Avant1.8TqmStripped

Recently I noticed a rattle on cold starts with my Avant 1.8Tqm. Took my car into the dealer for the 60K service, and asked them to check it out. Before I left in the morning, I used my camcorder to record the sound so I could show them, and I showed it to the guy who checked me in.

Two hours later he comes back to me -- your car is ready. I asked about the rattle. He told me it was normal, something to do with the oil in the camshaft. I looked at the sheet and it said "unable to replicate". So was he making it up, or did the mechanics tell him that?

This is yet another unsatisfactory experience for me with Audi service. I love the car. It drives great, and is very practical. But I just don't see myself buying another Audi. Part of the problem is that our area has only one local dealer (with 2 stores).

I looked this problem up on the forums, and found the following threads:
https://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/794053.phtml
https://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/541384.phtml
(#2 is a 3.0 thread)
and
https://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/346922.phtml

I agree with the sentiment in one of the threads that, maybe it is "normal" in a sense. But it should never be normal in an Audi.

Projekt 8E

these happen to have hydraulic lifters that can chatter on start up. My 1.8T does it and so do others.

aca

I had the same on my '02 1.8TQM sport. It is normal on cold starts as it takes a second or two for oil pressure to rise and you can hear hydraulic lifters. However anything more than that may indicate a cam tensioner failure.