Hi all

 

My 2014 170PS L&K has developed a whistle, which doesn't vary much in pitch and is most noticeable around 2000-3000 rpm. It's a new development, I've had the car since new and it is now up to 103K miles, so my suspicion is it could be the turbo for some reason as I don't know what else might make such a noise. It's not very noisy but I certainly notice it every time I drive. I don't have a robin nesting under the bonnet, or a kettle balanced on the exhaust manifold. 

 

Anyone got any ideas? 

 

Cheers

John

Edited 12 September, 20187 yr by snafu

The "Turbo Whistle" would vary note with revs.
Could there be a split in the turbo pipe or alternator bearings etc??

Turbo whistles tend to vary intensity with speed, rather than pitch. At a presentation by Garrett a few years ago they explained that turbo whistling is rarely the turbo itself but some other item that has had its resonant frequency excited by vibrations from the turbo.

 

That said, my first port of call would be the various pipes into and out of the turbo.

 I wonder what my resonant frequency, could do with some excitement!  ; - D))

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I will check those pipes to see how excited they are though I'm far from being skilled at these things. Might be another expensive trip to the dealer to fix it :-(

I had a similar sounding issue on my 170, turned out to be a cracked EGR pipe.

A shortish curved metal pipe. Think I posted about it on here a while back, there may even be a photo.

At first I could barely hear it, but over time as the crack worsened it got louder.

It's a right b*****d to get to and replace (and even to see it). Think the independent specialist I used charged me around 2-3 hours labour to change it.

After a while if you looked really carefully you could see soot marks in the area of the pipe where it was leaking.

At first I also had worries that the turbo was about to go pop!

Edited 17 September, 20187 yr by muddyboots

Here you go:

 

I had a strange whistle, I immediately thought "Turbo" this went on for months.

Eventually I lifted the bonnet and trapped in the corner in the drain area was a

leaf, I cleaned it out checked my oil and washer bottle then shut the lid.

After that no more Turbo whistle.

On 17/09/2018 at 08:21, muddyboots said:

Here you go:

 

Thanks Muddyboots, this sounds quite likely to be the cause (after I have performed a full leaf check!). Typical it is in a difficult location, but is it visible at all?

 

Cheers

John