Suspension clicking noise while parked?

[KrazyEd]

I got my brand new 2020 Model X mid-August, everything was great until I got it wrapped and the tech told me that my car is making a weird clicking noise while parked.

Send the video to my Tesla rep and the tech told me to monitor the noise and let them know if anything else happened. (as if it's normal) Talked to other Model X owners locally and they told me this is definitely not normal. Just wanted to post the video and see if anybody else have experienced this.

 

[mswlogo]

My guess is Air suspension is messed up. Not normal for sure.

 

[MD JD]

Never heard about anything like that.

 

[KrazyEd]

My guess is Air suspension is messed up. Not normal for sure.

Yes, I'm don't know anything about cars but when I showed the video to anybody who knows somethings about cars says it's most likely something to do with the air suspension. None of them are EV expert thought. Already booked a service center appointment next month, it's so hard to get them scheduled in this part of the globe. (I'm in Taiwan).

 

[TSLA Pilot]

I'd forward your two videos to Tesla Service as their remote techs can diagnose from afar and have any needed parts pre-sent to your SC.

You have the new Raven air suspension which has all sorts of interesting capabilities, and, it appears, also has weird things that can go wrong as well;-)

Do please advise what they find.

Best of luck!

 

[mswlogo]

Yes, I'm don't know anything about cars but when I showed the video to anybody who knows somethings about cars says it's most likely something to do with the air suspension. None of them are EV expert thought. Already booked a service center appointment next month, it's so hard to get them scheduled in this part of the globe. (I'm in Taiwan).

One other thing it could be is a "Damper Door". Lots of duct work with doors that open and close when you start up and shutdown or adjust the HVAC. Some have position sensors, some use torque sensing to know their limits. Some are pneumatic, some are motor driven. If you get a bad sensor (like door is now closed sensor) or a stripped gear they can keep running trying to reach their destination. And make all sorts of weird noises. The X is known to make some creeks and moans that are these doors closing and opening when it goes to sleep or wakes up.

Since the suspension is so critical, my guess is a fault would be detected. But duct work might not have as many sensors to detect a faulty motor drive or bad sensor.

Like Damper Doors there are also lots of similarly controlled valves for controller fluid flow, namely the cooling. That could fail in a similar fashion.

If it is air suspension, you need to be careful because if it totally fails it can fail spectacularly.

 

[KrazyEd]

One other thing it could be is a "Damper Door". Lots of duct work with doors that open and close when you start up and shutdown or adjust the HVAC. Some have position sensors, some use torque sensing to know their limits. Some are pneumatic, some are motor driven. If you get a bad sensor (like door is now closed sensor) or a stripped gear they can keep running trying to reach their destination. And make all sorts of weird noises. The X is known to make some creeks and moans that are these doors closing and opening when it goes to sleep or wakes up.

Since the suspension is so critical, my guess is a fault would be detected. But duct work might not have as many sensors to detect a faulty motor drive or bad sensor.

Like Damper Doors there are also lots of similarly controlled valves for controller fluid flow, namely the cooling. That could fail in a similar fashion.

If it is air suspension, you need to be careful because if it totally fails it can fail spectacularly.

I'm sorry but what do you mean it can fail spectacularly? Is there any safety concern? Because when I first send the video to my rep, and a service tech called me and assured me that it's normal for X to make some weird noises. I brought the X as a family car because it's one of the safest SUV to carry my newborn child and my family, I sure would hate it if it's a safety issue and the service center down played it.

 

[KrazyEd]

I'd forward your two videos to Tesla Service as their remote techs can diagnose from afar and have any needed parts pre-sent to your SC.

You have the new Raven air suspension which has all sorts of interesting capabilities, and, it appears, also has weird things that can go wrong as well;-)

Do please advise what they find.

Best of luck!

Thanks !!

 

[TSLA Pilot]

One other thing it could be is a "Damper Door". Lots of duct work with doors that open and close when you start up and shutdown or adjust the HVAC. Some have position sensors, some use torque sensing to know their limits. Some are pneumatic, some are motor driven. If you get a bad sensor (like door is now closed sensor) or a stripped gear they can keep running trying to reach their destination. And make all sorts of weird noises. The X is known to make some creeks and moans that are these doors closing and opening when it goes to sleep or wakes up.

Since the suspension is so critical, my guess is a fault would be detected. But duct work might not have as many sensors to detect a faulty motor drive or bad sensor.

Like Damper Doors there are also lots of similarly controlled valves for controller fluid flow, namely the cooling. That could fail in a similar fashion.

If it is air suspension, you need to be careful because if it totally fails it can fail spectacularly.

While I could be wrong, I don't believe any S or X has any pneumatically-powered doors--just about everything is driven by small electric 12-volt motors.

