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Two annoying sounds my S makes that are driving me crazy

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2nd sound.. I didn't hear anything abnormal. My car makes a slight inverter buzz at low throttle application.. dont mind it a bit. Also mine makes gear nose most noticeable at 12mph... again don't mind it.

1st sound. There's a lot happening.

There are several pumps in the car. Vacuum for brakes (pre auto pilot cars), AC compressor, and Air suspension compressor. I think I heard all 3. This is a non auto pilot car with air suspension, correct?

Brake vacuum pump - on non auto pilot cars the brake booster needs vacuum just like in most ICE cars in order to make the power brakes work. On my car it makes a ~3 second hum every few brake pedal applications. The auto pilot hardware cars have a (per a talk with a service center tech) hydraulic brake booster which is like the 96 and up Ford Mustangs. That brake booster is driven by hydraulic pressure. It will still store about 1-2 pedal applications worth of power assist before having to cycle the pump again. I'm sure that pump also makes some noise.

A/C Compressor - I just had a loaner car that was non-autopilot but had air suspension (next topic) and the A/C pump sounded just like that. I'm not sure if it was normal or not as it is a lot louder than my cars A/C pump. I barely hear mine. Perhaps this is a thing with the newer cars? A change in pump MFG / specs that now they're just a bit louder? Dunno. Just my take on it. I did mention it to my service writer but I doubt I'll ever see that car again.

Air suspension compressor - The car self levels, and you put it in park at one point in the first clip.. I'd be willing to bet the car did a self leveling which means it might need to run the air compressor to add air to an air spring. Air compressors also make noise.


I dunno what to tell ya. They're all normal (ish) to me except maybe the volume of the A/C, ask them about it.


I personally like all the noises the car makes.
 
Clock's passed 48 hours and ticking, awaiting reply from Denver Tesla Service Center. There really is no excuse for this kind of thing from Tesla. If they don't fix this problem now, imagine what it's going to be like in 5 years when they're trying to sell 500,000 cars a year. Oh wait. Guess what. They won't be selling 500,000 cars a year then. Word will have gotten out that while Tesla's cars are superb, their responsiveness and communications between customer and service centers sucks. Is that what we want out of Tesla as owners and investors? No.

At the 72 hour point this time tomorrow, I escalate.

I would have picked up the phone and called after 24 hours. Not sure why you are waiting? It doesn't need to be this dramatic. Just call them! lol
 
No drama, I just wanted to see how good or bad the Denver Service Center's responsiveness was. I'm on hold on the phone with them now. . .

. . . and I'm done with the call. Never got to talk to a technician today either. Receptionist got back on and told me, stumbling, saying what sounded like a quickly-made-up fib to me, that the "service foreman" still, er, um, has my email "under review," but, um, unfortunately he's out today, and unfortunately, he is, um, the only person who can help me. (??)

So I continue to wait.
 
No drama, I just wanted to see how good or bad the Denver Service Center's responsiveness was. I'm on hold on the phone with them now. . .

. . . and I'm done with the call. Never got to talk to a technician today either. Receptionist got back on and told me, stumbling, saying what sounded like a quickly-made-up fib to me, that the "service foreman" still, er, um, has my email "under review," but, um, unfortunately he's out today, and unfortunately, he is, um, the only person who can help me. (??)

So I continue to wait.

Jeez. Denver SC needs to get their act together. Raleigh and Rockville have both been consistently awesome over the last few years.
 
I'm tempted to try Scottsdale, AZ. The thought of driving my car down to that frying pan (108ºF today) is not quite appealing.

Then again, maybe unlike Denver, I could get some Scottsdale tech's attention and get 'em to help me out. That would be progress.
 
Scottsdale service turn around has been same day for me if possible on every issue I have had. They are so responsive it sometimes feels like I am taking advantage of them.

Odd that the service experience varies so widely from city to city.
 
73.5 hours and counting, no response from Denver TSC.

So I called Scottsdale. Got right through, guy was very helpful, sure, we can help, etc. He thinks it's AC compressor not brake pump making the sound. He's going to check out the audio samples and we'll set up an appointment, loaner no problem, etc.

Adios Denver.
 
I'm tempted to try Scottsdale, AZ. The thought of driving my car down to that frying pan (108ºF today) is not quite appealing.

Then again, maybe unlike Denver, I could get some Scottsdale tech's attention and get 'em to help me out. That would be progress.

I'm glad you contacted Scottsdale. I live in the Phoenix metro area and Scottsdale service is one of the best in the country - even better than most of the SCs in California. Scottsdale is really on top of its game, and I credit their amazing Service Manager Nicholas Thompson. Amazing people over there.
 
