Was told turbo whistle is due to hole in gasket and is common to my year diesel - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Scott98 · #1 12-08-2004, 10:09 AM

I have this whistling noise that comes from my turbo as it winds up and slows down through certain RPM ranges. A mercedes mechanic told me there is a gasket inside the turbo that has a pin size hole that is the cause of the problem. He said that most '85's experience this. There was a problem with the factory gasket and the replacement one cures the problem. He said it would be several hundred dollars labor to fix it. He said just turn up the radio and learn to live with it.

Has anyone else heard of this? What is involved in its replacement? I may do it myself if I learn more about it.

Thanks,

Scott

odie · #2 12-08-2004, 10:40 AM

My guess is that you have a CA car. Or at least a CA turbo.

They have an additional valve thingy (can't remember the exact term at this second) on the front of the turbo housing. Has something to do with vaccum and can be a cause of noise.

Scott98 · #3 12-08-2004, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odie

My guess is that you have a CA car. Or at least a CA turbo.

They have an additional valve thingy (can't remember the exact term at this second) on the front of the turbo housing. Has something to do with vaccum and can be a cause of noise.

It's a federal model.

Scott

kerry · #4 12-08-2004, 11:13 AM

My 85 300TD Federal whistles. I don't know why, but I don't mind it.

odie · #5 12-08-2004, 11:13 AM

I think all 85's have the CA turbo.

http://www.meimann.com/images/mercedes/W123_stuff/W123_CA_turbo.jpg

all early CA models have the Fed turbo...go figure.

Mid 80's was a major transition period for emissions.

Scott98 · #6 12-08-2004, 11:58 AM

[QUOTE=odie]I think all 85's have the CA turbo.

QUOTE]

That may be the case, but what gasket is the mechanic talking about? The noise is really annoying sometimes.

Scott

odie · #7 12-08-2004, 12:01 PM

I don't know about the inner working of the turbo and gasket thing.

But the CA style turbo is blamed for many things such as whistling noises and surging cruise control. I don't understand the cruise control connection but that is what I've read on this tech forum.

#8 12-08-2004, 12:08 PM

Had this problem on mine and we cured it with a new gasket between the turbo and exhaust manifold.
Gasket was about $20. Quite a way's from $200. But we did it our self's.
And it will take about one and half to two hours. It is tight in there.
Yes my car is a California 85. It has a 84 manifold and no trap oxidizer.
Charlie

Scott98 · #9 12-08-2004, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie Mitchel

Had this problem on mine and we cured it with a new gasket between the turbo and exhaust manifold.
Gasket was about $20. Quite a way's from $200. But we did it our self's.
And it will take about one and half to two hours. It is tight in there.
Yes my car is a California 85. It has a 84 manifold and no trap oxidizer.
Charlie

Charlie:

That might be it. What exactly is involved in replacing it?

Scott

oilslick · #10 12-08-2004, 02:49 PM

I am pretty sure I know how to do it but thought I would chime in here. My turbo whistles and my Cruise Control surges often. I have an '85 SD

Kevin

vwbuge · #11 12-08-2004, 03:10 PM

Before I switched everything over on my car it ran great with no whistles. As far as I know everything was original.

As far as R&R for the turbo unit, it is a piece of cake. A little messy but easy.

Tirebiter · #12 12-08-2004, 08:35 PM

Some are louder than others but they all make noise. The quietest ones will have the restrictive factory air cleaner and plumbing. The noisier ones have non-restrictive air cleaners or none at all.

A cold 930 Porsche turbo sounds like a siren coming up behind you

You can hear the whistle of a K-36 fifty meters away.

Use a section of hose and check for exhaust leaks at the junction where your turbo meets the exhaust manifold.

Scott98 · #13 12-09-2004, 08:26 AM

[QUOTE=Tirebiter]A cold 930 Porsche turbo sounds like a siren coming up behind you

You can hear the whistle of a K-36 fifty meters away. QUOTE]

A 930 is my dream car. I'm actually looking to get an SC in the near future. I'm probably going to get one that's smoking some then tear it down and rebuild it. Maybe add some higher compression pistons with an "S" cam and a set of Webers. I've got a great book on rebuilding those engines and a good friend of mine does a lot of work on 914s and 356s. I figured I better start with a 911 and then move on to a 930.

Scott

oldnavy · #14 12-09-2004, 09:10 AM

As Tirebiter said all turbo's whistle, stop and listen to Freightliner twin turbo at idle sometime. Also stand behind a VW TDI (turbodiesel) and listen to that sweat sounding whistle.

That said you should not be hearing a whistle in the car at speed, unless you are running no muffler and shifting gears in town. The whistle will disappear as power is applyed, at what point is determind by the cars setup. On my '00 New Beetle with oversized injectors, and no mufflers, the whistle would go away at about 65 mph in 5th gear, below that it would depend on the rpm and gear slection. At idle it was quite loud when standing behind the car, but if you were in front of the car you had to strain to hear the whine.

If you are getting a whistle in the front part of the car then you may have a turbo exhuast leak, or an intake leak or low restricive preformence intake filter system.

Scott98 · #15 12-09-2004, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldnavy

As Tirebiter said all turbo's whistle, stop and listen to Freightliner twin turbo at idle sometime. Also stand behind a VW TDI (turbodiesel) and listen to that sweat sounding whistle.

That said you should not be hearing a whistle in the car at speed, unless you are running no muffler and shifting gears in town. The whistle will disappear as power is applyed, at what point is determind by the cars setup. On my '00 New Beetle with oversized injectors, and no mufflers, the whistle would go away at about 65 mph in 5th gear, below that it would depend on the rpm and gear slection. At idle it was quite loud when standing behind the car, but if you were in front of the car you had to strain to hear the whine.

If you are getting a whistle in the front part of the car then you may have a turbo exhuast leak, or an intake leak or low restricive preformence intake filter system.

It's definitely not the normal turbo whine. I've had my car for 5 years now and it didn't start making this loud whistling sound until recently. Like I said, the mechanic stated it was some type of gasket with a pin size hole that was causing the sound and was common on '85 models. I'm just trying to determine which gasket he's talking about. It's getting loud and annoying. It also comes and goes. I went over a month without hearing it but now it's started again. Maybe it is a leak at the exhaust manifold. I should probably just try and get in touch with him and find out exactly what he's talking about.

Scott