Turbo whine when cold..

Soldato
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Took a trip with a mate up to Lincoln today in his 530D 55 plate.. i noticed upon a cold start (it was about 1C as well) the turbo produced a siren like whine/whistle for about 4 miles before eventually dying off. I commented on it and was surprised when he retorted that my 320D (06) has this exact whine in the morning too.. i think i got so accustomed to it that it didn't occur to me. I started er up, drove and sure enough it was there, went away after about the same mileage. Is this usual in cold weather or am i looking at turbo issues here? Though, honestly i asked my dad and he reckoned he commented on the siren sound last winter. I do let turbo cool and idle it for about 1/2 minute before shutting down etc.. righteously since i bought it. Oh yes, its remapped to 198bhp btw (this summer).. not felt any loss of power, just the usual diesel letarghy for the first mile or so in the cold, all diesels i owned were like this though.

Cheers!
 
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Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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18,299
The 320d does this, maybe just the turbo dying a slow death but yeah the noise really penetrates the cabin. Absolutely no mistake, the noise is from the turbo.
 
Soldato
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Takes a little longer for me, usually 3 miles or so, but this is in fairly slow traffic so i doubt the engine really gets up to temp by then. How the hell does one see the engine/oil temp on my car btw? :D
I listened carefully and the noise is still there when fully warm but much much fainter, almost undetecable if you don't know what to listen for. Drove the car again about 2 hours after i got home and the noise wasn't noticeable as the engine would still be a bit warm and its 2C outdoors now so i guess thats not bad at all, its definetly only when sat overnight and fully cold. On a side note the boost feels like a supercar in this cold lmao.
 
Associate
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Chingford
My Peugeot Expert HDi does this when cold - its not loud but there is a faint wailing from the turbo for the first 2-3 minutes when the engine is stone cold. Similar to the usual turbo whistle noise but at a much lower pitch. There doesn't yet seem to be any problem with it, uses absolutely no oil and no smoke even when thrashed.
 
Soldato
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Hoddesdon, London, UK
Well, yesterday was much warmer than most days at 10C, noise lasted about 8 mins from cold when i left work and promptly totally disappeared. So its definetly temp related, likely something to do with oil. Having a look about at a few forums, it seems to be a known issue though theres no definite explanation, has happened on brand new cars as well. Theories vary from dying turbo (though this issue was there last year too so i doubt the turbo is going anywhere), some sort of vane closing under a certain temp, to metal contraction. God knows.
 
Caporegime
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25 Nov 2004
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25,812
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On the road....
My Scania does this, as did my old DAF XF.

Its nothing unusual (imo) and - certainly from a truck point of view - sod all to do with impending engine doom!

I have had virtually new trucks doing this (from cold) as well as my "regular" 290k Mile '08 Reg.


It made a hell of a racket for sure when I started up at 4AM recently, it was -17.

No more than a couple of minutes, once driving, for it to shut up generally although it'll whistle away for ever at a cold tickover, the engine won't warm up unless you drive it....
 
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