Mystery noise from under the hood

[REVHE4D]

Well Vw say they will supply the EGR part for free but I have to pay for Labour and any oil used.
I am told that this is a big job, but am I wrong in thinking that the egr is just sitting on top in the bi Turbo?
If they say they have to take the front end off to get to it then I am going to mention my 105k service will be the next big job and then they may as well replace the timing belt and water pump at the same time rather than pulling the front off twice, costing me even more money.

[Zaskar]

I had an EGR valve replaced after and engine light came on. That didn't resolve the noise issue. VW have advised my local VW dealer to replace the vacuum hoses, although the van is still under warranty.
REVHE4D, you may want to ask you dealer about it, be really nice, and see if they can pitch it to VW in such a way that might get it covered. The dealers get paid more for warranty work than for out of warranty, so it's in their interest.
I've been told that VW are pretty good with warranty issues like this.

On a separate note, about it being a common problem; 'common' is a subjective term. Theres only about a dozen of us on this post, that doesn't make it a 'common problem'. I work for a well known white-good manufacturer, and if one was to look at the reviews of any whitegood, then all white goods are crap! Don't buy them, except of course, that they aren't 'all' crap. Sometimes it is that particular design, sometimes its a mistake a repairman has made (though would never admit it), sometimes its a faulty replacement part out of the box and sometimes all 3.

Of my friends, I'm the only one with this noise issue, although another mate did have a similar EGR problem.

[Robear]

Just as a follow up, I had the cow noise and let them know at service time...they ordered two hoses from Germany and when they came in a montgh or so later, it went back in for another day, thankfully under warranty...no more cow noises!!

[greymad]

What hoses were they Robear ... the vacuum hoses referred to above?

[lynnos]

Hello, I'm in the middle of preparing a fairly detailed answer about this problem and will endeavour to post it up tommorrow as it has got a bit late now. I have just been through the whole experience 2 weeks ago with a happy ending.

[lynnos]

Hello, here is what my experience has been with the buzzing/mooing noise that started some weeks ago. There didn't seem to be any rhime or reason or association when the noise was heard and as described above in other posts was mostly quite brief. However, I did have one incident after passing someone in an overtaking lane, that the preheater coil light came on and the engine went into a limited power mode which some above have also mentioned. I pulled over and turned the engine off and checked under the bonnet to see that all looked okay and on starting back up the engine has reset and it ran perfectly for the rest of the trip home. I presented the van to my local VW agent, Bryan Byrts at Capalaba and had a tech come for a drive with me to hear and identify the noise. I had a lot more to this and it didn't save and post properly. It's late again so I will have another go later.

After we got back to the workshop, the computer was checked for faults and it had logged codes for "turbo-not operating correctly". I was shown a Technical Product Information bulletin, tpi 2027520/10 which refered to vacuum hoses and valve upgrade and listed the parts required. They got them up from Sydney and I went back a few days later and 1.5 hours later while I waited they fit them and all has been good. It looks like this problem is known to VW but doesn't warrant a recall just a fix as people complain. Some more info on this follows.
Many of you may already know, but there is a very good parts site(free), called 'partsbase.org'. It has many brands including VW. Open it up and select VW, then Europe (our vans are made there), then Transporter(TR), then find your year model. In this case mine is 2011 (7H-B)(part of VIN), then select Engine and scroll down to item 13155 Exhaust Gas Recirculation;Vacuum System for CFCA.(this is my engine code, there are others in the item above.). If you cannot see all of the drawing just drag it up or down as scrolling does the whole page. Instead of reading all the part no's, put your mouse on the drawing no. and it will display the VW part no.

