The car sounds like it's bowing raspberries?!

[Dane]

Evening all,

As the title suggests my amk s3 has decided to start making a noise that sounds like its blowing a raspberry. To give you more of an idea at first I thought it was interference on the radio but as the road changed to dual carriage way and I booted it it was obvious that the more revs I applied the louder it got.

Having let it idle on the drive I reckon its something to do with the exhaust manifold, perhaps the gasket??? there's also a fairly strong petrol smell from the engine bay.

It hasn't thrown the Engine management light on and I do not have access to Vagcom at the mo, if the above were the case what might the likely codes thrown?

Fortunately the cars booked into Bills for rods at the beginning of next month, so if it is just the gasket then hopefully it'll be all good. Anyone have any ideas what might of caused it, or of anything else it could be?

cheers

 

[quattro1]

it may be a cracked exhaust manifold mate, seems fairly common on s3's unfortunately!

 

[Dane]

yeah the thought had occurred to me... if thats the case i might have to join the 034 club, more money! joy

 

[Welly]

yeah the thought had occurred to me... if thats the case i might have to join the 034 club, more money! joy

Mine was cracked up pretty good mate and didn't blow like that.... It would be more likely to be the gasket I would say. Are you sure it's the manifold, and not simply a boost leak?

 

[Dane]

Mine was cracked up pretty good mate and didn't blow like that.... It would be more likely to be the gasket I would say. Are you sure it's the manifold, and not simply a boost leak?

Nope Im not sure, I am pretty sure the noise is coming from the back of the block and the strong wiffs of petrol made me think manifold. The car sits at idle nice and steady and is the same when driving. I haven't tried getting the turbo to boost up I'm just nursing it around at the mo. It sort of sounds like an old trimuph lol, the noise gets quite loud even by 2.5k revs.

Are there any boost hoses at the back of the block that could leak?

 

[Welly]

Yeah, the turbo to charge pipe hose would be the one if it was going to be any of them - the red one in the heat blanket. Common as muck for going - I'm on my second.

However, the smell of petrol would be explained by this really... Odd.

As you said, petrol vapour would indicate burnt fuel. I'm surprised it doesn't do it at idle is all, if it was the manifold leaking I would expect it to do it all the time.

It could be to do with the EVAP system - that sees boost so could make noises under boost if leaking, and would also explain the smell of petrol.

 

[Dane]

Sorry Welly I didnt explain properly, there is still the blowing noise on idle but it is quieter (the noise increases with revs). When I said it idles fine I meant the revs were consistant at idle as I thought a sign of a boost leak was a bumpy idle???

 

[Welly]

Sorry Welly I didnt explain properly, there is still the blowing noise on idle but it is quieter (the noise increases with revs). When I said it idles fine I meant the revs were consistant at idle as I thought a sign of a boost leak was a bumpy idle???

Ahhhh, well in that case - if it sounds like it's coming from the back..... It sounds like bad news!

Could be the turbo - manifold gasket as well. Which side of the back of the block is if coming from? You may not be able to tell to be fair.

 

[Dane]

Ahhhh, well in that case - if it sounds like it's coming from the back..... It sounds like bad news!

Could be the turbo - manifold gasket as well. Which side of the back of the block is if coming from? You may not be able to tell to be fair.

If I had to say, I would say the noise is coming from the driver's side.

Am I alright to keep driving it, or is it worth me leaving it on the drive until the 6th/ seeing if Bill squeeze me in a bit earlier?

There was no bang or clunking noise when it happened so hopefully its nothing too serious, fingers crossed for not needing a new mani lol.

 

[Welly]

If I had to say, I would say the noise is coming from the driver's side.

Am I alright to keep driving it, or is it worth me leaving it on the drive until the 6th/ seeing if Bill squeeze me in a bit earlier?

There was no bang or clunking noise when it happened so hopefully its nothing too serious, fingers crossed for not needing a new mani lol.

I'd say best to try and drive it as little as you can - although a bit of a mani blow wouldn't be the end of the world, it's not guaranteed that is in fact what it is....

 

[Dane]

I'd say best to try and drive it as little as you can - although a bit of a mani blow wouldn't be the end of the world, it's not guaranteed that is in fact what it is....

It sounds so ridiculous so not driving it isn't a particular hardship lol, I'll see if I can get hold of Bill and see if he can squeeze me in earlier, even if it's just a 'yeah the mani's fubar you need a new one' at least I'll be able to order a new one asap.

Cheers Welly.

 

[Welly]

It sounds so ridiculous so not driving it isn't a particular hardship lol, I'll see if I can get hold of Bill and see if he can squeeze me in earlier, even if it's just a 'yeah the mani's fubar you need a new one' at least I'll be able to order a new one asap.

Cheers Welly.

Give him a Bell dude. Pretty stacked out at the moment though....

 

[Dane]

Give him a Bell dude. Pretty stacked out at the moment though....

Yeah I thought so, whats involved in changing the rods, is it a block out job?

 

[Sean_S3]

Could it be the bolts that hold the downpipe to the turbo have come loose ? I have had this happen to me and originally thought the manifold had gone but it was the bolts that had stripped and come loose.

Cheers.

 

[Welly]

Yeah I thought so, whats involved in changing the rods, is it a block out job?

Nope, head off, sump off. Block stays home.

If the head is coming off, investigation becomes easy. Blows from the exhaust normally have carbon residue where it's been blowing.

An exhaust manifold gasket is less than a fiver from ECP, and the OEM turbo - manifold gasket is about £2.

 

[Welly]

Could it be the bolts that hold the downpipe to the turbo have come loose ? I have had this happen to me and originally thought the manifold had gone but it was the bolts that had stripped and come loose.

Cheers.

Stripped? ******, you don't want that, those bolts are strong as hell. They are normally as tight as hell anyway...

 

[Sean_S3]

Stripped? ******, you don't want that, those bolts are strong as hell. They are normally as tight as hell anyway...

before i bought the car it had just had a new manifold gasket and the garage which did it must have cross threaded them because when i took them out they were chewed up to hell and were defiantly not up to the job. A new set of bolts sorted the problem out though and it hasn't come loose since.

Cheers.

 

[Dane]

Nope, head off, sump off. Block stays home.

If the head is coming off, investigation becomes easy. Blows from the exhaust normally have carbon residue where it's been blowing.

An exhaust manifold gasket is less than a fiver from ECP, and the OEM turbo - manifold gasket is about £2.

So realistically the head needs to come off to properly diagnose the problem and unless Bill has an opening before the 6th I'm gonna have to wait. ******, that means 3 weeks of micra driving

nice work with the jag btw :thumbsup:

 

[Dane]

before i bought the car it had just had a new manifold gasket and the garage which did it must have cross threaded them because when i took them out they were chewed up to hell and were defiantly not up to the job. A new set of bolts sorted the problem out though and it hasn't come loose since.

Cheers.

Good info, cheers!

 

[Welly]

So realistically the head needs to come off to properly diagnose the problem and unless Bill has an opening before the 6th I'm gonna have to wait. ******, that means 3 weeks of micra driving

nice work with the jag btw :thumbsup:

If you get a turbo to manifold gasket and change it (easy enough in theory) then you could at least rule it out...

 

[Dane]

Hmm true, worth a try!

 

[Dane]

It would also appear my fuel economy has gotten worse, it was showing 66mpg at idle on the way home and 9 mpg when pulling off.

 

[S3KO4]

I would say turbo to downpipe bolts as well. I had the same issue. it managed to loosen itself three time since Jan.. have you had the downpipe replaced or is it standard?

 

[Dane]

The DP is still standard, thought i get the rods in first lol