Very noisy when my car is warming up?

[Billbrown1982]

So my climate/preheat is very noisy. How are the neighbours supposed to like this? Are all model 3s the same?

Noisy climate

youtube.com

That doesn't seem as loud as mine, but still not great.

Got an update today. My part should be arriving Sunday, so hopefully i'll have the car back next week. Hooray.

 

[Irata]

It's really difficult to compare loudness from uncalibrated videos as the audio gain, microphone sensitivity, distance from sound source, compression, playback volume are all variable. But to me, the tone of the noise in both videos is different.

 

[Mrklaw]

I thought preheating was noisy because it’s running the motor/s? Aircon should be quieter but still seem louder than an ICE because the engine is running and masking that noise

mine has been pretty loud now and then but I think I remember on youtube videos others did the same for preconditioning

(thinking about the second video more than the first - the whoosh/hum on the OPs video seems normal but not the whine at the back)

 

[Billbrown1982]

So, got an update a few days after sunday with the standard "no eta as yet" Phoned them up (this was last week) and got told, oh no one of your parts has arrived, but the other 2 are still no ETA. 2 that I did not know anything about...

Its now been 3 weeks since I dropped the car off....was just starting to look into my legal options....had a text today assuring me that my remaining parts are due early next week and the car will be done as a matter of urgency....

So help me if this car comes back still making noises after ALL this? Yeah....won't be a happy bunny.

 

[Durzel]

As an aside, one of my biggest issues with Tesla service is that you can have an appointment booked for weeks, and then a day or so before it's due to happen you'll get a text saying the part hasn't arrived and them needing to reschedule.

This seems to happen so consistently that I can't believe it's anything but poor customer service. I don't believe they are ordering parts so late in the day that it is coming down to the wire every time someone has their car booked in for work, and i don't believe they don't have logistics systems that tell them where parts are, their ETA, etc.

They could easily contact customers further in advance to advise them of delays, so they don't end up taking days off work, etc, but for whatever reason it seems to be the case that your car is "off the grid", so to speak, until a day or so before the appointment, at which point someone checks to see if the part is there and if not says "oh soz it'll need to come back another time, dunno when yet" like that's totally fine.

I had an appointment booked to have a rear light replaced (condensation), drove over to the SC to be told when I had got there that they "received the wrong part". Fortunately (?) I had some other minor things that needed to be rectified, but the light was the principal reason for the visit, so I wasn't best pleased.

 

[MrBadger]

^ absolutely this.

Having been on the wrong side of two postponed appointments and probably the same number of incomplete jobs all because of lack of parts (even though on at least 1 occasion they said that parts had been ordered) I can say that this is not a one off. It just seems to be how Tesla work. I am pretty sure that the day before the car is due to go in for service, someone looks on the job sheet to see what is needed. Not that I have ever used one, this also seems to include a courtesy car too.

However, I suspect this is true of many main dealerships these days as I had a 4 day wait whilst my own car awaited a set of windscreen wipers during a 'service'/warranty fix/MOT - I even picked up a set of wiper blades from Halfords on the way home to help the job along, but they refused to fit/allow me to fit.

Yet my local independent garage, take it in for a service in the morning and its done by lunch time no matter what additional parts need ordering on the day, and OEM ones too.

Tesla do really need to up their parts game and keeping customer informed. Its one thing a days wait whilst it comes from UK, even a couple of days delay with parts coming from Europe is bearable if you know, but when there is an unknown wait getting parts out of US its just unacceptable. I learned from experience that until the evening of the night before a service appointment, Tesla may still postpone and even 30 minutes after telling you face to face in person at service centre that car will be ready for collection in 15 minutes, they can still text you to say they need the car another day.

 

[Irata]

Yep, Tesla absolutely need to maintain better stock levels for parts, with all the data they hold I fail to see what the problem is. They should have an advantage.

I worry they focus purely on parts for the factory as production ramps up, at the cost of existing customers. It's like they keep being surprised that demand outstrips supply.

 

[Billbrown1982]

When you can order an entire replacement car and have it arrive before you can get a radiator hose replaced on your 2 month old car....something is very very wrong in their priority list.

IF the car comes back to me next week they will have had it for a month. And like has been said, they tried to postpone my original visit the day before I was due, but after a phone call telling them i'd taken the day off specially (I hadn't) they did relent and took the car in.

It ain't great that's for sure.

 

[Adopado]

IF the car comes back to me next week they will have had it for a month. And like has been said, they tried to postpone my original visit the day before I was due, but after a phone call telling them i'd taken the day off specially (I hadn't) they did relent and took the car in.

