Chirp / squeal / squeak sound when engine go from under load to coasting in gear

It's been a while that I have been hearing this sound and i tried to search for similar problems with no luck, so I figured I should ask for help.

Whenever I let go the throttle in gear, I hear one or two chirps. It' s more of the sound of plastic or styrofoam rubbing but not that high pitch.

It only happens when the car is in gear, no matter which gear. Essentially when "engine braking" starts.

It's hard to tell which direction the sound is from but I believe it's from the front end of the car.

Any suggestions where I should begin having things checked?

Car is a 2010 Golf TDI, 6sp, 130k km or 85k miles

Thanks in advance.

I would try getting my hands on the engine and try to rock it, see if the noise happens. I'm not very familiar with the 2010 model and it's mountings but that's how I found a problem with my mk4.

Might also be worth trying a pry bar at the various mountings to see if you can get the noise to happen.

The engine moving with the torque is all I can think that would alter and cause the noise.

Does it do it only while on the move, or will it also do it at a standstill?

Seatman said:

I would try getting my hands on the engine and try to rock it, see if the noise happens. I'm not very familiar with the 2010 model and it's mountings but that's how I found a problem with my mk4.

Might also be worth trying a pry bar at the various mountings to see if you can get the noise to happen.

The engine moving with the torque is all I can think that would alter and cause the noise.

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Thanks! I suspect the engine mount too but had no idea of how to find out. I'll give it a try once the temperature rise a bit here.

frugality said:

Does it do it only while on the move, or will it also do it at a standstill?

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It only happens when going from under load to coasting in gear. So the car has to be moving in order for that to happen.

I have tried revving the engine in neutral, or tap the brakes briskly but had no luck creating the sound.

Maybe I should try reverse.

O.K. My first thought with 'squeal' was a belt.....the serpentine belt, since we don't have a power steering belt.

The other thought is that suspension loading/unloading can also cause bushing squeaks as torque is applied/released. Like sway bar bushings.

biby said:

It only happens when going from under load to coasting in gear. So the car has to be moving in order for that to happen.

I have tried revving the engine in neutral, or tap the brakes briskly but had no luck creating the sound.

Maybe I should try reverse.

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Put the car in gear and with the handbrake on let the clutch up till it starts to bite if possible, try it in 1st and reverse to see if you can make the engine move under torque.

That's if it has a normal handbrake, obviously not so easy with an electronic one lol.

Seatman said:

Put the car in gear and with the handbrake on let the clutch up till it starts to bite if possible, try it in 1st and reverse to see if you can make the engine move under torque.

That's if it has a normal handbrake, obviously not so easy with an electronic one lol.

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I'll try that. Thanks! Yes it does have a normal handbrake.

frugality said:

O.K. My first thought with 'squeal' was a belt.....the serpentine belt, since we don't have a power steering belt.

The other thought is that suspension loading/unloading can also cause bushing squeaks as torque is applied/released. Like sway bar bushings.

Click to expand...

It doesn't sound like a belt to me. Could be a sound of bushing but I tried some sudden acceleration and braking which I thought might create some movement in suspension bushings, can't make that sound. It seems to me that the engine unloading has to be involved for that to happen. Is that right or I'm assuming too much?

i have a very similar sound which started off not happening very often to happening more often than not between certain rev bands/speeds, mainly between 1250-1900rpm, around the 40mph speed, if i'm pushing the car the sound disappears, doesnt make a difference if clutch in or not, brakes on or not, if in the speed/rev range i have the chirp!

apples12 said:

i have a very similar sound which started off not happening very often to happening more often than not between certain rev bands/speeds, mainly between 1250-1900rpm, around the 40mph speed, if i'm pushing the car the sound disappears, doesnt make a difference if clutch in or not, brakes on or not, if in the speed/rev range i have the chirp!

Click to expand...

I don't think we are the same case. Yours sounds more like resonance at certain frequency.

Update:

I tried reverse from still with brakes applied. And confirmed the chirp does happen in this case.

So to summarize, one or two chirps happen whenever the engine starts to work in reverse direction against the car.

I tried rocking the engine with bare hands and nothing happens. I'll need to find out more and know exactly what I'm doing before trying ply bars.

So... Is it engine mount then?

Again, thanks a lot for stopping by and reply.