In an '02 3.0 A6 I have a high tapping noise at between 1500 and 2k rpm as I lift off the throttle and hold it there. This happens cold for the first couple miles and can best be heard with the fans off and the windows closed. Once warm it goes away. It is definately throttle related as you can make it come and go by carefully getting on and off the throttle around those rpms. It's a tappet sort of noise, but throttle related? A chain?

thanks, John Keppelman

 

in gear, park/neutral/doesnt matter? if it goes away with temperature it sounds almost like an oil supply issue, like a lifter-type noise perhaps?

 

Yes, this tap is present regardless of whether the trans is in gear or not. You could hear it free reving the engine carefully, it's just easier to hear with the gradual increase up the revs in gear. The odd thing to me is that it is there most noticably when you feather off the throttle at 18-2k rpm.

 

what oil are you using??

 

I've had this noise through a couple oil changes completed by the dealer. It was dino oil but it's now Castrol Syn-Tech, maybe 10-30? The mileage is about 50k miles, 44k of which were driven by the previous owner, a leaser. He changed the oil at the factory's 10k recommended interval.