Hi All,

I have a 2000 A6 4.2 Quattro.

There is a fluttering sound coming from the engine compartment, but it only occurs instantaneously as the car passes 1000 RPM.
No change in performance and the sound is not present at any other time.

I thought it was a minor issue, but I've taken the car to what I thought was a reputable european garage for diagnostic.
They said that they think the sound is coming from the cam adjusters.
Possiblya chain rubbing on a plastic slide or something.
They said they wouldn't know for sure until they got in there.
They wanted to replace the CAM adjuster, timing belt, and all those extra goodies "while they were in there because its cheaper".
Quoted an 11 hoour job ata few thousand dollarsto fix the problem.

I feel like I'm getting taken for a little ride here.
I need some advice to go forward.
I love the car, but repairs like this are starting to really hit home on my bank account.

Has anyone else experienced this problem before?
have any comments as to what may be wrong and how serious it is?
have any thoughts to try andfix it without taking the couple thousand dollar plunge?

I'm really not excited to get into this kind of expensive repair especially if its not needed.
Thank you in advance for anyone who can help me. I really appreciate it.

 

Whats the mileage on the car?

 

mileage is 92000

 

At 92,000 miles, its time to replacethe water pump, cam adjuster and timing belt.

 

I had been going by the 104000 miles in my service manual for the timing change, but i guess you're right, better safe than sorry.

Reguardless, does this sound correct for a diagnosis of the problem?
I mean my main focus right now was understanding if the underlying problem making the noise was serious or not and if the diagnosis the mechanic gave me was correct or not.

 

It certainly sounds like a tension problem with one of the belts.

 

I have an 2002 ,it was making a ticking noise at around85000 .
It would get faster with the revs.It was something in the valve cover driver side.
Something with the cams.
They had to pull the motor to fix it,thank god i have warrenty?
Hope that might help.

 

You should get the cam adjuster and T belt serviced at the mileage your currently at, but i would bet my money on the intake manifold making the noise. The intake flap position motors change around that rpm and can get stuck and make a flutter type noise. In that case your looking at a new intake manifold cause you can't order the motors seperate from the manifold. The cam adjusters should make noise all the time if they were malfunctiong and usually throw a cam allocation fault.

 

It definately isn't a ticking sound that increases in speed with RPMs.
Its a quick instantaneous metal sounding flutter that happens at around 1k RPMs.

I have a VAG com and there are no codes being thrown for cam allocation faults.

Thats interesting about the intake manifold. I haven't heard that brought up as a possible problem.
Is there any easy way to confirm this as a diagnosis.

Forgive me if this sounds silly, but if it is the intake manifold how serious is it and what kind of $ damage am I looking at?
Is this also a DIY type repair or is it something thats really complicated that should really be done by a pro?

Thanks for your help with this.

 

I would worry about the T belt and cam adjusters as preventitive maintance before worrying about the intake manifold. The only real way to find a faulty 4.2 manifold (HARD TO DO) is you listen to it very carefully with a stethascope or something. Its not something you wanna do yourself cause there is a lot of parts to swap over to the new manifold (emmission related) and the price might scare you a bit.
Last i checked the part is over $1,400.