Dolphin Gray

Ok I may be a bit paranoid but if I listen to my engine running with the hood open standing in front of the car I can hear a slight ticking sound coming from the front of the valve cover area on the left side (passenger). The sound is not present on the drivers side if I put my ear down to the valve cover, I can of course hear valvetrain sounds but it is noticably louder on the passenger side. I would say it sounds like a lifter but of course this engine does not have any, maybe something to do with the cam? The car runs great so maybe it is normal. Can anyone else confirm this?

Excelsior7

Dealer. Now.

I had that on my STi. I thought it was no big deal.

turns out I had a catastrophic oil loss (They still don't know how- no leaks, only had the car 1000 miles since last change). The valve control in the sti uses oil, and when the oil ran out, the valves went out of sync. Eventually the engine seized and had to be replaced. Out of warranty.

Very painful experience. If nothing else, have someone or yourself run VCDS and check for codes. My car threw a AVCS code, but I got no lights. Car didn't even have an oil pressue/temp sender.

EDIT- unless, of course, everyone chimes in with "Oh my car does that too."

It's hard to tell routine noise from bad noise over the internet.

PyroInc

I hear the same thing with my 2010 S4, asked about it at the dealer and was told "oh that's probably the super charger"...... Needless to say I'm still wondering what it is

98ttsupra

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2793197

Dolphin Gray

Thanks for the link. Not sure if mine sounds quite like the video but it certainly is clattering much louder on the left side if you put your ear down next to the valve cover. Mine has just over 6K on odo. Just to be safe I will have them listen to it next time it is in to the dealer, or ask to have them start an S4 and listen myself if they have one available. It certainly is not the supercharger. If it was a small block Chevy I could tell you if it sounded right but a supercharged German V6?? No idea Any others hearing this???

98ttsupra

Let us know what the dealer says. Mine didn't sound exactly like the video either, but without a high end microphone, the sound in the video was probably not all that accurate.

phatalbert

Picked mine up 5 hours ago. Didn't notice it before getting home but wanted to catch a clip (via Motorola Droid) to see if you guys think this is normal.


Did yours sound like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqjyOGqGj_4

NWS4Guy

Yep Direct Injection engine, totally normal.

FatalBert

Thank god, didn't wanna have to run to the dealer next day.
Will this sound stay or eventually go away after break in?

NWS4Guy

I covered the noise in the other post you bumped, it's a byproduct of direct injection, where the injectors have significantly higher pressure to inject the atomized fuel into the cylinder, it will always sound this way.