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Grinding Noise on Regeneration

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ohmman

Upright Member
Global Moderator
Feb 13, 2014
11,529
22,980
North Bay/Truckee, CA
I hesitate to wake this thread, but I just dropped my MS back in for semi-emergency service. A terrible grinding noise under regen, but completely silent during acceleration. SC thinks it might be a rock stuck in the rotor, and I'd definitely be relieved if that were the case. But it certainly sounded more like a drive unit issue - especially given the ability to modulate based on energy input. Some other issues so they're keeping it for a while. I suppose I'll find out soon - but I haven't heard this particular report before.
 
I hesitate to wake this thread, but I just dropped my MS back in for semi-emergency service. A terrible grinding noise under regen, but completely silent during acceleration. SC thinks it might be a rock stuck in the rotor, and I'd definitely be relieved if that were the case. But it certainly sounded more like a drive unit issue - especially given the ability to modulate based on energy input. Some other issues so they're keeping it for a while. I suppose I'll find out soon - but I haven't heard this particular report before.

I've had that sound, can confirm rock between rotor and the vent shield.
 
That sounds like a wounded T. rex. [emoji6]
Sounds mechanical, like something grinding against a rapidly rotating piece.
Would you consider having a mod split this into a new thread? That noise is very different from the "whirring" cicada sound.

Perfectly fine with it. I probably should have waited to post until after I get a diagnosis anyway. It just freaked me out.
 
Hey pithecanthropus erectus:
Did you try to back out the (possible) rock? Back-forth-back-forth, etc. Give it a good 15 feet each direction.

I did. I have yet to hear from my SC (as I mentioned, they were slammed), but will be interested if this is what was happening. I still don't get why regen would cause it to start - it would immediately kick in on the slightest of green, so I don't think it was the deceleration that somehow "threw" the rock back into place. I had another issue crop up a few days prior to the noise, which was that my suspension or alignment seemed to be off. The car would torque pretty hard to the left if I hit the throttle. SC thinks it's unrelated.

I'll report back once I hear something.
 
It appears this is suspension related, and possibly some kind of driver error. :redface: They're continuing to look into it, but it could have been damage from snow chains. I don't exactly know how they can damage the suspension components, but that's what it looks like. We took the car over Donner Pass with z-chains this winter. We didn't exceed 25mph.. but I suppose it's possible something happened during that drive.

The good news - drive unit looks fine. The bad news - a rock sounds a lot cheaper.
 
The clearances between tire and suspension parts is so slim... I can see chains f*ing up a few different things pretty fast.

The ball joint on the front upper A-arm is right over the tire with not much room to spare... When you're driving on chains they fly up and rise off the tire and would whack that thing..

Bolts on the lower front hub/knuckle holding on the suspension arms are scant distance away from the inside of the rim... you can't a finger width in there...

Someone on here posted pix of using chains that almost sawed off suspension arms they interfered with...

eek! this car is not meant for chains.
 
Ah, sorry I didn't wrap this up. It was a suspension component and it was caused by my use of chains on the vehicle. IIRC, it cost me something like $1200. And I've never put chains back on the car or taken it into winter conditions. We use the X for that.
Hi ohmman. Can you tell what was the suspension part that was bad or the reference of the parts? thank you
 
Hey ohmman! Can you help me in this please? Cheers
Hey, sorry. Had to go way back to find the invoice. Here it is:

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