The louvers that close off the behind-the-front-bumper heat exchangers (x2) make a far different sound, and the position of the louvers is, AFAIK, always the same on the left and right side. Thus, a failure there would be obvious to the naked eye--OP, please take a look to see if they're the same when the noise is present?

After owning nine MS's, this seems to be a new and unique sound so I strongly suspect it's Raven Air Suspension related, and it appears to emanate from the shock/strut as well.

Can't wait to here back from the OP for our own "corporate history and knowledge" going forward.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

I'm sorry but what do you mean it can fail spectacularly? Is there any safety concern? Because when I first send the video to my rep, and a service tech called me and assured me that it's normal for X to make some weird noises. I brought the X as a family car because it's one of the safest SUV to carry my newborn child and my family, I sure would hate it if it's a safety issue and the service center down played it.

The poster's comment was likely related to some of the suspension failures noted over the past years, but your "clicking" sound has NOTHING to do with those.

Worry not--pure fear mongering. There is no reason to suspect there is any chance of suspension failure given this sound.

 

[mswlogo]

While I could be wrong, I don't believe any S or X has any pneumatically-powered doors--just about everything is driven by small electric 12-volt motors.

The louvers that close off the behind-the-front-bumper heat exchangers (x2) make a far different sound, and the position of the louvers is, AFAIK, always the same on the left and right side. Thus, a failure there would be obvious to the naked eye--OP, please take a look to see if they're the same when the noise is present?

After owning nine MS's, this seems to be a new and unique sound so I strongly suspect it's Raven Air Suspension related, and it appears to emanate from the shock/strut as well.

Can't wait to here back from the OP for our own "corporate history and knowledge" going forward.

I was not implying the Tesla did or did not have pneumatically damper doors, I was generalizing different manufactures use a different things to control them and pneumatically controlled dampers typically would not make a sound like that. But a motor driven one could, which I understood what Tesla uses as well. I was just throwing it out there as another possibility since nobody knows for sure. I'd also be a lot less concerned about driving it, if it was a faulty damper door.

My understanding is the Air Suspension is pneumatic. Not sure exactly how a failure in the Air Suspension can make such a sound. But it certainly sounded like it was in the area of the strut.

I'm not sure how you can claim there is zero danger, when many suspect something faulty with the air suspension (including you). And have no clue of what exactly it is. And claim it's perfectly safe. I stand by my comment. I'd be careful.

The failure might also strain the 12V battery depending on how long this goes on for. I wouldn't take it any long trips far away from a SC until it's fixed. That's what I'd do. Unless I fully understood what exactly was wrong and then decide. It might be trivial, it might be serious. Might get worse and diagnostics detect something and then the car decides to be on cautious side and not drive.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Because I know a thing or two about cars, I am able to make some very simple assumptions about things, such as:

1. A light "ticking" sound from a suspension component when the car is parked has NOTHING to do with an impending suspension failure. Your comment making reference to same was absurd and a negative addition to the thread, and needlessly alarmed the OP.

2. The Raven air suspension can makes damping changes on the fly. That requires a small motor and electricity, a very small amount of electricity. His Model X has 100 kWh battery so I'd posit it could go on making noises for months before his battery died from Raven Air Suspension "clicking."

3. Best to not comment on areas in which you have no expertise or knowledge because then we end up with ignorance squared--we already have far too much ignorance on the planet, no?

Thank you.

 

[mswlogo]

Because I know a thing or two about cars, I am able to make some very simple assumptions about things, such as:

1. A light "ticking" sound from a suspension component when the car is parked has NOTHING to do with an impending suspension failure. Your comment making reference to same was absurd and a negative addition to the thread, and needlessly alarmed the OP.

2. The Raven air suspension can makes damping changes on the fly. That requires a small motor and electricity, a very small amount of electricity. His Model X has 100 kWh battery so I'd posit it could go on making noises for months before his battery died from Raven Air Suspension "clicking."

3. Best to not comment on areas in which you have no expertise or knowledge because then we end up with ignorance squared--we already have far too much ignorance on the planet, no?

Thank you.

Yeah, and you can assert I know nothing. See you're wrong right there. You know nothing about me.

I have not had to block many posters. And not for a long time. Bye Bye pal.

OP be careful. Stupid little things can shut these cars down. Good luck with the repair and let us know what they find.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Yeah, and you can assert I know nothing. See you're wrong right there. You know nothing about me.

I have not had to block many posters. And not for a long time. Bye Bye pal.

OP be careful. Stupid little things can shut these cars down. Good luck with the repair and let us know what they find.

Wow, such an odd post from such a petty person, but do concur 100% on the fact that we'd ALL like to know about this new failure mode of the Raven air suspension.

