HELP! Nasty noise from the Engine :(

[jb7_uk]

Hi All,

I'm hoping some of you oh so knowledgable types can assist with a worrying noise that developed yesterday coming form my engine!

on startup, and even when warm i now seem to have (please excuse the attempt at describing this as its one of those hard to describe 'you'd know what i mean if you heard it' kinda noises!) what sounds like a feint grinding / scraping noise... not harsh, just slight, and and occaisional alsmost plasticy rattle.

The car has been running perfectly since it was serviced back at beginning of September, i've got no loss of power or boost that i've noticed, oil & water levels are all fine, temperatures are all fine, it drove fine to work yesterday, then at lunch time i went out and again fine, filled up with SHell juice whilst out, came back to the office, again fine. Started her up to come home and this noise was present straight away... Having no other choice i babied the car home (only 12 miles ish), low revs all the way, felt absolutely fine, now high temps, no loss of boost although i didnt really get up into it, turbs sound fine.

I have got a video of the car making the noise in MP4 format that i took with my phone if anyone wants to have a listen, i'll try and get it hosted on my web space and get a link up here shortly.

I'm baffled and beginning to panic slightly!!! Car is at home now, have blagged mum's motor for now so it's not gone anywhere since last night.

Oh and unfortunately i dont have VAG-Com to check for codes.

Anyone got any thoughts?

Cheers in advance,

James.

[Bosun20]

A long shot but could it be a fan catching.The viscous fan on mine start to catch the bi-pipe.Turned out the plastic had started to crack and the fins started to come in towards the engine.New fan fixed it.This fan and the air con fan would be running all the time.

[Bosun20]

Just thought of another.The rib belt tensioner.Try taking the belt of and running it.

[jb7_uk]

CHeers for the reples Bosun... I had a quick look at the viscous fan whilst engine was off and it didnt look like it was close enough to catch on the Bi-pipe, although i've not checked its proximity whilst running.. i'll do that later.

WIth regards to the air con fan... i turned the ClimateControl off whilst listening to the noise.. would the AC fan still be running even when the CC is off? Also, is the AC fan the on that's on the inside edge of the rads, to the left as you look at the front of the car.. as i noticed that this wasn't spinning whilst the engine is running... should it be?

Cheers for suggestions,

keep em coming folks

[derdle]

Hi James,

Could it be a bearing on a pulley/roller?

Paul

[Nige_RS4]

I've heard of the rubber seal around the bonnet catch coming loose and rubbing on the aux belt (but you would've seen this when you poked around the area ??)

[jb7_uk]

Hi guys,

Derdle: I'm not sure, i guess it could be, but i'd have though a bearing would go slowly as it crumbles... this just kind happened from nothing at all at 13:30 to noise starting when i switched on at 17:30... It's not impossible though... i'm guessing this is bad news if it is a pully/roller bearing i.e. expensive?

Nige_RS4: this could also be possible, i didnt see any loose rubbery bits but it was dark when i was poking around so i'll have another look later in the daylight to see what i can see...

[derdle]

If you post the link to the MP3 or MP4 we could all have a listen....might save too much guessing.

Paul

[jb7_uk]

It may or may not help but i got a couple of photo's of under the bonnet last night, they're not great unfortunately as the camera had trouble focusing in the dark but here they are anyway...

Photo 1

Photo 2

(I've linked to them rather than post direct in the reply as they're pretty darn big)

JB.

[jb7_uk]

will do Paul, just trying to shrink it a bit as it's 23mb at the moment! i'll try and extract the audio so you can have a listen.

[jb7_uk]

Ok, try this for the video... you'll probably need Nokia PC suite in order to view it as i could only get it to work usingthe Nokia Multimedia Player.

PoorlyS4 Video & Audio (zipped) - 2.3Mb 1m18s - I'd suggest doing a right-click 'Save target as...' to download it.

Cheers guys,

James.

[DavidT]

Sound like a bearing to me

[jb7_uk]

hmmm thought as much ... is it a big job to replace bearings? i hope not as it could be the end for the S4 as i'm broke and trying to buy a flat at the mo... if i tell the misses i gotta spend bucks sorting it could be the end of a beautiful relationship...

[s4woody]

jimbogrey had a simular noise when he came over to mine 1 day..bearing failure which nearly cost him his engine..very lucky indeed..

[DavidT]

It depends which one it is. I'd say get it looked at asap & don't drive it more than you have to.