adc

Some of you (ok, maybe none of you may remember that my engine had a rattling/clanking sound coming from the front, only when cold. You could only hear it from outside the car. 34K miles on my 98.5 car.

1st visit to dealer: belt tensioner replaced. Noise reduced, but not gone.
2nd visit to dealer: all V belts replaced. Noise is gone.

They said the original tensioner had been over-tight, I'm not too sure that was it. I just hope nothing else got damaged (like the water pump, or the ball bearings for the alternator or some such).

They did the recall on the tie-rods. They also replaced my rear brakes, all this under the last gasp of the original factory warranty. I have already bought an extended one and I think we'll keep the car after our lease expires in Feb.

In an unrelated news, I installed the Euro non-projector lights this Sunday and the difference is dramatic. A little less so than the projectors on the M3, but I expected this and it's still much improved over stock. I also used some fancy Phillips bulbs, claimed to be 50% brighter (still at 55W) and I think I can tell the difference.

If you have any questions about any of this, let me know.

adc
98.5 A4 1.8TQMS
98 M3

Cool Craig

..what really quieted things down was new belts and a new time belt/ water pump. Now all I hear is 2 worn out canshafts and 20 sloppy valves!! ;\