Hi 

 

I have a query about a sound my 1.6 Diesel Fabia makes when it is idling. It makes what sounds like an almost out of breath "ha ha ha" sound and the "ha's" come about one a second. The sound seems to stay constant when I pull away only to disappear under the general engine noise when I am motoring normally, though I am not sure if it does actually eventually go. I am not sure if this is a turbo or a pump. 

 

Does anyone have any idea what this may be and if it is something to be worried about, or just a general characteristic of the car. I would like to know as the car is currently under warranty and I can still get it fixed if needs be.

welcome to the forum.

 

Has it just started doing this, or always has done,

how long have you had the car and how many miles has it covered?

Many thanks and it is good to be here. 

 

The car is a 2012 reg and I bought it from a dealership in Portsmouth almost a month ago. It had 11000 miles when I bought it, but i have clocked up a further 1500 miles in my job. I do a lot of motorway driving, but with my eye on fuel economy I tend to stick at around 60mph (sorry if you get stuck behind me). I dont believe that I am or have put the car under any strain whilst I have had it as I look upon it as a long term investment. I have to say that I dont remember when i noticed the sound but it is consistently happening during idling. A friend drives a ford diesel van and says his van does not make a similar sound. He said this after he heard the Fabia making the noise. It is very much like a throaty regular heavy asthmatic laugh. 

Sounds like the egr may be getting dirty. Give the car a really good rev after getting it hot. Don't be afraid, you cannot hurt your diesel engine. You need to really make the egr valve fully open under heavy acceleration a few times. If you drive it too gently the egr's tend to get dirty over time and can become a bit sticky. It may not be closing properly at idle and you can hear gases passing through a partially open valve. It could cure itself if you give it some beans a few times. If it's not that it's could be an air leak somewhere around the airbox or induction pipe/s or maybe an exhaust manifold leak. In reality we need to hear the noise to give better advice but that's of course not too practical. A dealer would normally be able to pinpoint this noise accurately. Is performance ok would you say? What's fuel economy like? 

Maybe the engine is having a laugh. 

Yep...that's probably it!...

Many thanks to everyone who has replied to me so far. I have made a recording of the sound at idle and tried to attach it. It only happens when the car is warmed up. 

Edited 3 April, 201511 yr by Smooth

Hi, I also have a 2010 Fabia 1.6 and have the same noise happening at the same time as you mention.  

My car has got 68k on the clock and I generally do long motorway journeys to work (35 miles)

I bought it around a month ago and on the way home from the garage the engine management light came on.  

Anyway, after a visit to the garage again and a look with VAG it showed that the EGR was goosed.  

At this point I had this strange "ha ha ha" noise too.

The EGR was replaced under warranty but I still have the rhythmical ha ha noise so I think you can scratch the EGR off your possible causes list. 

I occasionally give it the beans as I have done with all my diesels to keep things clear but it has had no effect. 

It sounds like it is coming from the passenger footwell to me at the bulkhead perhaps but if you pop the bonnet you can't heat anything other than the engine.

Performance and economy don't seem to be suffering judging on the book figures but as I am new to the car - who knows!

 

If anyone can save us from this annoying sound I will be very grateful!

I have been somewhat remiss with updating this post. My local Skoda garage found out it was the compressor for the air-con which had an issue. Once they replaced it the car stopped laughing at stops and junctions.

Cheers Smooth!