What is this high pitched cricket like noise?

[Shsjj Ueu]

Having a appointment tmr. Since it chill here in nyc this week. Ima see what they gonna do about it tmr. Ima keep y’all updated.

 

[Shsjj Ueu]

Having a appointment tmr. Since it chill here in nyc this week. Ima see what they gonna do about it tmr. Ima keep y’all updated.

Guessed what, did a drive with the tech said he didn’t hear anything abnormal, trying to throw me the normal battery sound. Ima just let the car sit for another couple hours and test drive again.

 

[Jonstorm]

Update from my SC visit. I'm in Nottingham UK. Tech was 24 yo so should have reasonable hearing.. phoned me the first day saying he heard nothing but agreed to try again the following morning in cooler weather. Just phoned me again saying he heard nothing out of ordinary but he didn't sound convincing i could tell he was uncomfortable when i interrogated him politely. He clearly heard it but just writing it off as 'within spec'.
Gonna pick my car up in the morning and take a sh1t on their front porch.

 

[Jecks326]

I'm somewhat doubtful it's electrical in origin (EMI or otherwise), I think it's physical. At least in my car, taking a hard right makes the noise go away during the turn. I can't see any way that mechanical loading caused by the right turn would cause an electrical noise go away. I already posted frequency spectrum graphs in previous posts of the noise directly from the source (front drive unit). It's certainly coming from that, I can't see how you'd learn anything from listening in other parts of the vehicle. I fear the only way you'd really learn what's going on is to actually take a noisy front drive unit apart, and even then the issue might not be obvious.

So I actually asked the Professor John D. Kelly from Webber Auto youtube what he thought of the issue. He's a university professor who specializes in drive-trains, including EVs. I gave him a breakdown of the issue and he was very responsive, but he only had a theory. What he said:
"
- The following is my opinion only; it may be totally inaccurate -
The only thing I can think of that might cause that noise is what appears to be a sacrificial grounding bearing inside the rotor shaft near the resolver.
This bearing has a black metal tab inserted into its center race to connect it to the drive unit housing. I believe this connection grounds the rotor shaft and prevents shaft currents in the main rotor bearings.
If this bearing started to fail, it could make a noise that would change with the rotational speed of the rotor (vehicle speed).
Although this noise would have no immediate impact on the longevity of the other bearings, over a long period of time, it may become an open circuit, allowing the other rotor bearings to pass the inducted shaft currents and possibly cause premature failure.
Attached is. photo of the bearing and tab from the rear motor, but the front motor has an identical setup.

View attachment 929215
The tab is not painted. It makes a spring-loaded electrical connection with the inside of the center race of the bearing.
"

Interesting theory, but only really stays a theory until someone can tear-down one of these noisy units to investigate.


I also asked another Tesla tear-down Youtuber, Phill from Ingineeix. He's also take apart lots of the electronics on the model 3/y including the drive-train. Regarding our issue, he said that Tesla changed the front motor design around late 2021 (the earliest cars on this thread with the noise) from a copper "squirrel cage" in the rotor to an aluminum one. I wonder if other things changed then too. He also said "
The lack of noise after a sustained right turn means the lubrication oil is sloshing to the left. That could be an important clue. The motor is on the right, so this would take extra oil away from the motor side and deposit it in the gearbox side.
"
I was surprised the oil was thin enough to slosh, he said "The oil is quite thin, it's designed to be very low drag to not impact efficiency."

Another interesting theory, could also explain why temp plays a role, colder oil will be thicker and less likely to coat problemed parts.

You have done way more research than me on this, and the theory discussed in your post seems to make sense. However, the sound stops when there is even the slightest increase of power to the wheels while traveling in a straight line, so I wonder if the reason you stop hearing the sound during a hard right turn may also be attributed to the increase in power required to maintain a constant speed during the turn. I may have missed you addressing this thought previously.

 

[Drinyth]

You have done way more research than me on this, and the theory discussed in your post seems to make sense. However, the sound stops when there is even the slightest increase of power to the wheels while traveling in a straight line, so I wonder if the reason you stop hearing the sound during a hard right turn may also be attributed to the increase in power required to maintain a constant speed during the turn. I may have missed you addressing this thought previously.

