High whistling sound

[AnasAwad]

I bought b250e 2014 four months ago, the mileage was over 30000 mile, I always hear a high whistling sound when accelerating, is it normal? As a safety for pedestrians? Or is there something wrong with the gear?

[JeffRay]

Hi AA,

At low speed, there is a noise emitted so pedestrians know we are around. With the windows up, you won't hear it. So if you hear it at 10+ mph, unless you have bionic hearing, this may be a symptom of a engine fault. You should peruse the topic about engine malfunction or search for whine or noise to find. This has been the precursor to a motor malfunction for some. The reason to read the posts here is that you will end up being more informed than the service advisor who typically knows nothing about our cars. Depending on your dealer, you should expect no one in the service ops who knows. They will hook up the car to the computer, read the coded messages and if a problem, revert to Germany.

If you bought a used, there should be a record of all safety recalls, annual battery inspections, and any prior problems. Get them to give you those too.

Good luck.

[AnasAwad]

My dealer has no idea what is going on with this car, they don’t import it at all.
I don’t know if you get what I meant with the sound I’m hearing so I recorded it as a vedio, here is a link to the vedio where you can hear the noise

https://youtu.be/ikre4zu9gVE

[ralphybaby]

This sounds perfectly normal. The whining sound comes from the electric motor. Just like our 2015 B class electric (~25K miles).

[JeffRay]

Thanks for the video. It does sound like the electric version of revving the engine. If it gets scratchy, there may be a problem with the motor.

Curious about, "my dealer does not import". You do need to schmooze your dealer so when something does come up, they don't mess around but instead consult with Germany asap.

You are welcome to peruse the topics under Technical as most questions have already enjoyed member input.

Enjoy the ride.

[MGarnett]

Mine has now done around 52,000 miles and I have become aware of the electric motor whine. I cant decide if it is more obvious than it was or I have become more sensitive to it. Pleased to say that mine sounds exactly like the video so good to hear JeffRay's comment that it sounds normal.

[Cardonman]

By now you’ve figured this out. In my car I typically hear that under the “occasional” full boost.

I love that sound!!!
C

[hallcp]

Ooooh, I love that sound! Like a jet taking off...

[davidhartman00]

First time. Newbee here.

My wife and I are considering purchasing a used B-Class 250e. We like many things about it. Today we test-drove our first - a 2014 B-Class 250e. We noticed this whistling noise. We would describe the noise more that of a jet engine sound. It is exactly the sound heard in the video posted in this thread.

Anyway - we don't like the sound.

I owned a 2014 Fiat 500e. Driven a friend's Tesla model 3 for a week. And I have driven a few other EVs - including the BMW i3 EV.

Here is my question: is this a sound in all the model years? Or is this a sound that some 250e's have and not others?

Thank you.

[HarrisonB]

My 17 250e developed a noise recently. It wasn’t there before so it’s not normal. I don’t know what it is and I’m having a hard time trying to find someone who can diagnose it. My noise goes up and down with acceleration… I’m worried about it being a bearing in the motor. I guess I don’t really have anything helpful for you and have my own question.