04' TDI Passat Wagon Idling Noise

I need some opinions on what can be causing this idling noise I'm hearing. Sounds like it's coming from the fan area of the motor (chirping type noise), and it goes away when the rpm's go above 1100. The belt seems to be vibrating quite a bit when this is happening. Also, when I turn the wheel hard, it sounds like the belt is also making a slipping noise. I've replaced the belt, clutch fan bearing, belt dampener, and most recently the power steering pump. Any opinions on what else it could be would be greatly appreciated. The car has 74,000 miles one it, and has been flawless. We are an all diesel family. Wife's 04' Passat TDI, older daughter's 99' TDI Bug, younger daughter's 98' TDI Jetta, and I drive an 05' GMC Sierra Duramax! Thanks in advance for your help.
Carmen

red_bug said:

I need some opinions on what can be causing this idling noise I'm hearing. Sounds like it's coming from the fan area of the motor (chirping type noise), and it goes away when the rpm's go above 1100. The belt seems to be vibrating quite a bit when this is happening. Also, when I turn the wheel hard, it sounds like the belt is also making a slipping noise. I've replaced the belt, clutch fan bearing, belt dampener, and most recently the power steering pump. Any opinions on what else it could be would be greatly appreciated. The car has 74,000 miles one it, and has been flawless. We are an all diesel family. Wife's 04' Passat TDI, older daughter's 99' TDI Bug, younger daughter's 98' TDI Jetta, and I drive an 05' GMC Sierra Duramax! Thanks in advance for your help.
Carmen

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same noise here, and I can't figure it out what is it.

Check the alternator pulley. On the Passat TDI it is designed to disengage when the engine turns backwards. The pulley on mine failed. Before this occurred I got a chiping noise, plus there was a lot of belt vibration. I thought for sure it was the tensioner, but it turned out to be the alternator pulley.

Did you replace both fan bearings?

Same Noise

I'm having tha same problem with my 2005 Passat TDI. Whenever I put a bit of pressure on the steering pump, moving the wheel left or right, I get quite a bit of flutter on the belt and it seems like the pully on the power steering pump hesitates when the noise increases. (noise could be belt squeeling on the pully) Seems like it's coming from the pump area. The steering operates fine and the noise goes away at RPMs above 1k. Noise and flutter comes at idle or low RPMs. I just replaced the damper on the idler pully, didn't help. I'm wondering what next???

How old is your drive belt? I learned on another vehicle that the first sign of a worn out belt is a squeal when the power steering pump load increases.

Why not being taken care of under warranty?

TDI Believer said:

Check the alternator pulley. On the Passat TDI it is designed to disengage when the engine turns backwards. The pulley on mine failed. Before this occurred I got a chiping noise, plus there was a lot of belt vibration. I thought for sure it was the tensioner, but it turned out to be the alternator pulley.

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Why would the engine turn backwards? I managed that once with a manual truck, but ????????

Am I missing something?

The serpentine belt is new. Out of warranty, 78K miles. I'm going to try a power steering fluid flush. Any other ideas would be welcomed. Thanks!

Still doing it!?

Just flushed the power steering fluid, still making the noise at low RPMs with a bit of pressure on the steering wheel, left or right???

Hello everybody

I have a 2003 passat tdi sport model having similar trouble.

It started with a vibration noise just above idle, which I could not locate.
Then I was getting the chattering noise from the power steering when turning.
I checked the alternator belt and it feels slack, tried adjusting the tensioner but it seems to be spring loaded and I presume self adjusts.
I'm going to try a new belt but it could be also the alternator pulley.

Does anyone know a check to confirm if the pulley has worn out?
Can someone explain about it allowing the alternator to turn one way only? Should the pulley freewheel in one direction and not turn the alternator?

Hope someone can shed some light on this, would be great to clear these problems.

Thanks

Joe

04 Passat with 88K miles and same chirping noises started this past week.... I haven't spent much time yet to try and figure it out, but I'll probably get around to it this weekend. My thoughts were about the same as others have already mentioned - belts/pulleys/fluid level.

I have a 2004 Passat TDI with 70,000 miles. The noise you are talking about started abruptly and to me souded as if something was loose, maybe a bracket. The noise disapears with as little as 2-300 RPM's increase in engine speed.
My first trip to the dealer resulted in a new serpentine belt - they thought the problem was solved, however upon picking the car up and driving a 1/4 mile, it was obvious I was back at square one.
The second trip resulted in the replacement of the belt tensioner and bracket. I picked the car up again and I immediately hurd the noise, but not as loud as before.
So far I've paid out about $500 and am not sure what to do. It is dissapointing when I hear the noise after a short drive and the VW dealer says here is your car it's fixed.
The noise disappeared for roughly 150 miles recently, but is back and irritating the me to no end. Do you think our cars can be fixed? What about factory technicians? Do I wait until something flies off?

Noise

What to do, what to do? I've got an appointment to take mine into the dealership this Friday. Not sure if I have any other choice. I just took it into an independent who wanted to replace the power steering pump and power steering rack. He replaced the damper, even after I told him I replaced it myself and the serp. belt, neither helped the problem so I've lost confidence in him which leads me back to the dealership for an "expert" opinion? Based on Greck57 I'm no so sure it's a good move. I hate these kind of problems!