Does this mean that you twisted their arm to take the car away from you a month ago when they actually wanted to cancel your arrangement because they already knew they weren't in a position to fix it? Perhaps it would have been better to accept the cancellation and hang onto the car until they could fix it. Sorry if I'm missing something but that what it looks like!

 

[Irata]

I don't think it's unreasonable to assume some simple parts can arrive within days however. The problem still sits with Tesla

I know this isn't reality, but it's for Tesla to meet expectations and not ask the customer to lower theirs.

 

[Adopado]

I don't think it's unreasonable to assume some simple parts can arrive within days however. The problem still sits with Tesla

I know this isn't reality, but it's for Tesla to meet expectations and not ask the customer to lower theirs.

I completely agree...and very very frustrating ... but the outcome looks like you risk being without your car when it might be more convenient to hang on to it until the job can be done. I "forced the issue" myself by leaving my car with the SC for a wiring loom water ingress correction but as well as having reason to believe a fix would be swift (which thankfully it was) I was also in a position to manage without the car for an undefined period if that's how it had turned out.

 

[Irata]

I completely agree...and very very frustrating ... but the outcome looks like you risk being without your car when it might be more convenient to hang on to it until the job can be done. I "forced the issue" myself by leaving my car with the SC for a wiring loom water ingress correction but as well as having reason to believe a fix would be swift (which thankfully it was) I was also in a position to manage without the car for an undefined period if that's how it had turned out.

I get it totally. My thought is, if everyone forced the issue and not let them off the hook, it might force the issue with Tesla to fix.

They let us hold the cost (both emotional and actual) of the problem by delaying the appointment.

Obviously, it's an individual decision and I do see both sides.

 

[Billbrown1982]

So, to clarify. It was booked in for a "strange sound when pre-heating" and also "drivers door trim replacement"

They wanted to cancel because they had ordered a door trim, based on the photos I sent them and it hadn't turned up yet, so didn't want to do 2 seperate visits.

I pushed the issue because a: I was concerned why it was making this stupid loud noise and could it be doing more damage and b: because the door trim can easily be sorted by a 2 minute pop in visit or even a ranger down the line, its very low priority and barely noticeable.

They then diagnosed the problem, ordered the replacement hose and thats where we have been at ever since...

 

[Billbrown1982]

Finally time to put this to bed, although I have a complaint email to send later.

Woke up this morning to a text saying my car was ready for collection, they could have warned me yesterday, but I shot up there before work and swapped back into my car, only ended up getting to work 5 minutes late so no drama.

The final diagnosis was that there was a slight coolant leak and my coolant level was low. So they replaced the hose and replaced the coolant and say the noise has gone. Not had a chance to test it properly but does seem to be fixed! Fingers crossed.

Bit peeved with the way the whole thing was handled though. Its been exactly a month since I dropped the car off and communication has been lacking at times, plus I picked the car up and it was filthy, obviously had been left outside in the rain for a while - just not the service I would expect.

Damn glad to have my car back though.!

 

[MS79]

I can't find anyone else talking about this so don't know if its just normal. But when I wake up in the morning and switch my car climate control on to get it nice and toasty, I walk out the front door to be greeted by this.

Is it normal? It seems very loud to me?

The noise in the front sounds normal but not the humming in the back. Does the humming happen only when charging? Only when preheating ?

 

[Nacho León]

Finally time to put this to bed, although I have a complaint email to send later.

Woke up this morning to a text saying my car was ready for collection, they could have warned me yesterday, but I shot up there before work and swapped back into my car, only ended up getting to work 5 minutes late so no drama.

The final diagnosis was that there was a slight coolant leak and my coolant level was low. So they replaced the hose and replaced the coolant and say the noise has gone. Not had a chance to test it properly but does seem to be fixed! Fingers crossed.

Bit peeved with the way the whole thing was handled though. Its been exactly a month since I dropped the car off and communication has been lacking at times, plus I picked the car up and it was filthy, obviously had been left outside in the rain for a while - just not the service I would expect.

Damn glad to have my car back though.!

Hello, has the noise been finally fixed? I have a 2020 model 3 SR+ and it makes the same noise. In the SC they did not find any problem when I took it to review.

Thank you.

 

[M1tch]

Mine does the same as in the original post. Mines a dec 21 M3P with the heat pump and only makes the sound from the back when preheating and it’s plugged in.

 

[Billbrown1982]

To be honest I don't preheat anymore so i've not noticed. If I stick the car on defrost on a particularly cold day it can get rather noisy. If yours are making a racket, check your coolant levels. It made a huge difference to mine.

 

[landlord888]

I can't believe how loud the car is compared to other EV's I have been in. I have a 2023 model y. As soon as I open the car door or even open the tesla app, a pump up front starts up and sounds like a refrigerator or bath exhaust fan running. Very annoying and loud inside the cabin.