2.0 TDI PD turbo whistle - trouble or normal?

[Niels J. Larsen]

Hi,

Bought my Octavia 2.0 TDI PD DPF from 2008 about a month ago from a private seller.

The car has driven 30.000kms and has been looked after like a little baby, so in every way it's like a new car.

I found this forum and it seems there's constantly a new thread about 2.0 TDI PD turbo problems. Commonly they're described to begin with a "police siren" sound from the turbo.

So, my question is this:

Can anyone try to describe this sound in detail or better yet - record it?

I can hear a slight whistle from my turbo when I use a heavy right foot from about 17-1800 rpm to about 2500 rpm. The sound relates closely to the amount of boost I can feel and fades away when I let go of the throttle to change gears. So with some imagination this sound COULD sound somewhat like a police siren, but in my mind it doesn't sound bad - I always thought it had to sound like that....

Is this the impending sound of doom or is it perfectly normal?

I ask because I've never owned a car with a turbo before, so I have no useful reference.

Help please! :eek:

[ap0gee1978]

Any turbo is going to whistle to a certain extent. If you're losing boost in a major way, you will get a warning light on the dash.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I can hear a slight whistle from my turbo when I use a heavy right foot from about 17-1800 rpm to about 2500 rpm. The sound relates closely to the amount of boost I can feel and fades away when I let go of the throttle to change gears. So with some imagination this sound COULD sound somewhat like a police siren, but in my mind it doesn't sound bad - I always thought it had to sound like that....

That sounds to me like the normal whistle that you get from the turbo when it's behaving itself.

If it starts to get much louder , *that's* probably the sound of it's imminent demise.

Mine did , and then died.

[Keith Lard]

Sounds normal to me, all my VAG TDI's have made that sound to a certain extent.

No turbo failures yet either in 200k miles in numerous cars (Fingers crossed!!!)

[cjb]

I've heard the 'police siren' noise, and it's noticeably different: more of a "whoooo" noise than the normal, high-pitched whistle that any TDI makes.

[Gillywibble]

Mine's pretty loud at low revs (as it starts to spool) and has been for 2 years.

[durhamfisher]

Sounds normal to me, both my turbos have whistled when under boost. You will know the "police siren" sound if it ever happens to your turbo. I recognised mine starting to fail with that distinctive noise. It just doesnt sound right, you can hear it in time with the revs (up to 2.5k revs) but about a second behind. Even my wife could hear it, which was a first!

[dstev2000]

Every turbo develops its own characteristic noise once its run in, I have had 2 different cars with the 2.0TDI engine and both turbochargers sounded quite different.

You should get a nice light whistle/whoosh noise when the turbo is working properly under load, they are usually very quiet when you rev the engine in neutral as they are unloaded. My turbo made the notorious police siren noise even in neutral shortly before it went pop.

[vicfurpac]

Hi. I just bought a Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0TDI 125kw (170bhp), Garrett GT 1749VC oem turbo nr. 03G253014KV100 with only 59000kms. It had been ECU chip tunned to 210bhp by previous owner, and I got it back to stock 170bhp, because I thought the siren sound would go away which didn't. It has the same police siren sound starting around 1250rpm then disapearing at very high pitch at around 2500/3000rpm then coming back when releasing throtle or when shifting gears at low revs. Spoke with some mechanics and turbo techs only to find out that the police siren whistle is a sign of wear either from dirt sucked from the air intake hitting the compressor blades and tilting them, poor lubrication, overworked or overheated turbo, running engine at high revs when engine/turbo is not fully lubricated, not letting engine/turbo cool off for at least 2 minutes after running at high revs before switching engine off. I normally hear from other turboed car owners that a turbos don't give a whistle/siren sound they give a whoosh air sound??? Do I have a turbo about to fail? Some say it's the begining of the end of the turbo. Can it be repaired? Turbo techs say it can be after proper diagnosis of what the problem might be ( worn or unbalanced shaft/bearings/tilted compressor blades, etc... ) need to send it for diagnosis/repair to find out if it's worth repairing or buying new. I'll keep in touch and or if anybody has same problem and had it sorted out by repairing or buying new turbo please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Vicfurpac.

Edited 9 November, 2011 by vicfurpac

[matt_theforce]

Heres what to listen for

This was my pd140 just before I got the turbo replaced

Turbos will always whistle when in use and should sound like its coming from the glove box area

Matthew

[Reds]

Wow, that really does sound like a siren. Mine whistles a bit, but nothing like that. Good news.

