Whistling sound from engine when warm...

[MartinH]

In the last day or so my B8 S4 has developed a whistling sound when the engine is warm... I've got the car booked in with the dealer tomorrow (the service rep muttered something about an "xyz" valve - can't recall exactly the terminology), but I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same issue. Before you ask, my water pump was swapped out for an all-metal one at the 15k service... car has now done nearly 19k miles.

I popped the hood to take a look and see if I could get a better read on where the noise was coming from and noticed a lot of debris (leaves, bits of plastic etc.) on top of the engine. One of the covers over the shock absorbers (passenger side) is missing and there is dirt on the paintwork under the hood on that side of the engine bay. Two possibilities; 1). the dealer left this cover off during the last service and all the crud has been sucked in ... or 2). I have a rodent problem and something has been trying to nest under the hood... possibly even muscled the cover off above the shock, although there is no sign of where the cover now is. So my other questions are does anyone know what those covers are called (the ones above the top of the front shock absorbers)? And would a service technician normally remove these as part of a service, or to check into ride-quality issues?

Thanks

Martin

[Rabbit222]

I had a whistle too. Mine just got progressively worse...in the end, they had to replace my water pump which turned out to be a faulty replacement unit. I'm on pump no.3 now and ever since replacing it the whistle is gone.

[Sandy S]

My B7 A4 had a whistle from some kind of leaky valve. I forget what it was called but it could have been something like a crankcase vent value or pressure regulator. They changed it and all was fine. Perhaps the S4 has something similar.

[MartinH]

Thanks for the responses so far. I'll report back once I get a prognosis from the service guys.

[rkdiddy]

Now you have me scared. I have a slight whistle when driving slowly (like through a parking lot). I just figured it was the faint sound of the supercharger.

[MartinH]

Sorry for the delay guys... got wrapped up in all the festive cheer.

Bottom line: Water Pump - again.

15K - service replaced all plastic water pump for metal/plastic. This started "whistling" at 18.5k and when I took it in was diagnosed as failing and got replaced with an all metal unit.

[Rabbit222]

Sorry for the delay guys... got wrapped up in all the festive cheer.

Bottom line: Water Pump - again.

15K - service replaced all plastic water pump for metal/plastic. This started "whistling" at 18.5k and when I took it in was diagnosed as failing and got replaced with an all metal unit.

Cool, so I was right lol! Damn friggin water pumps are a pain in the arse!

[SPR415]

Sorry for the delay guys... got wrapped up in all the festive cheer.

Bottom line: Water Pump - again.

15K - service replaced all plastic water pump for metal/plastic. This started "whistling" at 18.5k and when I took it in was diagnosed as failing and got replaced with an all metal unit.

im gettin this problem as well after fixing the WP a month ago. So i thought the new design was the metal one already?? is there a new design as of present? this is bullshit