Rattle on start up, untill warm.

[R1LLE]

Hi,
I have a 99V S3, on cold start ups, there is a metalic sort of rattle from the engine area. Now this rattle is only there when the engine is cold and goes when the engine warms up.
I was thinking that maybe it could be the exhaust / catalyst ??
Any ideas? I just dont want it to be a belt tensioner or something that could be fatal for the engine !!

Thanks.

[MK4ASH]

The camchain tensioners are prone to rattling from cold on these. The rattle only occurs for about 5-10 seconds though.
The rattle will come from the right hand side of the engine as you look at it from the front. It almost sounds like the chain is rubbing on the cam cover. The fix is to replace the tensioner which is about a 4 hour job.

Hope this helps

Ash

[R1LLE]

Hi,

The camchain tensioners ?? the S3 runs a cam belt not a chain or is there a seperate chain that does something to the cams??
I have had the cam belt, waterpump, cambelt tensioner, damper, replaced 2000 miles ago.

Thanks, James.

[philipwalker]

You have a chain linking the exhaust cam to the inlet cam on each bank. This has a hydralic valve timing adjuster in between the cams. These can make a noise on startup, as the oil pressure may have reduced while the car has been standing.