Hi, I’ve tried in vain to solve this annoying whistling sound on my 1 year old Superb since day 1. It always happens at 1800rpm range regardless of stationary or car moving. It’s rather loud. 
 

SKODA has maintained that this is a result of the turbo spool, but do turbos spool when there is no load? The whistle peaks at 1800 rpm regardless of whether the car is moving or not. 
 

It has happened since day 1, and there is no boost loss whatsoever. Can it be just one of those unlucky purchases where I get a faulty turbo but no error codes are present until it goes bust???

They they still produce boost without load (just revving while stationary).

 

How loud is it?

 

A small (but noticeable) amount of turbo noise is normal. Just just be a gentle whistle but normally not noticeable with the radio on.

It sometimes gets loud, like a audible wailing siren. Sometimes it’s soft and not so annoyingly high pitch. Can’t figure it out, was just wondering if this is a characteristic of turbo or TSI engines. Them demo cars that I tested does not seem to have this wailing siren noise but they just cannot find anything wrong with the car.

 

and if there is nothing wrong that they can find, the dealership will not replace the turbo under warranty... bugger...

Do you have any mates that are into cars?  Get them to listen out.  Its' normal to hear a small turbo whine when it gets going.  At tickover the turbo is doing next to nothing and at higher engine revs the turbo will likely be spinning too fast for human ears.  Could just be you have good hearing.

Mine is almost silent to be honest, even under heavy load. Normally with a louder than normal spool I’d be checking vacuum pipes or even looking for a split in an intercooler pipe. 
Also a long shot, but did the previous owner fit a muffler delete by any chance. A plain black one could be missed by a dealer tech, and most will just plug it in, and if no codes are stored, they’ll tell you it’s normal. 
Is it definitely turbo related, or could it be some of the ancillaries on the offside. Pulley bearing or alternator perhaps?

Please take a listen at the clip, what do you guys feel it is? Always around the 1800rpm mark. Beyond or above that, no high pitch 

 

It’s a new car that I took delivery of last year. Since day 1 it has this whine. This clip was taken last month 

Edited 29 September, 20205 yr by Rantzzz

Sorry, my mistake. Misread the original post as you’d bought it 1 yr old. 
Has it gotten any louder since purchase, or has it remained the same. 
Does it do it under load right through the Rev range while accelerating, or just in the range specified and then go quiet from say, 2000rpm or so upwards. 

Does the engine use any oil?

The noise has stayed mostly the same volume however on certain days it is more quiet. I can’t pin point if there is a correlation between the sound volume with a hot/cold ambient condition. On certain days it just softens alot

 

you can hear it build up from the lower range with the high pitch sound volume peaking at 1800rpm. Once past 1800rpm the pitch does not sound jarring at all

 

engine oil consumption seems normal

 

 

If you can still hear it at the top end of the Rev range then I’d check the internals. I couldn’t possibly condone it, but I know folks who have blocked feed pipes and driven the car until the turbo failed, so they could have it replaced under warranty. 

That doesn't sound right.

 

Certainly sounds louder than normal.

 

Which engine is it? The 2.0?

It’s a 1.8l

14 hours ago, Rantzzz said:

Please take a listen at the clip, what do you guys feel it is? Always around the 1800rpm mark. Beyond or above that, no high pitch 

 

It’s a new car that I took delivery of last year. Since day 1 it has this whine. This clip was taken last month 

 

I don't know if this can help you, but it sounds the same as my 140hp Octavia2 after stage1 remap. Before stage1 it was even hard to hear the turbo whistle.

Wow I don’t need a remap and I get this turbo noise lol 

 

I have no idea why it is the way it is. I don’t have boost problems, no power loss, everything is smooth. It’s just this louder than normal high pitch noise that takes away my enjoyment of the Superb

Whistling turbos are usually due to impeller imbalance, due to a manufacturing fault, damaged vanes or debris in the turbo. Even under no load, turbos spin up to high speed at low to mid engine speeds . The waste gate opens to limit/regulate boost pressure. 

Edited 30 September, 20205 yr by xman

If there are manufacturing defects in the turbo, there will definitely be performance issues right? Error codes and lack of boosting. Mine has no performance issues nor error codes

Not necessarily, a slight imbalance wont affect performance or boost at all, but will ultimately reduce turbo life as the bearing and/or impeller will be under greater stress. If its down to debris, that could lead to rapid failure depending on the nature of the debris, where it is, and whether it decides to relocate.

 

A turbo specialist might be the better option as opposed to the dealership

Are you certain there isn't a performance filter in there or even a turbo inlet?

4 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

Are you certain there isn't a performance filter in there or even a turbo inlet?

My car is totally stock

I'm having the exact same issue at the moment. Was there a solution to this ?

For everyone above, has anyone looked at the alternator freewheel? This can whine if wearing out.

 

does the sound change when the electrical system is loaded eg, everything turned on.