That does not sound good.
Swapping the cables and still the same motor, is pointing to the motor.
I would send @hannah an email to get a new one on the way fast.
Some friends here have taken the gearbox apart to count the teeth. Will try to find the pictures in case you need something to do while you are waiting for the new motor
Couple of questions that don’t make sense any more after reading the description:
- Did you try ->Test motors/encoders in GC?
- What firmware and GroundControl version are you using and have you tested if the noise is the same with 1 or 2 versions back?
- Did you play with settings in GrounControl?
Edit: