RS3 - strange, intermittent rattle(?) noise

[davidj240]

Hello all - I am new to the forum so please excuse me picking the brains of wiser heads than my own as an introduction...

I have had a 2017 model for about 6 months now - absolutely brilliant car to drive. It is a true Jekyll & Hyde: docile and refined in town and something else when the space is there to open up!

I am struggling with a very strange, intermittent noise that has stumped everyone I have shown it to (including the garage I bought it from). The sound file below hopefully captures it: the recording is made just above the dashboard, although the sound seems like it is coming from the area around the driver RH side vent/A pillar/adjacent speaker. I have wondered given the location about (say) leaf material, but I have cleaned out all the vents with no joy.



What seems weird is a) the noise is completely intermittent - one *normally* gets it at higher speeds and/or on rougher road surfaces, but no guarantee and b) it almost sounds like an electrical or metallic noise. It is very strange and I can't work it out at all.

I've tried all the obvious things I can think of, including removing everything from the cabin of the car, turning the A/C on and off, different fan speeds, etc. All to no avail.

The car is under warranty for a few months more, but without being able to locate it (the garage were unable to replicate it, even when I sat in the car with them) there is a limited benefit in hacking bits out to see if anything is amiss.

Can anyone help at all? I would be very, very grateful if anyone has any bright ideas! Thank you for reading.

 

[D0C]

What a curious sound. Like a creaking sound. Fascinated to hear what some of the more useful forum members think it is.

 

[wuta3]

Rattles and creaks like this are the absolute bane of my existence. This generation of A3 (having owned an 8P too) do seem a bit creaky. I've got bits of felt shoved in dash gaps ... don't even get me started on the clunky sunroof!

 

[8YARWY]

Hello all - I am new to the forum so please excuse me picking the brains of wiser heads than my own as an introduction...

I have had a 2017 model for about 6 months now - absolutely brilliant car to drive. It is a true Jekyll & Hyde: docile and refined in town and something else when the space is there to open up!

I am struggling with a very strange, intermittent noise that has stumped everyone I have shown it to (including the garage I bought it from). The sound file below hopefully captures it: the recording is made just above the dashboard, although the sound seems like it is coming from the area around the driver RH side vent/A pillar/adjacent speaker. I have wondered given the location about (say) leaf material, but I have cleaned out all the vents with no joy.



What seems weird is a) the noise is completely intermittent - one *normally* gets it at higher speeds and/or on rougher road surfaces, but no guarantee and b) it almost sounds like an electrical or metallic noise. It is very strange and I can't work it out at all.

I've tried all the obvious things I can think of, including removing everything from the cabin of the car, turning the A/C on and off, different fan speeds, etc. All to no avail.

The car is under warranty for a few months more, but without being able to locate it (the garage were unable to replicate it, even when I sat in the car with them) there is a limited benefit in hacking bits out to see if anything is amiss.

Can anyone help at all? I would be very, very grateful if anyone has any bright ideas! Thank you for reading.

Has it had something fitted at some point, maybe a dash cam and if it’s been removed before you bought it maybe they haven’t put the trim back correctly, or left something loose inside the trim.


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[davidj240]

I genuinely don't think so - at least not as far as I can work out. I've checked the trim (as far as it's possible to do so, I guess...) and it all seems fine. The weirdest thing, as I mentioned in my initial message, is just how intermittent it is - Tuesday was problem free but Saturday was deafeningly loud. I genuinely don't understand it. Thanks so much to all who have come up with suggestions so far. I don't want to sell but it's the sort of thing that makes you lose patience, ridiculous as it sounds I know...