Our 04 plate 1.3 multijet turbo diesel has suddenly developed a turbo whine (not slippings belts). It is a low mileage car (35,000 miles). All the intake pipes appear to be in place, as I have given them a quick tug.

Could it be a turbo problem? If so how much do they cost?

All advice and throughts at needed

Hi mate,

They do suffer from bent fins on the compressor side of the turbo. This causes the whistling. If you keep an eye out on e-bay, they often come up on there BN for about £250

You can take off the boost pipe and have a look with a torch to see if you can see any damage to the fins!

HOWEVER, when this is the case its normally a LOUD whine. If its a quiet one, i would first check when the oil was last changed, what grade it is and its condition, as poor oil can cause some turbo whine.

Hope that helps
Alan

Thanks for the information. The oil is the correct oil (I did the last oil change about 3000 miles ago). The other thing I have just remembered is that the noise started suddenly. I would have thought if it was an oil problem it would have gradually got louder, this happened suddenly. It is a very loud whistle (that loud that pedestrians look at you).

Hi mate,

Yea given that information I would say you most likely have a bent fin on the turbo.

Alan

Is it down on power too?.

a1ant said:

Hi mate,

Yea given that information I would say you most likely have a bent fin on the turbo.

Alan

Click to expand...

Hi Alan,
I have the same problem. It just started today. There is a whistling noise when on boost and a lack of boost pressure.
Does that mean the turbo will have to be changed out and if so do you know where I can get a turbo cheaper than Fiat prices. This is the second time this has happened as I had a new turbo under warranty 5 yrs ago. Is there anything in particular that causes this problem?
Rich

Did anyone solve the cause? My dads has done the same thing after 33k!!

We think it could be bits of plastic that are not very well finished in the airbox then hitting the turbo fan!
Any ideas?

I believe its debris getting sucked into the turbo compressor that bends the fins. Same thing happened to my brother's Alfa 156 JTD. There is very little you can do because turbos spin at a huge speed so any imbalance will cause a failure in no tine.

The HGT petrol engine has a fine wire mesh over the throttle body inlet. Something similar on the turbo intake would have been good.