Hey all. I just did my Timing Belt yesterday, along with a few other little maintenance things. After I put the car back together, I started it and she ran beautifully. I drove it over to the local Part Source to pick something up quickly, without hearing any weird noises. The car ran very smoothly. When I got back home I swapped my spark plugs for new NGK copper ones (apparently the ones everyone raves about). I then drove it out of my garage and parked it on my street so I could do some work on my buddies car. About 2 hours later, I went and started it and it made this clicking sound. It seems to lessen a bit as the RPMs go up, and as the engine warms, but I haven't trusted it enough to drive the car around and warm it up thoroughly. The idle is also quite rough (shaky, but not like a misfire). I'd very much like to drive out to a nice restaurant with my girlfriend tonight... But I don't want to drive my car if it's going to blow up.

I searched around on google for other posts for engine making noise, but most of them said the noise was coming from the back of the engine. This noise is coming from the front, around where the timing belt is.

This was my first TB job, but I was very thorough doing everything as the DIY explained it. I made sure everything lined up, and after pulling the pin on the tensioner I cranked the engine a full revolution and they still lined up. I did notice, however, that when I pulled the tensioner pin it didn't spring out. I rotated the roller, and the pin popped out to meet it. I rotated the roller a little further and the same thing happened. Is the tensioner pin supposed to be so rigid, or is it supposed to slide out nicely?

Everything I did to my car in the past 2 days:
Timing belt, tensioner, roller
Water Pump
Serpentine belt
A/C belt
Temp sensor in bumper, and fresh air intake
replaced all the 3.5mm vacuum lines I could find with silicone
Seafoamed the intake as per DIY: B5 A4 1.8T - How-To Sea Foam
spark plugs (gapped at .028)

I also put my air intake back to stock, and stock ECU (from GIAC chipped). Getting ready to sell my baby.

My VAG-com cable is broken at the moment, though a new one should arrive in the mail next week. I scanned it with my OBDII scanner, and the only code it found was P0113 (Which I believe has to do with some temperature sensor somewhere).

Here's a youtube clip that I took so you can hear it. Sorry for the shitty quality.

 

Even if someone has some advice whether or not I can drive it? I have a feeling I know the answer, but it's Valentine's day and I had big plans! Really bad timing to have something go wrong on our only vehicle...

 

Don't drive it. Sounds like something came loose or didn't get properly set. When I pull a tensioner pin the plunger pops up and the tensioner pulley gets snug. I hate to say it but you may need to go over your work again. Where did you get the parts?

 

I ordered everything from ECS. One thing I notice is that the sound doesn't get faster when the engine is revved. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the clicking speed up as the timing belt spins faster? Assuming it was something in that assembly.

I'm going to head out to the garage right now and see if I can see anything dangling that might be hitting a fan or something... I hope I don't have to pull everything apart again, but if I have to so be it.

 

FIXED!! I took everything apart, to find that apparently I hadn't tightened the bolts on the dampening pulley *facepalm* and apparently I didn't tighten the nut on the TB roller enough. Thankfully I didn't lose that nut or washer. However, one of the bolts on the dampening pulley is missing. Hopefully 3 bolts will hold it on well enough to do some driving today, and I'll get a new one tomorrow.

Yay! No more clicking noises!

 

Nice save! A few more miles and the grenade would have gone off!

 

Tell me about it... very glad I hauled *** in the garage. Just enough time to get the car going, and get all my ducks in a row for tonight.

PS. Does anyone have any tricks for getting the bumper cover on *perfectly*? There's a bit of a gap from the bumper and the fender (on either side, by wheel wells) where there wasn't before I did the TB job.

 

I have the same dang problem with mine. Can't get it perfect. There are adjustments on the two main attaching points on the bumper. You can screw them up and down to align but I have never gotten it just right. If you figure it out post it up.

 

Found this article. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

AudiWorld Tech Articles

Edit: Apparently the URL won't take you directly to the page. Look for the one labeled "S4 Front Bumper Alignment"

 

Thanks a million soulstep. That's in my favorites now. I'll work on it when the sun shines. Have fun tonight.