What is this high pitched cricket like noise?

[Benito1283]

I’m trying to record it, but no luck phone wouldn’t be able to capture the noise. Any suggestions?

Is yours a high pitched whine like a dentist drill, which gets louder under heavy acceleration? If so, that’s a different (“normal”) sound than the one being discussed here.

 

[Shsjj Ueu]

If it's coming from the rear, that's likely a different problem. Do you have a recording of it?

I’ve took a ride with a technician, I heard it from the back and he said he’s hearing it from the front so honestly I don’t know. But ima try dig it further down and see if I can locate the noise.

 

[Shsjj Ueu]

Is yours a high pitched whine like a dentist drill, which gets louder under heavy acceleration? If so, that’s a different (“normal”) sound than the one being discussed here.

Nah bro, I look through the forums, pretty match all the criteria that the members had mentioned. It gets better after the car is warmed up, intermittent, all speeds as low as 20 mph. It just goes away after I precondition the battery.

 

[Happy Hippo]

Nah bro, I look through the forums, pretty match all the criteria that the members had mentioned. It gets better after the car is warmed up, intermittent, all speeds as low as 20 mph. It just goes away after I precondition the battery.

For me, the noise is constant, preconditioning does nothing but this noise is at high speeds like clockwork! I think your noise is different than the ones on this thread. I took my car to service this morning again and the tech heard it on the test drive and I played a recording for him in the car too and the tech told the advisor when we got back. The tech said he would test drive it with another tech to record it and send it to Tesla b/c he does not know what it is and he has worked with Tesla for 5 years. I told them it could be the front drive unit and had printouts from people having their front drive unit replaced with the same noise and I hope something will come from this visit! *crossing fingers*

 

[who177e]

let us know how it went.
I visited burlingame SC 3 times but had no luck

Fremont Service Center
When I brought in my MYLR 2023 which is only 2 months old, I did a drive with a tech. Even before hearing the sound via my video or doing the drive he immediately "predicted" that if it's what he thinks it is, "its normal". I played the video in which I could clearly hear, he didn't give much feedback. On the test ride with him he said he could hear it but deemed it as "normal". I actually couldn't really hear it on the drive for whatever reason but the tech said he heard it and it was normal. I'm assuming that he assumes the noise I'm talking about it is the normal motor sounds, which is not what the issue is.

Then I went home and did more research on the issue and then found this thread.
I brought the thread up via the messages in the app. The person on the other end was dismissive and didn't address any of my concerns or respond to any of my points that I brought up regarding other peoples experience from this thread. I even attached the invoices from y'alls showing front drive unit replacements. Absolutely no luck. After a few days of bad communications and me demanding this to be escalated, they suggested that I come into the SC to speak with the SC manager. I asked for him to call me instead but that never happened. I ended up going in and talking with the SC manager. I played the video for him but again no feedback or confirmation that he could hear it. He did have the lead tech go on another drive with him. The tech could not hear the noise when I could CLEARLY hear the noise.

What I suspect is that the high pitched interment noise that we are all hearing is at a frequency that not all people can hear. I'm not totally surprised that he couldn't hear it, since many of the techs are listening to loud impact wrench sounds, and other loud noises throughout the day. He said he couldn't hear it on the video recording either which it blows me away because it's so apparent. I suspect that when I played the video for the manager of the SC he could hear it but didn't want to admit it.

I convinced them to put the car on a lift and run the drive units as some of you had done, but the tech said he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary......

And so I picked up the car and the noise is still there.........

We need to find a SC that have techs with GOOD hearing. Clearly it's not Burlingame or Fremont. I've heard good things about the Berkeley SC but that's a bit far for me to drive and to do all the back and forth...

Here is my initial video that I uploaded to the service request, played for both techs, and the SC manager.
Initial Video of the Noise

Here is the video of a portion of the drive with the second tech, who was the lead tech at Fremont, in which he said he couldn't hear the noise.
Test Drive with Lead Tech from Fremont

 

[Shsjj Ueu]

Is yours a high pitched whine like a dentist drill, which gets louder under heavy acceleration? If so, that’s a different (“normal”) sound than the one being

For me, the noise is constant, preconditioning does nothing but this noise is at high speeds like clockwork! I think your noise is different than the ones on this thread. I took my car to service this morning again and the tech heard it on the test drive and I played a recording for him in the car too and the tech told the advisor when we got back. The tech said he would test drive it with another tech to record it and send it to Tesla b/c he does not know what it is and he has worked with Tesla for 5 years. I told them it could be the front drive unit and had printouts from people having their front drive unit replaced with the same noise and I hope something will come from this visit! *crossing fingers*

How so, even after the battery is warmed. The noise is still there but very faint.

