Hi...

I am looking for some assistance to those that has Audi with 2.0T engine system (A3, A4, A5 or Q5). I purchased a 2012 A5 2.0T last year and has been battling a crackling sound that you can hear when the engine is idled or at a stop with engine running. I found two sound files recorded by others so you guys can hear it:

audi a5 noise.wmv - YouTube
2010 A4 with weird buzzing noise from underside of it. - YouTube

This sound does not occur at cold start...you have to drive the car for a 10-15 min (possibly with highway driving) and get the engine hot. Then you can either just stop the car with your foot on the brake or completely stop the car by putting it in "P". Roll down your window (turn off your radio) and you should be able to hear it from inside the car.

I've been to the dealers at least 4-5 times to get this noise eliminated. I've gotten answers ranging from:
- can't duplicate
- muffler loose, so we tighten it up
- replaced middle muffler with a new one
- the latest - it's condensation inside the middle muffler that's causing the sound and there's nothing they can do about it.

I've personally have also heard this same sound on the A4 rental they gave me. and with the two sound files above, it looks like both A4 and A5 have this sound. The dealership also acknowledge that they can hear this sound with one of the A5 they have on the lot.

They told me that there is nothing they can do to fix this because this is cause by Audi designing a middle muffler in the exhaust system. The dealer also told me that i can eliminate this sound by installing the Stasis exhaust upgrade, which would completely eliminating the middle muffler. However i will have to pay ~$2000 to get this done.

I am asking to all of you to:
- If you have an audi with 2.0T engine - do you also hear this? I think most people does not hear because in normal operation, you shut the engine down almost instanteneously or you'll have the radio on when you go thru a drivethru for example. I would appreciate any feedback if you hear this sound.

- I am also asking to those who are more mechanically inclined, is the "condensation in mid-muffler explanation" makes sense? to me, the sound is more of a heating/cooling metal expansion/contraction...doesn't sound like a liquid evaporating...Please advise.

I would appreciate any feedback anyone can help me with.

 

Googling got me here a few days ago.

I got the same issue with my 2012 A5 and first noticed it when slamming the trunk and/or doors shut. It's at the dealership for the second time and unfortunately I don't think they're gonna be able to do much about it- most likely a design or material flaw, maybe they'll eventually be able to get a TSB for it.

I'm loading some vids to YouTube and will post them as soon as I can. If anyone had this fixed please chime in.

 

That uploaded quicker than I thought.

Same things as described in the OP- the car has to be hot and driven around for a bit, and never noticed it in cold weather.

First video is of the car running and you can hear the "buzzing" sound, kinda like a bug zapper. The second and third video you can hear the rattle after the doors shut...

Audi A5 hot exhaust rattle 1 - YouTube

Audi A5 exhaust rattle 2 - YouTube

Audi A5 exhaust rattle 3 - YouTube

 

I upgraded from a 2001 Saturn and jumped in to the Audi A5 in early April 2012, purchased new.

I have my A5 in to the dealer for the 4th time now. They are going to replace the middle muffler and bracket next week. The sound is so bad sometimes that you can hear it inside the car while driving on bumpy roads and especially when you close the trunk... it sounds like something is going to fall off the bottom of the car from being loose. From what I searched on online forums, replacing the middle muffler won't fix the problem.

Anyone else have a solution to this? I'd like to tell my local dealer how to fix the problem so that I can actually enjoy driving the car instead of hearing obnoxious noises from the car while idle at red lights.

My old Saturn never did and still doesn't have these type of problems. Audi, you should be ashamed putting out a model that has these type of problems. For a $50k car, I would have expected better. If the dealer is unable to fix the problem and I can't put it through as a lemon, I will end up eating the depreciation cost and selling the car out of disappointment from no solution by Audi to fix the problem.

 

Let me know how this goes- and I agree with you, sounds like Audi screwed this up and doesn't give a crap, hoping that brain dead morons don't notice it. Once the rattle starts it happens everywhere- going over small bumps, stopped at a light, etc.

