Turbo Noise inside the car??

[HK-Steve]

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to ask if you all hear the turbo spooling noise inside the car with the windows up??

It is like a low whistle noise at about 1800 to 2000rpm.
Then you hear nothing else until you get back into that range, this is under light acceleration.
It happens in any gear, but just at that RPM range only


Normal??



It can't be heard outside the car, you just get the normal turbo high whistle noise. Not Siren noise.


I went through a tunnel the other day with the windows down, and just listened to the turbo spooling up, was Cool



Appreciate your comments
Cheers
Steve

[fixn2xlr8]

I didnt really hear mine too much till I did DPs, Then it got loud.

[HK-Steve]

As far as I know, I don't have DP's installed.
I think the exhaust is standard.

I just have a ABT Chip.





The sound is like a Woooot noise, if that makes sense.



Appreciate your comment
Cheers
Steve

[HK-Steve]

Is this such a STUPID question that no one is answering






Cheers
Steve

[Scarzie]

Ya thats a normal sound u should hear.

[Scarzie]

its kind of a high pitched "woosh" right?

[HK-Steve]

No not really, the sound at 1800 to 2000 rpm is a low Wooooot noise, not high pitched at all.

I can hear the turbos spooling at higher rpm's no worries,




This sound is only heard inside the car,
I might try to take some audio of it, so you can hear it.
Everyone says how quiet the Audi's are (this is my First one), I don't hear engine noise at all, just this noise.


But my previous Turbo cars didn't make this noise, that is the reason I am asking, it was a single turbo straight 3L 6 cylinder.


I really appreciate your response
Cheers
Steve

[Rob01S4]

Do you have an upgraded stereo? It could be line noise from wires.

[HK-Steve]

Nope,
I can turn off the Stereo, the Climate Control.


Still there, definately from the turbo's or the intake system.




Cheers
Steve

[S4 Dan]

i hear the same noise.... same w/ my friends, its normal as far as i know.... could be engine noise also if you have an aftermarket deck....

[HK-Steve]

The Stereo (well if you call the BOSE stuff a Stereo, Ha Ha)
is the original CD stacker in the hatch,
plus Sat Nav+


So no issues there

No other changes to the electrical system.



Cheers
Steve

[HK-Steve]

Good to know it is normal, or that others hear the same,


at least it confirms that I am not quite MAD,,,, just yet





Cheers
Steve

[Kievskiy]

i dont hear anything at least till 3000rpm, then i hear high pitch, but nothing other then that, i have an a6 and my body -s4, the same, no sound inside....could it be air conditioning system? i heard that some audis have problem with that....hope it helps.

[Rob01S4]

I hear a lot of metal on metal pinging.. then usually a hard knocking sound.. this is normal right?


J/k :)

[umyskam]

What you are hearing is normal. My car does it with DP and stock exhaust, but it is very audible and from what I recall from other S4's to be normal.

[mat]

mine does it.. although I have a turboback exhaust setup.

I ****ing love it.

[EuroTech Motorsports]

the best description of turbos on there way out is a sound like a dentist drill. A high pitch drill type noise and a lower whistle. of course the smoke too.

[CALL AAA]

I had the same question, when I got my S4. I was used to not hearing anything from the engine bay of our A6, so when I heard the noise from the S4's turbos, I thought there was something wrong. I think I even asked the service guys about it.
Apparently, they're normal, and if they're not, they're still under warranty. (I also checked w/o the radio and A/C)

Who had the avatar like Kievskiy's? There was another one that played in a loop, but I can't find any posts by that AZ member. Does he have a new one?

[HK-Steve]

Rob01S4
Maybe you should just let the kids out of the back seat,


then that noise will go away




Cheers
Steve

[HK-Steve]

Thanks for the replies,
Well looks like this is normal for the S4 then, as others have confirmed.


Now to get back to driving it the way they were built to, FAST





Cheers
Steve

[hollywood]

Mine makes a quiet police siren noise until the engine warms up a bit then it goes away. Some say that this is normal because the oil isnt warmed up but others say that it means the turbos are going out. Im under warranty for another three years so I really dont care. Also my dealership is really cool and they said that they could probably install ko4s if these fail. All I would have to do is provide the turbos and they install under warranty. Anyway, this sound that I hear is around the rpms that you describe above.

[dr.evil]

I was wondering the same thing. Its a woosh sound inside, and I can hear the spooling on the outside just crusing around, not in boost. When boost kicks in the exhaust is louder than than the turbos. I thought there might be a leak somewhere, but I guess not because it holds boost fine and from reading this post it looks to be normal.

On a similar subject, those of you that are cat-less, when you shift normally while driving around town, does the exhaust make a "gurgle" or "popping" sound? Sometimes when I downshift to a higher RPM, maybe around 4000, it gets pretty loud. Just wondering if this is normal or if it could be running lean...? Its done it since I got it, and hasn't given me a lean code, so I guess its okay? I kinda think it sounds cool.

