Metallic Rattle

chrisb72

chrisb72

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Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a metallic rattle coming from underneath my car in the drive shaft / exhaust area. It only tends to happen under cold start ups and under very slow speeds when pulling away.

I'm hoping it's something just come loose, but I'm no expert.

My car is S-Tronic if that sheds any light on matters.
 
Try parking between 2 walls/cars/whatever will make the noise more obvious, then putyour foot on the brake and go between drive and neutral,

Does the noise come and go between drive and neutral? Ive noticed mine doing the same lately, it goes when I put the car in neutral...
 
Could be the heatshield? I had this on my last car (Mk IV GTI) - only ever did it on the same occasions that you mention.
 
I'm hoping it's something minor as it drives fine once on the go.

The only other thing I've noticed and not sure this is related, but I sometimes find changing gears in semi auto mode is a bit snappy / clunky and to get the ultimate smooth change I have to stick to D mode. I've come from a manual so I prefer to drive it in semi auto mode to feel more in control of what the car is doing, but it's much smoother in D. Is this just normal s-tronic behaviour?

Might get the local stealer to have a look or if it's just the heat shield I might just take it to the local independent garage.
 
rickyquicky said:
Try parking between 2 walls/cars/whatever will make the noise more obvious, then putyour foot on the brake and go between drive and neutral,

Does the noise come and go between drive and neutral? Ive noticed mine doing the same lately, it goes when I put the car in neutral...
Click to expand...

Did this test this morning during a cold start. The cold start didn't produce the noise today, but I did hear it during the gear changes you suggested. I then tried going between N and R, but didn't notice it as much. However I did hear it as I lifted off and on the accelerator as I carefully reversed off my drive.

I really want this to be something minor what with the expense of Xmas fast approaching, but I'm concerned this is gearbox or drive shaft related which I'm suspecting won't be cheap?!
 
Exhaust Heatshield is the common one, may not be apparent on a cold start as the revs are higher at idle. Check first as it's a cheaper fix.
 
beanoir said:
Exhaust Heatshield is the common one, may not be apparent on a cold start as the revs are higher at idle. Check first as it's a cheaper fix.
Click to expand...

Is this something I check myself or is it hard to see without getting underneath the car?

Any other tell tale signs I can look out for to back up the evidence?

Cheers for your help so far fellas
 
No, you probably do need to get under the car to check for it to be honest. Can you not get hold of some ramps, borrow, beg or steal? If so then it's an easy check to make..

If you were a bit closer i'd gladly have a look because it really is that simple.
 
beanoir said:
No, you probably do need to get under the car to check for it to be honest. Can you not get hold of some ramps, borrow, beg or steal? If so then it's an easy check to make..

If you were a bit closer i'd gladly have a look because it really is that simple.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression I would need new parts for the heat shield, but I'm sensing just a quick tighten? I might just pop it to the local garage I take my wife's car to as they are very friendly and more importantly cheap! I don't mind taking it there for small jobs, but feel I want Audi to look at the bigger things, even though it is now well out of warranty.
 
It may be your tensioner pulley on the alternator.

I had very similar symptoms to you, and that was the cause.

Not an expensive part to change.

HTH
 
You are best taking it to a small garage and putting the car up on a ramp to see if there are any heatshields near the exhaust or see if there are any obvious marks indicating they have been rubbing or touching.
 
chrisb72 said:
I was under the impression I would need new parts for the heat shield, but I'm sensing just a quick tighten? I might just pop it to the local garage I take my wife's car to as they are very friendly and more importantly cheap! I don't mind taking it there for small jobs, but feel I want Audi to look at the bigger things, even though it is now well out of warranty.
Click to expand...

I would definitely say that was the best approach to begin with if you have a friendly local garage. I know if I took it to mine they would stick it up on the ramps and have a quick look for me without cost.
 
Update:

I took my car into my local garage for them to have a look underneath. On the morning of dropping the car off I hadn't actually heard the noise annoyingly and after them having it for a full day and over night neither could they hear it! They said they checked the exhaust heat shield and the exhaust itself and nothing seemed loose. They didn't charge me for their time which I thought was very good of them, but I came away still unsure if I have a problem with my car or not.

Yesterday the noise was back in full force between gear changes neutral and D and neutral and R.

I also sometimes get a bit of vibration under start up.

Any more thoughts?
 
I had a metallic rattle which was noticable at low speeds, it turned out to be the air con compressor...had a new one fitted under warranty
 
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