[nygiants242]

Loving my 2023 330e, except one major rub: when the battery is fully depleted, driving around the city (at slow speeds, departing from intersections) the engine doesn’t sound great. Even worse if there are other cars / curbs around it providing an echo - it sounds like some whirring. Hard to describe but not a nice sounding engine.

Obviously when the battery has charge, it is nice and smooth with the electric audio. Also have not noticed this at much higher speed/RPM.

Any thoughts or similar experiences?

[JABCAT]

Tbh, it's a turbo 4-cylinder, it's not going to sound good. My suggestion is to always have music playing

[CrownRoyal79]

Without hearing your car, I can’t say for sure, especially since I’ve got an M340i. But my car developed a whining/whirring noise that followed the RPMs and it turned out to be the oil pump. After replacement, completely silent. All I hear now is the sweet sound of the exhaust (Active Sound Design turned off).

Are you able to perform an oil level measurement? If not, that could be another sign of a failing oil pump.

[nygiants242]

Thanks for the feedback. Will look into this. Any other thoughts from current 330e owners? Thank you!

[hlc1209]

I have a 2023 330e. I am trying to figure out what the sound is that you have a problem with. Maybe you can upload a video?

[nygiants242]

Bumping this again. Has no one else experienced this? At low gear/rpm when the battery is out of juice, the motor-only doesn’t sound great at all (especially when getting some echo/sound chamber from adjacent walls or parked cars). Is this normal?

[CrownRoyal79]

Originally Posted by nygiants242

Bumping this again. Has no one else experienced this? At low gear/rpm when the battery is out of juice, the motor-only doesn’t sound great at all (especially when getting some echo/sound chamber from adjacent walls or parked cars). Is this normal?

Does your car have the electronic oil measurement? If it does, does that feature still work?

[BMWguy206]

This is from a F30 330e but is it the same noise?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IVlf5iXumWI

[toolerb50]

Originally Posted by nygiants242

Bumping this again. Has no one else experienced this? At low gear/rpm when the battery is out of juice, the motor-only doesn’t sound great at all (especially when getting some echo/sound chamber from adjacent walls or parked cars). Is this normal?

I have the '23 330e and can confirm the whirring noise on a depleted charge. Having owned hybrids in the past, I shrugged it off as the engine increasing revs to charge the battery but now you have me wondering. For me I was more concerned with the loss of power I experienced once with the battery depleted. It felt like the car was sluggish and had to work the accellerator harder than normal driving. Did you have any loss of power issues?

[nygiants242]

Originally Posted by toolerb50

I have the '23 330e and can confirm the whirring noise on a depleted charge. Having owned hybrids in the past, I shrugged it off as the engine increasing revs to charge the battery but now you have me wondering. For me I was more concerned with the loss of power I experienced once with the battery depleted. It felt like the car was sluggish and had to work the accellerator harder than normal driving. Did you have any loss of power issues?

No loss of power. But whirring is definitely happening and annoying. Is this not the case with everyone’s 330e? Dealer says they notice no issue. Any other feedback from owners?

We just moved to a new apartment that no longer has L2 or wall plug so the car is effectively without charge all the time. It really sounds bad at low RPM especially in a garage, tunnel, overpass or driving by parked cars with echo. If you accelerate over a certain speed it eventually goes away.

[MJF22]

23' here as well... haven't noticed, though I rarely have no battery, usually go to battery hold when low. I'll try and take notice next time though.

[nygiants242]

Thank you! Will stay tuned for your experience. Any others have this similar noise? Happens when the battery is at zero which sounds infrequent for most users given at home charging or a lot of regen opportunities in perhaps more open/suburban driving? Thanks in advance!

[fuser]

Hello, just got mine 2 months ago (2nd hand 2019 model) and had the same issue. At low speeds (and engine is cold) I could hear some a "rattling" noise.
Dealership says "it is a normal sound as the exhaust has an metal flexible connection and this makes that noise. After it gets to a good engine temperature it should stop".



To be honest, in my case, it really goes almost to a non existing noise when the engine warms up. Although it does not stop 100%.

cheers

[nygiants242]

Interesting - so this cannot be solved or addressed it seems? I'm surprised this is not more widely reported by owners. I find it very annoying!

[fuser]

Originally Posted by nygiants242

Interesting - so this cannot be solved or addressed it seems? I'm surprised this is not more widely reported by owners. I find it very annoying!

That is what the dealership told me. I think that most people just uses the car windows closed and that way you don’t hear it that much. After it warms up it tends to disappear.