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Left my car in the garage the weekend, and this morning when I started it, there was a strange squeel each time I pushed down the accelerator pedal. It's related to engine revs - the more I revved it, the more it squeeled! It sounded like the more I revved it, that air was being pulled in through a small slot somewhere.

Checked under the bonnet and all looked normal.

After a few minutes warm up, then squeel had gone

I wonder whether it's the fan belt (is there such a thing or is there only the thick cam belt on the GTI?)

Anyone else had this during this cold period?

fan belt? im not really an expert but thats what normally causes squealing

Could be cambelt related? Mine was squealing when the cambelt tensioner broke - not very audible until 2500-3000 revs then you could hear it rising with the revs.

Mines OK with the cold weather atm, just the normal problem of having a cold notchy grumpy gearbox for a few short minutes first thing in the morning

Well, tonight it was 0degC and it didn't make a noise... perhaps it was just water on the belts or something (hopes). Anyway, as it gets colder, my gearbox has tightened up a bit too... 2 gear is a little difficult for the first 1/2 mile and then it all warms up and funtioning normally Makes ya wonder what oil they must use in these - it must be thick enough that it's not very fluid at 0degC until it's warm.

Mine was filled with Castrol GTX Magnatec at the last VW dealer-based service...

Can't be a fan belt, they don't exist on transversely mounted engines. You've got an electric fan for definate..

It's probably an auxilary belt of some time that's getting loose, and with the moisture that will have collected while it's standing, it'll just make it slip a bit.

I doubt it's your cambelt, as if that slipped a more than a few teeth your engine would eat itself..

My guess would be something like alternator belt, or air conditioning belt - just keep an eye on it to see if it comes back.

On the oil front, gearbox oil is very different to engine oil, so I doubt it's GTX magnatec in the 'box.. Not sure about the notchyness - hopefully mine will be better soon, as i've had the go ahead for my import recall

I had a problem with the alternator belt as soon as the winter came (lots of squeaking till warm) had it replaced and now its fine. The auxilary belt in question is in the front left corner of the engine bay, I sprayed a little bit of wd40 at it to check it first, it stopped it sqealing straight away so I knew which fan it was

Thanks for the update Prash. I'll try and find the alternator belt now... there's not much space in the engine bay to look around though.