Hi all.

 

I was having these issues since I bought a car almost a year ago. First two do not make driving bad or anything, but they still bug me. 3rd one make driving somewhat dangerous at roundabouts. 

So first, about car...its a MY2016 Octavia, 1.6 TDI 110 hp, 5spd manual, produced in 09/2015 and done so far almost 60k km (about 37k mil).

 

First issue:

When I drive in 3rd gear and I pass 2000 rpm I can hear a while or a whistle sound..probably a mix of both. It goes away if I increase RPM and speed in a way that it becomes more and more higher pitch until you cant hear it anymore (partly also because engine itself becomes louder at these rpms). If I switch to 4th gear, it stops because revs drop, but when I get to the same range it starts again but with less intensity. 1st, 2nd and 5th gears do not have this issue.

 

Second issue:

When I start the car after its been off at least overnight, I can see lights flicker. On the outside, I can hear engine being rough at idle in the same pace as these lights are flickering. And then after about half a minute or so it becomes steady.

 

Third issue:

Depending on how I take off in 1st, sometimes when I push the gas pedal, car is just reluctant to speed up. This usually happens in corners or roundabouts where you need to stop. If I intentionally try for this not to happen, then I get the car moving properly but it usually takes more aggressive start. If I start slowly, like when you have slow pedestrian crossing the street so you start moving but you still cannot let go clutch fully and start moving properly to not hit the pedestrian, when I release it fully and press the gas, nothing...rpms go as high as 3000k but I fell as if almost nothing was happening. I was thinking slipping clutch, but I cannot notice any slipping in higher gears or on the incline. 

I'll respond in order of issues.

 

1. Sounds just like your turbo spooling up. 1st and 2nd there is less load on the engine and also it might have reduced torque in those gears causing the turbo to not try so hard so not making the same noise. In 4th and 5th at those revs you are travelling faster so other noises are louder than the turbo woosh. Hence why it's less in 4th and almost gone in 5th.

Your choice if you decide to get it checked.

 

2. A 4 year old battery that has only done 37k? Maybe the battery is close to giving up. The increased output will be due to the alternator catching up.

 

3. Clutch?

Thank you MarkyG82 for the reply.

 

1. I was just at the groceries and back and noticed something I forgot to mention on 1st issue: If I let the accel pedal off with this noise, noise becomes less loud. Still there but less loud. 

2. Might be, I do have a longer crank time from time to time. Although, I was expecting a bit more life out of OEM battery and AGM at that (i turn off start-stop always).

3. My suspicion as well. But how to confirm?

 

This year I would need timing belt change as its 5th year ticking, battery on the way out and now clutch? I would be better of leaving at 12 year old renault I had before this.  😞

No problem.

 

1. Sounds like it's just the turbo winding down letting off the gas 

2. Some people have been reporting batteries dieing around 4-5 years. Like a lot of things that are more optimised, the power density of these units is high but leaves less room for error compared to dumb lead acid jobs.

3. Drive along at 20-30mph in 3rd and floor it. Watch for the revs to rise out of sync with the Speedo. Do the same in 4th and 5th at similar speeds. If the clutch is slipping you should see the revs go up more than the corresponding speed increase. Depending on how bad it is you could see no increase in speed due to the slipping. A bit like pulling away in greasy conditions but it's the clutch slipping not the tyres.