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Just picked up a 2013 A7 Prestige yesterday with 90K miles. Original owner, car has been pampered its whole life, only ate premium unleaded, always garaged, etc. but when I drove the car I could hear a loud rattle in right rear quarter of car.
The owner didn't want to deal with it so it was priced very low. He had full service records for everything done to car which I inspected. I bought it, pulled the sunroof out this morning to see if that was the cause of the rattle, nothing loose, no broken plastic guides, etc. so I lubed there rails and back in it went.
Went around bottom of car by passenger back wheel banging on the plastic under cladding when I quickly found the source of the noise ( I should have done this before pulling sunroof!). A very large bolt that went up into car from underneath was loose, floating around on top of the plastic cladding. it had apparently worked its way out on its own. I'm not sure what its for, normally I'd say to hold a body on frame but since this car is unibody I don't know. Tightened it up and now the car is noise free. It does have a warning light that comes on above 4K rpms that I've learned is an oil pressure sensor ( 1of 2) so I'll need to replace those.
If you can show a picture of where the bolt goes then we can help identify it.
as for the oil pressure sensor it is likely the sensor at the back and top of the engine. It’s just to the driver side of the coolant hose that goes back from the engine. It’s a quick fix but a real pain in the berries. Reach in and find the coolant hose and then move towards the driver side. Unclip the sensor the you can back it out with a socket. 24mm if memory serves. Deepwell socket and about a 3 inch extension along with about a 12 inch ratchet.
Last edited by Valpo A7; Jun 15, 2022 at 08:55 AM.
I buttoned up the underside of the car, the bolt went vertically about 1 foot or so in front of the passenger rear wheel where one of the diagonal rectangular cross section reinforcing tie bars terminated.
UPDATE: I had the car serviced after I replaced an oil pressure sensor next to the oil filter and the ECT light remained. The independent technician who specializes in Audi and VW changed the sensor down behind the engine next to firewall and that was the fix. Car now revs no problem and pulls hard. He also identified a passenger flex pipe exhaust link which I'll need to get fixed. The cats were changed a year ago.
The car has a series of new rattles, one sounds like its above the rear passenger roof area (or inside it) and the second sounds like a loose rear passenger door latch...which is a loud 'clunking'. There is another one that sounds like its inside the C pillar on passenger side that is separate from the others. I took off the interior trim and found a lot of electronics in there but nothing loose. I also removed passenger door panel, again, nothing loose in door, no missing fasteners etc.
The rattles are driving me insane as they are pretty loud. Has anyone ever had to adjust or can you adjust a door latch? I couldn't find anything on this. I'll have to pull sunroof again and see if frame came loose and stuff some foam in there or something. While I love the car the amount of rattles this thing has from all over (dash, doors, sunroof area) is insane.
Audi Recreates Crazy-Looking Speed Record Breaker From 1935
Slideshow: Audi has recreated one of the wildest machines of the pre-war speed-record era, reviving a streamlined V16 racer that originally exceeded 200 mph in 1935.
WHAT'S THIS BOLT FOR?