I can't speak for everyone, but my sound does not stop when power is applied to the wheels and going in a straight line.

My noise is consistently intermittent when power is applied, when regenerative braking is happening, or when the car is coasting (verified by putting the vehicle in track mode and turning regen braking off) so long as I'm travelling at the affected speeds.

 

[HighVoltage717]

Data point for everyone. So I have two Teslas a 22 MYP and new 23 MYLR. The MYP has 10k miles and the MYLR has 1000 miles. I have this noise on my MYLR and its LOUD. For the first time I heard it on my MYP but very faint. I usually have the music blasted but heard it today with silence in the cabin. Could it be this is something that gets quieter with time? Break-in? I do not know. I wanted to share my experience. I started using a new service center here in PA and have had good luck with minor issues, have an appointment Friday for this issue. I have noticed it to be temp induced any temps below 65-68.

 

[ev_go123]

You have done way more research than me on this, and the theory discussed in your post seems to make sense. However, the sound stops when there is even the slightest increase of power to the wheels while traveling in a straight line, so I wonder if the reason you stop hearing the sound during a hard right turn may also be attributed to the increase in power required to maintain a constant speed during the turn. I may have missed you addressing this thought previously.

Oh mine doesn't go away with power increase, I can hear it from hard acceleration (up to when the front motors turn on, then it's hard to tell) down to hard regen. And it goes away during right turns regardless of power (increasing speed, decreasing, maintaining). And I don't mean is faint, it's truly silent (again listening with directly to the drive unit with a microphone). Also left hand turns have no effect on the sound. I was playing with this in a parking lot, counterclockwise turn (left) makes noise, then clockwise loop (right) no noise. Maybe I'll make a video.

 

[briank9]

I appreciate that I wasnt losing my mind after the 3 times I took it to tesla and they said it was nothing. I feel better knowing what it is and that tesla knows about it.

 

[briank9]

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!!

Thats only if you have a consistent never ending high pitched wine

 

[briank9]

Thanks for the input. I think I will look into some of the apps and do some collection with one of those. I agree with your point that, even though no power may be going in/out of the front motor, electronically it is probably still doing something.

As mentioned before, I work as an engineer in R&D for a major supplier of electric powertrains for commercial vehicles, and I am somewhat familiar with the different topologies and control strategies. But I have not dug into these finer details of the Tesla dual motor setups yet -- like what exactly is happening with the front induction motor at steady-state highway speeds.

Last night, after I posted my update, I was thinking to myself, "You know, I described this earlier as a kind of a staticky noise, like a bad ground on a speaker.... what are the chances that it could ACTUALLY be coming from a speaker?" Like some kind of weird interference between HV power electronics and a speaker wire. It just hardly seems like the kind of noise that originates at the FDU, goes through the firewall, and into the cabin.

It looks like there were a bunch of issues with staticky speaker noise on earlier Teslas. Most of those were staticky even if the vehicle was parked, so maybe I'm just dreaming this up. I'm probably going to do some test driving this weekend and see if I can link it to a speaker, through "various methods" which I will share later. I don't like the idea of just dumping it on the SC again and ending up with another swapped FDU for no reason...

the thing is I dont think the speaker is loud enough to generate a noise like that at highway speeds

 

[perplex1]

if It is the front motor making the sound. That is weird, because the front motor doesn't engage unless the rear motor cannot provide enough power during throttle -- so the front motor kicks in with the added torque until the rear motor can once again handle the demand by itself.
And since I usually hear this at crusing speeds, that means -- again, if it IS the front motor -- that it would be creating the sound while not even in operation.
Edit: welp, i now see the more technical discussion about this topic above me. My fault for not reading!
i will just reiterate, it has something to do with temperature. I can say without a doubt, if it is not cold outside, I will not hear the sound. But in the wee mornings and just leaving the house, I can almost always depend on this sound. After work when I leave, and the day has warmed up (including my car), no sound whatsoever.
Which then makes my uninformed mind think -- battery? If the battery charges and runs optimally when it is warmed up, could these sounds be byproducts of a cold battery trying to stabilize?

 

[yyzm3]

Here is my experience:

- Bought the car in June 2022, new, 3LR. No noise until mid September (I live in Toronto, so by September the temperature starts to get around 60-50F).

