Hello, I have a few minor issues with my car and I wonder if anyone can help give me some directions to solving a few problems. I apologize if these issues have been covered before in previous posts I have overlooked.

First off, I have a 2001 A6 4.2 (Sport Package) and it is a wonderful car, but there are a few annoying rattles that seem to occur at any moment. It has about 80 000 kms on it.

There is a metallic sounding rattle that comes from the driver's side door. It usually occurs at highway speeds and can almost be compared to a child's toy rattling, like something is loose or banging against some thin metal. It makes itself known when one drives over bumps... and on Canadian highways, it rattles quite a bit. This rattle, I could not find mentioned on the forum.

There is also another rattle coming from the centre armrest in the front. It seems to help if I press down on either the wood veneer or the brushed aluminium trim surrounding the A/C vent. Once I let go, it can start, and this rattle happens at any speed. Sometimes it may help if I move the movable armrest up and facing the rear, but other times, it does not. I also could not find this rattle on the forums.

As a sidenote, there was a audible, metallic rattle coming from the left passenger door, but I found that it was the ashtray lid cover. If it is closed, it rattles over bumps quite loudly, but when open, it doesn't rattle.

Secondly, at highway speeds, I can feel a bit of seat vibration on the passenger side and overall in the car as well. Water bottles in the cupholder beside the handbrake also vibrate when in use. The sun visor flaps up and down visibly. I can also feel some vibrations when braking as well. I took a browse through the forums and came to the conclusion that I need to balance/check the tires and replace the control arms, since they make creaking noises in hot weather. Hopefully this also will cure the vibrations as well. I was just wondering if anyone had something to add to these conclusions. Are there any visible clues to worn control arms, bent wheels or other unpleasant problems that I should be aware of?

I love the car, but I sort of thought that since it is an Audi, I should encounter few ,if any problems with rattling as they are exceptionally crafted and assembled. Perhaps it is just because the 4.2 rides so stiffly on winter-beaten Canadian roads that the laws of nature mean that each bump separates something from something else its supposed to be attached to.

Just as a matter of curiosity, does anyone know how fast an A6 4.2 can go without a governor? I know North American models are governed to 130mph, and European ones are limited by the 'gentleman's agreement' to 155mph. Something I was thinking of, because the car is aerodynamic and has plenty of power, the thing holding it back would most likely be weight.

If there are topics that discuss these issues, please link them to this post. If additional information is required, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks for your help!

 

I am new to the forum and also have a 4.2 (sport Package) with 60K. It also has a vibration between 78 and 85 MPH and then it goes away. I am going to have the wheels re-furbished and balanced next week and am curious to see if its the fix. If you here anything let me know and I'll do the same.

 

I have had rattles, vibrations and shimmies. My alignment was slightly off and caused the tires in the front to wear on the inside edge- this caused the shimmy and rattle. The other squeaky noise came from my HVAC blower- removed from behind the glove compartment, cleaned, oiled and replace- no squeaks. The other squeak near the armrest, turned out to be the passenger side seat, seatbelt clamp (where you click the strap into)-it was rubbing against the seat- I cut an old black sock and placed over sound clamp and no more squeak-can't see sock either.

Your other rattle could be the catalytic converters going-

hope this helps!

 

How difficult was it to remove the HVAC blower? Do you have to take the dash apart? My fan squeaks at low speeds, but I don't want to run it on high all the time.

 

Hey PPGOAL,

Sorry to reply so late- I grabbed this HVAC instruction manual from a DIY poster- It is detailed and easy to follow (pix are attached in order)- My pix won't post eventhough they are jpegs at 15K

If you have a squeaky HVAC blower in your C5 A6, you know how annoying it can be in the otherwise quiet and tranquil cabin. Luckily, replacing it with a new one is not all that difficult, and for the really mechanically inclined, it's not hard to put a dab or two of oil on the bearings and clean the gunk out of the motor.

Step One: Remove the glove box. There are only 5 8mm head bolts that hold the whole thing to the dash. Once you remove the bolts, you can lower the glove box to the floor. You'll be looking at the HVAC box, among other things. The round case you see is the blower fan. You can pop the access hole cover off, and spray a little lube in there, and see if that eliminated the squeak. If not, move on to replacing blower motor, or for the brave, pull it apart, and clean and lube it. Unbolt the 3 screws (you can use a Torx, or a flat blade screwdriver).

Using your harness connector tool of choice to remove the contacts from the harness connector on the body of the motor case. This is required, as they aren't long enough to pull the motor out when in place. The rubber cover just pulls off.

Unscrew the 2 Torx screws on either side of the access hole. You should now be able to pull the motor out of the housing. I used electrical parts cleaner to clean the motor from my car, lubed the bearing on the outer end, and moved on to pulling the fan off. I'm not sure if it's needed or not, but I used a hammer to drive the shaft out of the fan. I think I hit it too hard though, which seemed to push the shaft out of alignment. I had to fiddle with it to get the shaft happy again. If I had to to it again, I'd probably leave the fan on the shaft, and just spray some lube in the general direction of the shaft.

And here is the result of the taps with the hammer. Yes, that all came out of the motor, before any cleaner.

The squeaks are gone from my fan, it's much quieter overall..

 

Although its a little later now, replacing the control arms cured the creaking noises in hot weather. Can't hear a thing. The vibration issue is lessened and occurs less often and less forcefully, so the sun visor can stop dancing. The seat belt clamp does indeed cause a little squeak when rubbing against the seat, depending on how high the seat is positioned, although curiously, I found some felt sticker there... does anyone else have this? Or is this something someone added at some point?

 

There shouldn't be any felt on the side of the seat, I bet the mechanic used some felt tape that is usually used for the JL recall for the headlight harness to quite down the noise on the seat. I would try using some heavy silicone on the side of the seat to provide some buffer between the seat and center console, it should work for at least a year.