Seriousness of the chain tensioner rattle on cold starts in cold temp.

[RGL]

Hi all!

I know that questions about the cam chain tensioner have been asked, as well as answered, a million times already, but please bare with me okay?

So I'm getting the infamous cam chain rattle on cold starts. I'm positive it is the usual since it is nearly identical to all the videos about them. The only peculiar thing is, that it only happens on cold starts plus when the weather gets below 10 degrees celsius. Once the weather is warm, the rattle on cold startups disappear.

It started during the last winter, then I had no idea about what it might be, since the noise disappeared with the coming of the spring I didn't make a fuss about it. During the spring and the summer (and most of autumn) I didn't hear it not even once. Now since the weather dropped below +10 degrees celsius, it has returned and is present basically with every cold start. It rattles only on cold starts and for a second or less.

Now to the real problem why I'm asking here. I'm on a seriously low budget right now and seeing as the tensioner isn't the cheapest thing to replace (seen on ebay for 150€, the OEM dealer priced it 450€ :O), my question is, how serious is this? Should I replace the tensioner+chain and gaskets ASAP? Or can it wait. Since it only happens during the chillier weather can the issue be in the oil pump and not even in the tensioner? I'm asking this after seeing and hearing a lot of gruesome things that this type of issue can do over time. Then again I've also heard that if the rattle is on cold starts and only for a second or two then it might not be a problem with the tensioner and could be normal? I absolutely appreciate any insight you guys might have.

Mind you my car is a '97 A3 1.8 AGN (free breather).

 

[<tuffty/>]

Yours won't be VVT should should be way cheaper than the VVT version which is bonkers money...

There are a lot of fakes on eBay... this one for example is an absolute fake...
AUDI A4 TT 1.8T 1.8 CAM SHAFT CAMSHAFT TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER ADJUSTER SOLENOID | eBay

I made the mistake of buying similar before...

Rattle on startup is common, mine would do that... a genuine second hand one I used rattled as I revved too so that was no use whatsoever...

<tuffty/>

 

[RGL]

Thanks for your reply tuffty!

But could you help me get a little more sense of this. When I looked through Vagcat it showed that AGN/APG has the camchain adjuster unit with the part number 058109088B, which costs around ~450€ as a OEM part. Yet it shows that AGU/AQA/ARZ/AJQ/APP/APY/AUL have the camchain tensioner with the part number 058109217B, which is ~200€ as a OEM part. The prices are obviously from a local dealer but still the first costs twice as much as the latter even when looking the price on Vagcat. Either Vagcat is wrong (which wouldn't be a first) or it is quite on the contrary to the info you provided somehow. The info on Vagcat doesn't make sense to me tbh. AGN should theoretically have the simpler and cheaper one but Vagcat shows it as the other way around. Can you make any sense of it?

Also I wanted to ask when getting a replacement should I strictly go the OEM route or are there any other noteworthy (yet more affordable) manufacturers to use? Obviously there is a lot of crap on ebay and I know not to trust the cheap Chinese ones. But is there anything aside from OEM which would make some sense to buy? Also should I change it ASAP, or it isn't too bad until the sound is only on for a second on cold startups and not constant or longer?

I really do appreciate all the input!