Balloon sound getting substantially worse?

[Todd Burch]

For what it's worth, my new P85 (almost 4k miles now) has never made the balloon sound, even under full throttle. My old S85 had it frequently. I think Tesla's solved this issue...but not sure what they changed in the design or if it was something simple like securing a high voltage cable.

 

[Chipper]

Funny thing, I have never experienced this at all and yesterday it just started up. It happens EVERY time I get just a little bit aggressive with the accelerator. Guess I will contact SvC and see if they can do something about it.

 

[mknox]

That said, I also have a substantial low speed on/off throttle clunk. Really loud. Apparently I wasn't as lucky as some others with the control arm (I think?) fix, and the actual drivetrain needs replaced. It's on backorder, so it'll be swapped out when the part comes in.

I have the clunk as well, but Tesla Service says it's normal and to be expected. My "angry mosquito" sound (mentioned a few posts up) is getting louder and I have to set up another appointment to have it checked out. I also can no longer get full re-gen under any amount of deceleration and wonder if the two are related. When I took the car in recently to have it checked, there was a huge snowstorm and they couldn't road test it.

And interestingly, I had the balloon squeal sound for my first time ever a week or so ago. As soon as I heard it, I knew exactly what it was!

 

[apacheguy]

Weird how some have never had it and then it randomly appears. Mine originally had it, but I lost it about a year ago. Hasn't come back. Still have my Sig drivetrain with original components.

 

[Mayhemm]

Weird how some have never had it and then it randomly appears.

This erratic behavior is what has me convinced it is abnormal (no matter what Tesla says).

If it was normal, it would happen to every car under similar circumstances.

As it stands I only hear it under full acceleration and I haven't done that since the summer :redface:

 

[DrComputer]

I've had the balloon sound since day one on full throttle acceleration. I have noticed as of late that I can get the sound with far less than full throttle. I had the drive unit replaced once for the "milling/groaning" sound. I am now getting a slight groaning/buzzing sound again at speeds above 75MPH. It almost sounds like a motorcycle is following from behind. Service is going to look at it while I'm out of town next month (taking advantage of the Centinela service center's airport shuttle service).

 

[jcadman22]

I've certainly noticed the balloon sound under heavy acceleration, but has anyone correlated the sound to environmental conditions? I feel like you're more likely to hear the sound when it's cold out or the pack is under stress. Coincidence?

 

[Lump]

Balloon sound since day one, but is has lessoned over the last 6 months with firmware updates.

Of course Tesla is going to tell owners the clunk is "normal & expected" admitting anything else would be very expensive, constantly hearing clunk,clunk, clunk...was not acceptable to me.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I have the clunk as well, but Tesla Service says it's normal and to be expected.

I would not accept that answer. Nobody expects a clunking noise to be normal, especially if other cars don't do it, the loaners don't do it, and neither do the test drive cars. I would not cut them any slack on this one. I think they are passing the buck.

 

[apacheguy]

+1. A clunk is definitely NOT normal.

 

[yobigd20]

+1. A clunk is definitely NOT normal.

Tesla calls it "gear slop" and says its normal and nothing to repair...

 

[mknox]

I would not accept that answer. Nobody expects a clunking noise to be normal, especially if other cars don't do it, the loaners don't do it, and neither do the test drive cars. I would not cut them any slack on this one. I think they are passing the buck.

FWIW, the very low mileage loaner that I had while mine was in for the "clunk" diagnosis was WAY worse than my own car. You could both hear and feel the loaner's "clunk" quite distinctly.

- - - Updated - - -

Tesla calls it "gear slop" and says its normal and nothing to repair...

That's what I was told.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Tesla calls it "gear slop" and says its normal and nothing to repair...

Strange. My loaner didn't make the clunking sound at all (VIN=55k). In my case, Tesla said the clunk was not normal and that they'll be replacing my drivetrain as soon as they have the parts. The lack of consistent messaging from Tesla doesn't help. Or maybe mine is worse than others here? I don't know why I'd get a different answer than you guys other than it being left to the discretion of the SC or something.

It's especially concerning considering gear lash (or slop if you prefer, I suppose) is generally considered damaging to drivetrain components in other vehicles. Gear lash is common, for example, on AWD cars and best practice is to do everything possible to avoid it because the slamming back and forth on the gears causes premature wear and failure. Maybe the reduction gears are beefier than a differential, but I'd still find metal slamming against metal concerning.

They also said the hard acceleration balloon noise is considered normal and does not require service, but the low speed/accelerator position balloon droning I heard (the original reason for this thread :wink: ) was not normal and would have been investigated if it were still occurring, but as I mentioned earlier it has since gone away.

 

[AMPUP]

Strange. My loaner didn't make the clunking sound at all (VIN=55k). In my case, Tesla said the clunk was not normal and that they'll be replacing my drivetrain as soon as they have the parts. The lack of consistent messaging from Tesla doesn't help. Or maybe mine is worse than others here? I don't know why I'd get a different answer than you guys other than it being left to the discretion of the SC or something.

