Sound that is driving me bonkers!

[Carl Fagan]

Hi guys,

Desperately need your help before I loose my marbles I have an A3 8V 1.6 tdi, 38K miles on the clock. There seems to be some sort of chattering/knocking noise when taking off in 1st and 2nd gear, and on a cold start, once the engine heats its seems to disappear. My main concern is weather there is an issue there or not or is it just a characteristic of this engine?

I’ve uploaded the clip to YouTube in the hope the sound quality is good enough to hear





Thanks in advance to anyone who might have any ideas!

 

[Ormesome]

I had that engine in my A3, yours sounds perfectly healthy to me. Mine used to have a few weird knocks and raffles that I realised where just normal, I cannot make out any weird noises that stand out on yours, if all oil
and water levels are ok then I would say it’s ok. If your that worried then maybe do a scan to see if there are any fault codes that pop up.

 

[Gazwould]

Yes quite agi .

Hydraulic tappet noise ?

 

[Retroman]

I can't make anything unusual out. Simply sounds like a cold diesel engine at low revs.

 

[Peter Peter]

Mine does but on 4th but not on cold but 5 mins after it is just tdi
I hate it too... When I press gas more to accelerate engine is quieter.. When I take foot of pedal, it is quiet .. so on certain slower rpm engine it is quite loud..
When car is stopped it isn't attached to any gear as soon u start moving and the sound is quieter that moment the gear from transmission is attached to the engine ...

 

[CanadaA3wales]

Totally normal on the Audi TDI
I have a 2.0 and mine sounds exactly like this.

You can try do a premium/Castrol/Millers Nanotech ect. oil change with filter and a few passes of premium fuel to see if the TDI quitens down a bit.

 

[Peter Peter]

Totally normal on the Audi TDI
I have a 2.0 and mine sounds exactly like this.

You can try do a premium/Castrol/Millers Nanotech ect. oil change with filter and a few passes of premium fuel to see if the TDI quitens down a bit.

Just little bit not much haha just put the right castrol in it.. was checking sound but only little bit quieter that's bcuse oil is fresh

 

[CanadaA3wales]

Just little bit not much haha just put the right castrol in it.. was checking sound but only little bit quieter that's bcuse oil is fresh

LOL Good 1 Peter
Yeah ensure its 504/507 5w30 oil

I put normal fuel in my A3 and it had no pull but have just put through BP Ultimate and I can feel the difference, I did the same in my golf TDI and made no difference, but can feel it in this car. But the engine is still loud.

I will be trying Fuchs Titan Pro Race 5w30 next oil change and see if the sound helps but if not will just live with it.

I usually have deezer turned up to 11 anyway so doesnt bother me.

 

[Peter Peter]

LOL Good 1 Peter
Yeah ensure its 504/507 5w30 oil

I put normal fuel in my A3 and it had no pull but have just put through BP Ultimate and I can feel the difference, I did the same in my golf TDI and made no difference, but can feel it in this car. But the engine is still loud.

I will be trying Fuchs Titan Pro Race 5w30 next oil change and see if the sound helps but if not will just live with it.

I usually have deezer turned up to 11 anyway so doesnt bother me.

It just needs to swap it with nice S3 or this The BEST engine / exhaust sound on the planet !

 

[CanadaA3wales]

WOW that is loud but suits the car, would be stupid on my A3 lol
I think my next purchase will be a BMW 1 series for the RWD or your A3 Quat, but I dont think I will be able to ever afford a newer S3.

 

[Carl Fagan]

Really appreciate the help folks! Was just worried that it mightn’t be normal, but if its a characteristic so be it! Only reason I ask is I’ve switched from a Mk5 tdi, which sounded like a bag of spanners at the best of time but at least didn’t make that sound when pulling off

 

[Carl Fagan]

I had that engine in my A3, yours sounds perfectly healthy to me. Mine used to have a few weird knocks and raffles that I realised where just normal, I cannot make out any weird noises that stand out on yours, if all oil
and water levels are ok then I would say it’s ok. If your that worried then maybe do a scan to see if there are any fault codes that pop up.

Thanks mate, yeah did a scan with my OBDeleven and all was good! One or two intermittent faults but the weren’t anything engine related.

 

[Carl Fagan]

Yes quite agi .

Hydraulic tappet noise ?

Agi?

Don’t think it’s tappet noise anyway, well hopefully, years ago I had an old glanza that had noisey tappets but you could always here them, if the car was idling the higher the revs the worse the noise. On my A3 seems to only happen in 1st/2nd gear moving off. In neutral sounds absolutely fine