Lack of power when towing and a whistle

Towed the caravan at the weekend and, being hot had the window open. The car lacked power and struggled up hills. It was also emitting a lot of smoke (normally it is very clean). Also noticed that at about half throttle open there was a 'whistle' - could have been air, that sort of sound. Thoughts turned to turbo but my understanding was that normally, it is the bearings that go and hence they screech. Thoughts were also the EGR.

Driving to work this morning I could hear a faint whistle and, whether it has been there for a while I do not know (performed well the previous Saturday on a 'booze run' to France). Going up a hill it might have seemed a little lack of power and not sure if there was just a trace of smoke.

I would be grateful for any comments, thoughts or experiences that others have so that I start looking in the right place.

Many thanks

PS at 154000 miles and the first trouble I do not think it has done too badly

Chq the intercooler hoses for leaks ,, sometimes they develope leaks and this can cause lack of power and the extra noisy wistle..

what is the full car details ,, eg engine etc etc

Many thanks for the reply and the possible source of the problem.

Sorry, do not have too many details to hand but it is a 300TDi built in the last quarter of 1996.

is this the first time you have towed your caravan because after towing my caravan for the first time i was suprised at how much it struggled up hills (A66 towards penrith) i would drop down to 50 mph but when a m8 who was following had the same problem i felt a bit better.Just got to get used to driving in 4th gear going uphill

Awaiting a call from my local dealer to tell me he has one of the intercooler hose in - the one down by the turbo looks split so hoping this is the problem.

Thanks but no, this is not the first time of towing the caravan - and it was a familiar route - power was well down and levels of black smoke well up.

It is a fairly heavy van so it does slow down on some of the hills but at the weekend it was ridiculous.

Will post on the outcome of the new hose.

Ideally should be replacing all the hoses including water - they are a couple of months short of 10 years old and covered 154,000 miles.

Disgusted with the xhaust. Had to replace the rear part at only 140,000 - the front part is still the original.

oh well good luck hope you get it sorted

Before ordering the hose (the short elbow off of the turbo) I did have a quick look with a torch and this one looked as though it had a split.

Took about 20 minutes to replace and on the test drive there was still lots of black stuff coming out the back but reasoned that this might just be the boxes clearing out of deposits.

Towed the caravan about 60 miles yesterday evening on quite a hilly route. Plenty of power and no black smoke. So thanks very much for the tip to look at the hoses.

Must admit that my logic in thinking about the problem was a little flawed....

Thought if it is sucking in more air then the mixture will be weaker hence there should not be black smoke that is caused by an over-rich mixture.

On starting the job, suddenly realised with the turbo the pressure is greater than atmospheric so instead of sucking air in it was blowing it out meaning less air entering the chambers giving an over-rich mixture which gives smoke.

Delighted to have the problem cured by one hose - but how do they justify £20+ for just a little bit of hose.

Once again thanks for the suggestions of the cause of the problem.

Glad to here you got it sorted m8