Can anyone give me any direction on the cause of a subtle growling/vibrating noise that comes from the on-side of the engine bay (if you're sitting in the drivers seat) on my 2001 Octy 1.9 TDi 90 hp (70,000 miles)? It happens when you drive and the revs are at about 2000 rpm and only around that range. It has been intermitent and has only really happened when the car is warm and it comes and goes although the other day it happened from cold. Any pointers would be muchly appreciated.

Edited 31 July, 201015 yr by photo1983

cambelt been changed yet? Maybe a pulley or tensioner.

Yeah it was changed 18 months ago and the car barely covers 6k a year. Also the noise comes from the other side of the engine from the belts etc.

I did not really understand your description of "on side"

There is not much on the nearside of the engine to make a rattly noise..... vacuum pump maybe?

Does it happen in all gears around the 2k rpm mark?

All the gears, it starts at about 1700rpm and it disappers once past 2000 rpm. By on side I mean near side (passenger side), my mistake.

Does it do it if the car is stationary?

Is the performance of the car much the same as it was before it started making this noise? mpgs roughly unchanged / etc?

It does do it stationary, but performance, mpg etc are fine. I've even emptied the glovebox to see if it was anything rattling in there but I'm almost certain it's in the engine.

If it does it when stationary then at least that rules out the gearbox, driveshafts, cv joints, etc.

Air intake / leak in one of the air pipes? or vac pump. After that I am beginning to run out of ideas.

Mines not a diesel, but I had a similar growl between 4000-4200 RPM which appeared after a service. The dealer had slightly moved the exhaust and it was touching/resonating. They sorted it in 5 mins.