My 03 110k miles has started to make a whining or whistling noise when towing the problem is much worse the higher the elevation. Took it to the local diesel guy and he checked for turbo free play and end play and there was none. And he checked all the boots and air connections and all was fine. He said he even checked the two rubber hoses that can wear a small hole?????

Truck runs as fine as ever no loss in mpg and starts quickly, as usual.

Any help would be appreciated, or do I just live with it :-)

Ron W

 

Oh no, don't live with it. Track it down.

What boots did he check? If just the boots to/from the intercooler, that wasn't enough. Did he check them under pressure? Check your air filter, and air path to the turbo from the air filter.

Did he drive it and confirm it was turbo whine? Does it only happen under high load? Do you have any gauges (boost in particular)? Could it be a pulley bearing going bad? Can you duplicate the noise while sitting still? If so, have someone else do the long pedal while you look/listen under the hood (safety glasses). What tranny do you have? If its manual, could it be the pilot or throwout bearing? If its auto, I haven't the faintest idea as they work on the FM principal (Fricking Magic).
Again, don't live with it. Back to morning brew in the afternoon . . .

 

Most people can't get enough whine from their turbo, that's what they do whine under load.

 

Since you're an east coaster, what are you considering high elevation?

My turbo is multiple times louder climbing in high elevation (5k-9k ft), wife even jokes that it sounds like a cop siren at times. We have these switchbacks going into Priest/Groveland near Yosemite from the valley it's something like 4k in elevation in about 6 miles. My turbo without trailer is screaming on this climb.

 

​​​
​Op back,

Took matters into my own hands and figured let me try looking at air cleaner, sure enough one side of the air filter had collapsed a bit so the rubber seal could not seat properly.

Took some duck tape and pulled the rubber seal over so it sat right. Problem solved no more whine. Just ordered a new filter from Geno's.

Thanks for everyone's help especially those that recommended looking at air filter. Called mechanic back and he admitted he didn't think of the filter as a problem. He tried looking at every other intake hose connection and he even checked turbo for end play or bearing issue.

Could It have caused any damage to the engine because some of the intake air could have bypassed the filter element? The seal was only comprised by 2" or so.

Thanks

​​​​​​​Ron W

 

Doubtful it did unless you've been running in sand.

 

Thanks for the update, Ron.