I've had it in twice and got the typical "we can't reproduce the issue described", even though we got it to rattle right in the service center.

Along with this and some other initial quality issues, I have zero interest of keeping this car prior to the warranty expiring.

 

so..here's the latest...audi has a customer CARE group and i got in contact with one of them. they told me that Audi is aware of this, however they don't have too many cases reported in their database. I was told by Audi that they are testing a solution to this and the result should come out in the next month or two. Suggest that you guys should call the audi customer care group and file a complaint with them..this way, maybe we can show some force if more people file a case about this. I'll call audi again in august and see if they have a fix for it....

oh yeah..with the mid muffler change...the sound will disappear for a week or two and then slowly comes back....

 

This is interesting. I haven't seen or heard of this issue yet. If i come across any information i'll try to send it yourway

 

Audi USA customer care actually called me- I've had a few issues with my A5 right off the bat (broken tab on trim peice on sunroof that caused rattling, completely wortless "heated seats"- TSB on this did nothing and seats barely get warm on highest setting, and this exhaust issue. Nothing's really come of it though and I e-mailed them my YouTube videos and a link to this thread- haven't heard back from them since.

If you hear something from them PLEASE send it this way or PM me, and if i hear anything I'll post up as well. It's beyond rediculous to have to drive around in a car like this with our problem.

Also, I think I forgot to mention that when they gave me a 2.0T A4 for the loaner it did the same thing.

Would be much appreciated if you could get any insight on this, thank you.


When I get a chance I'm gonna sign up to A5 Owners Club (A5 General Q&A - A5_OC) to see if anyone else has come across this. When you google A4 exhaust 2.0T problem buzzing (or something like that) more things show up.

In the mean time enjoy another buzz kill via my iPhone. :/

 

UltimateTan and AudiTek, appreciate the input. I would highly encourage those that are continuing to experience the problem to post their stories, or if Audi has fixed their cars, what the solution to the problem is.

UltimateTan: I'd like to know more about what you told Customer Care and what they responded with in return. How did you describe the problem to them so that they could accurately record it? Did Audi Care tell you what the cause of the problem is so that we can let the repair shops know? Or maybe even a service bulletin number?

I also called the Customer Care through their phone number posted on the web [1-800-822-AUDI (2834)] and spoke with a helpful representative. I explained to the person that I have been disappointed with my ownership experience to date. The rep asked if I am driving my car daily and I informed them that the car sits in my garage while I continue to drive my 2001 Saturn. I've owned my A5 since April and with the repairs and disappointment with the problems thus far, I've only managed to put approximately 1500 miles on it; most of those miles are to and from the repair facility, on a road test to help the facility troubleshoot the problem, or miles the technician put on the car while trying to troubleshoot the issues. During my call to Customer Care, I was also given a case number for future reference and so that Audi can continue to track the service record of my new A5.

I will be calling Customer Care again tomorrow letting them know that my repair is scheduled for Thursday. Much like you all have said up to now, once the middle muffler is replaced, I should expect about a two week time frame to actually enjoy the car and then it will be back in the shop. I will post any updates I have to this forum so that others can follow too.

And just to highlight the problem to AudiTek, I've included a link to the YouTube video that someone was nice enough to post. The rattling/ticking noises are what I hear after approximately 15 minutes of driving the car, so what could be considered a warm idle. The other thing to note is that after the car is run for the 15 minutes, when you attempt to close the trunk, you hear the same metallic vibration from the passenger side of the car located approximately under the passenger seat (external on the car). That vibration eventually dampens out and goes away. All of the noises I've heard are from the passenger side of the vehicle. Is it perhaps something loose, a weld that gives way under the heat of the exhaust leaving the car, a heat shield problem, or even the catalytic converter gone bad? Audi, please help!!!

 

Krazy, thanks for helping with this too! Let's keep this going so that we get traction from Audi to fix the problems with their new A4 and A5 models. If it's a design problem, Audi should issue a recall and resolve the problem.