Thanks for posting the video

[FIBAMAN]

I would be very concerned about that noise, it definitely sounds like metal to metal.

Just another point, on my old bmw the turbo collapsed without any warning at 115,000 miles, it never ever whistled or made any noise.

The new replacement (has now done 40k) has whistled when it spools up from day one.

[matt_theforce]

Wow, that really does sound like a siren. Mine whistles a bit, but nothing like that. Good news.

Thanks for posting the video

No Problem

I would be very concerned about that noise, it definitely sounds like metal to metal.

yep, dealer sold me the car like that and thought I wouldn't notice

[Web Ferret]

Thanks for the video - sounds like a cat.

My whine is nothing like that but if it ever did sound like that I'll get it looked at.

[gregoir]

Thanks for the video - sounds like a cat.

You are obviously all too law abiding to know what a police siren sounds like. Not like a whistle or a cat. The old all clear/air raid siren is more like it- watch the second world war programmes about the blitz on Yesterday for authentic siren sounds.

[vicfurpac]

This is how my turbo sounds. :wonder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJO9Ny1skEs

Cheers.

[ibuckley]

I had the exact same thing on my previous car (Leon FR 2.0 PD TDi). My Dad borrowed the car one weekend and kept looking in his mirrors for a police car (more than normal). Pretty funny, but never got to the bottom of it, and didn't really worry about it either.

[josef9177]

my 2006 105pd dsg tdi turbo sounds exactly the same like on the second video, but between 1k and 2k rpm. ive also found a small amount of oil on the engine shield below the car..when the shield is removed we can see a small pool of oil on it..but cudnt find the origin. ive read somewhere in this forum this turbo whine is because of the leak/crack in the "air pressure pipe". unfortunatly the mechs here cudnt identify the air pressure pipe :no: this issue was there since 3 yrs or so.car now done 93k kms.

recently the car is going to limp mode on cold starts if i cross 3.5k rpm mark (mainly while going uphills) in lower gears.after a stop/start again its normal.

[Anddenton]

This is how my turbo sounds. :wonder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJO9Ny1skEs

Cheers.

That doesn't sound too bad, I wouldn't worry unduly unless it starts to gert significantly louder.

Oh, and can people please stop the torture, cars with turbo's should not be revved like this when cold otherwise you will kill the turbo.

[Anddenton]

my 2006 105pd dsg tdi turbo sounds exactly the same like on the second video, but between 1k and 2k rpm. ive also found a small amount of oil on the engine shield below the car..when the shield is removed we can see a small pool of oil on it..but cudnt find the origin. ive read somewhere in this forum this turbo whine is because of the leak/crack in the "air pressure pipe". unfortunatly the mechs here cudnt identify the air pressure pipe :no: this issue was there since 3 yrs or so.car now done 93k kms.

recently the car is going to limp mode on cold starts if i cross 3.5k rpm mark (mainly while going uphills) in lower gears.after a stop/start again its normal.

Please Please Please don't take the car up to 3.5k revvs when cold, this is just asking for turbo problems.

Wait until temp gage is about half way up to the 90 degrees mark.

[josef9177]

Actually it doesn't shifts on lower gears that's y it's goin to 3.5k.after a while it's normal.am not high on the pedal either just a half way.maybe I need to change the flywheel??

[xreyuk]

I'm sorry to revive such an old thread, but I'm just having trouble identifying a whistling noise on my 1.6TDI CR. It doesn't sound anything like above, and I only really notice it around 40-50mph in 4th gear (1500-1900RPM), and very slightly at 60-70mph in 5th gear, but only very slightly, not as loud as when you can hear at 50mph.

It is a touch louder (you can't notice it getting louder as you go through the revs) at 50mph, than 40mph, but the pitch is exactly the same (which is not making me think it's turbo whistle), and it is always a constant whistle, same pitch and tone.

Does this sound like normal turbo whistling.

[catzi]

Our 2.0PD whistled, more or less like the last video posted, it did 144,000 miles before it was traded with no turbo problems whatsoever.

Interestingly though, our new car is a 1.6TDI and I've also noticed the whistle / whine as described above - I'm not going to worry about it unless it suddenly gets worse though.