whine on decell and accell

[brur]

I am new to my 3. It seems to me the first day the car didn't have a whine. Now I get a noticeable whine when lifting off of accel., it also whines on acceleration. It is as if the rear differential (on a ICE car) was going out.

I suppose it is the speed controller. but not sure if the noise is an indication of something being wrong.

 

[Msjulie]

mine whines too, I think it's electric motor sounds but if too loud could be gear set?

 

[jonm93]

How loud is the whine? It is most likely just the regen braking. Try putting the regen to "low" from the settings menu and see if that reduces the noise. Put it back to standard and compare. There is a small chance there could be a bearing issue. If the noise gets louder as time and miles go on then have your service center take a look. Otherwise likely a normal noise from the motors.

 

[brur]

thanks jonm93,
it whines on acceleration too. Loudness is too subjective. But yes, I'll keep an ear on it. hoping it is same as Msjulie's.

 

[tread]

Does it sound like this @brur (last six seconds is most evident) :

https://s3.amazonaws.com/publicbkt/dk.mp3

I've been worrying about this sound since it became evident in my car (starting around 2k miles, now at 3k). It gets louder as temperatures drop, and then gets to a normalized decibel range around 70F.

I'm currently in the process of trying to make an appointment with either the service center or a ranger, but have been constantly getting ignored by both. I know they're probably backed up with appointments considering this is Austin, TX and we have a lot of Tesla fans, but it's getting to the point where I'm allowed to get irate.

I was trying to talk to someone directly before scheduling an appointment to see if it's considered a normal sound. I may just finally end up scheduling through the online portal.

 

[Trevlan006]

Mine sounds the same. Does not seem out of the ordinary it’s an electric motor

 

[jonm93]

thanks jonm93,
it whines on acceleration too. Loudness is too subjective. But yes, I'll keep an ear on it. hoping it is same as Msjulie's.

You're welcome! When I worked for Tesla this was a common concern from new owners. Some cars regen and motor noise is louder than others. If you live near a tesla store ask to take one or two of their Model 3 Test Drive cars out for a quick spin. That might help you establish a baseline. The TD cars are generally selected to be good and better than average performing cars. Just keep in mind if you take a performance M3 out they tend to be slightly louder than non performance cars, but only just.

 

[brur]

Does it sound like this @brur (last six seconds is most evident) :

https://s3.amazonaws.com/publicbkt/dk.mp3

I've been worrying about this sound since it became evident in my car (starting around 2k miles, now at 3k). It gets louder as temperatures drop, and then gets to a normalized decibel range around 70F.

I'm currently in the process of trying to make an appointment with either the service center or a ranger, but have been constantly getting ignored by both. I know they're probably backed up with appointments considering this is Austin, TX and we have a lot of Tesla fans, but it's getting to the point where I'm allowed to get irate.

I was trying to talk to someone directly before scheduling an appointment to see if it's considered a normal sound. I may just finally end up scheduling through the online portal.

No, my car basically whines all the time unless I'm very nearly applying no load on the motor. From the sound I heard on your file I'd say your noise is normal.

 

[SJC3]

Do folks with the whine have the dual motor?the LR makes almost no sound. I ask because the S models, including the newest 75D makes the classic whine.

 

[Msjulie]

Our LR was near silent, we hear the P when the music is low/off

 

[tread]

Do folks with the whine have the dual motor?the LR makes almost no sound. I ask because the S models, including the newest 75D makes the classic whine.

I guess maybe there is just motor variance. Mine is an LR RWD and my whirring/whining noise varies quite a bit. If this is going to be a trend (end up lucking out with a good/bad motor that makes noise), did this effect the Model S at all in terms of resale value?

 

[SJC3]

I guess maybe there is just motor variance. Mine is an LR RWD and my whirring/whining noise varies quite a bit. If this is going to be a trend (end up lucking out with a good/bad motor that makes noise), did this effect the Model S at all in terms of resale value?

No impact on the S resale as the whine was normal. I remember reading that the 3’s motor is a newer gen/technology with very little noise.

 

[Candleflame]

such powerful electric motors are very noisy. I think Tesla does some shinannigans with them to remove most noise they make (for whatever reason). Saleen branded Model S have this "fix" removed.

 

[ℬête Noire]

such powerful electric motors are very noisy. I think Tesla does some shinannigans with them to remove most noise they make (for whatever reason). Saleen branded Model S have this "fix" removed.

Are you suggesting they may have an active noise control system, basically a vibrating element/speaker that creates waves that cancel out those the motor is naturally creates? Hmmm.

Slight imperfections in such a system may be what leads to reports of "beeping" occurring at certain speeds, that varies from report to report. If there's a slight mismatch or oddity in harmonics that lets the sound through, in a slow rising and falling wave of volume, this could sound like an electronic beeping.

In my AWD there is an unmistakable "beeping" occurring at 82 mph. It's so clockwork that I don't have to look at the speedo to know exactly when I've reached 82 mph. This is during accelerating up to 82 and also coming down to 82 via regen. It occurs at a much fainter volume again at 85 mph but at no other speed. The only time I can miss hearing it is if I'm moving through that part of the speed range rapidly, thus wouldn't have time to notice it as it'd only have time for one "beep" if even that.

 

[clostridium]

Are you suggesting they may have an active noise control system, basically a vibrating element/speaker that creates waves that cancel out those the motor is naturally creates? Hmmm.

Slight imperfections in such a system may be what leads to reports of "beeping" occurring at certain speeds, that varies from report to report. If there's a slight mismatch or oddity in harmonics that lets the sound through, in a slow rising and falling wave of volume, this could sound like an electronic beeping.

In my AWD there is an unmistakable "beeping" occurring at 82 mph. It's so clockwork that I don't have to look at the speedo to know exactly when I've reached 82 mph. This is during accelerating up to 82 and also coming down to 82 via regen. It occurs at a much fainter volume again at 85 mph but at no other speed. The only time I can miss hearing it is if I'm moving through that part of the speed range rapidly, thus wouldn't have time to notice it as it'd only have time for one "beep" if even that.

I sometimes hear a very faint beeping noise too - I was thinking that I was crazy. I will pay closer attention to see what sort of pattern there is to when it happens. I've not seen other statements to support any active noise control system but there was a posting on one of the blogs (searching, can't find so far) that talked about all the efforts the engineers do to deal with vibration and noise.

 

[Candleflame]

Are you suggesting they may have an active noise control system, basically a vibrating element/speaker that creates waves that cancel out those the motor is naturally creates? Hmmm.

Slight imperfections in such a system may be what leads to reports of "beeping" occurring at certain speeds, that varies from report to report. If there's a slight mismatch or oddity in harmonics that lets the sound through, in a slow rising and falling wave of volume, this could sound like an electronic beeping.

In my AWD there is an unmistakable "beeping" occurring at 82 mph. It's so clockwork that I don't have to look at the speedo to know exactly when I've reached 82 mph. This is during accelerating up to 82 and also coming down to 82 via regen. It occurs at a much fainter volume again at 85 mph but at no other speed. The only time I can miss hearing it is if I'm moving through that part of the speed range rapidly, thus wouldn't have time to notice it as it'd only have time for one "beep" if even that.

i remember watching a video on Saleen's Teslas were one of their engineers says Tesla does something "physically" to their motors to make them more quiet and Saleen changed this to make them as loud as possible.

 

[McDonald's]

@brur I know this thread is old, but did you ever find out if the whine is normal? I'm hearing the same thing on my RWD at all speeds and it only seemed to have started a few months ago.

 

[brur]

I came to realize it was a normal noise in my car. Associated with the regen I assume. Kind of like the sound now.

 

[Waqasi85]

Does the whining beeping sound like this?

I have a 2018 model 3 dual motor. Sound is coming from the front motor. Service center said sound is normal and tightened the ground bolt. The sound did become less noticeable after this. I created a new appointment and asked them to replace the ground straps for both front and back motors. I believe the ground straps are defective and get dirty. Or maybe they have to removed and cleaned up with a metal brush.

 

[Candleflame]

this sounds cool but i dont have that sound for sure.