 

[SJJJD211]

For me, the noise is constant, preconditioning does nothing but this noise is at high speeds like clockwork! I think your noise is different than the ones on this thread. I took my car to service this morning again and the tech heard it on the test drive and I played a recording for him in the car too and the tech told the advisor when we got back. The tech said he would test drive it with another tech to record it and send it to Tesla b/c he does not know what it is and he has worked with Tesla for 5 years. I told them it could be the front drive unit and had printouts from people having their front drive unit replaced with the same noise and I hope something will come from this visit! *crossing fingers*

Even after supercharging?

 

[ev_go123]

Fremont Service Center
When I brought in my MYLR 2023 which is only 2 months old, I did a drive with a tech. Even before hearing the sound via my video or doing the drive he immediately "predicted" that if it's what he thinks it is, "its normal". I played the video in which I could clearly hear, he didn't give much feedback. On the test ride with him he said he could hear it but deemed it as "normal". I actually couldn't really hear it on the drive for whatever reason but the tech said he heard it and it was normal. I'm assuming that he assumes the noise I'm talking about it is the normal motor sounds, which is not what the issue is.

Then I went home and did more research on the issue and then found this thread.
I brought the thread up via the messages in the app. The person on the other end was dismissive and didn't address any of my concerns or respond to any of my points that I brought up regarding other peoples experience from this thread. I even attached the invoices from y'alls showing front drive unit replacements. Absolutely no luck. After a few days of bad communications and me demanding this to be escalated, they suggested that I come into the SC to speak with the SC manager. I asked for him to call me instead but that never happened. I ended up going in and talking with the SC manager. I played the video for him but again no feedback or confirmation that he could hear it. He did have the lead tech go on another drive with him. The tech could not hear the noise when I could CLEARLY hear the noise.

What I suspect is that the high pitched interment noise that we are all hearing is at a frequency that not all people can hear. I'm not totally surprised that he couldn't hear it, since many of the techs are listening to loud impact wrench sounds, and other loud noises throughout the day. He said he couldn't hear it on the video recording either which it blows me away because it's so apparent. I suspect that when I played the video for the manager of the SC he could hear it but didn't want to admit it.

I convinced them to put the car on a lift and run the drive units as some of you had done, but the tech said he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary......

And so I picked up the car and the noise is still there.........

We need to find a SC that have techs with GOOD hearing. Clearly it's not Burlingame or Fremont. I've heard good things about the Berkeley SC but that's a bit far for me to drive and to do all the back and forth...

Here is my initial video that I uploaded to the service request, played for both techs, and the SC manager.
Initial Video of the Noise

Here is the video of a portion of the drive with the second tech, who was the lead tech at Fremont, in which he said he couldn't hear the noise.
Test Drive with Lead Tech from Fremont

Yeah your whole experience sounds familiar. Even in the same shop, I've seen very different responses from techs.

So the sound is around 10kHz, which ends up being out the hearing range of many older adults. I agree that hearing loss probably impacts that even more.

I think in these cases your best bet is to get them to find the internal Tesla article that RafidTM3 mentioned way back:

....He went in the service centre while I am sitting in the waiting area, after almost an hour he came back and he showed me an article that they had it internally for internal instructions. It describes exactly what we have with an example of an audio sounding exactly the same problem. The directions the techs are given, is to do recording of the sound with a specific device that they have to order from another service location. Then decipher and filter the sound quality, if it is confirmed to be originating from the front drive unit then they have to escalate....

That cuts out the techs ears from the equation. My guess is all they're doing is recording the sound, filtering out the high frequencies (10kHz) and looking to see if it's louder than some nominal threshold.

 

[Happy Hippo]

I am happy to announce that my issue has been resolved and it was not the front motor, it was the brakes!! The tech looked at the brakes and noticed while checking them that they were rubbing against something that was making the noise while driving at high speeds. He cleaned and lubed them and I test drove again with the tech and there is no noise. Try that y'all.
Correction: Clean And Lubricate Brake Calipers (Non-Performance Brakes) (Requires Code 34012501)

 

[Benito1283]

I am happy to announce that my issue has been resolved and it was not the front motor, it was the brakes!! The tech looked at the brakes and noticed while checking them that they were rubbing against something that was making the noise while driving at high speeds. He cleaned and lubed them and I test drove again with the tech and there is no noise. Try that y'all.
Correction: Clean And Lubricate Brake Calipers (Non-Performance Brakes) (Requires Code 34012501)

I suspect your noise will return. My guess is they drove it enough to warm it up and the sound went away. That exact thing happened to me on one of my first visits. Check it in the morning when it's cool.

Or, you've got a different noise.

 

[ev_go123]

I’m trying to record it, but no luck phone wouldn’t be able to capture the noise. Any suggestions?

This is the noise we're talking about on this thread (I've boosted the volume a bunch):

https://soundcloud.com/user-310064309%2Fhiss-3-15-filtered

Also who177e's video above demonstrates is perfectly


And here are a bunch of unrelated high pitch noises that are different than the one we're talking about on this thread (some of which are cause by bad ground straps or poor penthouse seals):

Normal inverter whine:

Inverter whine, but abnormally pulsing:

Loud inverter whine (louder than it should be)

 

[Happy Hippo]

I suspect your noise will return. My guess is they drove it enough to warm it up and the sound went away. That exact thing happened to me on one of my first visits. Check it in the morning when it's cool.