- I have been hearing this noise consistently ever since (will see how it behaves this summer and if it does go away with warmer temps).

- When 'navigating to supercharger' the noise goes away at some point (I do hear a number of other noises from pre-conditioning, but not our ever-present drilling). As i understand, the car runs the motors on a 'less efficient' mode to generate heat while driving to warm up the battery. However, on normal drives, I can drive over 200km on highway and the noise will still be there, so the normal 'warming-up' of the car on regular driving doesn't make the noise go away for me.

- The noise starts almost every time when I cross the 65kph (40mph) mark (only exception is when Tesla tech is in the car). I can hear it even at higher speeds such as 120kph (75mph). It is intermittent in the sense that in the same drive it keeps going on and off while above 65kph but it is always there, regardless if I am coasting, accelerating, decelerating...

- When decelerating, somewhat quickly, I can hear the noise up until 50kph (30mph). It almost gets a bit louder as it nears 60-50kph, then it cuts-off sharp and the noise is completely gone below 50kph. It won't come back again until I am above 65kph (40mph).

- It has been almost impossible for me to replicate the noise when a Tesla tech is in the car. It only appeared once (out of the 4 times I went to North York SC) for a brief moment, and yet, very faint that even I had trouble hearing it. I suspect that when Tesla puts the car in Service Mode and we go for the drive, Service Mode may alter some behaviour of any of the car systems? I am not sure.

 

[tommychanchiwa]

Here is my experience:

- Bought the car in June 2022, new, 3LR. No noise until mid September (I live in Toronto, so by September the temperature starts to get around 60-50F).

- I have been hearing this noise consistently ever since (will see how it behaves this summer and if it does go away with warmer temps).

- When 'navigating to supercharger' the noise goes away at some point (I do hear a number of other noises from pre-conditioning, but not our ever-present drilling). As i understand, the car runs the motors on a 'less efficient' mode to generate heat while driving to warm up the battery. However, on normal drives, I can drive over 200km on highway and the noise will still be there, so the normal 'warming-up' of the car on regular driving doesn't make the noise go away for me.

- The noise starts almost every time when I cross the 65kph (40mph) mark (only exception is when Tesla tech is in the car). I can hear it even at higher speeds such as 120kph (75mph). It is intermittent in the sense that in the same drive it keeps going on and off while above 65kph but it is always there, regardless if I am coasting, accelerating, decelerating...

- When decelerating, somewhat quickly, I can hear the noise up until 50kph (30mph). It almost gets a bit louder as it nears 60-50kph, then it cuts-off sharp and the noise is completely gone below 50kph. It won't come back again until I am above 65kph (40mph).

- It has been almost impossible for me to replicate the noise when a Tesla tech is in the car. It only appeared once (out of the 4 times I went to North York SC) for a brief moment, and yet, very faint that even I had trouble hearing it. I suspect that when Tesla puts the car in Service Mode and we go for the drive, Service Mode may alter some behaviour of any of the car systems? I am not sure.

Thats exactly i live in toronto too, i went to the SC in vaughan, the tech insist they dont hear anything.

I am planning to go to the on in north york SC next time.

1)
In regards about the temperature,i notice the noise is always there no matter what the temperature is . However, when temp is lower the noise will be more pronounced when it is warmer the noise is very faint.

2) i still debating wether or not the noise is coming from the front drive unit. Because even though the front motor is not engaged i still hear the noise. Would it be the coolant pumping noise because when temperature is low the coolant travel faster in the system between drive unit and battery?

 

[ev_go123]

So the front drive unit and motor are directly linked to the front wheels. Meaning when the wheels spin, the motor spins (about 9 times faster). So if a bearing in the front drive unit makes noise while spinning, this will happen regardless of the front drive unit actually providing power.

Temperature can play all sorts of games with these things--oil in the front drive unit gets thinner as temperatures go up (yes there's oil, an oil pump, and even an oil filter in there) and might be lubricating better at higher temps. Also temperature can cause thermal expansion at different rates for different materials/components and could cause things to rub/interfere/etc.

If you want to see the front drive unit temp directly, you can get an ODBII scanner and Scan My Tesla, that will let you look at all the car's internal temps. I've found my motor will go quiet with a temp around 80-90F+, but my guess is it could be very different per motor. I think my original motor had got quiet at a cooler temperature or 70F or so.

