I pulled out of work a little too quick and when I stopped at the next red light I could hear my engine ticking bad. I was close to a mechanic I've been to before so I pulled it in and dropped it off. It lost a little power but seemed drivable. Though I didn't want to risk driving another 10 miles to get home.

Here's a video I took so you can hear it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHL8VXJOnyg

I'm hoping it's the turbo since I want to get a k04 but any videos I've seen of blown turbos have a small amount of smoke. There's none coming from mine at all. While I'm waiting for the shop to call do you guys have any ideas on what this could be?

 

does it get louder as u accelrate? if so it could be a rod knocking, that was pretty loud... but hopefully its just a faulty turbo

 

It does get louder. I was browsing some other videos and found someone with a bent rod that was making a noise very similar to that. The shop just called back and said it's the chain tensioner.

What sounded strange to me was they made it sound like they had to remove the bumper and all that to get to the chain tensioner. So I'm having them do the timing belt and water pump. But from looking at a few guides online you only have to remove the valve cover. I was planning on getting the timing belt serviced soon anyway but should I call shenanigans on them saying they'll be able to replace the timing belt while replacing the tensioner?

 

you do not have to remove the whole front end of the car to get to the top rear of the engine. that video does sound like a cam chain tensioner. its definitely not the turbo, that ticking sound is around 15-30 Hz, the turbo is spinning at 20k rpms. if its a cam chain tensioner, not a timing belt tensioner, theres no need to remove the front of the car and do a timing belt job while doing this.

 

that is not a rod knock. sounds like a bad chain tensioner.

 

Dang beaten to the answer....