Or, you've got a different noise.

I ALWAYS heard the sound. It had nothing to do with preconditioning the battery for me at all. There was never a time where there was no noise for me. Today it is about 42F and no noise since I drove it back home. The weather has to be below 50F for the noise to happen and so far, the weather has been cold with the exception of a few days where it was int he 60's and I still heard the sound when I would go over 50mph.. Preconditioning the battery for me had nothing to do with the noise.

 

[Benito1283]

I ALWAYS heard the sound. It had nothing to do with preconditioning the battery for me at all. There was never a time where there was no noise for me. Today it is about 42F and no noise since I drove it back home. The weather has to be below 50F for the noise to happen and so far, the weather has been cold with the exception of a few days where it was int he 60's and I still heard the sound when I would go over 50mph.. Preconditioning the battery for me had nothing to do with the noise.

I'm confused. You ALWAYS heard the sound, or only when it was below 50F? My guess is the warmer weather warms up/expands some component in the drive unit which causes the sound to go away. I think pretty much everyone has reported that the sound goes away when it's warm and/OR the car has been driven enough to warm up.

Even though it's a little under 50F, the outside temp has become irrelevant as your car has warmed up. I'll be curious to hear a follow up.

 

[Shsjj Ueu]

This is the noise we're talking about on this thread (I've boosted the volume a bunch):

https://soundcloud.com/user-310064309%2Fhiss-3-15-filtered

Also who177e's video above demonstrates is perfectly


And here are a bunch of unrelated high pitch noises that are different than the one we're talking about on this thread (some of which are cause by bad ground straps or poor penthouse seals):

Normal inverter whine:

Inverter whine, but abnormally pulsing:

Loud inverter whine (louder than it should be)

Yep, definitely not the whining noice shown in the video. I’m on the same boat with erick. Same exact sound.

 

[Happy Hippo]

I'm confused. You ALWAYS heard the sound, or only when it was below 50F? My guess is the warmer weather warms up/expands some component in the drive unit which causes the sound to go away. I think pretty much everyone has reported that the sound goes away when it's warm and/OR the car has been driven enough to warm up.

Even though it's a little under 50F, the outside temp has become irrelevant as your car has warmed up. I'll be curious to hear a follow up.

I have always heard the sound and I originally thought it had to do with the weather being cold. When I say cold I mean under 50F, that is when it is very loud. There have been a few days where it was warmer weather and I heard the sound but it was not as loud. The sound never went away it was there but very faint. I do not believe it has to do with the car warming up or being preconditioned as I have preconditioned the car many times and the sound is there. I will be up in the morning at 5am tomorrow and I believe the weather will be around 31F, cold, and I will see if I hear it and report back!

 

[tommychanchiwa]

I have always heard the sound and I originally thought it had to do with the weather being cold. When I say cold I mean under 50F, that is when it is very loud. There have been a few days where it was warmer weather and I heard the sound but it was not as loud. The sound never went away it was there but very faint. I do not believe it has to do with the car warming up or being preconditioned as I have preconditioned the car many times and the sound is there. I will be up in the morning at 5am tomorrow and I believe the weather will be around 31F, cold, and I will see if I hear it and report back!

I did though about brake issue too but. Was your noise intermediate, or it was constant? My noise is not constant but it is always there. If my car warms up it will be more faint

 

[launchd]

I am happy to announce that my issue has been resolved and it was not the front motor, it was the brakes!! The tech looked at the brakes and noticed while checking them that they were rubbing against something that was making the noise while driving at high speeds. He cleaned and lubed them and I test drove again with the tech and there is no noise. Try that y'all.
Correction: Clean And Lubricate Brake Calipers (Non-Performance Brakes) (Requires Code 34012501)

Interesting - I have to admit that when I first heard the noise, I immediately thought brakes but was very skeptical because of the front drive unit... I'm going to try bedding my brakes to see if this eliminates the noise.

 

[Happy Hippo]

I did though about brake issue too but. Was your noise intermediate, or it was constant? My noise is not constant but it is always there. If my car warms up it will be more faint

My noise was constant at high speeds and the tech thought it could have been the brakes when we were test driving this morning. I will check tomorrow morning since it will be cold out to see if I hear the sound again.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I had my model Y in for this last week. To me it sounded like brakes, maybe an anti-rattle spring not quite seated right. Of course, the service center couldn’t reproduce it. But I still hear it. Starts at around 40mph and goes to around 55.

 

[SJJJD211]

It seems like this is a known issue with Tesla vehicles. I researched and found out that even vehicles in China had the same issue as us. Majority of them are fixed by replacing the front driver unit LOL