[CALL AAA]

Let me answer a question with a question. At what RPM do the turbos spin (on an all-stock car) at full boost? What is the normal range of hearing for a human. Even if the exhaust didn't drown out the turbo noise, I think humans can only hear up to 20 KHz, so if a turbo spins faster than that, even if it got louder as it spun faster, you would eventually stop hearing it. Bats and dogs would still hear it, but you wouldn't/shouldn't.
Or this could be total bullshit that really didn't answer anything.

[70 eliminator]

mine used to make this noise

louder cold but went away when oil temp began to moove...
the noise was mostly at low rpm
and allways at transition from vac to boost.

now i have slight noise even when turbo is warmed up..

my thoughts were its the expansion of the housing of the turbo when warm that used to end it
the thrust wear of my 140k mile turbos allowing the blades to rub the housing warms up and enough expansion happens to get the housing out of the baldes reach..this combined with the abrasion of the blades shortening the blades makes clearance.

on a couple ocassions the noise was extreemly distressing and verry loud!!!! cold morning leaving without any warm up... sometimes its worse than others.....

also get the ocassional puff of smoke on start up or if car is at high angle.. uses a quart of oil in 2 or 3 tanks of gas....


so i would say try warming up the car for 5+ min at 1500 rpm before you drive off if noise is not present warm but is cold it is probably blades hitting....

start saving i dont know how long it can go on but some people have gotten years out of a turbo with the noise.....

if you let it warm up i bet you will get more life because the rubbing creates harmonics that can fracture the blades or at least fatigue them and once you get imballence its really bad juju!!!!!!

[GunSupplier]

Alot of people have pretty "loud" K03s. It's not abnormal. As long as they are quiet in heavy boost, nothing to really worry about. That's not to say they won't blow at any minute, but if they aren't making screeching sounds or whining IN BOOST, it's generally alright.

My passenger side K03 faintly howls when I'm between 10Hg and 0Hg of vacuum. To an untrained ear, it almost sounds like a blown turbo, but the key distinction is that my turbos make absolutely no suspicious noises under boost at all.

The general rule of thumb is: Noise in vacuum = you'll be OK; noise in boost = you're **cked

[ride1157]

My car has this too, I just replaced turbos less than 5000 miles ago. BUT i have no cats at all on my car and i have that little darintake mod done with a k&n drop in filter. So I was nervous about this too but i think/hope it is normal. Mine only does it in lower rpm like you are saying but when i push it it is quiet. It sounds like air, like you can mimic it by whistling lightly. I compared it to my friends s4 and he has no cats either and his does the same thing.

[fazda]

its completely normal, all cars dp this when they are at that rpm range, are turbos are quite quite on these cars, need a chip and full exhaust to really make them scream!

[70 eliminator]

to be clear its more of a whrrrr that raises and lowers in pitch not a whistle or screech.. i have heard all the you tube dentist drill noises and it dosent do that at high boost but as the turbine is spinning up to pressure....its there


my other theory is that whilst at vac the compressor and turbine assy sees more exh pressure than compressor pressure thus moving the whole assy forward to contact the housing if the thrust has enough wear...

once making some boost the forces ballence out a bit and at high boost you just cant hear it when the turbine inlet pressure exceeds the boost the whole assy reverses again.....

[ride1157]

I took a short clip on my way out today so you can hear mine. Right at 17sec and 48sec you can hear the turbos at 2nd gear. This is the sound i was talking about it sounds like a wrrr noise then goes away i think it is pretty normal hope it helps you out. Sorry the video sucks but i was driving and holding the phone lol..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f16QHSb_k0

oh and don't pay attention at the very end of the clip to the slight whine that is my trans....

[spokismB5S4]

Wow, did none of you notice that this thread is 4 years old?

[ride1157]

Wow, did none of you notice that this thread is 4 years old?

WOHA! Haha lol I didn't pay attention. Now i feel extra dumb...lol

[NYRS4]

i see zombies!

[70 eliminator]

i brought it back from the dead because i wanted further clarifacation ... plus i likes shawn of the dead.... !!

i just hadent seen any other comprehensive threads on noise. its a worthy topic because its an expensive fix if people prematurely replace turbos for "normal noise" that would suck..

i am just trying to figure out how much time i have..

[HK-Steve]

Wow, this an old thread,

But I have since found that I have my pre-cats removed, so this is the reason I hear more turbo noise.

My Mate's S4, is OEM, and can not hear anything.



Cheers
Steve

[meni59]

I had several problems with ny RS4 turbos until decided to get a pair of new ones from Audspeed. And when I got the car back from the mechanic there was that whistling noise again that I had heard before the turbos get broken. I could not believe that was happening again. But sure there should be an explanation: the one I got is that the S4 and RS4 V6 2.7l engine do a kind of "air injection" at some temperature and pressure conditions and the noise is from the air being injected, it sounds like if the turbine blades were rotating against the housing. If this is the case the sound will dissapear as the engine heats up and that is what I have seen. It usually happens to me on cool days when I start and goes away some minutes later.

Cheers

Ed