Whining noise from rear after right turns

[sanewithinsanity]

Good morning all,

I recently picked up a 2023 R1T PDM max pack and I am having a strange issue that I cannot find information on anywhere else. I had the truck delivered to me with 168mi on it with ~1500mi on it now, and when I take right turns there is an intermittent whining noise that sounds like its coming from the rear drive unit. It is not every time I turn right, but it does seem to only occur on 90deg turns. It also happens when the vehicle is cold in the morning, but also in the evening after driving home from work. It sounds maybe like an issue with a gear but its not a clunk or a tick. Unfortunately it is too quiet of a sound to capture on video from the inside. I may try to recreate it with someone outside the vehicle recording. The frequency of the noise increases as speed increases after the turn and usually goes away after driving a quarter mile or so. I have a ticket in with Rivian and the appointment is 01/22, but I was curious if anyone else has experienced this.

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[Electrified Outdoors]

Haven't heard of this one. Please let us know what Rivian service says.

 

[sanewithinsanity]

Will do. I was rather surprised when extensive searching turned up nothing from other owners. I wonder if it has to do with the new dual motor differential gearing since it only occurs when I turn.

 

[sanewithinsanity]

Service called yesterday and gave me an update on my R1T. They were able to capture the noise with a chassis ear and took samples of the motor coolant. They sent them to their engineers for analysis. Sounds like it was the first time they had heard the noise as well so they recommended replacing the rear drive unit and sending the old one back for analysis.

 

[Budman]

Long shot here, but I once had a small stone stuck under a brake pad that made a loud intermittent sound.

 

[dduffey]

I am taking mine in for a similar reason while turning right during a hard turn while accelerating (although I think difference from your sound, mine is more of a fixed drumming/tapping sound vs whine, and doesn't seem to be linear with speed).

it would happen rarely, maybe once every other month or so.

Then, based on discussions here, I put it in rally mode high and can reproduce it every time in a straight line, being aggressive on the throttle, but also not full send.

I will update with what I find out.

 

[sanewithinsanity]

Received another update from the SC yesterday and they have replaced the drive unit. I had a few other concerns they are addressing at the same time and was curious about a couple things.

First, they said they did the alignment after replacing the drive unit (was pulling hard to the right before) but while looking into the truck not being level, they said they will likely be replacing the front left damper. They should do another alignment after replacing a suspension component correct? They didn't mention doing another when we spoke.

Second, I had a water sloshing sound coming from the dash after a rainstorm and luckily the tech was able to hear it on the ride-along. When they updated me, they said part of the dash cowling was missing from the factory allowing water ingress. They let me know they replaced the part but had to replace the windshield in order to do so. Problem is, I just had the windshield tinted which is not particularly cheap. Seeing as how the vehicle only had 1800mi on it when I took it to service, what are the chances they would reimburse me for the tinting in some fashion? Might be a shot in the dark but wanted to get some opinions.

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