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2000 A6 4.2L ART with Timing Belt rub noise at cold starts
Had this posted in Tech/Motors/4.2L V8 Discussion area for awhile, no replies, so figured to move it here.
Just noticed the a noise from the top left front of the engine during cold starts. It slightly subsides when the car warms up. Here is the video. In the video I just started the car, that's why the video starts with it at high idle.
It's at 190K mikes, I just bought the car used earlier this year in April, Im not certain if it's even had the timing belt serviced.
This really comes at a bad time, were moving from Central FL to NC. Its a 570 mile trip and wondering if it'll be safe to do with this happening. It's very unorthodox for me to drive a car for long without doing the repair first. The maintenance manual says to change the timing belt and belt tensioner roller every 104,000 miles on the V8, But I have no time now. What to do, what to do? Is it possible it'll make it? I can tow it behind the motorhome but UHaul wants $350 for a flat bed. Plus I think my MH is only capable of towing 2K pounds. The car and the trailer will probably be just at that., if not over.
Last edited by A6Quattro2000; 08-25-2015 at 01:35 PM.
I wouldn't risk it. Why not just pop the top left cover and see?
Originally Posted by A6Quattro2000
Had this posted in Tech/Motors/4.2L V8 Discussion area for a while, no replies, so figured to move it here.
Just noticed the a noise from the top left front of the engine during cold starts. It slightly subsides when the car warms up. Here is the video. In the video I just started the car, that's why the video starts with it at high idle.
It's at 190K mikes, I just bought the car used earlier this year in April, Im not certain if it's even had the timing belt serviced.
This really comes at a bad time, were moving from Central FL to NC. Its a 570 mile trip and wondering if it'll be safe to do with this happening. It's very unorthodox for me to drive a car for long without doing the repair first. The maintenance manual says to change the timing belt and belt tensioner roller every 104,000 miles on the V8, But I have no time now. What to do, what to do? Is it possible it'll make it? I can tow it behind the motorhome but UHaul wants $350 for a flat bed. Plus I think my MH is only capable of towing 2K pounds. The car and the trailer will probably be just at that., if not over.
It's a day's job easily to do the TB service but I wouldn't drive the car 600 miles without being sure of that noise.
No surprise when I popped off the cover to find an OEM Contitech Belt. Well, I just may have to do a quick belt, water pump, tension, and idler change before we leave. Just great...
Here is a video with the top timing cover off. Now the sound seems to be emulating from further down close to the crank. I cant really tell. The belt seems to be riding on the far back side of the cam wheel sprockets. Shouldn't it be more centered?. It might be rubbing on the lower crank cover towards the engine
I would say the noise is the bearings in the rollers. I would do the belt service ASAP.
The one roller visible corrosion…amazing the pitting hasn't damaged the belt…you can see where the belt has polished the roller outside the pits. God knows what the inside of that belt looks like…when it's off you'll likely see all kinds of cracks in the polymer.
And yes, it appears the belt is riding against the block or back cover, probably down low.
PS: You can take a long screwdriver or mechanic's stethoscope and listen to that idler roller bearing….you should be able to hear the bearing noise. You'll certainly be able to tell with the belt off and you turn the bearing by hand...
Last edited by SloopJohnB@mac.com; 08-26-2015 at 11:13 AM.
for that idler to look like that this car has sat for some long periods of time. you probably have a failed tensioner, idler or water pump bearing that is collapsing, tilting the belt.
Awesome, I'm having the problem on my Audi A6 C5 3.0L too, just yesterday the problem surfaced. Different engine, but symptoms and signs are pretty much same. Did you get any codes through VCDS / OBD Reader?
Im
Getting no codes. I'm going with the above mention of bad I bearings in the belt roller and tension idler. Try clearing your codes and see if they return, you may just had codes stored previous to the belt noise.
Im
Getting no codes. I'm going with the above mention of bad I bearings in the belt roller and tension idler. Try clearing your codes and see if they return, you may just had codes stored previous to the belt noise.
08-25-2015, 12:51 PM
2000 A6 4.2L ART with Timing Belt rub noise at cold starts
