Noisy tickover - clonking noise - please help!

R

RWhites

A2OC Donor
Hi all.
I'm fairly new to the A2, we've had ours for about 5 months and has been pretty trouble free so far!! It is a 1.4 tdi 90 2004 with about 100,000 miles under its belt.

Over the last month or so I've noticed an odd clonking noise at tickover speed (when stationary). The noise disappears when the clutch is depressed. It seems to be getting progressively worse, but that could just be my imagination. It is, however, very noisy - we're not talking about a slight noise here, and nor is it 'Diesel noise'.

Can anyone shed any light on it for me? Possible checks / diagnosis / solution??

Many thanks in advance.
 
Could very well be the dreaded dual mass flywheel clutch is on its way out. My son's Golf Mk4 130 Tdi is the same - having said that, it's been making this noise for the last 50,000 miles and still going strong.
 
On my 90 tdi it was a heat resistant plastic shield low down near the turbo it vibrated loose. Get down under offside front wheel and you can't miss the white plastic. It makes a terrible clatter. Hold it when on Rickover and you'll soon realise if this is it. My dual mass flywheel has been fine and I've got 80000 on now
 
alanm said:
Could very well be the dreaded dual mass flywheel clutch is on its way out. My son's Golf Mk4 130 Tdi is the same - having said that, it's been making this noise for the last 50,000 miles and still going strong.
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So, potentially good news, and bad!!! I've heard a little about this dual mass flywheel , but never really seen a clear set of symptoms to compare with - anyone??

pc759 said:
On my 90 tdi it was a heat resistant plastic shield low down near the turbo it vibrated loose. Get down under offside front wheel and you can't miss the white plastic. It makes a terrible clatter. Hold it when on Rickover and you'll soon realise if this is it. My dual mass flywheel has been fine and I've got 80000 on now
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I've been away from the comupter for the weekend, so didn't see this to check it, but I'll check this out tomorrow in daylight if I can. I sounds quite 'deep' and sort of metallic though, so I'd be surprised if it is this - pleased if it is though, as it sounds cheaper than the flywheel!
 
Ok, so I've finally managed to have a look in daylight, and I can't see any loose plastic shield, so I'm pretty sure it isn't that.

Also, the noise is very 'mechanical', and sounds like it is coming from the top half of the engine rather than anywhere else.

One thing I did notice today when looking is that the top belt pulley - one that has what looks like a large spring behind it (the tensioner???) - it was vibrating around from side to side - quite quickly. If it is the tensioner, the effect of the movement would be making the belt go slack-tight-slack-tight-slack-tight etc etc. When I put my hand on [the top] of it to see if it felt loose, it felt quite solid though.

At that point I had to stop because my wife needed the car....

So, is that movement normal? Could it be the cause of the noise? - I have to say, the noise sounded to be coming from elsewhere, but could it be connected?? Is it a separate issue completely - but needs sorting????? What is the part [pulley] called?

Cheers in advance!
 
Because you say the tensioner is vibrating it could be the pulley on the alternator they sieze up (should free wheel)
changed mine a few months back it was very noisy at tickover
 
Roach said:
Because you say the tensioner is vibrating it could be the pulley on the alternator they sieze up (should free wheel)
changed mine a few months back it was very noisy at tickover
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So, I guess I could remove the belt to check everything is as free as it should be...? Any tips for how to release the tensioner to get the belt off? Or any tips generally if I go down this road?

Also, I've no idea if my water pump has been changed - and I've read a few times that it should be - why? What does it do / not do to cause a problem?

I've looked for a Haynes manual for the A2, but there doesn't seem to be one. Does anyone know if there is a pdf of a workshop manual available anywhere?
 
There is a pdf or a cd rom available for the a2, think it's available from one of the owners on here too. Just type 'workshop manual' into the search bar at the top of the homepage, it's there.
 
RWhites said:
Also, I've no idea if my water pump has been changed - and I've read a few times that it should be - why? What does it do / not do to cause a problem?
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Two reasons. - Genuine Audi water pumps have a plastic impeller which can break or spin on the shaft. Its quite common for the pump bearings to fail due to increased belt tension after fitting a new cambelt and tensioner.

Cheers Spike
 
There is no Haynes manual available for the A2, however if you do a search for ELSAWIN or Audi A2 manual on ebay you'll find what you're looking for....and it's well worth it in my opinion

Cheers

Jeff
 
To remove the drive belt I made a tool from About 15mm angle iron a meter long from Wicks At one end you have to shape it and weld a bolt on to fit over the tensioner. made it easy to get the belt off
 
Hi All
Just to update on the outcome of my strange noise....

It transpired I had two noises going on. One was to do with the drive belt / pulley / tensioner. I didn't have time to mess about myself, so just got it sorted when I took the car in for its service. I had the timing belt changed, water pump, and the alternator belt. One noise then disappeared.

That noise disappearing highlighted the other noise - which stopped when the clutch was depressed.

I suspected the flywheel problem, but given that the only symptom I had was the noise, I decided to leave it until something else led me to the same conclusion - which happened about a week ago when a bloody awful noise started - and remained for only about 3-4 miles - I thought a wheel was about to fall off! After this episode, the car started to judder severely on take-up of drive in 1st & 2nd gear - pointing firmly to a clutch problem.

I took it in to have that sorted (along with the crank position sensor - see other thread), and now all strange noises have disappeared and the car is running like a dream! (£1,000 later).

Thanks to all for your input.
 
So both diagnoses were right in the end! Glad you've got it all sorted, may you have many miles of trouble-free A2 motoring now!
 
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