It's especially concerning considering gear lash (or slop if you prefer, I suppose) is generally considered damaging to drivetrain components in other vehicles. Gear lash is common, for example, on AWD cars and best practice is to do everything possible to avoid it because the slamming back and forth on the gears causes premature wear and failure. Maybe the reduction gears are beefier than a differential, but I'd still find metal slamming against metal concerning.

They also said the hard acceleration balloon noise is considered normal and does not require service, but the low speed/accelerator position balloon droning I heard (the original reason for this thread :wink: ) was not normal and would have been investigated if it were still occurring, but as I mentioned earlier it has since gone away.

My clunk and drone at 74 mph which is super annoying has been looked at three times and still doesn't meet the criteria for replacement. The last note on my service document was something like 'Drivetrain clunk and drone within acceptable tolerance limits and is not in danger of imminent failure'

 

[apacheguy]

The last note on my service document was something like 'Drivetrain clunk and drone within acceptable tolerance limits and is not in danger of imminent failure'

Disagree with this policy. The model S is a luxury sedan and should be held to a high bar as far as owner satisfaction. An aesthetic irregularity that detracts from the experience is worthy of action by service regardless of whether or not the component is at risk of failure.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Disagree with this policy. The model S is a luxury sedan and should be held to a high bar as far as owner satisfaction. An aesthetic irregularity that detracts from the experience is worthy of action by service regardless of whether or not the component is at risk of failure.

It's got to be a cost savings move. Somebody ran the numbers on what it was going to cost to fix/replace every clunking drivetrain and decided to set some threshold for repair. Maybe this explains why mine is being replaced and others aren't. I complained about the clunking at my very first SC visit when the car was 1 month old, and it's gotten substantially worse since then. It's downright loud and completely unmistakable even to passengers not so in-tune to typical car noises.

I went back to look at my visit notes. It says "Escalated concern to engineering. Vehicle is part of drive unit campaign. Client will return when drive units are available."

So either my noise is really bad, or I lucked out and my VIN was within some range where it automatically qualified. It's not clear which. The SC was very clear in stating the car was not dangerous to drive while making the noise, but I do worry a bit about being stranded as there appears there may be some correlation between this noise and failure of the drive unit based on the extremely unscientific results in the other thread.

 

[AMPUP]

It's got to be a cost savings move. Somebody ran the numbers on what it was going to cost to fix/replace every clunking drivetrain and decided to set some threshold for repair. Maybe this explains why mine is being replaced and others aren't. I complained about the clunking at my very first SC visit when the car was 1 month old, and it's gotten substantially worse since then. It's downright loud and completely unmistakable even to passengers not so in-tune to typical car noises.

I went back to look at my visit notes. It says "Escalated concern to engineering. Vehicle is part of drive unit campaign. Client will return when drive units are available."

So either my noise is really bad, or I lucked out and my VIN was within some range where it automatically qualified. It's not clear which. The SC was very clear in stating the car was not dangerous to drive while making the noise, but I do worry a bit about being stranded as there appears there may be some correlation between this noise and failure of the drive unit based on the extremely unscientific results in the other thread.

I just went and found my service document and this is what was typed on the document:

"Diagnosis and conversation with engineers determined that the vehicle did not meet threshold for replacement at this time. The drive unit is not in danger of failing any time soon."

 

[Gizmotoy]

Interesting. Thanks for that. So it looks like there is some kind of metric they're using to determine if replacement is warranted. They didn't mention what it was, though. :-/

 

[AmpedRealtor]

My clunk and drone at 74 mph which is super annoying has been looked at three times and still doesn't meet the criteria for replacement. The last note on my service document was something like 'Drivetrain clunk and drone within acceptable tolerance limits and is not in danger of imminent failure'

I think Tesla owners should expect more than this. Being told that an annoying noise from the drive unit is acceptable because failure is not imminent says that issues are only important if failure is around the corner. Or said in another way, we don't want to service expensive components unless they are about to fail. Or in other words, we can only replace said component once you are close to being in harm's way due to a drivetrain failure. Sure, makes sense. Go Tesla!

This is a $100,000+ car that should not be making clunking or droning noises. If your car was once quiet, the motor should not be getting noisier over time. If the car you test drove did not exhibit this sound, you have every expectation that your personal vehicle should also not exhibit this sound. If it did, I would expect it to be taken seriously and repaired immediately.

I don't care if it doesn't meet some internal threshold, it meets my threshold and I'm the customer who paid over $100,000 for a car that has "slop". Am I the only one here who finds it unacceptable for Tesla to be telling any customer that having "slop" in their $100,000+ car is okay? If I were the service advisor delivering this unsavory news, I would be embarrassed.

I've had two drive unit replacements and none of them had any "slop" or clunk. How is it normal for some drive units to be sloppier than others? Are these gears not tested property at the factory, and shouldn't any "slop" present itself during testing? If not, and if this is something that develops over time, then what else is going on in there? What is Tesla doing to permanently address this issue?

I'm a very fair and reasonable person, but I also expect to get a quality product. A clunking motor in the most advanced car on earth does not fit that description.

 

[AMPUP]

Interesting. Thanks for that. So it looks like there is some kind of metric they're using to determine if replacement is warranted. They didn't mention what it was, though. :-/

They mentioned that they used a RECORDING at differing speeds that was sent to engineering, well that's what I was told.