Hey guys so here is my situation, hopefully you guys can help me out. Sorry for the long post!!!

So there is a noise in my car that it is almost impossible to describe and that I never heard on any other cars. Notice that there is the possibilty that the noise was always there and I just didnt notice it till now. I have a 2011 GSR with about 10,000 miles with an HKS cat back. The best way to describe the noise would be like a whistle or air moving in some wierd way ( Is not the turbo spooling) Notice that I also had a ride on my friends MR and I could hear the turbo spooling up but not the noise my car makes

So here we go:
1) The noise is way more noticable when the car is cold especially after first thing in the morning ( I let my car warm up until the Temp bar moves up)

2) The noise gets quitter and quitter the more I drive like lets say 20+ minutes. When the car is warm you have to be looking for the noise in order to be able to hear it.

3) The noise was impossible to hear after driving for 1 hour.

4) The noise starts at around 2600-2800 when the turbo starts spooling. This is in all gears. I havent tried 5th yet. You can hear the turbo spooling up plus this sound/whine.

5) The noise dissapears once I hit 3500+ RPM.

6)The noise only appears when under load and building pressure. (It wont happen when Im in neutral and rev the car to about 3000RPM)

7) I thought it was a boost leak and the UICP came to my mind. I bought and installed the ETS UICP and when I first installed it I had a boost leak and it sounded nothing like this noise. (My first time ever dealing with boost leaks) The leak I had sounded like if you are just blowing air with your mouth and the misterious sound is more of a whine.

8) Took the car into Mitsu and they said it was normal but they said they were able to hear it. They said it was nothing to worry about but I dont know if thats them trying to avoid warranty work or if Im just paranoic. They also said that if the turbo was on the way out it would be more of a mechanical sound not a whine.

9) The fuel pressure regulator hose is tight and in place.

10) The noise appears on both Cobb stage 1 map or the stock map. My logs looked pretty good besides the 1-2 knock counts from 2500 to 4500 RPM. I was gonna get pro-tuned this week but decided to check this noise first in case I need warranty work done.


Anyways I hope you guys can help me out on this! It would be greatly appreciated

Thanks a lot

Notice: The parts on my signature are the parts that I have at home waiting to get installed as soon as I fix this. The only thing on my car is the UICP and the catback

 

I say it is a small boost leak. It would def make sense because when the car is warmed up and the metal expands, just slightly it seals any leaks.

A bigger boost leak sounds like what you said before, where it is a lot of air, but just a TINY one between a coupler and a metal pipe can def make a whistle/high pitch whine noise.

 

I have a similar issue. It has a whine when cold but goes away when the car warms up. I am clueless as to what it is. I was thinking that maybe this is how transfer case whine starts and have decided i'll wait till it gets worse. My still pulls hard so i'm good, for now.

I'm sure mine is not a boost leak as I still pull 26psi.

 

Does it sound like a Siren? Your description matches mine exactly and mine has a siren quality to it. People have told me it is a minor imbalance in the turbo shaft and is normal, however I saw a post some place where the guy recored the sound and it sounded like mine and he ended up getting his turbo replaced. Also, from logging my car it seems to happen when car is in vacuum, I am not a turbo expert, but what is exactly happening in the turbo during vacuum vs when boosting ie: is shaft spinning?

 

yes, it kinda does sound like a siren. but its very subtle. I am not sure about that whole vacuum theory because mine will still be audible under boost. Granted, its very low boost as I don't punch while she's cold.

 

Hey guys I finally got a video of it! I wasn't sure if my iPhone was gonna catch it but it did! You can hear it between 8-10 seconds and 13-16 second mark in the video. You can also noticed how it just stops at 16 seconds. Hopefully this helps!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTALtR7mx1M

 

That's how mine sounds, but yours seems louder.

 

Mine has done this exact sound when cold since I first modded it. Through a different intake, different turbos, and different upper IC pipes it persists. I just ignore it now. I call it the ghost of 4B11.

 

haha oh well. I guess I can deal with it if the turbo doesn't blow up lol My car is getting checked at mistsu on thursday so Ill update on whatever bull**** they use

 

A wee bit of bearing /shaft play (more open but within manfufacturing tolerance) would do that. That is why some will and most won't. The tolerances will close up as it heats up due to thermal expansion...

If it gets worse over time then consider a new turbo... But this noise should not cause a failure or any damage...

So no worries, eh?

 

that sounds like mine. I had mine replaced under warranty. The turbo is under the 60k mile warranty. It just takes the right cooperative dealer to replace it. i had to call corporate mitsubishi and it was replaced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMY1cudJv_E

I recorded that a few months ago.

 

I recall reading a thread a while ago that this sound was the transfer case....I experience the same sound but only for the first few minutes of driving while the car is cold.

 

wow this makes me sad!! I took it to a second dealer where apparently they have the evo guru of western canada and he said it was totally normal! I was like how could it be normal if it just appareaded out of no where?

Did you run into any mechanical issues?

 

Alex,

I took it to the dealer here and the supposed evo tech told me a similar story "that is normal for a turbo car" and he said he knows because he owns a ralliart.

I called corporate mitsubishi and complained because I had scheduled an appointed 3-5 days in advance and I had a second shop confirm it was the turbo, when i got to the dealer they told me i wasnt in the system for an appointment.


You need to try another dealer, some of them are lazy or do not really know much about the evo. After calling corporate they assigned me a case number and followed up and made it a point to know which dealer i was taking it to so they could notify the service manager to take care of my situation.

Regarding mechanical issues, i didnt notice any major issues, apart from a really noisy wooooo noise especially when its cold. I have a third party warranty though costco and they wouldnt cover the turbo because mitsu has a factory warranty in place up to 60k miles as its part of the powertrain/exhaust

Also if they try to tell you that its normal, try to get the service guy to ride with you in a new evo on their lot to show them that there IS a difference in the noise.

The corporate rep told me to do this as a followup to the dealer who said it was normal. They said if it makes the same noise on a new car then its normal if it doesnt then it means it needs to be worked on.

 

I call shenanigans about it being a death whine. Don't borrow trouble and panic needlessly. Mine has been doing it through two turbos and 30k, never have overspun either or run anything more than 93 octane. Also never had a failure yet.

The dealer definitely isn't replacing my aftermarket turbo, lol.