Regardless of this poster's remarkable histeria, feel free to drive to your heart's content and without worry. Your car is perfectly safe, as confirmed by your local Tesla Service Center's telcon.

Loud noises while driving = concern. Light "ticking" noises from a parked Tesla = NO concern (unless you have evil enemies with access to explosives;-)

 

[henderrj]

Yeah, and you can assert I know nothing. See you're wrong right there. You know nothing about me.

I have not had to block many posters. And not for a long time. Bye Bye pal.

OP be careful. Stupid little things can shut these cars down. Good luck with the repair and let us know what they find.

I think the problem was in calling it a possible "spectacular failure". It makes it sound like something could be horribly wrong as you drive down the road. I would guess that the worst you could possibly run into would be a low suspension all the time. even if one side is high and one side low, it's not going to make you drive off the road! That's the issue I think we're trying to get at. The air suspension might fail, might even cause the car to stop working, but it's not like going to kill anybody.

 

[mswlogo]

I think the problem was in calling it a possible "spectacular failure". It makes it sound like something could be horribly wrong as you drive down the road. I would guess that the worst you could possibly run into would be a low suspension all the time. even if one side is high and one side low, it's not going to make you drive off the road! That's the issue I think we're trying to get at. The air suspension might fail, might even cause the car to stop working, but it's not like going to kill anybody.

I call that spectacular failure, even if it doesn't kill you. I guess it's all a matter of opinion.

Driving with it stuck high or below low can cause serious damage.

Air Suspension failure with very unpleasant results

If you want to drive it like that, go right ahead, it's your car. I'm not saying it's gonna fail, I'm saying it could leave him stranded.
I wouldn't go on a cross country trip until it's fixed, since nobody has a clue.

 

[KrazyEd]

Thanks everybody for the comments, I send new videos SC and asked if they can remote diagnosis the problem. They can't since there is no error codes. I won't take the car cross country but will still need it to transport my little 8 months old sometimes. Just hated it because I love the car but since model 3s are selling so well all of the SC are packed with delivering and repairs.

Will report back once I get more information. Thanks

 

[mxnym]

The failure might also strain the 12V battery depending on how long this goes on for.

2. His Model X has 100 kWh battery so I'd posit it could go on making noises for months before his battery died from Raven Air Suspension "clicking."

errrm... Could you be so kind as to tell me exactly how many 12V cycles it would take to fully drain the 100kWh battery and what condition the 12V battery would be in at that point? Keep in mind that the 12V has deep cycles and they could occur pretty often with a 12V motor trying to run constantly.

 

[KrazyEd]

Finally waited until my service appointment today. I had to leave the car there because the sound isn't there when I got there. Left the car for the whole day and the tech call me and said they found the problem.

Rep: "The sound is coming from a water pump, it's making the noise but don't worry, it won't cause any driving or safety problem. "
Me: "Oh a water pump? what does it do? to cool down some mechanism? Where is it located?"
Rep: "Eh...... don't worry it's of no safety concern, we already ordered a new part and will replace it as soon as it gets here. However, if we don't have the part in Taiwan, we might have to order it and it could take 3~6 weeks to get here."
Me: "So water pump eh? Is it for the a/c? or cooling down the battery?"
Rep: "....... Yeah so you can pick up the car now, when will you come and pick it up?"
Me: " Okay, I will be there tomorrow after lunch, and please let me know and we will schedule the repair."

The end.

So...... does anybody know a water pump near the front suspension of the Model x? I'm glad they found the problem, just not sure why he can't explain it to me.

Thanks.

 

[jboy210]

Finally waited until my service appointment today. I had to leave the car there because the sound isn't there when I got there. Left the car for the whole day and the tech call me and said they found the problem.

Rep: "The sound is coming from a water pump, it's making the noise but don't worry, it won't cause any driving or safety problem. "
Me: "Oh a water pump? what does it do? to cool down some mechanism? Where is it located?"
Rep: "Eh...... don't worry it's of no safety concern, we already ordered a new part and will replace it as soon as it gets here. However, if we don't have the part in Taiwan, we might have to order it and it could take 3~6 weeks to get here."
Me: "So water pump eh? Is it for the a/c? or cooling down the battery?"
Rep: "....... Yeah so you can pick up the car now, when will you come and pick it up?"
Me: " Okay, I will be there tomorrow after lunch, and please let me know and we will schedule the repair."

The end.

So...... does anybody know a water pump near the front suspension of the Model x? I'm glad they found the problem, just not sure why he can't explain it to me.

Thanks.

As to why they could not explain it, many people that make those type of calls are not the techs that work on the car and are just reading what is says on a report.

My guess is if they said water pump they meant something for battery cooling systems. A/C would use the term compressor.