Hi, I am carlitdi formally red_bug. I started the thread, and have had nothing but problems with my posting ability under red_bug. Nonetheless, I had my mechanic replace everything inline with the serp belt. The last thing we tried was the alt. pulley. According to him the noise is finally gone! I haven't picked the car up yet, but I believe him. He never told me it was fixed during the other experiments! My suggestion to you guys is to go right to the Alt Pulley, and try that first. I also had him change the serp belt again, as I believe that this problem stretches the belt. I hope this fixes your problem as well!

carlitdi said:

...The last thing we tried was the alt. pulley. According to him the noise is finally gone!

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Every now and then my existence is justified.

I'm betting you won't have any more issues with it.

Thanks Believer! I did mention your comment before the last set of experiments, but all his indicators pointed elsewhere. The bad news is I bought alot of parts I didn't need. The good news is he isn't charging me any lobor. I'm curious to know how the others are making out with this problem?

Idling Noise

Thanks for your input Carlitdi. I'm going to take mine to the dealership tomorrow. While I'm there I'm going to have an in depth discussion with the Service Advisor and Tech about what I've done to date as well as your findings. Hopefully without coaching I'd like to have them tell me it's simply the alternator pully. We'll see. I'll post after I talk to the dealership.

Hi

Been keeping a close eye on this thread.
Anyway, went to the independent vw/audi place today to get a new belt to see if this cured my noise. I asked the guy what could be wrong. He told me I was wasting my money buying the belt and what I needed was an alternator pulley. He had one and told me that if I take off my alternator he'll replace it for price of part only. So, alternator is now off and I'm going back tomorrow. Hopefully I will be noise free then.

Joe

Thanks for this info guys. Hopefully saving me some time figuring it out too. I'm due for a timing belt soon so I'll probably pickup an alternator pulley beforehand and have them switch it out while they are working up there anyway.

My guy spoke of a specific way to take the pulley off the alt. It definitly needs to be out of the car. I'm picking the car up today. I'll post after I get to drive it some.

We will see

I heard back from my Service Advisor at the VW dealership I use. They said they checked my alt. pully and it and the clutch checked good. They told me their diagnosis was the power steering pump. They assured me if it turns out that doesn't fix it I will not be charged for the service due to a mis-diagnosis. We will see.... I'll post again when I my Passat back!

All fixed now.
20 mins for me to figure out how and to get the alternator off. Had to remove the cooling fan pulley to get alternator bolt out.
It took the guy not even 5 mins to change the pulley using some sort of puller with torx head.
Put everything back together and noise has gone. Great to get this cured.

Joe

location of the noise

I saw some people describe this noise as a chirp and other people describe it as a rattle. I have a rattle. For the people who had this fixed by replacing the pulley, was it a rattle?

My rattle sounds like it is coming behind and slightly beneath the dashboard, by the windsheild, just to the passenger side of the middle. Where was your sound? Was it loud inside?

craigmorejoe said:

All fixed now.
20 mins for me to figure out how and to get the alternator off. Had to remove the cooling fan pulley to get alternator bolt out.
It took the guy not even 5 mins to change the pulley using some sort of puller with torx head.
Put everything back together and noise has gone. Great to get this cured.

Joe

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I just received my pulley today. The dealer held my car for 2 weeks without doing anything except try to sell me a $750 alternator and pulley. I am waiting for the tool to get the pylley off the alternator.
My question is how did you hold the fan to get the bolt out? And also which way does the bolt come out? Thanks.

carlitdi said:

Hi, I am carlitdi formally red_bug. I started the thread, and have had nothing but problems with my posting ability under red_bug. Nonetheless, I had my mechanic replace everything inline with the serp belt. The last thing we tried was the alt. pulley. According to him the noise is finally gone! I haven't picked the car up yet, but I believe him. He never told me it was fixed during the other experiments! My suggestion to you guys is to go right to the Alt Pulley, and try that first. I also had him change the serp belt again, as I believe that this problem stretches the belt. I hope this fixes your problem as well!

Click to expand...

Here is a little tid bit for you. The alternator pulley on a TDI is a one way clutch (over running).

Jason

Fixed!!

Just picked up my Passat today. Everything seems to be working fine. The repair consisted of a new power steering pump and pully, new power steering fluid and serp. belt. The Tech's comments on the service order was "Customer states hearing abnormal noise coming from the serp belt area when engine is at idle. Found noise coming from power steering pump. Removed belt and checked power steering pump. Tech found pump moves about 2mm//pump has excessive play. Replaced power steering pump, power steering pully and new serp belt. Tech drove vehicle to verify repairs. Work completed." I don't really know where the "excessive play" was but I guess the pump was the culprit all along. Just glad it's fixed and I can drive my TDI again!

It took them 10 days to do that?
Hope you got a good loaner.

Hi, I have an 05 tdi passat and I have the same problem. I heard that the alternator pulley has a clutch type inside. I will replace that and see if that takes care of the terible noise

keep us posted, edv