I recently had what I could only describe as a metallic tapping noise coming from the front drivers side of the car occasionally. I got my dad to have a look to see if he could identify the source of the noise but as it wasn't easy to replicate, we couldn't quite locate the problem. A week later and the noise has got worse so again I get my dad to see if he an diagnose what the fault is - this time he notices that the engine mount has some play so we order a new mount from TPS hoping that this is the cause. New mount arrives and we start what should be a 15 / 20 minute job to replace it.
As soon as we remove the 2 final bolts on the mount, we realise that there's another (bigger) problem - the bracket that is bolted between the mount and the engine is loose! Now, there are normally three bolts that keep it in place - 2 of them have sheared off completely and the third (located lower down) is half way out - I had been driving around with 1 loose bolt holding it all together
3 new bolts to replace the 2 broken and the loose bolt were ordered and replaced including the mount which was also a little worse for wear - the bolts didn't all come out without a fight, well one of the bolts came out easily enough - the other put up a fight but relented in the end.
I can only guess that this was as a result of them not being tightened up properly when the cam belt was replaced by the Audi dealership when I bought the car 18 months ago. They'll be getting a call soon but I'm not expecting much from them, I'll be lucky if I get an apology tbh.
A big shout out to my Dad for getting the job done (and saving me a packet too had the final bolt sheared off).
If you have had your cam belt replaced and notice a noise (even after 18 months) it's worthwhile looking at these bolts - you will need to remove the mount to be able to see if it is loose and access is very restricted but it could save you lot of hassle if the problem is the same as what I have had. For reference, my car is a 2.0 TFSI A3.
As soon as we remove the 2 final bolts on the mount, we realise that there's another (bigger) problem - the bracket that is bolted between the mount and the engine is loose! Now, there are normally three bolts that keep it in place - 2 of them have sheared off completely and the third (located lower down) is half way out - I had been driving around with 1 loose bolt holding it all together
3 new bolts to replace the 2 broken and the loose bolt were ordered and replaced including the mount which was also a little worse for wear - the bolts didn't all come out without a fight, well one of the bolts came out easily enough - the other put up a fight but relented in the end.
I can only guess that this was as a result of them not being tightened up properly when the cam belt was replaced by the Audi dealership when I bought the car 18 months ago. They'll be getting a call soon but I'm not expecting much from them, I'll be lucky if I get an apology tbh.
A big shout out to my Dad for getting the job done (and saving me a packet too had the final bolt sheared off).
If you have had your cam belt replaced and notice a noise (even after 18 months) it's worthwhile looking at these bolts - you will need to remove the mount to be able to see if it is loose and access is very restricted but it could save you lot of hassle if the problem is the same as what I have had. For reference, my car is a 2.0 TFSI A3.
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