Tomorrow I'm heading out before dawn for Scottsdale. 469 mile drive. I figure with two supercharger stops, about 9 hours. Don't like having to put 1000 roundtrip miles on the car just to do service, but then, any opportunity to drive 1000 miles in a Model S is, you know the deal, impossible to resist :)
 
Well, I'm back.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is, it was a safe 1000-mile trip. The bad news is, basically the car is in the same condition as it was before I took it on a 1000-mile round trip to Scottsdale.

When I arrived at Scottsdale, around 12:45pm, the first thing they asked me was, now, you can leave the car here until Wed night? Thurs morning be okay? I'm like WHAT? I had made careful arrangements a week or two beforehand. Asked for a loaner, they'd said ok. I proposed to arrive midday Tues July 7 but I'd have to be wheels rolling around midday Wed July 8. They'd said ok. I said I'm hitting the Payson route to Holbrook straight from the service center, so I need every possible electron workin' in the battery, max charge, prolly best to charge it overnight while you're not working on it. They'd said ok.

And now that I'm there, they're asking about Thurs pickup, and that they have to do this Power Switch pre-emptive replacement which I've commented about in the recent Power Switch thread. They said it'd take all day, they'd have to drain the battery, so, like... prolly not worth charging all night. I'm like, how can I leave at noon tomorrow with a maxed-out battery for the long haul to Holbrook, but you need the car for a day and have to work on battery while it's drained? I asked how urgent was this pre-emptive repair. I asked why didn't they let me know before I got up at 3:30am and hit the road and drove 500 miles to be there? I said you guys had my cell phone, my email, my home number, you could have texted, all hailing frequencies were open, but I heard nothing. I would have gladly rescheduled the trip. Obviously. Would have made every accommodation to fit in the Power Switch work. Well, sir, erm... I told them that I love the Tesla Motors company to death, I am a huge fan, shareholder, the works, but the persistent problem with Tesla across the board is COMMUNICATION and the lack thereof. They said if I didn't get the Power Switch pre-emptive repair done at Scottsdale, they would phone Denver (Denver? ha, I'm not convinced Denver really exists... never returned phone calls, never returned multiple emails requesting an appointment...) and have a Denver Ranger drive 7 hours down to me, scoop up car, take it back to Denver, do the Power Switch pre-emptive repair, and flatbed it back to me, all the while with me having a complimentary rental car. I said ok let's be perfectly clear: how at risk am I to car failure if I do not get this done today? He was very reluctant to say -- the Fremont stoicism was strong in this one -- but he admitted that the car could fail at any time. As in I'd be stranded. So they seem really really really keen on fixing this. Sounds like a recall to me. Anyway, I declined, had to, I had an important appointment on Thurs and I had to be back home in time for it, so he said he'd be getting a Ranger from Denver for me asap. Sounds really urgent to me. Can't believe Tesla hasn't said a peep about it sooner.

So here's the bad news. Got home last night, pulled in to garage, stopped car, BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. This morning, pressed brake pedal to start car. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Drove a bit this morning. Every single time I had to press the brake pedal, BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

The service center said they fixed the brake vacuum sound problem. They did not. It is still there and it has not changed AT ALL.

As for the notorious milling/cicada sound, they didn't even touch it. They said they tested it, and in their estimation the car exhibited a "mild" case of the milling sound, and that "there is a fix coming."

They tested the alignment. Found it wanting. Called me while I was camped out in the hotel. They wanted $129 or $149 for the alignment, just like the other thread in TMC's been talking about. I protested. I mentioned how Tesla's own website's Service FAQ page says alignment service is "complimentary" for annual maintenance checks. There was some debate. I fired up my web browser and frantically searched for the Service FAQ page. I simply could not find it. (Is it gone? Since this past weekend???) Service guy said he'd talk to the manager, see what's what. Called me back, said they'd do the alignment gratis. I was thankful.

On much of my 500-mile drive home, the car tugged to the left the entire time, forcing me to compensate with a tiny push to the right. F***. This is new. It never did this before. if anything there was a verrrrry tiny about of right tug before. After their alignment work, there is now a more obvious left tug.

Another thing. I'd made the point very succinctly to make sure car was charged to max all night. By morning it was at 254. They'd had it (oddly, I thought) charging at only 30 amps all night, on a slow charge. I realized it'd stopped at 254 because the iPhone app's "Charge Limit" slider makes it SEEM like you slid all the way to the right, but it never quite gets there, so you wind up with like a 96% charge. When service center called in morning, we chatted about it, and I told 'em to up the limit to the max using the Control settings, and could they kindly finish the max charge, they said fine. When I finally was back in car, and back on freeway, and moving along, it was only then I noticed battery was at 245. It had drained somehow, and they hadn't maxed it out. I decided right on the spot to not attempt the Payson climb to Holbrook, too risky without maxed-out battery. So I did Cordes Lakes, topped off there, and then did a gorgeous scenic shortcut off of I-17 at route 260 at Camp Verde, heading all the way over to Winslow, and rejoined I-40 there, so I could skip Flagstaff.

