Strange 'whirring' sound on Fabia vRS II

[rcgliderpilot]

I've recently had the 30k service done on my Fabia II vRS, and it came back with a strange distant 'whirring' noise that you can only hear at lower road speeds, and which sounds a bit like a quiet version of one of those old tin spinning tops you used to have as a child (if you're as old as I am)... It's not very loud, but I'm very susceptible to 'weird' or 'new' noises on my cars, and I'm sure it wasn't there before the service...

It's not the supercharger or the turbo (I know exactly what those sound like :-) )... I thought at first the noise was related to road speed, but over the weekend when I down-changed with the paddles at a lower speed, I suddenly thought the pitch of the whirring changed as I went into the lower gear. However, I've done mostly fast running since then on very noisy roads, so haven't had a chance to do any more experiments...

I've had a look on the forum for something similar but can't see it (apologies if I've missed it).

If anyone has any ideas, that would be really useful.

Thanks

Stephen

[Rooted]

Did that 30,000 mile service include a Brake Fluid Change?

(3 years Brake Fluid Change.)

Have they possibly cleaned your Discs and Callipers.

Adjusted your Handbrake cable.??

(Good Service Practice.)

So basically, are you maybe hearing the Brake Discs/pads.

& it will be a while until your pads wear a bit and the noise goes

Next Guess is, did they adjust your Tyre Pressures?

(check yourself, in case they never re-set your TPMS,

or you now have a different tyre pressure from that you usually have your self, for your use.)

What age is the car at the 30,000 mile service.

Have you had a Pollen Filter Changed at 2 years, & are you leaving the Spark Plugs till 40,000?

Has the Air Filter been looked at yet?

EDIT,

Another thing.

Depending on Car age and the Service.

Maybe best ask the Garage if they did an ECU upgrade at the Service and never told you.

Should not have caused a new noise, but equally it could do.

An Upgrade can effect the Engines running,performance, economy etc, Thats the point of them.

george

[rcgliderpilot]

Thanks for the reply - not sure I explained myself properly though...

The pitch of the noise rises and falls with acceleration/deceleration and is commensurate with road speed (I think...). It's nothing to do with braking (having driven 800k miles in my time, I'm used to brake-y sort of noises...)

Re the service: it was a 30k on a 2.5 year old car, and they just changed the oil as far as I'm aware - I just asked them to perform that 30k service, and nothing was said about tyre pressures, handbrake cables, discs/pads, pollen filters or spark plugs... Should the plugs be changed at 30k then? (sorry - handbook is in the car, and I'm not going out to look at it with the storm we've got raging at the moment!)

Fully understand what you said about the possibility of ECU upgrades, etc., but again, nothing like that was mentioned...

I'm just concerned in case it's a noise all you experts know about, and you might say, "Ah, that's gearbox whine and a sign your DSG box is on its way out," or whatever...

Thanks for the interest

[Rooted]

How much was the service. Just to give an idea if they just did Oil & Filter.

Was it around £80?

*** Have a look at the Invoice and see what Oil was put in or charged for, 'Long Life OIl'.

Is your car on 'Fixed Servicing' or 'Variable Servicing'.?***

(Hopefully the Invoice shows,

and a Health Check Sheet was given to you, showing what was done at the 'Service'.

Tyre Tread Depth etc, Safety Check while in the workshop.)

Spark plugs were shown at the launch of the vRS as to be changed at 40,000 miles.

But some have failed long before that and been changed or not.

I would want the plugs looked at to see if OK @ 30,000 miles at the latest.

A 10,000/1 year is usually £85-£100 (minor/Oil Service)

20,000/2 year £177-£230 (Major/Oil Service/Inspection Service)

30,000 /3 year Service, who knows.

The service schedule has the brake fluid to be changed at 3 years and the price is around £40.

(which IMO is cheap if the do it for only £40)

They pick a figure, any figure for Twincharger Servicing..

Best get to the bottom of the noise if you only have 6 months till the Warranty expires.

