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Weird throbbing whine in my new '17 GOlf TSI

Robatron7k

New member
Location
Austin, TX
I recently picked up a Golf TSI, and so far I am very happy with the car.

The only problem is when the AC is off it sometimes make a throbbing hum/whine noise that is very annoying.

I have taken it to the dealership, but they were unable to reproduce the noise, so they didn't do a thing to fix it.

I've been going back and forth with a guy from the service department. I've sent him videos of the problem, but he is always very slow to respond. He even won't if I don't ask for a follow up.

I have included a pretty detailed video of the problem. Can anyone help me figure out what this noise is so I can take it to them with more information?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P18lZ3mkjss
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
Sorry, I don't hear what you're referring to. I don't think it's ever truly off, since it's a clutchless variable piston design that's always "idling".

You don't have Climatronic, so you can't do a comprehensive VCDS scan but I would see what it shows anyway.

How old is the car?
 

typeone

Ready to race!
Location
central MA
hard to hear in the video but i bet it's the same thing my 2015 GTI does. throbbing whine while idling. i've never figured out what it is, used to bug the shit out of me but i just ignore it now.

curious if someone knows what it is. i've never bothered to report it to my dealer.
 

Robatron7k

New member
Location
Austin, TX
The service department called me today. The shop foreman says he thinks it's a 'mechanical valve' on the AC compressor.

I'm going to take it in tomorrow morning bright and early. I'll report back with what they say/do.
 

Robatron7k

New member
Location
Austin, TX
If anyone reads this in the future it turned out to be the N280 valve on the AC compressor. VW originally wanted to replace just the valve, but after they sent the wrong parts to my dealership they ended up approving a full compressor replacement.

I've had the car only 2 days, now, but the noise seems to be gone.
 

gtchris1

Ready to race!
Location
west midlands
Mate i feel your pain.ive had every clunk,rattle going hence why im getting rid.
Might be just me but the gearboxes in the tsi are so week imho!!
Mine went in 6 times in 12 months with various problems.
 

Finglonga

Drag Racing Champion
I can hear it and that would annoy me also. I never turn my climate control off but will in the morning to see If I can hear anything similar.

UPDATE and mine is 100% silent with it off. Have you tried another dealer? Worth them viewing the video with headphones on as it is much easier to hear the noise then.
 
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ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32
Very interesting. So glad I stumbled across this post. I have exactly what you describe in my 2017 GTI, there's a pulsating mechanical noise, sometimes also a whine, every .75 to 1 second. It's just become more noticeable in the last 1k miles with the whine now occurring, before it was just the more mechanical noise (I'm at about 5300 on the car now).

I am anxious to see if the N280 valve fix is long term on this. I thought mine really sounded like it was coming from behind the infotainment screen and my initial thought was that it was a bad fan or something of that nature inside that unit, so to see it's supposedly part of the AC system is quite interesting because I haven't really been running the AC at all here in the Bay Area, but I'm still hearing the noise. Mine sounds a bit more high pitched than yours from what I can tell.

I posted about this here with a video as well: http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29859
 
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