W210 E320 CDI noises and turbo behaviour

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IanT

Active Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2004
Messages
487
Location
Orpington, Kent
Car
W210 320CDI
having had a few turbo diesels, I know it's normal to hear the turbo under some conditions, but I'm wondering if mine is behaving itself.

Under some conditions, minor changes in throttle result in the turbo being heard to spin up and down quite loudly from inside the car. It's much more noticeable than the W210 E220CDI I had previously, so first question is, is it a bigger turbo?

I also hear it spinning while decelerating sometimes accompanied by what could be described as a hissing sound. Not loud, but there.

A friend suggested that the actuator (controlled via vacuum) might be sticky so I unplugged its vacuum line and sucked it manually with my mouth. The actuator moved smoothly enough as far as I can see.

Revving the engine whilst stationary moves the actuator also, it seems proportionally to how enthusiastically it's revved.

So my first question is... is this normal behaviour, and if not, is this likely to be connected with getting exhaust fumes into the cabin when left idling for a while?

The car is a 2001 model with 109k miles.

Other question relates to how dieselly it should sound. If it were a petrol engine I'd be checking tappets, I'm finding it pretty clattery under some throttle conditions, mainly while steering straight ahead. Any steering lock seems to quieten it down significantly, and the noise subsides above about 2500rpm as well, which means that driving gently it's there a lot. Again, my previous E220CDI had a much more muted sound, so I would otherwise expect the 6 cylinder engine to be similar, but smoother. It's most pronounced at neutral throttle or gentle acceleration.

So, is there a known characteristic or fault that makes these engines noisier whilst steering straight ahead?

I've also got a kickdown issue that I'm getting more sure must be the accelerator pedal position sensor, as it's pretty consistent - press to the point before kickdown and it accelerates fine, click it to the floor and all acceleration disappears and the instrument cluster display goes red and instructs me to visit the workshop. Star/DAS says that Accelerator Position Sensor 1 is 'High Voltage'. I reckon it's been dodgy for a while as it's all shiny with WD40 or similar and I'd expect this sort of thing to be used dry.

All advice welcome, except to sell / burn it. :)

Thanks for reading this.

Ian.
 
hello

i had a problem on thesame model on the lines of this took me weeks months to find, i had the turbo noise smelly fumes etc, thing was i could hear it louder going round certain corners, after exploring everything i found the problem the steering column boot, it was split in two places i had to reach down as it went through the bulkhead and find them with my finger ends, theres not enough room to see with your head under the dash. the boot is next to the turbo hence the the smeel and noise, had a new one fitted and done its cured the lot

maybe this will help
 
Bacon, thanks. As I hadn't had a reply on here for a while I asked a friend who suggested the boot and it was indeed split. So a great tip and apparently a common fault, thank you. :)

Jay, hope you've got your power and forecourt back to normal now, the car is much better since you changed the boot and throttle position sensor. I'll be getting it tracked soon to compensate for the new springs but I'm pleased to report that I can now get it onto my drive without that 'interference fit' sound from the cats touching the ground. Thanks for your patience and perseverance. :)

Ian.
 
Great news... nice to know its sorted.
 

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