Hi Folks,as the title suggests, I believe I may have an issue with my turbo on my Octy. The car has covered 93k miles. Just over a week ago, I noticed the car hesitated whilst accelerating, only for a split second, but it happened quite often that week. Then on the Sunday, after covering about 140 miles, I heard a very loud noise, difficult to describe, as I was driving up a hill. As I reached the top and I guess throttled back, the pitch of the noise changed and then dissappeared. Anyway, I thought at the time, perhaps it was my turbo as people have said it sounds like a siren once they start to go. I had no further instances over the next 9 days and covered a further 400 miles, until today. I was out driving, thought I'd open her up a bit in thrid gear, as I did I could clearly hear the turbo spooling up, louder than usual. I changed gear and the noise went. I tried to provoke it again later in the day but to avail.

So with this inmind, I've booked the car into the local dealer, describing the best I can, what I have experienced. I have extended the warranty (Skoda extended warranty) for the past 2 years (runs out next year). My question is, are these the general symptoms of the turbo in its death throws and also, as the car is booked in, will the diagnostic work be covered by the warranty if they are unable to find an issue ?

Edited 6 September, 201114 yr by cj_uk

Here's what my turbo sounded like as it was failing

With mine I also noticed that the power delivery was very harsh (like it was constantly on full boost when driving)

Hi Matt, thanks for the vid, to be honest I couldn't be totally sure if mine sounded like that yesterday, it only lasted a couple of seconds and I was unable to recreate it. The first time I heard a noise it was really loud, I was doing 70 and was in the middle lane of a motorway. Again, I could not be 100% sure if it was my car or a passing one at the time. Would it be the case that if the turbo is on is way out, that I would hear the noise constantly ?

Hi Matt, thanks for the vid, to be honest I couldn't be totally sure if mine sounded like that yesterday, it only lasted a couple of seconds and I was unable to recreate it. The first time I heard a noise it was really loud, I was doing 70 and was in the middle lane of a motorway. Again, I could not be 100% sure if it was my car or a passing one at the time. Would it be the case that if the turbo is on is way out, that I would hear the noise constantly ?

My turbo made that noise everytime between certain revs (around spool up) and could be replicated stood still or driving around and you could certainly hear it inside the car

Did you get your turbo replaced ?

Did you get your turbo replaced ?

Yes,

My turbo started to make this noise the day after I bought it and the warranty didn't cover the turbo but the independant garage didn't say anything except for when can you bring the car back to us to replace it

I got a rebuilt unit from a main dealer and 1 year on its fine and I'm happy

Great well I will have to wait and see what the verdict is tomorrow. Thanks for the info Matt

Mine never made any noises - I just started getting overboost conditions if I gave it some welly, which meant it went in to limp home mode. EML didn't come on, and turning the ignition on and off cleared it. Got it replaced under the 3mth warranty I got with the car as it was logging fault codes so they couldn't pretend it wasn't happening.

If you get a scan done before it goes in I would so you have evidence.

They can fail in any number of different ways. You're right to get it checked out, from what you've described. Sounds like probable excessive movement in the shaft, which is where the odd/loud noises will come from as the airflow through the turbo housing is being altered. When you consider the speed it's rotating, minute changes in movement can make a big difference.

Best of luck getting it sorted.

Thanks Guys, the car is in the garage, so I'll let you know what the verdict is later today.

Good; that was another thing, that you don't want to drive it any more with it in that condition. The results if it were finally to give up could be pretty severe, and extend to the replacement of parts beyond the turbocharger.

Best of luck getting it diagnosed, and sorted. I would imagine they'll have some news for you, once the turbo is off :yes:

Just got an update from the Dealer, they have tested the car and found that the turbo has a slight noise, I guess shaft/bearing, but unfortunately the warranty company won't give the go ahead to replace it as it is still functioning correctly. So I said the bottom line is, the warranty company won't do anything till it goes bang and takes out other components, thus costing them more, the Dealer agreed. They did advise any further issues with it to let them know. So thats that then :(

Warranty companies, ergh...

Go down my route, swap it for a hybrid at Shark Performance. Waiting for it to go bang is not an option I'd say, given the last VAG tdi I had with a turbo that went bang took out the whole engine. They'd probably b*tch and complain about covering that too.

Ah. You're in that odd Catch-22/limbo area I think, when a warranty company is involved. I'm pretty certain they'd find further cause for replacement if they removed the unit. But unfortunately that's several hours work and a good bit of cash (£80-100) in parts to re-fit it (gaskets, bolts etc).

So they won't go ahead and spend the time/money unless it's fully evident that it's not functioning, i.e. it's broken beyond repair and the car isn't driveable!

I can see both sides though; it's a difficult position to be in from the dealer's perspective as well.

Mmm Sounds like a track day is needed to "force the issue"

lol nice one Stuart, but yes I can see there point regarding the warranty company, I've got no issues with it. The warranty ends next feb, but I would prefer to resolve it, if it hasn't gone bang by then. So, should I wait till feb, then go for a replacement or hybrid. If it could last to after Xmas it would be best, but you know how it goes ........

It's obviously speculation at this stage on actual failure, as nobody has a crystal ball - but given past experiences and the symptoms you've listed, plus the fact that these have pretty suddenly become apparent, points towards the fact that the internal components of the turbo have started to move about - not good news.

So I'd be extremely surprised if you get to the end of the warranty period without something needing doing!

Ok thanks for the advice Guys, look forward to hearing from Antimus once his is replaced next week

Edited 9 September, 201114 yr by cj_uk

wohoo!

Just to let you guys know, I covered nearly a 1000 miles over the weekend (kids going to uni etc) and the turbo was quiet as per norm. I changed the oil and the filter on Sunday too (car is on variable servicing but I have now started to do an intermediate oil change myself).

May have been a one off then? not sure what would cause the turbo to start whistling loud then suddenly stop doing it though...

Any oil leaks present in the turbo vacuum pipes?

Just before I had my first 'limp' mode incident, the turbo whistle/scream was louder than the engine, giving it the beans past walls with the windows open wasn't a nice sound.

It may be that there ain't much wrong with it after all, fingers crossed.

Well, I'm not gonna say anything coz if I do the inevitable will happen, I'll just have to keep an eye on things. You got your car back Ant ?

Fingers crossed!

You might as well put the car onto fixed servicing too, if you're going to be doing interim oil changes. You'll only confuse things if you continue on variable.

Sorry Wardy, I'm a little confused now, but please correct me. I thought that the 'oil sensor' only monitors the temperature and how long it takes the oil to cool down after the engine is switched off. The more sludge in the oil (due to age/mileage/driving style etc) the longer it takes to cool, thus changing the mileage for the variable service. So by changing the oil would only give me the maximum (in theory) service interval. But as I said, this is only what I believe is the case ?

Fingers crossed!

You might as well put the car onto fixed servicing too, if you're going to be doing interim oil changes. You'll only confuse things if you continue on variable.

+1

You can't really do an intermediate on variable as how do you know when the middle is? :wonder:

Talking of which I need an oil change soon.