Motor whining, needs replacement

[Ferdball]

It was more like this. https://youtu.be/S4AmLcBLZWY?t=55s

[Ferdball]

But in al seriousnous, my noise wasn't so bad. I first started hearing it when the windows were down and driving next to a wall. The reflected sound was easy to hear. Then after a while, it was easy to hear even with the windows up. It was a whining sound.

[mikegerard]

I think the motor is a Tesla Model S motor (the same as the Rav4EV).

If that's the case the early motors have a "milling" sound (search for "model s milling").

If that's what you had it's not a safety issue. There have been no reported cases of one of these motors stopping completely, it's just annoying.

[itskoji]

mine is in for 'motor and transmission replacement'

i was going to ask if they meant the motor controller, but decided not to explain to the service advisor...

[wtzouris]

I have heard the milling sound is from metal shavings in the sealed Tesla motor-- a manufacturing or tolerance defect. It has happened in motors as young as 5k miles and as old as 50k miles. My B-Class is the same after 30k miles -drives better in fact. But I would not drive this car out of warranty knowing that a $10k motor repair or a $5k computer gateway repair is something that could occur at any time. I love electric vehicles, but I am sticking with newer ones under full manufacturers warranty.. The noisy motors are not dangerous. They get louder and louder over several months and at that point you usually have another motor on order. Safe to drive is correct -- it is like having a squeaky hinge or a bad bearing. Just keep driving it would be unbearably loud before it failed outright. Toyota has a "Platinum" warranty covering everything on the RAV4EV for up to 7 years/125k miles -- is there an equivalent warranty for Mercedes B-Class? Don't think so. I'm switching to a BMW i3 REX (2017 model) this December. They've finally worked out the kinks.
Looking forward to driving a car by a company that is passionate about EVs.

[SheEV]

Greetings everyone

Just posted in the loss of power but thought I would chime in here. Background: 2015 B class, currently 32K miles.

Just towed my car into the dealer today. Experienced non-recoverable loss of power yesterday. Charged overnight and still no luck in the AM.

However, fellow EV drivers (golf, leaf) noted my 'humming' was unusually loud. I blamed it on being a german car wanting everyone to know it was coming. Yet, the failure yesterday makes me think the two may be related.

Hoping there is no 3 month wait for a replacement motor given I have 11 months remaining on my lease.

I'll post an update when I have more details in case anyone is interested.

[Ferdball]

My replacement took about 3 weeks. I had a nice E300 as a loaner though...

[snowds]

One of my 2014's went in with a whiny noise. Similar to others, it is first noticeable accelerating through about 20 mph, especially next to a wall or parked cars. It gets louder over time. The sound is more grating on your hearing than the usual high pitch motor whine; hard to describe. Anyways, they're replacing the motor. No estimated time frame yet from the dealer. It seems that this is a common enough issue that they ought to be recalling for it, especially given the expense of the repair.

[snowds]

They had mine for pretty close to 4 months to replace to the motor for the milling noise. Just got it back a couple weeks ago, and it is *so* quiet. Also had a problem with the center console USB charger not having any power. They ended up having to replace the entire COMAND unit. All in, the bill to Mercedes was $13,000. Only another year of warranty on this thing; I'd be very scared of owning one out of warranty.

One of my 2014's went in with a whiny noise. Similar to others, it is first noticeable accelerating through about 20 mph, especially next to a wall or parked cars. It gets louder over time. The sound is more grating on your hearing than the usual high pitch motor whine; hard to describe. Anyways, they're replacing the motor. No estimated time frame yet from the dealer. It seems that this is a common enough issue that they ought to be recalling for it, especially given the expense of the repair.

[snowds]

We have two 2014 BEDs. As mentioned above, one of them suffered from a buzzy motor, which was replaced. Update to the story is that not long after that, the other BED started to make the same buzzing noise, which got louder over time. After a month at MB, that car has now come home with a new motor. It's really scary what these cars are going to cost to own out-of-warranty. I am going to write a letter to MB sharing the concern. They should at minimum offer to pay for an extended warranty. If others of you out there have had motor replacements, please let me know so that I can say I know of X others who have had motor replacements.