Whining diff?

[hopeless]

Just noticed this week that my diff/grearbox/haldex is whining slightly on decelleration. Only noticed it this week in the cold

Noise seems to go away, almost, when accellerating but i cant be sure if its from the front or rear.

The whining noise:
1) does not go away if i dip the clutch or even take it out of gear.
2) does not get louder/quieter when turning and its most noticable 30 - 60mph
3) is not linked to engine rpm.
4) is affected by road surfaces, smooth makes it louder or more noticable.

2012 S3 Sportback, 8000miles, tyres all look ok and feel ok (no balance issues, correct pressure), no oil on garage floor

is a slight whine on over run acceptable and i'm just being as picky and critical as ever or should i get the stealers to look at it asap?

As an aside, or maybe linked, i've had the car sort of lock up when reversing out of my drive. a fair bit of lock to lock steering in reverse.

Any advice would be appreciated ( except for turning the radio up although that is 95% effective).

 

[hopeless]

Anyone have some info for me on this?
it sounds louder on colder days, wonder if its the tyres.

 

[mjr901]

If I don't change gear until later on in the rev range in 1st gear mine whines like a treat. All other gears don't.

 

[hopeless]

I get that too, but i'm now worried more about it as yours doesnt do it in the other gears.
I'll get the dealers to look at it when i get its first oil service but i'm guessing it wont be noisy enough to warrant them doing anything about it.

 

[mjr901]

anybody else get a 'whine' from there cars in any gear? particually 1st in my case. Normal?

 

[Chris93]

Mine whines in 2nd and 3rd when it is upto temperature sometimes, sound a bit like a supercharger and its done it since i got it and not got any worse/better

Chris

 

[mjr901]

Yeah always done it on mine aswell, I think it's because I'm stretch 1st gear a little too long..as it pops better when I do!

 

[Chris93]

Haha, if it was really that serious i dont think i would have done 10,000 miles of hard driving without the gearbox exploding or the noise becoming worse, dsg's are known for making all sorts of noises anyway think of it as character

Chris

 

[bmh.01]

Mine whines in 2nd above 2.5krpm, every other gear is fine. That and it grumbles in neutral but that might be the release bearing more than the box as if you come off the clutch steadily it doesn't do it.

Both drive me ****ing nuts!

 

[Jack_tdi]

I wouldn't worry too much mate I just had mine in the garage for cam belt turbo and mot and the mechanic said it was noisy car too drive but everything is fine

 

[S3Alex]

anybody else get a 'whine' from there cars in any gear? particually 1st in my case. Normal?

Mine did a little from new and I never really thought much of it.

The whine in 2nd and 5th slowly got more obvious and when engine was being rebuilt we got the gearbox and transfer case out as well.

The transfer case was toast and the synchros on 1st through 3rd badly worn and the selector forks were pretty tired.

That's probably a worst case scenario on a high power car used daily.

The syncro and selector girl wear is a known issue on these boxes and the other issues likely due to the very high torque on mine.

 

[mjr901]

So we're all a bunch of "whiners" then

 

[S3Alex]

So we're all a bunch of "whiners" then

Like it....better than being a bunch of "diffs".

 

[hopeless]

As an update to the problem origianlly stated i have now swapped the tyres, front/rear and lo and behold, the noise is still there, still the same and most definately now not the tyres. I thought it might be due to tyre wear/ different rolling radius of tyres but they have made bog all difference to the noise or the location of where it is coming from.

My only ideas now are wheel bearing or diff but I checked wheel bearings and no play, but its very difficult to detect any noises from them when rotating the wheels so i cant be 100% sure.

How long do diffs last when they start to whine?

 

[Smiffi]

I've had a whine coming from the rear when accelerating up to motorway speeds since I bought the car from new. Had it to the dealers after a couple of thousand miles and the lead tech said it was all fine. It does sound a little like a supercharger!

Also highlighted a click that occurs every time I touch the accelerator in 4th around 30 mph. Click when I press then again when I release the pedal. Thought that was coming from the diff / gearbox or maybe exhaust flap. Again, he said it was fine and it still does the same 5k miles later. Pretty annoying!!

 

[bmh.01]

I get the click and its definetly the exhaust flap.

 

[hopeless]

Bit OT, wrt whining diff but i had the exhaust flap click and got rid of it by clamping the pipe that goes to the actuator. This keeps the exhaust flap wide open at all times. For me it resulted in smoother gearchanges and a very nice exhaust note. Dont unplug or cut the pipe because you'll get a vacuum leak but clamping it throws no errors codes.

 

[Smiffi]

Bit OT, wrt whining diff but i had the exhaust flap click and got rid of it by clamping the pipe that goes to the actuator. This keeps the exhaust flap wide open at all times. For me it resulted in smoother gearchanges and a very nice exhaust note. Dont unplug or cut the pipe because you'll get a vacuum leak but clamping it throws no errors codes.

I had the back box changed which made no difference so the tech disconnected the flap and we went out for a drive. Still the same. Maybe he didn't hold it open. Hopefully it is that cos i was starting to worry it was diff related.

Anyway, sorry OP for going OT.

 

[hopeless]

No need to apologise, its all valid car chat.
The flap is open at idle, closes above idle then re opens some time after 3000rpm. So if you diconnect the actuator rod it has to be taped or locked in the position its sits at idle.

I know you can sometimes get clicking noises by throttle on off then on which the VW techs said was just normal drivetrain slack being taken up. I had that quite bad on an R32, 30k miles and it never got worse but i wasnt fully happy with the answer from the dealer.
If youre like me i hate (really hate) any noises or knocks that you shouldnt expect and drivetrain ones always sound so bad, even heard outside of the car.

 

[hopeless]

Well a 1000 miles after swapping the tyres front-rear and the whining has got a lot less. The technician at the dealers has had a listen to it and checked car over during service and he said it is most likely the tyres. He didnt think the noise i pointed out to him was diff or wheel bearings but he did check those too.
I'll have to see how it sounds when we get some warmer weather. Tyres are conti sport 3 with 10000 miles on them.
Hope it is tyres.

 

[hopeless]

Well another loose end to tie off.

It was those ****** continental tyres with some serious rear toe out. All sorted now with 4 ps3's and full Hunter alignment.
Can hear the door rattle much better now...