Thanks for the follow up, I'll be curious to hear how/if the noise changes over time with the new drive unit.
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What is this high pitched cricket like noise?
- Thread starter rjack1282
- Start date
Merry Christmas from one 10 kHz cricket hiss Model Y owner to another.
So glad I found this community. I have been experiencing this issue on my Model 3 (I know this thread is under the Model Y community, but couldn’t find much documenting this exact issue on the model 3).
My car is a September 2022 build Model 3 Long Range which I picked up in late September. We had an unseasonably warm fall and i had a blissful 4-6 weeks without experiencing this high-pitched pulsing whining/hissing sound. Since the temperatures started dropping below freezing here in Minnesota however this has been a frequent annoyance. Didn’t consider that it could be temperature related until reviewing the experiences of others in this thread.
I took my car in for a service appointment on December 9th and the SC stated they were able to replicate the issue and that it was due to an improper penthouse seal on the battery. After having my car for a week I was excited to get back to driving and enjoying my Model 3. Picked it up on December 15th and was extremely disappointed to hear that the noise was still there.
In the week after picking up the car I started to document what I was hearing and took this video. Curious for others to see if this matches what they are hearing. There being a whine by itself would be annoying, but the constant pulsing really drives me crazy…
On the 20th I took the car back in for service and was asked to drive with a technician. He told me he could not hear the issue and that the noises the car was making were normal. To be fair, I did feel the noise was being quieter than normal during the technician drive (murphy’s law at work…) but even in the video I showed him he just said “there are a lot of sounds there but I don’t hear anything weird”. Basically told to leave and return if it gets louder. Very frustrating as to me this sound is definitely NOT normal.
I have another appointment scheduled for the 28th at a different service center. Hoping to get someone who is willing to help; whether the answer is grounding strap tightening, front drive unit replacement, or something else. I’ll keep everyone updated on my experience.
My car is a September 2022 build Model 3 Long Range which I picked up in late September. We had an unseasonably warm fall and i had a blissful 4-6 weeks without experiencing this high-pitched pulsing whining/hissing sound. Since the temperatures started dropping below freezing here in Minnesota however this has been a frequent annoyance. Didn’t consider that it could be temperature related until reviewing the experiences of others in this thread.
I took my car in for a service appointment on December 9th and the SC stated they were able to replicate the issue and that it was due to an improper penthouse seal on the battery. After having my car for a week I was excited to get back to driving and enjoying my Model 3. Picked it up on December 15th and was extremely disappointed to hear that the noise was still there.
In the week after picking up the car I started to document what I was hearing and took this video. Curious for others to see if this matches what they are hearing. There being a whine by itself would be annoying, but the constant pulsing really drives me crazy…
On the 20th I took the car back in for service and was asked to drive with a technician. He told me he could not hear the issue and that the noises the car was making were normal. To be fair, I did feel the noise was being quieter than normal during the technician drive (murphy’s law at work…) but even in the video I showed him he just said “there are a lot of sounds there but I don’t hear anything weird”. Basically told to leave and return if it gets louder. Very frustrating as to me this sound is definitely NOT normal.
I have another appointment scheduled for the 28th at a different service center. Hoping to get someone who is willing to help; whether the answer is grounding strap tightening, front drive unit replacement, or something else. I’ll keep everyone updated on my experience.
ev_go123
Member
Yeah pretty much exactly my experience with the replacement drive unit--it now makes the noise at lower speeds, 25-55 mph vs around 40+ mph previously. Also no change over time, I noticed the noise day 1 of the replacement and have put ~1200 miles on it since, no change.
ev_go123
Member
That's definitely the same noise. And your experience with the SC seems to be an echo of most people here.
What we really need is that Tesla service article number that RafidTM3 was talking about in his post a page ago. It sounds like that article explicitly calls out this issue and has diagnosis for it. Maybe even mentioning that there is an article could get these SC to understand there's a Tesla approved process for this issue.
After waiting an hour for the issue to be diagnosed they're saying that 3x techs all observed the problem and they've validated the issue is coming from the front of the car as expected. The words "drive unit replacement" were used as they walked me through next steps, but said they wanted to rule out a few other things first and will need the car for a few days. Hoping they follow through with the replacement and that the new unit isn't a dud 
Sorry for spamming the updates here; just received confirmation that the drive unit is being replaced!
Benito1283
2021 MYLR 19"
Great news! Kudos to your SC and the techs. Look forward to hearing that it's resolved once you get the car back.
