DSG noise, flywheel, bearing?

I've had the typical little bit of gear whine upon acceleration ever since I bought the car a couple years ago. Recently, the noise got much louder and is audible on the freeway. It sounds similar to a gear whirl experienced when backing up with certain manual transmissions. Any help or insight on what it could be would be appreciated.

https://youtu.be/Qm7tbkyqSak


It's the higher pitch noise in the first half the video, in the video it sounds like a different engine is running in the background, the lower pitch is the actual engine noise.

Edit: I'm assuming it's toofed, likely a differential bearing or perhaps a thrust bearing. I'll probably pull the transmission once I'm pretty confident it isn't anything outside of the transmission.

Notes for the noise in question:
-it only occurs with acceleration
-on the freeway it is audible when there's load, but disappears when letting off the throttle
-no noticable vibration or performance issue
-the sound is not present at idle

I plan on changing the dsg fluid. Supposedly the previous owner changed it before sale(around 40k ago). I assume it's not a wheel bearing, maybe CV joint or engine mount? Alternator pulley and tensioner were recently replaced, I assume that would make noise without load.

The sound it started making on the freeway is similar to this guy's video:
https://youtu.be/HGfPmStl7cE

The boot was torn on the driver side of the inner CV joint. I've got a new one ordered from IDParts and will put that on and test drive it before removing the transmission. I'm not sure if the inner CV would make a howl like that, I assumed it'd only make a clicking sound.

The DSG is internally arranged like a conventional manual transmission. So if you have a whine, you likely have a bad bearing, or a gear/gears that are not meshing properly.

Volkswagen does not really sell much of any parts for the 02E DSG, and the aftermarket isn't really strong on them either. You are likely better off to just find a good used unit OR just run with it how it is now until it gets worse to the point that you are afraid it may leave you stranded.

I suspect there will be some evidence of metal filings in the fluid by now.

Mine started whining a week ago.

I'm hoping that it's under warranty at 70k

Thank you, Oilhammer. Always good insight from you. Outside of taking the videos, I parked it immediately after noticing the noise was getting worst. I plan on just tearing it down and get a gander since my buddy can source the bearings. If it's fubar'd, I'll just grab a used unit and load a new flywheel and clutch pack.

I hope with any luck it's the bearing for the clutches, it looks like that was the case for this guy's DSG.

https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=91552.0

hillmatic said:

Mine started whining a week ago.

I'm hoping that it's under warranty at 70k

Click to expand...

Is it doing it in all the gears yet or just 1st and 2nd? There's lots of threads about people having it happen in just 1st and 2nd and never becoming an issue. Knock on wood, hopefully that'll be the case for you.

crazyrunner33 said:

Is it doing it in all the gears yet or just 1st and 2nd? There's lots of threads about people having it happen in just 1st and 2nd and never becoming an issue. Knock on wood, hopefully that'll be the case for you.

Click to expand...

I really only notice it on the freeway.

It's maybe more of a hum than a whine, it's a low pitch. IDK.

I thought for a moment that maybe it was my racks. It almost sounded like thin tie straps humming in the wind (I didn't have straps, just pads on crossbars.)

It's not going away. I've got to take it in.

Is it only under load and becomes louder as load increases?

Just an update, I tore into it and found more than one culprit. Most people who've had issues found that it was the sealed ball bearing that supports the back end of the main shaft by the oil pump. Generally a whining under load is caused by a bearing on the main shaft. That bearing was on its way out, but the taper roller bearing at the front of the case for the shaft with 2nd gear was crusty and the main source of the issue.

Unfortunately, the gear teeth looked a bit polished already(not enough metal came off to appear in the fluid). Plus there's signs that this case was cracked open before(judging by the RTV that was applied by someone who's halfway through their jar of shine). I decided to order another transmission and I'll swap the tuned mechatronics over to the new one.

oilhammer said:

The DSG is internally arranged like a conventional manual transmission. So if you have a whine, you likely have a bad bearing, or a gear/gears that are not meshing properly.

Volkswagen does not really sell much of any parts for the 02E DSG, and the aftermarket isn't really strong on them either. You are likely better off to just find a good used unit OR just run with it how it is now until it gets worse to the point that you are afraid it may leave you stranded.

I suspect there will be some evidence of metal filings in the fluid by now.

Click to expand...

Hey Oilhammer, I need some help. I've got a 2012 tdi passat. The ckra. It's got 120k km, around 75k miles. Recently had coilovers installed and ever since then, I have been hearing a horrible 'whirring' noise when coasting, idle sounds rough, and overall car just doesn't sound great. Almost sounds as if ypu stuck a playing card in a fan when coasting. No performance issues though as far as I can tell. It's not the wheel bearings, inspected those today and they were fine. I know that I need adjustable sway bar end links but that's not causing the noise I'm hearing. Vw dealer checked it out today and told me they checked for exhaust leaks and belts and pulleys and suspension issues and everything was fine. They did say the front coils were really tense and if I raise them a little bit the noise might stop. That made no sense to me how raising the ride height would stop the whirring noise as there's no rubbing or scrubbing. With that being said, timing belt and serpentine belt at least according to the dealer are fine. Wheel bearings are fine. They said mechanically the engine is fine. No lights. The only lead I have is that my oil cooler housing is partially soaked in something that is black and earlier this week, I made a trip to and from the store and the coolant Gauge temp did not rise at all from zero. As soon as I shut the car off and turned it back on it went right up to 90 and I got a code with the scan tool that read 4484, something about the coolant temp sensor being below range or something. Is it possible that there is either a oil leak or coolant passage blocked off that is preventing lubrication to engine components causing the whirring noise? Or could it be bearings in the dsg? I have no idea. Need some help. Extremely stumped. Seems like a Lotta issues goin on rn. I know this was incredibly long so I apologize. Any help is appreciated