HELP! Rattling Noise While Driving at Low RPMs

[StCardinals05]

Hey AZ, I bought my 2019 S5 Sportback brand new 3 years ago. Around 10k miles or so, I started noticing a faint rattling noise whenever I was driving in the 1500-2000 RPM range. I took it to an Audi dealer in NC and they claimed it was the wheel bearings and replaced them. The sound was still there. Then they called for assistance and somebody over the phone told the technician that was with my car what the issue was: "normal reverberation noise coming from the downpipes".

First of all, can't believe somebody hundreds if not thousands of miles away on a telephone can diagnose my car better than a lead technician at an Audi dealership who is actually physically with my car. Secondly, they just started throwing parts at it that had nothing to do with the noise. Long story short, the noise didn't get resolved. I moved to the DMV area and recently took my car over the weekend for a service and brought up the rattling noise issue. The shop foreman claimed they just so happened to have another 2019 S5 on the lot with the exact same mileage as my car and said the issue exists with that vehicle too and that it is "normal" noise.

There's nothing normal about a rattling noise coming from a $65k car when I'm driving at low RPMs IMO. Supposed to be a luxury brand but the rattling makes the vehicle sound and feel cheap and it bothers the hell out of me. The noise was not there initially when I drove the car for the first 10k-ish miles and now it is. Which also makes me believe its not "normal". I'm hoping other people have experienced this issue and know what it is that needs to be fixed or replaced. TBH it almost sounds as though something is loose inside the dashboard and the vibration at that RPM is causing the noise but then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Hoping to get some help and clarity on this. Thanks in advance.

[XSWG]

Before reading your last paragraph, the two things that came to mind were the sound panel rattle from the rear speaker because I guess with heat, some people's insulation and/or bonding failed. Or a potential loose fastener somewhere within the engine bay. We have a B9 S4, S5 and a RS5.. All over 30k miles and none have rattle issue except for the S4 and it was the panel I referenced.

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[cacunning]

Had the same thing. Put it in comfort/drive, not dynamic/sport. If the vibration noise goes away, it’s the sound symposer. Dealership can handle it or pull the fuse.

[StCardinals05]

Before reading your last paragraph, the two things that came to mind were the sound panel rattle from the rear speaker because I guess with heat, some people's insulation and/or bonding failed. Or a potential loose fastener somewhere within the engine bay. We have a B9 S4, S5 and a RS5.. All over 30k miles and none have rattle issue except for the S4 and it was the panel I referenced.

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So they claimed that they visually inspected for any loose items within the engine bay as well as used chassis ears to pin point the sound, but couldn't. I spoke with the service manager yesterday and he said they were going to contact the regional specialist to see if there are any SOPs regarding this issue. They did this last time as well when I was in NC. The regional specialist came back with nothing..

[StCardinals05]

Had the same thing. Put it in comfort/drive, not dynamic/sport. If the vibration noise goes away, it’s the sound symposer. Dealership can handle it or pull the fuse.

I usually am in comfort/drive, not dynamic/sport and I'm hearing the noise. Maybe I should switch to dynamic/sport and see if the noise goes away, although that wouldn't necessarily line up with your experience.

[jtdbsr]

It would be helpful if you held the phone in the area where you hear the rattle/buzz coming from and record a video. These cars have a lot of areas producing rattles. I've had the entire interior, not exaggerating, the entire interior(minus headliner and the dash, but removed all the trim and vents etc on the dash) out 4 times to fix my rattles.

[StCardinals05]

It would be helpful if you held the phone in the area where you hear the rattle/buzz coming from and record a video. These cars have a lot of areas producing rattles. I've had the entire interior, not exaggerating, the entire interior(minus headliner and the dash, but removed all the trim and vents etc on the dash) out 4 times to fix my rattles.

I can try. I'll keep you updated when I get my car back.

