So I noticed my car was idling rough upon ignition yesterday and that my fan control was out. The fan control will work in secondary key position and it will also work once the car is on but only if I slightly turn the key back into secondary position.

I go to back out of my garage and as I push my gear shifter past neutral I hear a horrible noise ( as you will see in the video ). It only makes this noise in neutral and in park but only after I have shifted out of park and then back into park. When the car is on reverse/drive/gear 123 it idles fine.

If you are looking at the car head on, on the left side at the front of the engine..that's where it sounds the roughest. Do you think a pulley went bad? I can't work on the car until Saturday, any hints on what I should be looking for if not a bad pulley?

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkCJ-CYqgE


Thanks in advance.

 

Ouch!

A pully would make the noise no matter what gear you are in, so I don't think it would be that. You'll have to poke around and get a better idea of where the noise is really coming from for further diagnosis (unless Chefro has had this problem...)

Let us know what you find.

Bob

 

Side note: I know these cars have a "mind" of their own, but I never start the car with the climate on; but that's just me. More likely the climate problem is unrelated to the noise.
Anyway, I can't help but say Ouch as well!
It sounds like an oil-starved pump that rotates dry, or two gears that spin on top of each other without engaging normally. Since the noise occurs when you shift, that's gotta give you a pretty good clue that's transmission related.
Since it happens only as related to "REVERSE", it may have something to do with its shift valve. No pulley that I know off on a C4 makes that horrible noise. And as Bob said it, if it was a pulley, then it would do it no matter of the gear. I haven't come across anything like this with my car, so I can't but only theorize... sorry

 

Thanks for the advice about it probably not being a pulley. I don't know if you can tell from the video but aside from the horrible sound the car makes when I shift into PARK and NEUTRAL it also sounds horrible when it's just idling. That's what made me think it might be a pulley or something engine related and not transmission. I'm hoping on Saturday ill be able look around and find out whats wrong...if not off to the stealer ship.

I plan on taking pictures on Saturday if I find anything so I will keep you posted.

To Chefro : I don't know if I'm reading your reply wrong or if you misunderstood my post but..The noise is happening in "Neutral" and in "Park". It sounds just fine when its in drive and reverse...aside from a slight rough idle. This is also an intermittent problem..I started the car up today and on the first start up it sounded fine...shifted fine in every gear. Second start it was rough and did the "noise from hell" when I shifted into neutral and then back into park.

Sorry for any confusion. Thanks again.

 

It is always hard for anyone to figure out where to noise is coming from without being there. With that say, I can say that I heard a similar noise coming from a buddy's truck when his starter solenoid was stuck.

Anyways, I would start poking around the starter and flex plate connection. Considering that noise only happens when the transmission is not under load, perhaps your flex plate is loose... Just a thought...

 

Well - I was refering to the fact that it happens when you shift FROM REVERSE - either way, to neutral or to park.
Obviously there's nothing happening when shifting from park to REVERSE, but when you shift FROM Reverse back to park.
It also doesn't do it when you shift from Neutral back to Reverse, but it does it when you shift FROM Reverse to Neutral.
I'll try to explain better my rationale, but I can't vouch it would be a good one (I got no mechanic training, and even less as far as its lingo goes), so hang with me for a second.

From what I understand, in the automatic tranny are shift valves for each "transition" : 1-to-2 valve, 2-to-3 valve, etc. The valves have two "chambers" - one on each side of the adjacent gears.
As you know, the transmission rotates with the engine - via flywheel/torque convertor, except for when in Park position.
In the video - and correct me if I'm seeing weird things - you already put in Reverse before actually focusing the camera on shifting to Neutral. Correct?
So, at this point the transmission rotates with the engine. If the shift valve is faulty, then I was assuming that the Reverse gear doesn't travel enough to disengage on both sides - because basically on both Neutral and Park it will disengage - correct?
So it remains hanging since there's not enough ATF pressure to complete the shift, hence it rubs and makes that awful noise.
It could also be that you may be low on ATF and the pump hasn't a sufficient level of fluid to flow into those shifting valves?
I'm just speculating and making my own "mechanical" drawing, but that noise really sounds to me like an oil-starved, dry something that frictions against something else - metal to metal.
I hope I'm wrong.

 

OK Chefro, My bad I was reading your post wrong. Thanks for the short transmission lesson. How would I go about checking my ATF? Ill look around on these forums but if you know of a good post let me know.

Would the transmission being low on ATF cause the engine to idle rough?

I hope your wrong about something being oil starved too...the thought of metal to metal puts $$$$ signs in my head >.<.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, any info is very appreciated.

 

It shouldn't be any relationship between low ATF and rough idling. You must be having something going on in the engine bay (dirty MAF, wet spark plugs, bad ignition coil/s, etc).
As far as checking the transmission fluid, you should be able to undo the fill plug and insert a something light colored (white, off-white, etc) so you'd be able to see how deep the fluis rests in the pan. At correct operating temperature the fluid should start dribbling out. Do a search on ATF replacement - you should be able to come up with plenty information, unless you can go directly to Blau's website and do some reading there.
I repeat, please take my technical gibberish with a grain of salt. You only have 89 k miles on that car, so I doubt you're low on transmission fluid. Also, it may be that there's no relationship whatsoever between fluid, shift valves, and that horrific sound.
It may be that the noise has nothing whatsoever to do with the transmission, and I'm just adding salt on your wound.
Then again, you never know...

 

Hey, I have the exact same problem now with my -97 A4! (The noise, air con is not working either (pressure switch broken, apparently) but the "control panel" does)

Is the problem fixed now, and if so what was the diagnose?

 

Actually, I think I've diagnosed the problem:

the noise comes from the starter motor, which is running because the ignition switch doesn't return from the start phase back to 'normal'. That's also why the wipers, blinkers and the heater fans don't work when the motor is running.. Time to replace the ignition switch (which was on the TODO list anyway, since the steering wheel lock has been broken for some time..)