Shorts background - bought the car non-running (dead bat) but was told it had an engine noise...car was $2000 96 A4 Quattro 118k couldnt pass.

Anyways he said he "thought" the noise might have been a bad water pump. He stopped driving asap when he heard the noise. Got it started today in the garage and it sounds like a whining knock (loud) near the front by the radiator. Almost as if a pulley is not on right or the rad fan isn't rotating properly.

Just wondering if there's any insight.

 

I would start off with checking the compression of the engine, if that good then move on to change the timing belt, water pump, new pulleys and temp sensor and see if it goes away.

 

Sounds good. Gotta pick up a compression gauge for the gsx today anyways.