We are all jn the same boat being not able to fix this noise issue from tesla service. They will say either not able to hear the noise OR even they hear it, they will say it is within tesla spec.
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What is this high pitched cricket like noise?
- Thread starter rjack1282
- Start date
ev_go123
Member
So I made a recording of the sound on the first drive unit I had using a microphone attached to a magnet stuck to a bolt on the front drive unit. The result creates a sort of mechanical stethoscope. Sounds sort of wild, but it's a similar principle to the commercial product called a Chassis Ear, which is the device I suspect the SC was referencing with the article RafidTM3 was talking about in post #229
I took the recording and loaded it into Audacity to make a spectrograph so you can see the sound visually. The gray color is no sound, the blue low energy, pink medium energy, and white colors are high energy. Note that the highest energy sound is at 10kHz, our problem sound. This is interesting by itself because it means the noise is so loud it actually drowns all of the other not-that-quiet sounds from the motor assembly (gear sound, coolant flowing through, inverter whine). This pretty conclusively shows it's coming from the drive unit, and also explains how we can hear it from the cabin.
Warning, the noise is so loud it was clipping the recording at 50-65s, keep your volume knob handy.
The main takeaways here are nothing particularly new, basically the sound is coming from the front drive unit, and it's extremely loud in there. That being said, I can't help wonder if the secret to determining exactly what is going wrong here lies in this recording. In particular, that sort of whirling noise that starts up at 22s basically always proceeds the noise. Is that coolant? Or the bearing starting to spin where it shouldn't be? I'm not exactly sure.
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting at the least and maybe helpful at the most.
I took the recording and loaded it into Audacity to make a spectrograph so you can see the sound visually. The gray color is no sound, the blue low energy, pink medium energy, and white colors are high energy. Note that the highest energy sound is at 10kHz, our problem sound. This is interesting by itself because it means the noise is so loud it actually drowns all of the other not-that-quiet sounds from the motor assembly (gear sound, coolant flowing through, inverter whine). This pretty conclusively shows it's coming from the drive unit, and also explains how we can hear it from the cabin.
Warning, the noise is so loud it was clipping the recording at 50-65s, keep your volume knob handy.
The main takeaways here are nothing particularly new, basically the sound is coming from the front drive unit, and it's extremely loud in there. That being said, I can't help wonder if the secret to determining exactly what is going wrong here lies in this recording. In particular, that sort of whirling noise that starts up at 22s basically always proceeds the noise. Is that coolant? Or the bearing starting to spin where it shouldn't be? I'm not exactly sure.
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting at the least and maybe helpful at the most.
Man that noise at 0:55 and 1:03 is exactly the sound. No idea what the noise is proceeding it but doesn't sound good. So many of us have this issue and I bet a whole lot of others do too but do not notice it. Recently met another local Y owner and asked if they had the issue, she said she has yet to go on the highway with it (all local driving) and she's owned it for over 3 months.
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Mine has two sounds and someone posted it on here. I put in the service request for them to check the perimeter penthouse seal in the rear motor and the front drive motor as well b/c that is a different sound. I fear that people are not going to have this solved. It is a pity too b/c I like the car but this sound is so annoying and frustrating that Tesla advisor says is normal. NO it is not!!
Is there a way to raise this issue so tesla can recall those bad batch of front motor drive unit ?
is the invoice available for everyone ? I am having same issue with my MY and could greatly help to resolve my issue
Fremont July 2022 build MYLR joining the club.
Video
modely cricket club
I had weird sound issue since last November and visited SC twice but rejected because they were not to reproduce the sound. Like everyone else, it need a specific condition to make this sound.
1. Car needs to be started at relatively cold temp (~50F or below for few hours or overnight). Im in bay area and it got little colder after late Nov. and started to notice the sound.
2. from 0- 35 mph no sounds are detected, but once it reaches to 40-60 mph, noise can be heard either when gas pedal is pressed or cruised or regen brake is on.
3. The noise seems to disappears after 10~20 min.
When I spoke to tech person at SC, he mentioned it could be heat pump because noise is affected by temp. I tried to drive next day by fully warming up the car by activating HVAC, but still was able to make the sound. Interestingly, there was a time when I did not hear noise whenever car was drove right after the charging (charging was at least 4-5hr long at cold wheather).
I finally found this thread, and glad that Im not alone. Im trying to bring up about the front drive unit this time so that they can specifically locate the noise. Would this be a good place to start?
