B6 S4 Engine rattle at RPMs
 

The last month or so, my 2004 S4 4.2 MT6 has been making some rattling sounds as I drive. It has 114k miles, so I'm sure that it is ready for the timing chain swap, but I want to be sure that it is the timing chain that I am hearing. I don't hear the standard rattle at idle any more than I have since 50k miles. During normal driving, I hear the normal revving, but at a sustained rpm, the rattle comes on and stays with the engine revving until I push in the clutch or rev down.

I haven't found any posts that describe the sounds I am hearing. Anybody else experience this? And would putting any different lubricants/additives to help for the interim until I can repair it?

Thanks for the help.
m@

Hey, do you have or can you take a video of the rattle/sound that you are referring to?

I'll try and get a video of it shortly. I don't know if the audio will quite pick it up.

Why don't you check block 93 to determine how out of phase the tensioners are. That'll help with determining the extent of the issue. However, if your guides are cracked then you may already be on borrowed time. Timing chain rattle is a leading indicator of guide and/or tensioner issues which need to be addressed otherwise your engine will require a full rebuild to address prolonged damage.

Block 93 is checked with a VAG-COM, right?

I don't have one and haven't looked into them before. Can you purchase the inexpensive cable and use the lite version of the software with my 2004? I see them for under $20 on ebay.

Yes is checked through a VCDS / vag-com cable. As for buying inexpensive cables...you get what you pay for...good luck attempting to get the cheapo cables on Amazon or eBay to work.

If you don't want to pony up the $$ to buy a legit cable, why don't you post where you are located and perhaps someone on the forum is close by and can give you a hand...you can then provide them with their beverage of choice.

I got my hands on a legit Ross-Tech cable. I have installed the software and got all that hooked up, but I can't seem to diagnose or get readings from Block 93.

I went to Select control module>LT3>93-Immo and it won't connect to that. Is there another way? I could use a little help here.

Any advice?

Did you have the engine running while you started up and using VCDS?

I'm doing it with the car on right now and I'm getting the same result. Here's a screen grab of it.