My 2005 1.9 Octavia DSG has just had to have a new turbo.

About a week before it failed, it started to do the tell tale 'police siren' noise fairly quietly. If I had the radio on, I could barely hear it. It stayed at the same level until a few days ago. At this point, when the car was started, it sounded like a siren was in your ear! You could hear it inside the car, outside the car, very loudly.

Got it towed to the dealer and they told me that the turbo has fairly seriously failed.

I read a lot of posts about the siren noise being normal and not an issue, however, in my case, it meant total failure. So if yours is making such a noise, I would at least get it checked out!

Edited 24 August, 20187 yr by gman88667733

Sorry to hear that.

How many miles on it ?

Have you owned from new ?

 

92500 miles. I have owned it since 90,800. I got it 4 weeks ago.

3 hours ago, gman88667733 said:

92500 miles. I have owned it since 90,800. I got it 4 weeks ago.

Any comeback if purchased from a garage? 

My warranty covers £350. They gave me a discount so I paid £299.70 towards it.

Was there any other symptoms of turbo failure? Or just the noise?

Just the noise. No loss of power at all really.

Interesting. My turbo whines a bit, performance is fine though. I'm not planning on replacing it any time soon.

Most turbos have some sort of whine. Is it like the characteristic siren noise?

The new turbo sounds spot on to me.

 

Given my experience, I would be very cautious ignoring the tell tale sounds.

Mine does sound a bit like a siren, it only does it at low revs - 1250 - 1750ish, with the peak noise happening at about 1500. Can't hear it on acceleration or higher up the rev range when cruising etc.

 

I did have the Overboost limp home mode occurring last winter, but a good dose of Mr Muscle in the spring and it's been fine since.

I think mine mostly made the noise at low revs too. Either way, when it gets too bad, you will know about it!