Hi all,

I have a metallic rattle coming from the underside of my 2004 A4 1.8t.
My guess is either some heat shield, exhaust bracket of an internal baffle plate.

The details.
Sounds like light weight metal like tin on tin. Almost straight under front seats, can be heard on both sides. During cold starts, and especially when in reverse coming out of parking space. As soon as I drive away, the sound stops until going over rough ground (cobble driveway/speed humps etc). Once up to temp is less audible and can't be heard at all with the windows up. Drives perfectly well but is just annoying the hell out of me. The local Audi service are not worth the fuel to drive there (Living in Hong Kong) Last service, I asked them about it and they just looked stupid and said the wiper blades and fuel cap lanyard needed changing...(I sh#t you not).

I'm a bit limited in what I can access so any suggestions with info on how to get to it would be great.

DT

 

You need to go under the car. Sounds like the heat shields over the cats are rattling. If not, it may be the catalyst material itself - you can bang on the cats and see if you hear anything loose inside. If you do, the cats need replacement.

 

Found what the problem was. The brake pads. The clips on the back were loose and they were rattling. Mechanic said they weren't genuine parts. He was able to tighten them to go back in as they still had quite a bit of wear left in them but new pads are on the way.