Clunks, rattles and hums! Help please!

[Aileen]

First of all, I don't really know much about what goes on under a bonnet, so please keep any advice simple!
Got my A2 TDi 2001 this July and love it. With the onset of colder weather I notice it makes a sound like a plane lifting off - is this some sort of heating fan thingy? Do they all make this loud a noise?
Also, I have noticed an occasional clunk from the rear driver's wheel arch when going over Edinburgh pot-holes - normal or something to worry about?
The little man in the dashboard says I need the next service in 600 miles, which will be about 66,000. I guess I should get the timing belt done then, by the looks of the other postings on these matters? Don't suppose any of you Southerners know of any good, reliable, cheap garages up here? Could take it to the guy who worked on my Punto for the past ten years, I suppose - he managed to keep that going!

[Skipton01]

Hello Aileen and welcome to the A2OC.

I'm sure that some of our Scottish members will be able to help you out in terms of who can fettle your A2, but although I don't doubt the competance of your Punto mechanic, the A2 is a faily different beast to work on, especially when it comes to the service resetting and general electrical work.

The noise is pretty normal, especially on the cold winter mornings we've had recently, so don't worry overly so about this.

The clunks could well be worn bushes on the suspension, again not a massive deal and easy enough to rectify.

Cheers,

Mike

[Poor_John]

Hi Aileen,

I well remember the first time I heard the aux heater roar into life. I was not expecting anthing like it. The fact that it didn't start until about two minutes into the journey didn't help, but be reassured it is normal and the result is that the engine warms up quite quickly and the interior warms up quicker too.

My view on timing belt change is do what I did, and get an Audi main dealer to do it. My main reason for saying this is that if anything goes wrong, the dealer has no excuse for not doing the job correctly and you would have a strong case for getting a potentially expensive repair sorted.

Suspension bushes can be sorted out by any decent mechanic.

John.

[spike]

Hi Aileen
Just endorsing Mike and John's comments, the auxiliary coolant heater is like a miniature central heating boiler which burns diesel. It fires up automatically at temps below 5 degC and runs through its cycle even if you just have the engine running for a few seconds. If I remember, I normally override it using the econ button when pulling the car out the garage to wash it for example. Another thing to be aware of is you can occasionally smell the fumes from the heater exhaust which exits below the front bumper on the drivers side. Only cars built up to around 2003 have this type of heater.
Clunks from the front suspension are more common than noises from the rear and usually attributed to the anti-rollbar bushes, rollbar droplinks or broken springs.
Audi recently changed the rules and now recommend timing belts are changed every 4 years. They sell a kit which includes the tensioner and idler rollers. At 66,000 miles I would recommend you also have the water pump changed. As suggested, use an Audi garage if possible - VW workshops would probably do the job cheaper and are a good second choice.

Cheers Spike

[john f]

Aileen
A good specialist garage in Edinburgh is Bellingham Motors. They are in Broughton Place Lane.

John

[Aileen]

What a friendly lot A2 owners are - I do like my little black chugger and hope to have many years of trouble-free running out of it. The Punto wasn't bad, but not a patch on the A2! This is a great site for me as it flags up potential problems of which I would be otherwise oblivious, until something fell off or the car stopped!