As you can read in my intro, our mutual life hasn’t been just roses, dandelions and songs about happiness… To state the obvious, I absolutely love the car (who wouldn’t?), but only wish for a trouble free month :). Brace yourselves, this is a long one 8)
The journey began 1.5 years ago immediately with a coolant leak, had it sorted out (then again, maybe not) after three trips to the dealer. Then after 5 months of ownership I heard clunking, took it in, and eventually got the 22k € call from my local Audi dealership. Cylinder walls damaged, replace short block. After involving a lawyer as I surely was not going to pay half the car’s worth in repairs like they insisted, or anything for that matter, they (together with Audi I’m sure) paid the bill. In Finland the consumer has a rather strong position with defects that are not normal wear and tear, especially if the problems occur soon after purchase. Engines can be expected to last a bit more than 70k miles… So that was done and I should be happy - I didn’t even need a carbon clean they told me. This cleaning labor I was ready to pay for of course and the engine was already in pieces, so it would have been easy for them and friendly for my wallet.
When I got the call that the car is ready, after a month with a free loaner A1 (great city car) as the “2 specialists” were on holiday, I zoomed to the dealer, took the keys and an invoice for 0 €, with a 22k total sum they covered and walked to my car with a somewhat wide grin ;D Started driving, rolled the window down and lo and behold - what is that stupid whining sound? I thought “fine, new parts, maybe something needs to be settled in”… I listened to this annoying sound for a while, took it back and asked if they had fitted my car with a supercharger, but one that doesn’t provide any extra hp? He listened to the car and told me that it’s normal with Audis. Hmm… fine, but funny how it didn’t whine before the repair. I was given a tip that “don’t drive with windows down, these engines make funny noises” really won’t do it…
The sound is totally rpm dependent, hot or cold engine - it’s the same. These are perhaps closest to mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysgOLFC_syM&list=WL and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlPSGeHzg7M. At idle the sound is like this, when moving it gets higher in pitch and volume. Turning off AC completely or ECON mode, turn off lights, radio/MMI -> no difference. PS fluid is at max and no bubbles, maybe I need to check if a slight overfill will help (some suggest this). Rpms climbing and coming down, the noise changes pitch and volume accordingly… Car is LHD, noise is coming from driver’s side.
So I drive some more, take it back again, they hook it up to a computer and find no errors, and again say the sound is normal. Fine, you rebuilt it, should have replaced anything that need be, I take your word for it. If it breaks, it’s your problem - again. Time goes by, I continue driving (don’t drive that much these days so I put on fairly low miles), get fed up again, take it back and same story. They find nothing wrong. Now I’m at a point that I’m loosing my mind, I have listened around at S8s, S6s, A6s, any other car and no whining. And I double-checked, it’s not the girlfriend 
I have a service coming and I want to at least know what “normally makes this sound” and I would like some input from you guys also. Normal or definitely not normal. I have searched on forums and on Youtube and the choices are vast… Auxiliary belt tension (too tight?), the belt tensioner itself, pulleys, bearings, PS pump, water pump, maybe the driveshaft center support bearing?, the list goes on. All ideas are welcome! Oh, and I just noticed that there is coolant missing again - hadn’t checked for some time now 
In about 800-1000 miles, it has gone from MAX to just under MIN so refill and report to dealer at service. Temps are always ok. Points towards a water pump issue? The loss of coolant and whine may suggest that there is air getting sucked in. No warning lights, and as said, dealer found no fault codes. A ticking noise from the valve lifters is there, but that should be expected, yes?
I will give them a last chance to fix it and if they keep saying it’s fine, maybe I’ll tell them I’ll take it to an Indy and if they find the problem, they can send the invoice to the stealership 
At this point I don’t want to have a go at it myself as it will surely void any grounds for claims to get them to fix it and I’m not that mechanically inclined 
My thought process has also landed at this possible scenario -> First coolant leak was very evident as it was winter. The leaking coolant hit something hot (maybe exhaust manifold), there was a nice smoke coming from the passenger wheel well every time the engine got hot after hard accelerations. Maybe some coolant was “sprayed” around and it got onto a belt, or a pulley and then got to the bearings so the oil was contaminated thus resulting in the noise after some time. I really don’t know and maybe I’m just making up conspiracy theories at this point.
The service guy doesn’t jump around in joy when he sees me now btw : as I’m a frequent complainer and this car is a PITA to work on. But I want what I pay for…
When I manage to drive the car and not worry, it’s a joy and really a car I wish to keep at least for some more time. You never know when the hippies decide to ban these cars, hopefully never! Needs only to get sorted out or I am totally assured that it’s fine. Next car will most likely be bought before i reach 93k miles (ie. 150 000kms, it’s a magic number in my mind, LOL).
We’ll be having our first child in the summer and I just can’t wait to take a slow father-son cruise around town with the V10 sounds, because even at coasting speeds, the exhaust sound is wonderful. Without the whine, I’m sure people would turn their heads in awe and not pity >:(. Also, my son should damn well get to grow up in a world with V12, V10, V8, V8TT etc… cars making lovely noises. I’m 28 and I get so much feel-good from engine and exhaust sounds that I still run to the window to see “what was that!?!” like I was five years old. I want that in the future as well for my son, and myself :).
A spirited drive here and there, Han-style obviously, would be nice without them whiny gremlins lurking.
The seats are better than anything I have sat in, it still has a good looking interior (newer Audis have us on this). There is plenty of room for what you may want to take along and the ride is good in my mind.
Maybe coilovers (low is better) and wheels are next on the list; after the service and fix of whiny-car is dealt with, new summer tires and heaps more of baby paraphernalia are acquired
So to sum up, great car when it works. Not the fastest car, by all means no, but great for what it is - a cruiser with a sound hard to match (exhaust, not the ghost sc)… I, however, use it mainly in the city, and for a 5m long avant, it fares well. With the V10, a fuel pump is a frequent sight ;D
Well that was a long one and as I write this rather tired and English is not my 1st language, I may not be that coherent, I apologize. I hope someone can point me to the right direction. If the fault is just in my head, it would be the easiest solution at this point
Looking forward to share info and thoughts about these cars! v8a6, good looking project you have going on there, big thumbs up and I can’t wait to hear and see what the end-result will be like!