Recently Developed Irregular Engine Noise

Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Location
Goose Bay, Labrador
TDI
Mk7 Golf TDI
Just as of late my Mk7 Golf TDI has stated to develop this knocking sound but I don’t quite have the profound knowledge/tools at the moment to figure out what this sound may be or what’s causing it.

Edit-POST PROBLEM: The Harmonic Balancer was the problem. 3 bolts ended up coming loose and 1 cracked off. This is what caused the violent vibrations going through the engine at idle/lower rpm. It seems that who ever last worked down there did not torque to those bolts to spec and didn’t use locktite

HERE IS SOME INFO ON THE CAR INCASE IT IS RELEVANT:

-knocking roughly disappears after 12-1300 rpm & is mostly present at idle speeds.
-clutch has felt a little funny here and there
-seems to have the same power as before
-272xxxkm total
-high flow catback exhaust
-stage 2 tune
-has being up north with me for 5 months now, prior it was in Quebec for ~175xxxkm then was in Novascotia for ~80xxxkm. Now I’m In Labrador and have put on ~17xxxkm

Here is a link to how my engine sounds:
 
Last edited:

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
Which year is your car, and engine code if known?
It doesn't look like a CRUA engine, as the engine cover is all black for both my 2015 GSW CRUA and 2015 Passat CVCA. Oil filler hole is to the right, as it should be for CRUA...weird color tho.

When was the last time you changed the oil, and which oil did you use?
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Location
Goose Bay, Labrador
TDI
Mk7 Golf TDI
2015 and the cover was just painted. the oil was changed about 10 000km ago and I’m about to change it, I’m just waiting on an oil filter to be shipped in, and the oil put in her was 5w-30
 

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
Is the noise there all the time, or just at cold start?

Very cold these days up in Labrador?

Dealer closest to me now has only 0w30 oil for my 2015. It will help the car start easier in extreme cold conditions.

My 2004 is usually not happy towards the end of the oil life, but it should be 16,000km (10k miles).
 

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
It does sound to me as oil related, but if you have 10min, why don't you have a peek inside the fuel pressure sensor. Two small torx screws and it pulls right out, fuel and screen should be squeaky clean:

 
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Location
Goose Bay, Labrador
TDI
Mk7 Golf TDI
It does sound to me as oil related, but if you have 10min, why don't you have a peek inside the fuel pressure sensor. Two small torx screws and it pulls right out, fuel and screen should be squeaky clean:

I will have a look when I get the chance, thank you very much. I’m up hear for heavy duty equipment tech schooling And all my tools are in the shop right now but due to covid I can’t access them until schooling resumes.
when I’m back in the shop I plan to chance my oil ASAP in there to. So Hopefully you are right
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Location
Goose Bay, Labrador
TDI
Mk7 Golf TDI
Is the noise there all the time, or just at cold start?

Very cold these days up in Labrador?

Dealer closest to me now has only 0w30 oil for my 2015. It will help the car start easier in extreme cold conditions.

My 2004 is usually not happy towards the end of the oil life, but it should be 16,000km (10k miles).
the noise is there at cold and operating temp. To add… after 1200rpm the knocking is no longer heard and is most near idle at 900rpm. It also doesn’t have any power loss from what I can feel
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Location
Goose Bay, Labrador
TDI
Mk7 Golf TDI
Louder on the trans side? This has a dmf right? This sounds like dmf failure to me. Do a lot of city driving?
yes the car does have a dmf. I went out and started the car to see how it sounded on each side, I believe you may be right the sound does seem to be coming from the where the flywheel sits. The car has been in its fair share of city driving considering the 272xxxkm on it. I went and looked at some videos online to compare, only thing is there car seem to be much closer to catastrophic failure by the sounds of it. What I wanna know is how long do you think I could get away with driving it for? the plan is to replace it ASAP… but ASAP may be a lengthy time
 

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
If DMF, I would say it would shake a little when shutting down, or clutch in/out in neutral. Any of that?
 

DivineChaos

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Location
Minnesota
TDI
mk6 jetta sportwagen tdi
At idle they are loud. Under load it's quiet. And when cold outside it's really loud. Classic dmf failure. And at 170,000 miles. It's quite normal. Find a TDI shop and have it changed.
 

DivineChaos

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Location
Minnesota
TDI
mk6 jetta sportwagen tdi
yes the car does have a dmf. I went out and started the car to see how it sounded on each side, I believe you may be right the sound does seem to be coming from the where the flywheel sits. The car has been in its fair share of city driving considering the 272xxxkm on it. I went and looked at some videos online to compare, only thing is there car seem to be much closer to catastrophic failure by the sounds of it. What I wanna know is how long do you think I could get away with driving it for? the plan is to replace it ASAP… but ASAP may be a lengthy time
How long you can get away with driving it depends on how loud and frequent it is. Is the sound always there when not in gear?
 

nicklockard

Torque Dorque
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Location
Arizona
TDI
SOLD 2010 Touareg Tdi w/factory Tow PCKG
Classic DMF failure. Flywheel stops smoothing pulses but instead exacerbates them. Hard on driveline, trans, engine mounts, etc...
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Location
Goose Bay, Labrador
TDI
Mk7 Golf TDI
Classic DMF failure. Flywheel stops smoothing pulses but instead exacerbates them. Hard on driveline, trans, engine mounts, etc...
I have figured out what it was, the harmonic balancer. I needed to use my car to get somewhere this morning and and it completely broke off, once it did all the vibrations and irregularity’s I was having went away. Luckily I wasn’t to far from home.
 

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
Harmonic balancer broke off!
I bet bolts were reused during a timing belt job, retorqued and everything...those 4 bolts are single use, torque to yield (TTY).
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
As long as we're here, might as make mention of the spec (10Nm+90°).

 
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