I would get the MOT done 1 month before the 3 years, and not done at a Skoda Dealer.

Then get the car in for any Warranty work required if needs be.

george

[Jabozuma]

Can the noise be only heard when driving or is it also present when stationary and you blip the throttle. Does the position of gear lever effects the noise in any way?

Can you try driving in D along a road with high kerbs/bushes/houses close to the road and windows down, note the noise, then switch to N, see if any different, switch to S and see if any different. This is a basic check trying to establish whether the noise has anything to do with transmission. If the noise is present while stationary then transmission is not involved (put it in P or N, not D or S). My two-pence

[Rooted]

The different change of sound or noise i am aware of most often,

is resolved usually when i remember to check if the rear window has gone down a little bit.

Looks closed but has dropped 1 mm or so.

Changes depending on which side has gone down this time.

(poverty spec/exercise winders on the rear doors)

I could not figure out a new noise last week.

It was because i had changed my Screen Demist to 'Top Vents' only and my mum had closed the passenger side Air Vent.

(I do not have the A/C on Auto, and hardly ever use it switched on manually, just set to low.,

the new noise was when at the same fan speed setting and took me unks to find where the noise was coming from)

I now have top and bottom cooling since its Summer, sounds different again.

george

[RazeVRS]

How much was the service.

A 10,000/1 year is usually £85-£100 (minor/Oil Service)

20,000/2 year £177-£230 (Major/Oil Service/Inspection Service)

george

I gotta move at those prices!

More like £120 for 10K service here :-)

[Rooted]

Ye, they can get it to that price quite easily.

(Some dealerships knock off £20 for a 'Voucher' that you never actually had, which also takes the VAT down.)

OK if they are actually doing some work for the money,

Oil & Filter, new Plug, maybe some Screen Wash, Environmental charge for getting rid of Oil and Filter,

(charged by some and not by others, yet all off them must be left with used oil and a filter.)

and a bit of a check over the car, fluid levels etc..

george

[nick82]

• I have just bought a 2010 Octavia VRS Tdi and have a very similar noise. I can only hear it at low speeds, under 30mph. Im a bit concerned about it as it doesnt sound good. The brake calipera and pads were changed about 10k ago and the discs seem to be in good condition. The strange thing is, the noise is much louder when im not braking so im not convenced its the brakes and I dont really know what to do?
  

[Rooted]

Welcome to the forum.

Best get the opinion of a mechanic or someone mechanically minded while your car is still in Warranty,

maybe someone with a similar car to yours.

An Octavia diesel is going to sound rather different from a petrol engine car with a totally different gearbox.

george

[CitigoCuti]

I also have this noise but it only appears when I turn the fan on. It gets worse when I turn up the fan up and disappears when I turn it off.

 

has anyone else had this and what did you do about it?

 

thanks,

 

[Rooted]

^^^ LOL,

?  

Are you sure, do you not have an annoying noise you were researching to have found this almost 4 year old thread?

[CitigoCuti]

It is true but I was trying to avoid starting a new thread that may have been covered before. 

 

Would you you have preferred me to start a new thread?

[Rooted]

Sorry, i thought you were making a joke about turning up the fan and the whirring getting louder.

 

So you are asking about the noise you are getting other than that are you?

It is not that 'The wheels on the bus go round and round' type noise is it?

[CitigoCuti]

No its strange noise from the fan/aircon and only appears when the fan is switch on. The whirling sound changes with the cars acceleration but if I switch off the fan/aircon the noise disappears.

[CitigoCuti]

.

Edited 2 March, 2017 by CitigoCuti

[DamoR]

sounds like aircon compressor noise.. it runs off an aux belt that turns at engine speed hence the link to revs

[CitigoCuti]

Thanks

5 hours ago, DamoR said:

sounds like aircon compressor noise.. it runs off an aux belt that turns at engine speed hence the link to revs

Thanks for that I will let the garage know at the next service. I thought it might link to the engine somehow. Though it's not been doing it much of late.