This doesn't sound good

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

Backstory:

My father needed a Jump for his Explorer. So we hook everything up and let it charge for a min. When he gets ready to try and start it, I give the S6 a little throttle to reduce the spike when he starts his.

I am standing outside my car with the hood open, and I stick my foot in to rev up a little bit and hear the most ungodly noise come from my engine bay. I have no idea how long it’s been making this noise as you cant hear it with the hood closed.

Is this noise what I think it is?

(The first 10-15 sec of video is normal at idle, after that I increase from idle to about 1500-2000rpm)
https://youtu.be/syDAvMWlBEI

At 1500-2000rpm, my engine bay sounds like a diesel canal boat! :’(

My gut says it sounds like plastic rattling around which makes me thing that the flap runners in the IM are shot and plastic flaps are just bouncing around in there.

Think I’m on the right track? Anybody else got any idea what could make that kind of racket?

Thanks in advance as always.

#2

Hey Dude - you could be on the right track, I suffered the same issue, at the beginning you almost cant hear it while driving. The tell for me was to pull the front plastic cover (where it says 5.2 V10) and you’ll see the inlet manifold actuators. I found the second the actuators moved the noise started which was around 1400rpm. Each break or flap failure is a tad different but the only way to fix is to replace :frowning:

#3

WOW ok your correct it isn’t supposed to sound like that.

I would strongly suggest getting the intake off and having a good look in there. The only odd thing is that while the intake tract pulses you generally wouldn’t hear it like that if there was a flap issue as that was very consistant. Keep in mind there are so many ways that the intake can be messed up any thing can go.

Still something sounds off. I would def pull the upper Y pipe off and atleaset pop an inspection camera in there.

#4

Neil,

I’ll double check that to know for sure it’s happening when the actuator engages.

…

Justin,

I have limited tools and only an outdoor work area at the moment. How in depth is the removal of the upper y pipe? Apart from pulling the pass air box when doing my coolant reservoir, I’ve never touched the intake system on my car yet.

#5

Mine sounded almost identical to that when the flaps completely grenaded. At first there was a flutter on initial start. Then eventually it just sounded like plastic marbles. took intake off and just literally shook the flaps out. Mine is gutted now, no flutter or rattle…just 30% loss of torque under 4500 rpm :frowning:
so its not good news, but its not end of service life for the engine catasrophic

#6

razgriz10000, what’s the mileage on the car? Has the IM been replaced yet?

#7

Wow, that’s crazy Greg.

She just ticked over 85k miles. I do not believe intake has been changed as I do not recall seeing it in the maintenance records. I will go through them and double check.

#8

Justin is right to 100% identify the issue, there are different failures, mine was someone had glued and lockwired the plastic bits together to sell it…others are parts everywhere. 85miles seems to be the correct mileage for them to go - there are plently of posts on this site about the different evolutions of the mannifold. bottom line, the factory one at time of creation was superseeded with a new flap design. The cheapest replacement you will find in the world in from JHM. I know this because I tried every option globally, im talking, singapore, Uk, germany, and USA. Once JHM had them in stock i had that plus the mannifold spacers sent to New Zealand and it was still cheaper than any other provider. If your doing the manny, add the spacers - they are worth it.

#9

I am surprised no one has engineered an aftermarket IM yet. For performance and durability of course.

#10

Yeah, but I’m assuming for price, there’s just not enough demand for these V10 dinosaurs to make it profitable for an aftermarket company to show interest. Would be nice though. :-\

On a side note, I was going through all my paperwork on the car to make sure this is indeed the original 85k mile intake manifold (it is) and I stumbled across my extended warranty paperwork (Good to 100k) and noticed that ‘Intake Manifold’ is supposedly covered for failure under the powertrain section.

Now, of course, if I was going to straight buy an IM, I would only choose JHM because I know I’m getting the newest revision and I choose to support them in general for supporting these dinosaurs, however, price-wise, I might take this thing to the stealership and have my buddy look at it (usually doesn’t charge me for diagnosis) and see if he wants to attempt to convince the warranty company to replace the IM.

If not, I’ll be getting a hold of JHM soon for sure as at this point, I’d rather just put a new one on and not worry about it again for another 100k miles hopefully.

#11

My warranty covered my intake manifold on my last s6. They said it was just the flapper motor, but then they said it looked like the IM was a little warped so with the two together they convinced (easily) the warranty company to cover the replacement.

New revision or not if they cover it, it’s worth it. Just tell the dealer to get the latest version if possible. I’d rather see you buy other fun parts from JHM.

#12

yep - i had a warranty also and used it to buy it from JHM, JHM have the latest versions, they buy them direct from Audi in bulk - they are Audi genuine parts…if that helps

#13

That’s good info to know vtgt and neil. I’ll let every one know how it goes once the dealer and I get together.

#14

As mentioned its a big deal with what version intake you get. I know JHM has positioned themselves to be in a pretty good spot. I believe they shared info maybe with Audi or the intake manufacture. I know they have done this in the past.

First make sure you have a bad intake then make sure you get a new one. When you do keep in mind a few people have gotten dealer intakes with the older date. Some how jhm always has the new dates.

If and when you get an intake just post the build on date.

#15

Got the call I’ve been waiting for. The warranty is going to cover the replacement. I just have a $250 deductible. While they’re in there, I’m having them do a Carbon Cleaning. So all in all, it’s going to be $950 for new intake and a carbon clean. I think it’s safe to say that I’m a pretty happy man right now.

I talked to my buddy, the service rep, about Audi’s newest revision which was October 2017 if I remember correctly. He’s going to do everything in his power to make sure that what I get is a new IM, not a warehouse shelf one that’s been sitting for 10 years.

Once the work is done, I will try and get pics of the old IM to see exactly where and how bad the flaps were messed up inside.

#16

Happy for you, I hope you get the latest version of IM (and a pic to confirm otherwise they can tell you anything).

#17

Got pictures today of the carbon buildup.
Needless to say that after seeing these I’m definitely having them do manual cleaning while they have it apart for the warranty work.

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/526938725.jpg

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/147909209.jpg

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/185159880.jpg

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/6477288.jpg

#18

Those pictures don’t look too bad but it shows you do need a healthy carbon clean. If you can look into the JHM intake spacers. They help drastically reduce the intake temps and helps keep carbon at bay longer.

Also

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/185159880.jpg

Is that part of the intake manifold in the cylinder head runner port.

#19

^^ Had the same thing in my car when I pulled the broken intake. Also had one of the “dogbone” shape arms in another port. thank god it didn’t get into the engine.

#20

Good catch on that one Justin. I completely missed it. I would hope that a certified Audi Technician would notice that upon doing the cleaning for that port as I don’t know how you could be scraping in there and not notice it.

I will get a hold of my buddy from service and have him make a note though.

Also, JHM spacers are on the agenda and as much as I would love to do it now as it’s apart, being that everything else is warranty work, I’m not going to even try to have them install anything aftermarket. I can pull the intake off one weekend this summer when I’m less busy and do it then.