Mk5 GTI has a terrible whine

[Yorkshire_Biker]

This whine just popped up about a week ago in the middle of a drive.
I have since removed the auxillary belt and the whine is still going.

About a week before this, the oil pressure light came on, car was immediately stopped and recovered to home. Sump removal showed the pick up strainer was fairly well blocked hence the low oil pressure. I believe I caught the low pressure before any damage was done, this whine is definitely not from the turbo, it is on the left side of the engine on the timing belt side.


6 second youtube clip

[SystemOfAFrown]

If you ruled out the aux belt then most likely something to do with the timing belt, bad tensioner or bad water pump. Definitely worth investigating sooner rather than later.

[Thomasaspin]

Hi mate I had a horrible whine on my vw catch 1.6 tdi on the timing side (mine was belt driven) and it was the water pump the middle shaft had bent damn nearly took the cam belt with it too so be vigilant , be carful with sludge in the oil feeds as well as this can clog up the variable timing on the timing side aswell have you had the car scanned for any codes ?