Hey everyone,

Got my first Audi (74k, full history) a few months ago, love the car and everything’s perfect bar this problem. When I first heard it, I thought my chain was on its way out, after doing some research on many different forums, I’ve seen a lot of Audis seem to have this problem and everyone’s got different ideas on what it might be. Whenever I “cold start” the car, I seem to get this higher pitched rattling sound for less than a second, then disappears and doesn’t happen again on start up, unless the cars been left for some hours. I’ve heard it could be something to do with the oil pressure having to build to the tensioners but I’m no mechanic and thought I’d see if anyone’s had similar problems and if they managed to get it sorted. I will attached a video, any suggestions are welcomed!

Welcome Luke, and sorry to hear of your issue.

Forums are great places to gather bad news, and seldom carry good news - this one is as typical an example as any.

In addition to that, issues and causes are seldom exactly the same, although they may well appear to be similar, and a cause/ solution for one may differ from another. 
If it were mine, the way forward would be to entrust the diagnosis and repair to a trusted local independent, since unlike an individual owner, they will have very much broad brush experience of similar symptoms across many examples. 
When you say it has ‘full history’, at what mileage intervals has the oil and filter been changed in its 74K life, and when was the last time? By the seller a few months ago?
Regards,

Gareth.

Hi Gareth, 

Thank you for your welcome and response. 
 

I have been pointed in the direction of a recommended garage from a work colleague (who also has an Audi), so I’m going to pop down Monday morning with the car and video, to see what they think!

Services history shows 9k, 20k, 32k, 43k, 53k, 62k and most recently at 72k from the dealership I brought from), not perfect, but regular changes nonetheless! 
 

Cheers, Luke. 

Thanks Luke,

Service history looks to be what one would expect as historic, but if it were mine, I would treat it to more regular oil changes going forward - say every 8K. 
Re. ‘Dealership I bought it from’:- I guess that wasn’t a main dealer due to the age of the car. It might be worth considering doing an oil and filter change, since sellers often opt for cheapest oil and filters at the point of sale, but obviously await the opinion of your  repairing garage. 
Please let us know how you get on Luke, and good luck in getting it sorted.

Regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth

I'm new to the forum,  just about to pick up my new (to me) 2018 A5 2.0 tfsi sline tomorrow I can't wait.... this will be the best car I've ever had the privelege of owning.  Took me a long time to save.. but finally! 🙌

I'll likely be doing less than 6k a year (unless I get the bug to drive just because it's now a pleasure!) and wonder what you would suggest in terms of oil/filter servicing intervals? I only drive a short distance to work (less than 5 miles each way) and only work 14 out of every 28 days for to my shift pattern. 

Thanks very much for your insight and knowledge and I'm looking forward to being an active member of this forum. 

Cheers

Paul

Welcome Paul, thanks for joining, and if we can help in any way, we will do so. 
Re. advice on ongoing servicing:- 

If you have bought it from a dealer and it’s been serviced as part of the sale, then it might be wise to treat that service as if it had never been done, since it’s highly unlikely that quality oil and filters would have been used, in preference to the cheapest available. 
Our humble 1.6 A3 covers about the same mileage a year as you intend to do with yours, so I’m happy to pass on my regime, which has stood me in good stead over 180k miles:- 

Renew engine oil and filter annually even though only covering 6K/a. I only use VAG’s own brand - Quantum - and buy from reputable retailers on EBay. I use Mann filters, with the oil filter changed annually, and the air, and pollen filters changed every two years. Again reputable sellers on EBay are a good source, and I generally favour Parts in Motion for good service at competitive prices. If it were mine, I would treat it to oil, oil filter and pollen filter now, and use this as the base point for ongoing servicing.

Just let us know if we can help further.

Regards, Gareth. 
 

Thanks Gareth for both the advice and welcome. I'll check with the dealer tomorrow, who is a independent German car specialist. To be fair to him, he's done the gearbox oil service for me, so that should last me a while! 🤣 I'll check what quality of oil he's used and that should give me an indication of what else he's used and what will be used moving forward, as I intend to take the car to him for servicing. 

As for your regime I think that's a good way to hopefully ensure a long and healthy relationship for the two of us 🤞🤞🤞

Thanks again mate.

Cheers

Paul