Did my turbo just **** the bed?

Well this morning went to take our 99 jetta tdi for a drive and got this nasty sound coming from the turbo area, can be heard distinctly through the air filter.

A local vw specialty shop was telling us that it's an "exhaust leak" which does not make sense to me because:
1. its only under partial throttle
2. its somewhat intermediate
3. the exhaust is not loud, same level of noise it has always been

Anyone got any input? heres a quick youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOROhw66y6k

Sounds like a cracked EGR pipe. Pull off the engine cover and you should be able to inspect both of them ("accordian" tubes) with a mirror. Follow the soot.

Will pull it out and check it tomorrow. Wouldn't that god awful sound be constant then if it was a egr tube? or only when the egr operates? because then i could just pull the line to test it.

negative. Upstream of the EGR valve (towards the exhaust ports) you build manifold pressure independant of EGR flow.

I've had a similar problem. From 1000-2000 rpm under load it would make sound. Eventually tracked it down... twice... to a cracked EGR flex pipe (they don't really flex, they look like they do) and to a poorly installed gasket on the EGR system.

Yeah i am leaning towards the egr system right now thanks to greengeeker.
Tuesday afternoon i changed the shifter box and cables and removed the downpipe/egr stuff and cleaned out the valve and intake, I likely didnt tighten a bolt/nut, missed a gasket or even cracked one of the pipes(would be a great time to delete the egr)
Drove it all tuesday evening trouble free and then first thing wednesday morning it made that sound.

Will check the egr pipes after work and then update.

sawedoffgolf said:

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Tuesday afternoon i changed the shifter box and cables and removed the downpipe/egr stuff and cleaned out the valve and intake,

Click to expand...

pertinent information that should have been included in post #1.

Wasn't anything EGR related. I had some block off plates made and new gaskets, still makes the noise.

all your intake manifold bolts tight?

One of them was a little loose, second to the far left while looking at the front of the car, tightened it at the same time.