[Niels]

Hello everyone

While on vacation with our 8 months / 20k km CR-V Hybrid I'm getting somewhat worried about a noise that seems to come from the electric motor.

I can' t seem to insert my sound recording file with this message. But it's a rather harsh and (to my ears at least) speed depend noise. With the latter I mean it seems to augment with the revs.

I first noticed the noise on the highway during our 270km trip from our house to Rome, while traveling at some 110km/h in air temperatures of 40°C (104 °F). The A/C was on (at 25°C (77°F) and 23°C (73°F) - L/R).
Whereas the cabin normally is totally quiet in EV-mode, there suddenly was a rather loud and raucous noise intruding the cabin. First I thought I imagined and of course analyses whether it was maybe tyre noise. But it clearly wasn't and my wife gave me the same astounded look as I apparently did to her.

Performance seems to have remained unchanged as has (the still excellent) fuel consumption. Yesterday I had my parents in the car, who are far less familiar with it and still were amazed by both the silence and the performance here in the Italian hills and Apennines. Hence, it's probably not that noticeable to everyone - and especially not in SPORT-mode.

Also, it seems to not always appear.

This morning for example, the noise was first absent but after the descent to the village, when the battery had been fully charged, it was back. On the last descent back to our place I again did not hear it. Nor did I hear it yesterday after washing it and driving it in (slightly) less hot conditions.

There (obviously) is no warning light or other indication that has ever come on.

Still, I'm slightly worried as in few days, we'll have to return the 800-mile trip back home to Belgium and I of course do not want to suffer any sort of breakdown with my wife, daughter and dog along the highway - leave alone with these 35-40°C temperatures.

I therefore look forward to hearing from other Hybrid-owners and whether this sounds familiar and/or is ambient temperatures related.

Best regards and many thanks in advance

Niels

 

[TheDarkKnight]

I can' t seem to insert my sound recording file with this message.

Youtube and link here...

Whereas the cabin normally is totally quiet in EV-mode, there suddenly was a rather loud and raucous noise intruding the cabin.

Sounds like the petrol engine kicking in once the EV mode has depleted the battery. Same happens on my old mans HR-V Hybrid.

Absent your audio, I would be very surprised if its the EV motor making a racket.

 

[Niels]

Youtube and link here...



Sounds like the petrol engine kicking in once the EV mode has depleted the battery. Same happens on my old mans HR-V Hybrid.

Absent your audio, I would be very surprised if its the EV motor making a racket.

Thank you for the answer. But it's definite not the ICE kicking in. In fact, the e-motor makes the same noise when it's recovering energy and, I can also hear it alongside the ICE.
Here's a WeTransfer-link to my recordings of these morning: San Lorenzo in Campo.m4a and 1 more file.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

Here's a WeTransfer-link to my recordings of these morning: San Lorenzo in Campo.m4a and 1 more file.

Prefer if you upload to YT 👍

 

[HONDA-UK-DUDE]

Does the noise seem to happen when the EV battery is fully charged? And when going downhill?

If so the noise could just be the extra energy being "shunted" by the inverter so as not to overcharge the battery. My car did this the other day when it was really hot, I was going down a long steep hill, the battery was full and I still had a mile to go down the hill, after around 20 seconds a very distinct noise came from the motor, like a loud whuuumm for the rest of the way.

As I got to to bottom of the hill the car started to use the motor under power again and the noise went away.

 

[Niels]

Prefer if you upload to YT 👍

Sorry, but I do not see the benefit of using a public platform, I'm not familiar with in that way.

Does the noise seem to happen when the EV battery is fully charged? And when going downhill?

If so the noise could just be the extra energy being "shunted" by the inverter so as not to overcharge the battery. My car did this the other day when it was really hot, I was going down a long steep hill, the battery was full and I still had a mile to go down the hill, after around 20 seconds a very distinct noise came from the motor, like a loud whuuumm for the rest of the way.

As I got to to bottom of the hill the car started to use the motor under power again and the noise went away.

Thanks for your help. But I'm all too familiar with that and, in fact, knew about it before experiencing it. It sounds and feels very natural.
No, I'm experiencing a loud e-motor regardless battery-charge and/or mode. In fact, when working together, the e-motor is louder than the ICE - although sometimes/often returns to being all about smoothness again.

I really am puzzled as I'm now al too familiar with e:HEV and totally love it - but wouldn't if it 'd always been like this. Performance and fuel efficiency are still very good, i.e. great - but that noise... for instance at constant speed on a flat road, using less than 5% of power with an 80-90% power battery... It was not like that before.

 

[hondo]

Sorry, but I do not see the benefit of using a public platform, I'm not familiar with in that way.

If the german/flemish translation of the above means you fear sacrificing google/gmail identity, simply create a new userid "somedudewithCRVEV" and upload to youtube. none will know your true gmail account. you can also allow us to see the video for a day or two (public link) and then remove/delete it.

wetransfer does not allow access to file on any browser of my laptop or tablet.

 

[Jayceegee]

This is a -- What would I do answer -- being a new vehicle and under warranty I'd go visit a dealership -- just my $.02

 

[Niels]

This is a -- What would I do answer -- being a new vehicle and under warranty I'd go visit a dealership -- just my $.02

That's exactly what I've got an appointment for today.