As the weather gets warmer over the time, I found the noise sound is getting weaker as well. Hopefully, I can resolve this issue before winter is over or else might have to wait for another year
I visited SC yesterday. This was my 2nd visit regards to noise issue.
Good thing was I did hear the noise consistently for multiple days and even while driving to SC. Tech and I rode car together to detect the noise but weirdly I was not able to hear or replicate....
I told tech that I heard the noise and suggested them to drive the car again on the next morning...
Sadly no luck...
I am frustrated at this point....
this is video I took on the way to SC....
screeching noise disapears exactly when it hits over 60mph....
Streamable Video
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that exactly the noise with my model y, (zzzZzzzz noise) i don't know y SC always say they did not hear anything. My model y was deliver end of August 2022, are u all roughly deliver around this period?? My guess is there maybe some bad batch of parts being install on these time frame.
I had the same issue and the tech heard it during the test drive with me. I get the invoice and it was not taken care of. When I picked up the car another tech test drove with me and he said he did not hear anything and he must have a hearing problem. I swear maybe Tesla employees are told not to say they hear high pitch sounds purposely when they drive with the customers.
ev_go123
Member
The time frame is much wider than that. There are around 40-45 people on this thread with timeframes between late 2021 to current (2023).
Just took my Model 3 back from service on Monday, can confirm that a front drive unit replacement fixed the issue for me.
I took delivery of my 22 Model 3 in June and didn't have the issue with the noise until ~September when it started getting colder.
Took two trips to the service center, first time they couldn't replicate the issue even though the service tech that went for a ride with me confirmed they heard it.
Second time I brought it in another tech confirmed they heard the noise while in the car with me but thought it was some kind of wind turbulence so I brought up the front drive unit specifically and on my invoice it says they were able to confirm it so they replaced it.
Best advice I can give is to have techs go for a ride with you so they can confirm the noise is present each time you bring it in and point them towards the front drive unit as a possible source of the noise.
I took delivery of my 22 Model 3 in June and didn't have the issue with the noise until ~September when it started getting colder.
Took two trips to the service center, first time they couldn't replicate the issue even though the service tech that went for a ride with me confirmed they heard it.
Second time I brought it in another tech confirmed they heard the noise while in the car with me but thought it was some kind of wind turbulence so I brought up the front drive unit specifically and on my invoice it says they were able to confirm it so they replaced it.
Best advice I can give is to have techs go for a ride with you so they can confirm the noise is present each time you bring it in and point them towards the front drive unit as a possible source of the noise.
Wow...
Lucky you.....
After picking up my car from SC that they were not able to replicate, I did hear noise again next morning.
Went to see SC again on the following day. and this time I drove with tech, and I was able to replicate the noise but tech said he couldn't hear at all... noise was consistenly there but the tech rejected service because he can't hear it...(seems to be in 50s). But said that the tech test drove with 2 other techs but did not notice the noise at all.
This is my 3rd time visit for the issue but the tech told me that I'm just sensitive to sound and unless the noise can be hear by the tech or everyone they are not willing to investigate.
Also, brought up the front driver issue, but it can't be the driver unit because noise is only making at specific speed and it does not get louder as speed increase, so nothing to do with driver unit... asked if they can look into it but unless they confirm they wont.
Do I have to live with it?
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Needed extra space today so I removed the cargo shelf and folded the seats down and wow the noise was very loud and spanned from 55-80. Normally hear the noise from 72-75. Not saying it’s coming from the rear but if you want the tech to hear the noise fold the seats down, maybe it echoes around the cabin better.
Congrats. I've done this twice and both times the tech has heard it; the second time extremely so. Still, even though they themselves diagnose it as front drive unit, they say it's within spec and nothing is wrong. This is using the special audio device. This is a YMMV issue.
hi were you able to provide the front drive unit replacement invoice? i hope i can show it to SC
Did replacing the drive unit resolve the noise? I just made ANOTHER appointment where it had an option to choose front drive unit due to the noise that I entered in the ticket. hmm. I wonder if more people are complaining is the reason they added it? I think if we all keep going back to the SC with this, they will fix it!
Can you explain how you get there? I was not able to get to front drive unit…
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I choose noise and vibration and added the comment section how I have audio and it could be possibly the front driveway unit. They replied back to me to fill out more information from the drop down and it had more options for a front drive unit and I choose that one.
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