I brought my car in to the shop last week because i was hearing a rattle when it was at idle. The guy there said it sounded like the timing belt and it was time to replace one. They did the timing belt,ABS, fixed the secondary air injection, flushed the coolant,replaced tie rod and 3 control arms. I got it back and every time i turn it on i hear the same rattle. It sounds like it is coming from the engine. I brought it back they looked at it and said they would have to look at it. He said he saw that the coolant was dirty again. Does anyone have the same problems as me? I just spent $2600 fixing all this stuff and today my check engine light came back on with the same secondary air injection code. I do hear a squeak every time i unlock my doors I have no idea if this is something wrong or just what it does. anyone know what these are?

 

2001 a4 1.8t manual quattro. sorry forgot to say this

 

The squeak you hear when you unlock your doors has nothing to do with any major issue. That is probably your vac pump making noise. Mine does too. Does the rattling at idle sound like it could be a heat shield on your exhaust that is loose? I don't think you would hear it if internal engine parts were messed up. Dirty coolant? Like oily dirty? You could take your car to another shop to get the old second opinion. Good luck!

 

turn your car on and push on your hood while it is down. may be a loose hood latch. i get a rattle while at idle too....

 

if you paid them to fix the SAI already, then take it back and make them fix it again for free since your still getting the CEL for it and its obviously not fixed. the rattle probably had nothing to do with the timing belt, they just wanted to sell you $1000 of work. when was the belt last replace? how many miles are on the car?

 

its at 119k so it was ready for a t-belt anyways. and i just tried the hood thing and that was what the rattle was. Thanks for the help