Air Filter Cover Broken, Now Fixed But Loud Whooshing Noise

[shucky68]

Hi,

 

First post here and I'm hoping somebody can help. On Thursday evening my up until now ultra reliable '05 Galaxy 115 TDI made a couple of whooshing noises and lost power. I limped the last 5 miles home unable to get above 50 or accelerate at any decent rate. I'd driven 110 miles at the point this happened and quite hard too (I work away in York and drive from and to home in the West Midlands either end of the week and as you might imagine am usually quite keen to get home sooner rather than later to see the wife and kids!)

 

On getting back I lifted the bonnet and found that the air filter cover had sheered off at what looks like a pretty poor joint of pipe section to box. I have seen pictures on here of this so assume it's not uncommon. The guy at the garage around the corner who fixed it for me said he'd done them before too. He fixed it with some cable ties, melt welded the two parts back together and put some sealant around the circumference of the joint. The repair looks reasonable and I don't think it's the cause of the problem I have now.

 

Basically now I have a very loud whooshing sound under heavy acceleration and I think a lack of power (haven't ran it above 30-40 for more than a couple of miles since). The perceived power loss is nowhere near as bad as the one I originally suffered on Thursday but the noise sounds like something is seriously wrong. It's hard to tell exactly where the noise is coming from but it sounds like the back of the engine or underneath. Although it doesn't sound quite right when revving stationary I can't reproduce the noise anything like as loud as it is when driving.

 

There don't appear to be any other noises, tinny, mechanical, etc and no strange smells or smoke, it sounds like air being forced out of somewhere rapidly. I *think* it also spluttered a bit when I put the aircon on for a couple of miles on Saturday. I have had a cursory look around the engine compartment at hoses etc. and can't see anything obvious but to be honest don't know what I am looking at.

 

I can't find any other posts on here that mirror the symptoms I have so was hoping somebody might be able to offer some advice. I think I'm going to have to take it to somebody who knows what they are doing but don't want to get ripped off.

[seatkid]

Check the intercooler for a leak (a small narrow radiator running along the front bottom, under the main water/ac rads), it may have a hole (stone damage) or more likely the boost air pipes have popped off, check all the boost pipework (the large diameter stuff), start at the turbo work your way round, look particularly at the joints.

 

Another possibility is a blocked air filter, making the turbo work harder than normal.