 

[RTI]

This morning for example, the noise was first absent but after the descent to the village, when the battery had been fully charged, it was back. On the last descent back to our place I again did not hear it. Nor did I hear it yesterday after washing it and driving it in (slightly) less hot conditions.

There (obviously) is no warning light or other indication that has ever come on.

Absolutely nothing to worry about, that's the normal "engine break". Normally the "engine break" going down a hill is done via recuperative breaking from the inverter-generator motor; when the battery is full (nowhere to store power) it works much like a Jake Break (compression release engine brake ) on trucks.

 

[williamsji]

Sorry, but I do not see the benefit of using a public platform, I'm not familiar with in that way.

Because this site is NOT a video sourcing site, it is a discussion forum. Discussion forums run on discussion engine software that is centered around text discussions, NOT video. It is set up to allow linking to videos and other linked information elsewhere.

Video sourcing is resource intensive and best left to websites that are in the business of sourcing user videos.. such as YouTube.

Even for still photos, which this forum engine supports uploading, the best practice remains in most cases to separately publish photos and then link them in discussions here. The exception would be when there is a need to preserve said photos for posterity, as external links can be invalidated by removing the content at the source.

 

[Niels]

Because this site is NOT a video sourcing site, it is a discussion forum. Discussion forums run on discussion engine software that is centered around text discussions, NOT video. It is set up to allow linking to videos and other linked information elsewhere.

Video sourcing is resource intensive and best left to websites that are in the business of sourcing user videos.. such as YouTube.

Even for still photos, which this forum engine supports uploading, the best practice remains in most cases to separately publish photos and then link them in discussions here. The exception would be when there is a need to preserve said photos for posterity, as external links can be invalidated by removing the content at the source.

Hello - that is (and was) perfectly clear to me. My remark was related to using YouTube instead of WeTransfer.
Best regards

Absolutely nothing to worry about, that's the normal "engine break". Normally the "engine break" going down a hill is done via recuperative breaking from the inverter-generator motor; when the battery is full (nowhere to store power) it works much like a Jake Break (compression release engine brake ) on trucks.

Thank you, but I'm very familiar with the ICE in engine brake modus when the drive battery is full. That's not the issue.
Best regards

 

[HONDA-UK-DUDE]

So I suggest you get the vehicle down to the dealership then if all the above suggestions are not helpful. 🙄

 

[TheDarkKnight]

That's exactly what I've got an appointment for today.

How did you get on?

 

[Niels]

The (Belgian) dealership is where she is now, after two previous visits to the Italian dealer and one to a tyre dealer.

The growling sound that I had initially linked to the EV-mode, became louder by the kilometres so that by the middle of last week it was noticeable in every mode - even in "engine drive".

So on 27 July, I was at the Honda dealer in Ancona (Italy), where the growling noise was clearly noticeable during the test drive but they could not imagine any fault with the e-motor or other part of the drivetrain whatsoever.
Manually initiated wheel revolutions on the bridge did not produce any sound though. So the mechanic was pretty sure that the tyres were the culprits. Rotating them, however, did not bring any improvement. Admittedly, I was not happy with the original (Bridgestone Dueler H/L) summer tyres anyway. At delivery, I had put my CR-V on (Goodyear Ultragrip SUV) winter tyres. And after the summer change, I was rather disappointed with the increased tyre noise, somewhat reduced suspension comfort and slightly higher fuel consumption. Although the Bridgestone's had only some 12k km on them, I had them replaced by four new Goodyear Efficient Grip SUV2 at a local tyrecentre near Ancona.

This resulted in significantly less tyre noise, which did not get rid of the grunting sound, but made it even more audible...

After a longer test drive on July 28, the Italian mechanics decided after (a.o.) a few hundred meters in the N-position and quite some slalom that (at least) the wheel bearing at the right front had to be defective. The delivery of new ones would take until 2 August at best. While we had to be back in Belgium on 30 July...

After the mechanic assured us that we could drive back to Belgium with care, I immediately contacted my regular Belgian dealer. He was on holiday until 2 August but did give me an appointment for that very same day (today, that is). So I just got her diagnosed again (and got back home in a Honda Fit - which in Europe is called Jazz). The diagnosis turned out to be identical to the Italian one and tomorrow the two front wheel bearings will be replaced under guarantee. So as from tomorrow evening, we will be able to enjoy our otherwise fantastic CR-V in silence again.

I fully understand that nobody thought that after only 20k km it was a wheel bearing that would have broken down. Also because I had linked it to the EV-mode (because initially it was only audible in that mode).

For me as well as the dealer it was a first, because I (nor the dealer) had never had to deal with a broken wheel bearing before. How this one broke down so easily (and so early) will probably always remain a mystery.

By the way, we travelled a total of 5,491.40 km with our CR-V from July 13 to 30. And apart from the wheel bearing noise, each and every one of those kilometres have been wonderful and in unrivalled comfort. Whereby our CR-V has proven its qualities as the ultimate family car time and time again.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

 

[TheDarkKnight]

Least now you've got to the bottom of it

Thanks for updating too.