Does anyone else experience a high pitched whining sound, particularly in my case between 26 to 33 mph? It is repeatable every time. I also have a constant, droning, whining sound, though not as loud with constant throttle at highway speeds and stops as soon as you coast or brake. Certainly sounds like an electrical motor to me. My dealer is telling me this is normal but I know it is getting worse and never experienced it when I test drove another vehicle. BTW this is not the same sound as the pedestrian noise maker sound.
Whining Sound
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I haven't experienced what you describe. My thoughts:
Do you have anything on the roof? My roof crossbars add a very noticeable wind noise, especially since the car is so quiet otherwise. Bike carrier only adds to the noise (but I'm sure you would've diagnosed this as the source).
I have a very loud, whining brake noise. Also not your issue, as it would obviously only apply when you brake, not "stop as soon as you coast or brake."
Anyways, repeatable every time is a very good thing for your dealer's diagnosis efforts. Good luck!
Do you have anything on the roof? My roof crossbars add a very noticeable wind noise, especially since the car is so quiet otherwise. Bike carrier only adds to the noise (but I'm sure you would've diagnosed this as the source).
I have a very loud, whining brake noise. Also not your issue, as it would obviously only apply when you brake, not "stop as soon as you coast or brake."
Anyways, repeatable every time is a very good thing for your dealer's diagnosis efforts. Good luck!
No, I do not have any roof bars and as I say, I can reproduce it with the throttle. If it were an ICE car I would say it sounds like the sound made by a differential going bad and is louder "under load" and goes as soon as I lift off the accelerator, which makes me think it may be an electric motor.
Ian you are probably right about it being the motor. I've heard that same whin from a passing Tesla once and sounded like the motor. Head for the shop when convenient.
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This exact thing happened to my wife's 2014 Q7. We bought it new from Central Houston Audi dealer and right away I noticed this constant mechanical whining sound at speed above 20-30. At 6k miles dealer told me it was tire noise. At 30K miles after new tires and the noise still there, dealer said it was normal. At 50K miles dealer said they couldn't locate noise. Unfortunately my wife didn't think it was a big deal, more likely she thought I was just imagining it. I let it go but the whole time the noise was always present. Finally when I brought the car in for maintenance at 104K miles dealer told me the transfer case was making the noise and had to be replaced (I had purchased the extended 100K miles dealer warranty.) The repair estimate was $7,500 but after 2 months of back and forth dealer finally agreed to do for $5K, waiving the labor. Now the noise is finally gone and the car runs silent and awesome. So if you are hearing a strange mechanical noise that you can't explain, it's NOT normal! It probably has a manufacturing defect that NEEDS to be addressed right away. This might also be a lemon-law situation, so don't ignore this until its too late to do anything about it.
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You're on the right track thinking its the differential! That's exactly what happened to my wife's Q7.
Dealer agrees there is a noise and can repeat it. They reported it to AudiUSA but said they have no data or fix for it. Audi staff are on a travel ban and therefore they cannot send out a tech to listen to it and make recommendations for a fix. So now what? Dealer has no authority under the warranty to attempt a fix as they won't get paid by Audi. Not a very acceptable situation and more or less told to live with it until Audi lifts the ban (at least until Labor Day).
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I have no experience with electric cars, but seems like your dealer confirmed noise as out of place. Try to document everything and get all communications in writing, by texting, emailing etc. We dealt with Audiusa, don't bother being nice they won't care. As a matter of fact, we threatened and did cancel our e-tron order because of their total lack of fair play, it didn't seem to bother them a bit. I know you didn't bargain for a lawsuit when you purchased this veh, but now is time to look into lemon laws of your state and be prepared to use it. This is the only thing I wished I had done differently in my case.
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Slackerguy/Ian Mac,
I had a somewhat similar situation with a Durango back in the days of DaimlerChrysler short marriage and since I had the dealer note on paperwork every time when they had looked into my concern and found no root cause, about 4 months and ~3000 miles over the warranty they "found" the root cause (miraculously) that would have cost me $5,800 (2005 $) to fix the problem - leaking secondary/REST cooling pump that dropped on the main engine harness for a whole 3+ years - enough to soak and melt the insulation but not enough to make a puddle under the car ( my first call to them was when I sensed coolant/glycol sweet smell inside the car when turning on the heater - rarely in CA), and yes for those 3+ years I religiously requested to have recorded how much coolant they/dealer had to add. Not more than a 1/2 point at every service, but that was what saved me from paying for repair and have DC foot the bill. Need up being a design flaw - could of been solved with a $0.15 plastic cover under the pump above the harness. The kicker is that they "found" the issue when the car almost killed us coming down from a ski trip at Big Bear when the 'issue' finally gave in due to driving through slush and melted snow - coming down on the switchbacks when I tried to turn on the rear wiper the engine almost stalled (so I quit caring about the rear window) and crazier, just few min later when kids asked to turn on the rear heater (truck had dual HVAC) it revved up to 4500 RPM on it's own... only my quick reaction to press the brake and hit the shifter into N saved us from not overshooting the turn!
So, I fully agree any concern should be brought up, documented and if you not feel heard litigated!!!
Good luck Ian Mac!
When I first bought my etron with my wife, I too experienced a high pitched whining sound. I moved her to the back seat, it’s hard to hear now
Hi I got the whining sound about 50 - 60 km/h on my Audi e-tron 50. Registered 03.03.20. The Audi dealer claims that is a sound that I can’t get rid off? I can’t believe that a premium car like this has a whining sound like that. I will go back to the Audi dealer Aftret the summer vacation and make them look at it again! If someone find out what’s making this sound let me know. It sounds like it’s the electric motor in the rear that makes the sound!?
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Were you ever able to get this resolved? My ‘21 etron just started making a whine occasionally under similar circumstances. To me it sound like a softer, but slightly more “electric-y”, version of the noise an electronic stud finder (like in this clip) makes, somewhere between a whine and ringing. Does that sound like what you had?
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I have exactly the same problem you describe, on a new Q7 hybrid. The Audi dealer confirmed it’s a very annoying noise and replaced what they called the ‘e-machine‘, gearbox. It weighs 260kg and cost £18500! And took them 4 months to do. It didnt fix the problem and so now they are telling me the noise is normal and I have to take the car back.
does anyone else in the uk have this same problem?
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A similar noise just started on my 2020 Etron...been driving since mile 1 and now at 15k this horrible sounding engine like noise starts in at around 25 mph. Even feel a slight vibration on the accelerator pedal. This is definitely new and concerning. Any thoughts are welcome....
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I think I hear a similar sound. I think it's the gearbox. There may be a design issue with it (I also hear and feel a grinding when accelerating hard) but unless it's indicative of imminent failure, it may actually be normal. Gears make noise. Without engine noise to mask it, or a torque convertor to dampen the impulsive noise from the electric motor, perhaps we're just hearing something we're not used to. I heard a similar noise on my Honda Clarity when in electric only mode. I really think it's just gears. Pretty much the only moving parts left with an EV!
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