Amazing !
On my side, after my 4th visit, SC called me back to have the car one more day. I will leave the car the day before to make sure it’s cold and the noise clearly audible in the morning (6 Jan 23).
Bummer to hear that it's taking that many service visits. Good idea on leaving the car to cold soak; I think that's why it wasn't replicable for me when I went in last week.
Got an update that the front drive unit needs to be shipped in to the SC so they won't be able to do the repair until next week or the week after. May be a few weeks before I can confirm whether this fully fixes the issue.
I went to North York as well for my August '22 Model 3 LR.
They said it's front motor drive unit and they regularly hear rear motor but not front. They put a special audio device in and recorded it to send to Tesla Engineering--but the SC said it's within spec.
Annoyingly, the first 20min drive with the tech was the first time I didn't hear the sound, because the car warmed up over the 45min drive there. I waited about an hour and it was heard the next time albeit not as intense as usual. Four hours later he drove it himself to record--but with the AC on (I could tell from my analytics app), which I said not to do.
He said they recorded it because the sound occurred not just when accelerating but when cruising etc.
Anyone in Ontario had success? For a nearly $100K CDN car this should not be happening.
I have no words…
I asked a copy of the recording. Very surprising there is « no » spikes in frequency when I can see the 10 kHz spike on my own record.
Same thing for me essentially. They tested it but said it's within spec, despite audibly hearing it.
So glad to hear that you have a SC with techs willing to work with you!
Would you be able to provide any kind of reference # for the internal article you were shown so that we can point our SCs in the right direction?
I will try to get some information in my next visit. Or at least something to do with the name or title of the internal article. However, I see now that some drivers in this group are going through the same process of noise recording and analysis based on the same concept or reference. What we need to do is to find a way to convince them to repair or change the faulty part.So glad to hear that you have a SC with techs willing to work with you!
Would you be able to provide any kind of reference # for the internal article you were shown so that we can point our SCs in the right direction?
Would you please ask the SC for this article number and share? This would help massively in getting this issue addressed! Thank you
Hi all,
Also joined the cricket club... M3 LR Oct-22 2021, MiC. (Is this the "oldest" one on the list now? Or also earlier production dates already?)
Issue was confirmed by Mobile Service as being a-typical, but he hadn't heard it before. Currently waiting for a Service Appointment Jan-31 to further diagnose.
Really glad to have found this thread! At least I'm not crazy
A thought on the issue:
Has anyone already considered that the improvement/change in symptoms that were observed after drive unit replacements actually weren't caused by the new drive unit, but rather by the replacement action itself? I can imagine a drive unit replacement involves all kind of re-calibrations and re-connections (e.g. of hydraulic lines) which could also affect the issue.
I myself always thought the issue possibly sounds a bit hydraulic, like the sound you can get when pushing a (hydraulic) power steering unit into it's end-stops. Could it be caused by a pinched hose, which is un-pinched due to reseating during a drive unit replacement?
Just thinking Any thoughts are welcome!
Also joined the cricket club... M3 LR Oct-22 2021, MiC. (Is this the "oldest" one on the list now? Or also earlier production dates already?)
Issue was confirmed by Mobile Service as being a-typical, but he hadn't heard it before. Currently waiting for a Service Appointment Jan-31 to further diagnose.
Really glad to have found this thread! At least I'm not crazy
A thought on the issue:
Has anyone already considered that the improvement/change in symptoms that were observed after drive unit replacements actually weren't caused by the new drive unit, but rather by the replacement action itself? I can imagine a drive unit replacement involves all kind of re-calibrations and re-connections (e.g. of hydraulic lines) which could also affect the issue.
I myself always thought the issue possibly sounds a bit hydraulic, like the sound you can get when pushing a (hydraulic) power steering unit into it's end-stops. Could it be caused by a pinched hose, which is un-pinched due to reseating during a drive unit replacement?
Just thinking
Any thoughts are welcome!How many have gotten past the sound device? They recorded mine, said it was the front drive unit, but said it was within spec so they couldn't change anything. Their escalation involved forwarding the recording to Tesla engineering to have on hand, but they said this was not for my car specifically but in general. The escalation wasn't an actual fix to my car, just an internal protocol.
Benito1283
2021 MYLR 19"
This is a really interesting theory and actually makes a lot of sense. Would potentially explain why the first replacement hasn’t solved the issue for the few of us.
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