I'm almost certain the noise is originating from the front drive unit; there's a lot of evidence from this thread, like a service center that ran just the front drive unit on a lift and heard the sound and a number of people here with successful replacements (at least 4 people here I believe). I've also recorded the sound directly from the drive unit (see here) and the noise is DEAFENING. Drowns out gear noise, oil pump, coolant noises. It's crazy loud. That pretty much all but confirms it's inside the drive unit.

 

[HighVoltage717]

if It is the front motor making the sound. That is weird, because the front motor doesn't engage unless the rear motor cannot provide enough power during throttle -- so the front motor kicks in with the added torque until the rear motor can once again handle the demand by itself.
And since I usually hear this at crusing speeds, that means -- again, if it IS the front motor -- that it would be creating the sound while not even in operation.
Edit: welp, i now see the more technical discussion about this topic above me. My fault for not reading!
i will just reiterate, it has something to do with temperature. I can say without a doubt, if it is not cold outside, I will not hear the sound. But in the wee mornings and just leaving the house, I can almost always depend on this sound. After work when I leave, and the day has warmed up (including my car), no sound whatsoever.
Which then makes my uninformed mind think -- battery? If the battery charges and runs optimally when it is warmed up, could these sounds be byproducts of a cold battery trying to stabilize?

It is temperature for me it usually occurs for me below 60 degrees.

 

[Dadaaaaaaa]

I got the car back with a new front drive unit. And guess what… the noise is gone (so far)
I drove only 250 km but the FDU is silent. I tried multiple speeds in the morning with a cold car : nothing !
However, I think I could hear it a fraction of second during a deceleration. It was way too short to know exactly where it came from or even if it was the same noise. Now I’m just worried that the noise may come back after a few thousand km…
Anyway, if it could remain like that, I would be the happiest.

Question to those who had a defective spare drive unit : did you hear the noise immediately after leaving the SC or did it take a few km before it appeared again ?

 

[Benito1283]

I got the car back with a new front drive unit. And guess what… the noise is gone (so far)
I drove only 250 km but the FDU is silent. I tried multiple speeds in the morning with a cold car : nothing !
However, I think I could hear it a fraction of second during a deceleration. It was way too short to know exactly where it came from or even if it was the same noise. Now I’m just worried that the noise may come back after a few thousand km…
Anyway, if it could remain like that, I would be the happiest.

Question to those who had a defective spare drive unit : did you hear the noise immediately after leaving the SC or did it take a few km before it appeared again ?

Great news! You certainly put your time in trying to get this fixed. I would do some more tests but I bet you're new DU will be fine. I think if it was defective you would have heard it for sure. When we try really hard to hear/see/feel something, sometimes our brains can play tricks on us. Keep us posted.

 

[briank9]

I mean im glad its getting worse in my case(Lol), today it was particularly annoying but with it getting louder hopefully tesla reps will hear it the next time I taken it i, Prob planning to get it done next winter when it will be at its worst lol.

 

[Nody]

I went back for the 5th time to a SC for this issue but this time went to Lausanne Service Center (Bussigny), Switzerland. The tech heard the noise and said he has had multiple other cars with this issue. Sadly he said that replacing the FDU would probably not fix the issue as they tried that in the past without success. The tech said since it's a design issue that the replacement could not be made. I called my lawyer and he told me that if I can prove there is something wrong as in if no fix is done the car will eventually break because of the defect, then I am entitled to have it fixed under warranty.

I really wanted this car to work out as I really admire the engineering efforts put into Tesla's and their efficiency but it seems they are doing serious cost cutting, and in this case to the detriment of the customer...

Oh and does anyone know if it is possible to retrofit the plastic deadpedal from earlier model 3's in a new one ?

Any tips on getting the replacement ? In my car the noise first was only clearly audible at 100kmh exactly and quieter up to 115kmh and down to 80kmh. Lately though, I can hear it at 75kmh and even periodically down to as low as 50kmh.

 

[HighVoltage717]

Well at the SC now and they are saying its a normal characteristic of the car. Total let down. Second SC I have brought this issue to. This is what they have on the service ticket. I am so frustrated. Guess I am going to have to take a road trip to an SC actually willing to fix the problem.