Mavic 3 hairline crack under motor

[Chrislaf]

Noticed a hairline crack under the left front motor today after an earlier flight as I was dumping my memory card. The crack is difficult the see and at first I thought it was a piece of hair - guess that's why it's called a hairline crack, but it definitely is a crack. My M3 has never had any hard landings or crashes and is in perfect condition. I'm assuming this is a warranty issue even though I have Care Refresh on it as it is still under a year old (purchased in March 2022 from an authorized dealer here in Canada). I don't feel safe flying it in this condition especially in the colder weather even though it is rated to -10ºC.

Going to contact DJI tomorrow and see what they say.

Here's a photo:



Chris

 

[Suren]

Hi Chris

Yeah better to send it in as a warranty claim. Quick question, when you take off are you doing it with props fully opened or closed?

 

[vindibona1]

I hope it's covered under warranty, but you never know with DJI. But it's great that you discovered it when you did, still under C/R... but the deductible as you know isn't cheap. But it is what it is.

I had/have a similar situation with my M2P. However I did not discover any telltale cracks, which might have allowed me to get it repaired before my C/R expired at the end of September, without the ability to renew. I had no crashes, but one day, on inspection I found one of the front legs separated from the arm. I'm sure it started as a crack I hadn't sp;otted. No idea when or how this happened? Could it have been caused by the drone landing with a little forward motion as the front arms touched down? Private repair estimates were in the $200. As it is an older model, and I'll probably be purchasing a M3 variant (unless I opt for Avata), it made no sense to send it anywhere if I could glue it together. So far so good.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Alternatively, some plastic epoxy could be used to reinforce it. Motor cracks were common on earlier aircraft like the P3P. That's how we handled it back then. Keep us posted on DJI's response.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I hope it's covered under warranty, but you never know with DJI. But it's great that you discovered it when you did, still under C/R... but the deductible as you know isn't cheap. But it is what it is.

I had/have a similar situation with my M2P. However I did not discover any telltale cracks, which might have allowed me to get it repaired before my C/R expired at the end of September, without the ability to renew. I had no crashes, but one day, on inspection I found one of the front legs separated from the arm. I'm sure it started as a crack I hadn't sp;otted. No idea when or how this happened? Could it have been caused by the drone landing with a little forward motion as the front arms touched down? Private repair estimates were in the $200. As it is an older model, and I'll probably be purchasing a M3 variant (unless I opt for Avata), it made no sense to send it anywhere if I could glue it together. So far so good.

View attachment 159726

Glue for the win! However, DJI might replace it under warranty for him with no deductible.

 

[Chrislaf]

Hi Chris

Yeah better to send it in as a warranty claim. Quick question, when you take off are you doing it with props fully opened or closed?

Always props fully opened. Even on my Mini 3 Pro, I open the props.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

I hope it's covered under warranty, but you never know with DJI. But it's great that you discovered it when you did, still under C/R... but the deductible as you know isn't cheap. But it is what it is.

I had/have a similar situation with my M2P. However I did not discover any telltale cracks, which might have allowed me to get it repaired before my C/R expired at the end of September, without the ability to renew. I had no crashes, but one day, on inspection I found one of the front legs separated from the arm. I'm sure it started as a crack I hadn't sp;otted. No idea when or how this happened? Could it have been caused by the drone landing with a little forward motion as the front arms touched down? Private repair estimates were in the $200. As it is an older model, and I'll probably be purchasing a M3 variant (unless I opt for Avata), it made no sense to send it anywhere if I could glue it together. So far so good.

View attachment 159726

That’s much worse than mine, but I imagine if I kept flying it would get worse or it would fail in flight and I would end up with a crashed drone or worse loose my drone.

Regardless, I’m hoping DJI will cover it under warranty as I’m still within a year. I don’t think this is a refresh issue so am hoping not to have to use my Refresh.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Alternatively, some plastic epoxy could be used to reinforce it. Motor cracks were common on earlier aircraft like the P3P. That's how we handled it back then. Keep us posted on DJI's response.

Funny thing is I have a P3S and it has flown tons more flights than my M3 and still is used for light painting and it doesn’t have a single crack. It’s now over 6 years old.

Chris

 

[GadgetGuy]

Funny thing is I have a P3S and it has flown tons more flights than my M3 and still is used for light painting and it doesn’t have a single crack. It’s now over 6 years old.

Chris

I suspect DJI had a some bad batches of plastic on earlier P3P's that might have been part of the cause, and they used better plastic on the P3S. That being said, some of us were abusing our P3P's with external batteries because the poor flight time, and the extra battery weight may have contributed to stressing the plastic motor mounts.