Oh yeah. One more thing. After I dropped of my car, got the loaner (VIN #000042! a Sig from 2012! Awesome car), and was heading to hotel, out of curiosity I fired up Tesla iPhone app, and saw that my car was moving at 44mph. So I watched the live map. They were speeding down N. Hayden Rd near the service center. At 65mph, in a busy 45mph zone with lots of traffic intersections. I grabbed a screen shot.

tsc-65mph.png


So all in all, they were very nice. They did a superb job cleaning and detailing the car as part of the service, for which I am grateful. But I still have the same two annoying sounds in my S that are driving me crazy.

Oh, and I'm now concerned my car might konk out at any time. I await a call from this theoretical service center in Denver.
 
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Didn't read the whole thread, but, my wife's P85 has the original vacuum brake booster as well as my traded P85. Both are audible any time you depress the brake pedal while the car is on, which is always if you have the key fob with you. In my P85 I could hear it, but it is a normal sound for that type of device. In her P85 something came loose in the pump and it was super loud for a while. They replaced it and it went back to normal. Your recording sounds like normal operation of the pump.

In your recording it also sounds like you pressed the brake pedal a few times during the recording leading to the slightly extended pump run time.

There is nothing you can do about this sound other than trade up for a Model S with the auto pilot hardware which has the electromechanical brake assist system that doesn't utilize a vacuum pump, like in my P85D which doesn't have the booster pump sound.

As for the second sound I haven't experienced it in a combined 50,000 miles of Model S driving.
 
Just to clarify.. the buzzing noise for the brake compressor is normal, but the length that it was on for in your car is not. Is it still the same length of time after they said they fixed it?

Mine does it for about 3-5 seconds after applying the brakes a few times.
 
Thing is, the car only started making the annoying brake pump sound at around 21K miles. Right after a 2000-mi trip. And it took me a while to put 2 and 2 together that the sound was directly correlated with pressing the pedal.

(above was in reply to wk057, cgiGuy slipped in before I could save)

UPDATE: in response to cgiGuy, I made a new recording this morning. BUZZZZZZ sound lasts 17 seconds after brief brake pedal press when parking car in garage.
 
Thing is, the car only started making the annoying brake pump sound at around 21K miles. Right after a 2000-mi trip. And it took me a while to put 2 and 2 together that the sound was directly correlated with pressing the pedal.

Not to be too much of a naysayer, but I promise the car has had the vacuum assisted brakes since you got it. ;) This was actually one of the first sounds I noticed during the test drive before I bought my P85, and I asked about it then.

I'm not sure what would make you notice it more now, but I'm guessing you just never noticed it before and now that you have you can't "un-notice" it.
 
I appreciate your naysaying, wk, but I always noticed the sound. Before 21K miles, it was occasional and brief and just some harmless little buzz. Since 21K miles it is prominent, obnoxious, and persistent even while driving in traffic, since one has to use brake a lot in stop and go situations. Since 21K miles it is a completely different thing. In traffic the buzz is basically always going or almost always. And with windows down, stopped next to other cars, it's just downright annoying and somewhat embarrassing. And try as you might to convince me that the car has always had this problem and that I was deaf to it for first 21,000 miles, I can assure you that that this is not the case. I know my car. Your mileage may vary. All indications are that it has.
 
> They tested the alignment. Found it wanting. [tinm]

Either alignment is causing the owner grief by pulling to one side or the other OR there is uneven wear visible on the tires. Lacking these two, leave the alignment alone!!

TESTING the alignment on such a car exposes you to double errors: the errors made during testing AND the subsequent errors made during the alignment process.

This is typically a money making ploy that a lot of shops simply can't resist.

If Scottsdale re-aligned they should have road tested before releasing the car.
--
 
Well they definitely did some road-testing... according to the actual invoice:

Odometer in: 26628 miles
Odometer Out: 26633 miles

Sheesh where'd they GO?

I took pictures of instrument panel at drop-off and pick-up. My numbers:

Odometer at drop-off: 26628 miles
Odometer at pick-up: 26637 miles
 
Well they definitely did some road-testing... according to the actual invoice:

Odometer in: 26628 miles
Odometer Out: 26633 miles

Sheesh where'd they GO?

I took pictures of instrument panel at drop-off and pick-up. My numbers:

Odometer at drop-off: 26628 miles
Odometer at pick-up: 26637 miles

I'll note the invoice odometer readings are done automatically, so at the time the invoice is generated.

But, reading some more if it is running for more than a few seconds after a brake pedal press (any press, light or not) then that is unusual and should be fixed.

If it simply runs for a few seconds per brake pedal press, this is normal. Keep in mind that two presses of the brake pedal will mean twice as much run time, three would be three times as much, etc. It's possible to make it run continuously if you press the pedal once every 2-3 seconds. If you press the pedal 2-3 times in rapid succession (again, even small presses) it will run for 2-3x longer.