Look at drw.no.30 and see two solenoid valves called Pressure Converter which control vacuum going to the turbo waste gates via seperate hoses 21 & 22. This has lost a whole lot of info from here down, I will have to seek some help. It has been saying it is autosaving. I try again with the rest of the story when I find out what I'm doing wrong. I'll try saving more regularly.
I think the parts with no numbers at the end of these hoses represent the waste gates for diagram purposes. When the valves deactivate the vacuum is normalised via the air filters drw.no.20. Another valve no.26 controls vacuum to the EGR valve which is seen there to the left of the oil filter. There was nothing done to this with my fix.
Now if you go back up on the parts page and reselect Transporter(TR) then model year 2013(7H-C), then Engine, then down to item 13160(13155 here is same as above), you will see that the hoses drw.no.21 with TEE fittings are now joined via a Pulsation Damper no.37. This may smooth things out and this is what was done to mine. No more poddy calf and hopefully no more engine check light.
I think the noise eminates from the waste gates and/or those airfilters. All this can be seen under the bodywork above the engine and a mirror may help with some of it. My van is a crewvan SWB 4motion built Feb'11 but first registered in May'12, 7sp DSG, and still under warranty so fixed for free. If you are out of warranty they may still fix for free as it is a known problem.
That's it, I'm sorry it's a bit long winded, but I hope it may kick the thread along a bit.

[greymad]

Hello, here is what my experience has been with the buzzing/mooing noise that started some weeks ago. There didn't seem to be any rhime or reason or association when the noise was heard and as described above in other posts was mostly quite brief. However, I did have one incident after passing someone in an overtaking lane, that the preheater coil light came on and the engine went into a limited power mode which some above have also mentioned. I pulled over and turned the engine off and checked under the bonnet to see that all looked okay and on starting back up the engine has reset and it ran perfectly for the rest of the trip home. I presented the van to my local VW agent, Bryan Byrts at Capalaba and had a tech come for a drive with me to hear and identify the noise. I had a lot more to this and it didn't save and post properly. It's late again so I will have another go later.

My vehicle does not, repeat not, share the preheater coil light/limited power mode issue as you. I really do hope I can sort this out.
If I were a prospective buyer looking at this (ie our) car and heard this noise I'd shy clear...

[lynnos]

Hello greymad, I will endeavour to finish my last post by editing it so it will save properly. I don't know why a lot of it got lost last night. You may be lucky so far that you haven't had a limited power mode incident yet but it is connected to the mooing noise. Bear with me and read on above.

[greymad]

Thanks for all that Lynnos ... we'll see how it pans out and will give feedback as to the outcome.
I appreciate your efforts in posting the above information: hopefully it will be the answer in my case.
Replacing (one of) the N75 valves has had no effect (but at least we got to find out that a twin turbo has two N75's!)

Geoff.

[lynnos]

Hello Geoff, the N75 valves refered to in the drawings as Pressure Converters were not changed in my fix, only the different hoses that have the two tees and the Pulsation Damper between them were added. The parts listed on the agents paperwork were as below.

Hose 7E0 129 458N, & Hose 7E0 129 458M No mention of the Pulsation Damper (7E0 133 277) as a seperate part so it was either forgotten to be listed or is under one of the hose numbers.

[REVHE4D]

Hey guys just a quik update on my egr
Well I just had the egr replaced 4 weeks ago and now the engine light is back on, it has been diagnosed with a faulty egr and they are replacing it a second time just a month later, this time at no cost to me. The poor mechanic now has to do another 6 hour job.

[Sunny43.5]

I am not sure if you should say poor mechanic having to do a replacement , maybe you should say VW get your act together either make a more reliable one or do something else . I don,t know but this surely has to be an inconvenience to owners who have suffered this problem .

[Umai Naa!!]

I think he feels sorry for the technican.

I shudder at the thought of replacing them on the T5GPs.

[Sunny43.5]

Thanks Umai I figured good guys like you would know the dramas in fitting these . Yes agree he should feel for the tech having to redo the same job again because of a perceived fault with the part from VW .

[REVHE4D]

Now my egr was replaced again yesterday after they found coolant stains on the egr pipe, they also found the engine light still on after clearing all the codes, they have now diagnosed a faulty ecu and have asked vw for goodwill, they believe it to be all related. They also mentioned to me in the invoice that they found internal high resistance on the potometer.
Arggggg.