[StCardinals05]

Update:

Audi dealer called me saying they rechecked everything. Spoke with the regional specialist as well and nothing new had been discovered or posted about such a noise in their standard repair boards. He also said they had a couple more '19 and '20 S5s come in for service or trade and is hearing the same sound in them; therefore he is concluding although it may not be a "normal" sound, it is normal for the car. Such a shitty response for a luxury car brand.

[mlewisii]

Update:

Audi dealer called me saying they rechecked everything. Spoke with the regional specialist as well and nothing new had been discovered or posted about such a noise in their standard repair boards. He also said they had a couple more '19 and '20 S5s come in for service or trade and is hearing the same sound in them; therefore he is concluding although it may not be a "normal" sound, it is normal for the car. Such a shitty response for a luxury car brand.

Is it a "thunky" kind of rattle? My 2018 S4 was in the shop for over two months, while they tried to locate my thunk/rattle. There's a very long and distressing story about my dealership and AoA experience, but the TL;DR version is that the front rubber bump stops had hardened and were causing the sound. They had multiple technicians looking at it for nearly two months, and talked with other dealerships, but in the end the noise was finally addressed. You could only hear the noise while driving slowly, but it was one of those sounds that you can't unhear. Every single time that I went under 10-15 mph, it was DEFINING!!! LOL! (It wasn't that bad, obviously, but it was pretty damn annoying.)

[StCardinals05]

Is it a "thunky" kind of rattle? My 2018 S4 was in the shop for over two months, while they tried to locate my thunk/rattle. There's a very long and distressing story about my dealership and AoA experience, but the TL;DR version is that the front rubber bump stops had hardened and were causing the sound. They had multiple technicians looking at it for nearly two months, and talked with other dealerships, but in the end the noise was finally addressed. You could only hear the noise while driving slowly, but it was one of those sounds that you can't unhear. Every single time that I went under 10-15 mph, it was DEFINING!!! LOL! (It wasn't that bad, obviously, but it was pretty damn annoying.)

Its not a heavy or thunky rattle. It's more of a lighter sound that is semi-difficult to hear if you don't already know its there. But once you hear it, you cant unhear it... It almost sounds like a quiet version of having a baseball card clipped to your bicycle. Its extremely difficult to explain, but once I point it out to people, they hear it. I went to pick my car up this past weekend from the dealer and the service advisor told me I should leave the car there and call corporate to complain. My issue with this whole thing obviously outside of the fact that its happening to me and not being fixed, is that the service manager called and said its "normal" for the car based on hearing it on other cars even though I haven't heard it the entire time I've owned it. The regional specialist is referring to some standard or updated boards where new manuals and repairs are posted. The thing is, for a new manual or new repair to get posted there SOMEBODY HAS TO BE THE FIRST ONE TO GET THE ISSUE REPAIRED. Idk how much I have to stress this point to Audi, but I guess I'll try the corporate route and see what happens.

[Mad Cow]

Does it sound like it's coming from the passenger side footwell? I have something similar and have no idea what it could be. My first thought was valve train or HPFP noise, but that doesn't explain why it sounds like it's coming from there.

[ninjamanRS5]

LoL I had a rattle. It ended up being the passenger seatbelt vibrating against the seat. Solution? Readjusted seat. Problem resolved. Should that ever happen regardless? Hell no. Talk about a well spent $90K+ lmao.

[Kerbouchard]

I have the “baseball card in bike spokes on light throttle betweeen 2k-2.8k rpm” issue also. Took it in to dealer, they just finished pass cyl bank disassembly, but waiting to hear what the diag is.

[StCardinals05]

Does it sound like it's coming from the passenger side footwell? I have something similar and have no idea what it could be. My first thought was valve train or HPFP noise, but that doesn't explain why it sounds like it's coming from there.

No, it sounds like its coming from directly in front of me like in the dash or on the drivers side engine bay but no idea what the hell it is..

LoL I had a rattle. It ended up being the passenger seatbelt vibrating against the seat. Solution? Readjusted seat. Problem resolved. Should that ever happen regardless? Hell no. Talk about a well spent $90K+ lmao.

lol yeah def not a seatbelt, couple pieces of loose change or a Coke can sitting empty somewhere...

