not 100% repeatable. I have historically had REALLY bad luck with dealers chasing this sort of thing down. It either has to be bad enough to say "drive over a speed bump at an angle to reproduce" or else they either insist it's fine or start playing parts darts. I do run the car pretty hard in the mountains but am very careful over speed bumps and gradient changes. I've never hit a pothole or anything like that.

Things I plan to check before sending it to SC:

1) remove hubcap
2) check hood bolts
3) check for pebbles in brake shield etc
4) lift car and check sway bar links (it does have a front sway bar, correct?) and other susp bushings

 

[Drrobmiller]

Interesting

This morning I heard rattles from front passenger side of my model x 2020

I brought in to service center and they discovered the sway bar torque loosened up the bolts

Fixed in 1/2 hour

 

[BostonBurley]

Interesting

This morning I heard rattles from front passenger side of my model x 2020

I brought in to service center and they discovered the sway bar torque loosened up the bolts

Fixed in 1/2 hour

They replaced sway links for me way back and eventually a rattle came about. Maybe 18 months later. They replaced sway end links and it was gone. Crazy how there’s isn’t just a quality, robust sway link for a Model C especially. It should be beefy as all get out. But it looks like a Honda sway link.

 

[BostonBurley]

inspected things tonight and it became evident which ultra cheap brand of suspension components have dismal bushing lifetime. I’m still in 1 year warranty timeframe period.
It’s these ultra cheap fore and aft lower control arms. I have my old 200k mileage oem Tesla stuff in my tool area and comparing the two, Tesla remained smooth and silent, but spongy.
Impressive for Tesla.

 

[Midnightsun]

I complained about a rattle in the dash a while back, they removed the dash and solved the issue however when I picked up the car, they did say the 2 front shocks needed replacement and ordered the parts to be installed at a later date. Car had less than 1000 km on it so basically brand new. They did replace the shocks however I have not noticed any difference, meanwhile the car remains dead quiet as in no rattles. Point is there may be an issue with some of the shocks out there depending on build date/serial number as I doubt one just changes both front shock on a new car just like that.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

OP, can you hear your noise from the interior, with the windows closed?

 

[jm404]

OP, can you hear your noise from the interior, with the windows closed?

Yes for sure. I removed the plastic covers under the front motors and check the bash plate bolts, all seemed tight. It might be my imagination, but it seemed to help quite a bit. I might go ahead and remove the bash plate, clean, re install. Or just make a service appt. I just hate bringing it in when it takes a good 10-15 minutes of driving to reproduce it.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

If you want to do a bit more diagnosis, I'd suggest removing the passenger wheel, disconnecting the sway bar end link on that passenger side, and releasing the air from that air strut.

Then, you'll have free movement of the suspension components without forces from the air spring or sway bar. You can shake it around and see if you still hear the noise. I found a loose inner control arm bolt via this process. The forces on the components when the car was driving were enough to rattle it, but i couldn't apply enough force on own to track it down without isolating them from dampening via the sway bar and air shock.

 

[Styrak]

How do you release the air from a strut, without the Tesla software? Service manual says:

Air Suspension - Pressurize/Depressurize - One Air Spring​

Correction Code 31101200

Depressurize​

1. Connect a laptop with Toolbox to the vehicle.
2. Press the brake pedal to turn on the drive rails.
3. Leave the driver's door open to keep the drive rails on.
4. In Toolbox, select Views > Suspension > Air Suspension Fill/Deflate and select the Help icon for specific instructions.

Pressurize​

1. Press the brake pedal to turn on the drive rails.
2. Leave the driver's door open to keep the drive rails on.
3. In Toolbox, select Views > Suspension > Air Suspension Fill/Deflate and select the Help icon for specific instructions.
4. Select Views > Suspension > Air Suspension Exit Service Mode and select the Help icon for specific instructions.
5. Disconnect Toolbox.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

How do you release the air from a strut, without the Tesla software? Service manual says:

Air Suspension - Pressurize/Depressurize - One Air Spring​

Correction Code 31101200

Depressurize​

1. Connect a laptop with Toolbox to the vehicle.
2. Press the brake pedal to turn on the drive rails.
3. Leave the driver's door open to keep the drive rails on.
4. In Toolbox, select Views > Suspension > Air Suspension Fill/Deflate and select the Help icon for specific instructions.

Pressurize​

1. Press the brake pedal to turn on the drive rails.
2. Leave the driver's door open to keep the drive rails on.
3. In Toolbox, select Views > Suspension > Air Suspension Fill/Deflate and select the Help icon for specific instructions.
4. Select Views > Suspension > Air Suspension Exit Service Mode and select the Help icon for specific instructions.
5. Disconnect Toolbox.

You put the car in Jack Mode and slowly unscrew the air line to the strut to bleed out the pressure. Just make sure it’s supported with a jack.

 

[ckhullar3]

I complained about a rattle in the dash a while back, they removed the dash and solved the issue however when I picked up the car, they did say the 2 front shocks needed replacement and ordered the parts to be installed at a later date. Car had less than 1000 km on it so basically brand new. They did replace the shocks however I have not noticed any difference, meanwhile the car remains dead quiet as in no rattles. Point is there may be an issue with some of the shocks out there depending on build date/serial number as I doubt one just changes both front shock on a new car just like that.

Would help advise what did tesla do the dashboard. I have model s and hear this rattle noise coming from the dashboard where the speakers are placed in front .

 

[ckhullar3]

Thanks in advance

 

[Midnightsun]

I have no clue, car was repaired at the SC and they do not detail step by step what they did to correct the issue.

 

[ckhullar3]

ok thanks so much