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My RS4 (B5) has started to sound very rough on two occasasions now. After the first time, I garaged the car immediately, and got it AA'd to the dealer's garage. When it was started up again, the noise was completely gone. The dealer had the car for a week but found nothing wrong.

The car has been fine for a few weeks now, but it started making the noise again today and I've video'd it (though I cannot attach it to the post for some reason). The engine management system light flashed a couple of times when the engine was idling, but has gone of again.

Has anyone experienced this type of intermittent noise before?

Does anyone know what the noise is? It is a loud "rattle" coming from the middle of the engine compartment. It's frequency increases with the engine revs. The engine basically sounds like a badly worn diesel engine (imagine you are standing next to a taxi and that is pretty much spot on)

Would anoyone recommend sending the car straight to an Audi dealer or are there specialists who are better skilled to diagnose and fix these beasts?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

zipped mp3 of noise attached...

start by getting it scanned or vagcommed. if the mil flashed on its stored a code. i'm guessing its the secondary air system that blows air in to warm the cats up. ( but i can't download your noise).
but the scan will point you in the right direction.
p.s where abouts do you live so any member with vagcom might be near by.

Thanks for responding.

am in Berkshire.

Know anyone nearby?

Sounds like the valves are out....maybe a hydraulic tappet ? Best thing to do is get the car over to MRC in Banbury (www.mrctuning.com) and let them have a look/listen to it.

Sounds like a plan.

Will limp it over to MRC as soon as they can fit me in.

Many thanks!

Jim

Ignition amplifier maybe? I had a 1.8T that had a faulty amplifier ( 2x sit on top of the airbox on the S4) and when it went faulty it sounded like it was running on three cylinders. It came and went once or twice then was permanent. There is a test you can do somewhere to verify they are fully working.

Hi,
I cant open your sound file, but i had a what could be a similar problem.
The RS4 engine has a cam chain that is tensioned by a hydraulic piston and chain guide. If the piston becomes worn it will allow the cam chain to get loose and rattle like hell. By the time i had got the car in to be fixed it had worn a hole in the rocker cover!!
Defo' worth checking this.
Hope you get it resolved soon.

I'd try and get someone local to you to run a VAG-COM scan, and see what error codes are being thrown up. Suspect it will be lots of random misfire codes by the sound of it.

Hopefully its not serious mate.

Cheers

I'm in Newbury Berks and have VAG COM if you want to pop it round

If it sounds like marbles in the engine bay, it's most likely the water pump failing