I just bought a 1999 A4 2.8 49,000 miles and the car is great. I love this thing. There is one problem though. There is a noise in the front end of car and I'm not quite sure what it is. I brought it back to the dealer and he checked out the pulleys where the belts connect and he stated that they were all tightened properly. I have to make an appointment and bring it back next week. They told me that it doesn't sound like a big problem at all, but I would like your input. The sound is not constant it's off and on. It almost sounds like acorn's or something of that sort moving around. It does it for about 5 seconds and then it stops and then it does it again and so on and so on. It's definitely coming from the engine area. I know the description is vague but I was wondering if anybody has ever heard of this before? I'm a Newbie in case you couldn't tell.

 

What are you doing when the noise is heard, accelerating, braking, turning, adjusting climate control?

Is it more of a knocking sould or like marbles rolling around?

 

I have a 1998 a4 1.8 and i have the exact same problem. it kind of sounds like oil or marbles in the engine area and does it every so often. my mechanic looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong with it. so i just drive with it.

 

Sorry about that. It's all the time. When the car is parked, when the car is in motion ( I can't really hear it that much because I'm driving).

 

It's more like marbles rolling around.

 

but it sounds like there are a bunch of marbles in the engine right ????

 

Yes, exactly.

 

i have 2001 1.8T with 49,000 miles on it and i heard it once when i first bought it but my was from low oil so i got it taken care of

 

dont' know. Could be marbles. could be climate control fan. Turn off the climate control fan and see if the nose stops. If not with the engine running open the hood and try to find where the noise is coming from. You could use the old 2x4 trick. Get 2 piece of two by four, press your ear to one end and press the other end to various parts of the engine to see if you can hear where the noise is coming from. You didn't say whether your car is manual or auto.

A broken off gear tooth will certainly give you a marble noise, as will a clutch that is ready to go.

 

Thanks everybody for your input. The car is in the garage right now and this is what is wrong:

Water Pump went and when that happaned, the timing belt was getting worn down. Actually, the told me that we caught it right in time. The timing belt was about to go all together. Thank god I still have the warranty on it and I don't have to pay a penny.

Thanks again.