My MY98 had its 52.5k service yesterday, I had also asked my not-very-local dealer to investigate a whistling noise coming from the turbo when accelerating. The car is covered by Subaru's extended warranty.

The noise sounds a bit like someone blowing a whistle, and only occurs when the turbo is spinning under acceleration. Performance is unaffected so far. I thought it might be a problem with the blow-off valve, but the dealer has come back and said its definitely coming from the turbo. They want to remove it and take it to pieces to investigate, which they say will take two days. However, if they have to replace parts, its doubtful they'll be in stock, which will delay things still further.

My understanding is that if they do this and don't find a problem, I pay for all the labour. If they do find a problem, it may or may not be covered by the warranty.

This understandably worries me, as we are talking much labour (and therefore cost) to do, and may not be covered by warranty. I'm not sure what to do - I could leave it I suppose until it blows up or seizes, but I don't really want to do that.

Can anyone offer any advice ?
Anyone had a similar problem ?
I'll be at TRAX2001 if anyone wants to come and have a listen.

Thanks in advance,

Tony

 

Which dealer are you taking it to ????

Darren.

 

Wildings in Kendal.

 

turbo's do whistle a little when spooling up.

If however you are getting a more noticable sound than before and you have checked the dump valve is not leaking and you have checked you dont have a hose that is leaking then it may be the turbo is starting to fail.

They do whistle more for a while when the turbo bearings start wearing as this allows the blades to brush the housing slightly.

I dont understand how they can do a turbo strip at the dealers, they dont have the equipment to test it for clearances and balance, it's a specialist job.

Also, it takes about one hour to build a new turbo up, another 1 1/2 to strip and refit from the engine. what are they saying they will be doing for 2 days?

 

Hi Tony

I noticed from the other thread that your noise has a constant pitch,are you sure about that?, because a whistle caused by a duff turbo would tend to change in pitch as the turbo changes speed.

I had a constant pitch whistle ,when under boost on my car, when I got it back after having the piston slap fixed.
It turned out to be a leak on the exhaust side of the turbo between the manifold headers and the turbo up pipe.Its surprising just how much back pressure there is in the exhaust before the turbo when on boost.

It might be worth checking the exhaust joints and gaskets on the manifolds,cross over pipe and up pipe.I could see a sooty mark on the flange where mine was leaking.

It could also be a leak on the compressor side somewhere.

PS How does the dealer know the noise is coming from the turbo if it only makes the noise on boost?Did they lock the apprentice under the bonnet and go for a spin LOL.

Andy

 

when turbos are worn they tend to sound like a police siren and you think they are behind you with the sirens going.
and johnfelstead i take it then you've removed turbos from imprezas it's not a quick job and i could understand a couple of days to remove considering there will be other jobs booked in. but what i dont understand is if it's covered by the warranty still why dont they just replace it we would coz it saves so much time.

 

No accelleration problems here either, in fact it's running quite well atm.

Sounds like a simple job to clean the BOV, now if someone can tell me which bit it is, I'll gladly take mine off and give it a once-over.

For starters, will it mean opening the bonnet?

[This message has been edited by whip (edited 25 August 2001).]

 

Thanks for the info guys, it looks like we may be getting somewhere. The whistle is a constant pitch - it starts when the turbo spins and does not vary with engine load or acceleration. I am familiar with the normal turbo whistle, but this is something noticeably louder. You can hear it clearly when driving the car (despite downpipe and backbox soundtrack!) which is what I told the garage to go and do.

I am not comfortable taking the car to the dealers as a result of their 'diagnosis'. From what you guys have described it seems more likely to be a dump valve problem (my first thought) or a leak on the exhaust side.

I think I shall take it to my local independant Scooby specialists in Manchester.

Thanks for all your help.

T

 

Tony

Sounds like we have the same problem m8, although yours sounds a bit more severe than mine if you can hear it over your dp/backbox (my exhaust is standard and I only hear the whistle with the window down).

Which scooby specialist do you use in Manchester? I live near St Helens but work in Salford. I use AJ White for servicing but that means a trip over to Blackburn and time off work.

Keep us informed if you get anywhere m8.

 

I was thinking of going over to C+K, I think they're in Salford, and come highly recommended.

 

hi m8

last week i noticed that i was getting a similar problem with the hight pitch whistling...
when the car was under acceleration it seem as tho no power at all, if i jerked the car and the dump valve closed like it should do after the dump, the car picked up like someone had bumped into the back of us

i took it off and stripped it down completely, copper greasing all moving parts and putting new jubilee clips on

when i took it out for a run i did notice the difference in acceleration cos it wasnt leaking
and the sound seems a lot crisper now

hope this helps ya out m8

 

Cheers Dave - the weird thing is that my car's acceleration seems to be unaffected so far....!

 

Hi Tony

I live quite local to you and also have a MY98.You could try my Dump valve if you like.I also know how to temporarily block off your own dump valve.Either method would allow you to rule the DV out or confirm it as the problem.I take it you have the whistle all the time?.

I will sent you an email with some details(the email address in my profile does not work)

Andy

 

C+K are at

 

Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to look at the exhaust option first. Got your mail, I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers,

T