 

[JoelP]

Noticed a hairline crack under the left front motor today after an earlier flight as I was dumping my memory card. The crack is difficult the see and at first I thought it was a piece of hair - guess that's why it's called a hairline crack, but it definitely is a crack. My M3 has never had any hard landings or crashes and is in perfect condition. I'm assuming this is a warranty issue even though I have Care Refresh on it as it is still under a year old (purchased in March 2022 from an authorized dealer here in Canada). I don't feel safe flying it in this condition especially in the colder weather even though it is rated to -10ºC.

Going to contact DJI tomorrow and see what they say.

Here's a photo:
View attachment 159724


Chris

Thanks for posting this! I never would have thought to look for this, but now that I have I see these cracks in 3 of 4 motor supports. My M3 has never been in a hard landing, however I don’t separate my props for takeoff. I have seen no such advisory in the M3 manual.

My M3 was delivered mid February 2022 so it should be covered under warranty plus I bought the 2-year care refresh. I plan to call DJI on Monday to see what they say.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Probably the same plastic used in the Air 2 shells near the arms that were cracking when they first came out.

 

[Lets Fly]

Noticed a hairline crack under the left front motor today after an earlier flight as I was dumping my memory card. The crack is difficult the see and at first I thought it was a piece of hair - guess that's why it's called a hairline crack, but it definitely is a crack. My M3 has never had any hard landings or crashes and is in perfect condition. I'm assuming this is a warranty issue even though I have Care Refresh on it as it is still under a year old (purchased in March 2022 from an authorized dealer here in Canada). I don't feel safe flying it in this condition especially in the colder weather even though it is rated to -10ºC.

Going to contact DJI tomorrow and see what they say.

Here's a photo:
View attachment 159724


Chris

Are you sure that's a crack, because it seems the line continues to the lower leg as if it were a surface artifact?

 

[Coskier]

Glue for the win! However, DJI might replace it under warranty for him with no deductible.

But there is also the risk of getting one with a bad camera, so there's that.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Alternatively, some plastic epoxy could be used to reinforce it. Motor cracks were common on earlier aircraft like the P3P. That's how we handled it back then. Keep us posted on DJI's response.

Gluing would almost certainly void the remaining warranty and care refresh.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Noticed a hairline crack under the left front motor today after an earlier flight as I was dumping my memory card.

Here's a photo:
View attachment 159724


Chris

Could it be a scratch?
It looks as if the mark continues on the top of the landing leg.

 

[YVRGUY]

Are you sure that's a crack, because it seems the line continues to the lower leg as if it were a surface artifact?

I thought the same thing too.

 

[Chrislaf]

Could it be a scratch?
It looks as if the mark continues on the top of the landing leg.

I noticed that too. Not sure what would cause a scratch there and how to determine the difference. The only thing I could think of is that when folding up yesterday one of the props got stuck just below the motor but since the tips are rubber it just flexed a tiny bit until I noticed it. There wasn’t that much stress and the prop didn’t run the length of the crack or scratch and there definitely wouldn’t have been enough stress to crack a motor mount.

Chris

 

[Ralph thompson]

Noticed a hairline crack under the left front motor today after an earlier flight as I was dumping my memory card. The crack is difficult the see and at first I thought it was a piece of hair - guess that's why it's called a hairline crack, but it definitely is a crack. My M3 has never had any hard landings or crashes and is in perfect condition. I'm assuming this is a warranty issue even though I have Care Refresh on it as it is still under a year old (purchased in March 2022 from an authorized dealer here in Canada). I don't feel safe flying it in this condition especially in the colder weather even though it is rated to -10ºC.

Going to contact DJI tomorrow and see what they say.

Here's a photo:
View attachment 159724


Chris

If yr talking about the angled line just above the leg on the left, that’s not a crack, it’s just the moulding, either where two parts are joined Or where the mould separates. If it were a crack you’d be able slightly open it if you gently pulled each side. All 4 of the legs on my M3 Classic have exactly the same line.

 

[Chrislaf]

If yr talking about the angled line just above the leg on the left, that’s not a crack, it’s just the moulding, either where two parts are joined Or where the mould separates. If it were a crack you’d be able slightly open it if you gently pulled each side. All 4 of the legs on my M3 Classic have exactly the same line.

The more I think about it, it does not seem like a crack. The other legs have a vertical line which does look like a moulding line. I may just keep a good eye on it for now to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. I do have the refresh plan on it so that provides some piece of mind.

Chris

 

[Filmarik]

The more I think about it, it does not seem like a crack. The other legs have a vertical line which does look like a moulding line. I may just keep a good eye on it for now to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. I do have the refresh plan on it so that provides some piece of mind.

Chris

My Mavic 3 has exactly the same line on all legs. It is a moulding line, not a crack.
No reason to worry about it.