I have the “baseball card in bike spokes on light throttle betweeen 2k-2.8k rpm” issue also. Took it in to dealer, they just finished pass cyl bank disassembly, but waiting to hear what the diag is.

Are you hearing it on the drivers side or passenger side? My sound is coming from drivers side and more so in the 1500 RPM range. Either way let me know what the diagnosis is on yours. Curious to see if its something they feel could be the source of the issue.

[StCardinals05]

Update:

Called Audi Corporate and spoke with somebody on their experience team. They did absolutely nothing for me and gave me no solutions to move forward or to escalate. Absolutely useless customer service. She basically told me that just because they can't fix it right now, doesn't mean that they won't be able to fix it in the future once they figure it out on other cars and issue some sort of recall or fix... what a bullshit answer. At this point, not sure what else I should do. I've spoken with the service manager and had him "recheck/reinspect" the vehicle in which he came back and said the sound isn't "normal" persay, but it is "normal" for the car model year/mileage based on them test driving other customers' cars.

What pisses me off about this the most is, in order to have a standard repair procedure for something like this or a recall etc, SOMEBODY's car has to get fixed FIRST. Until that happens, this issue is gonna persist with everybody who is experiencing it. If you guys have any other suggestions just let me know...

[tristan325]

Wow, same exact situation here. I literally registered for this account after seeing your post. I'm just shy of 10k miles in my 2020 Audi S5 Sportback, and I'm definitely hearing the exact same rattling you're describing: drivers side, definitely from under the hood (not interior noise), low rpm between 1k and 2500, only when accelerating. I'm positive I've never heard this before, and it's driving me insane. I have an appointment on Monday (two days) to get it checked out but I'm not feeling confident about it.

One thing I came across from other people sharing similar stories on other forums, there seems to be some sort of pattern related to the fuel or injectors. Question, did you recently use a lower octane fuel in your car? I've always used 93, but just this past fill up (since it's been happening) I stopped at a gas station that only had 91 as the highest. I thought nothing of it and used that, and it's been happening since. Let me know your thoughts.

[StCardinals05]

Wow, same exact situation here. I literally registered for this account after seeing your post. I'm just shy of 10k miles in my 2020 Audi S5 Sportback, and I'm definitely hearing the exact same rattling you're describing: drivers side, definitely from under the hood (not interior noise), low rpm between 1k and 2500, only when accelerating. I'm positive I've never heard this before, and it's driving me insane. I have an appointment on Monday (two days) to get it checked out but I'm not feeling confident about it.

One thing I came across from other people sharing similar stories on other forums, there seems to be some sort of pattern related to the fuel or injectors. Question, did you recently use a lower octane fuel in your car? I've always used 93, but just this past fill up (since it's been happening) I stopped at a gas station that only had 91 as the highest. I thought nothing of it and used that, and it's been happening since. Let me know your thoughts.

Nope. I never put anything lower than Super in my car. I hope you get a resolution so I can go back to them with an answer on how to fix it. I’ve given up at this point as I’ve tried with multiple dealers and nobody can fix it. Please keep me posted on it

[LYKUNO]

I can sympathize with those suffering from a problem like this. I had the most annoying rattle in my 2011 S4 and after an exhausting effort to locate it, I ultimately found that the sunroof emergency closing tool that was mounted to the inside of the fuse panel cover on the driver's dash was just loose enough in it's retaining clips that it would rattle. I don't believe that this tool is even supplied on later generations of Audi's but in case you'd like to see the thread from way back then ('11-'12), you can read it here.

[JRYtheS4]

I can sympathize with those suffering from a problem like this. I had the most annoying rattle in my 2011 S4 and after an exhausting effort to locate it, I ultimately found that the sunroof emergency closing tool that was mounted to the inside of the fuse panel cover on the driver's dash was just loose enough in it's retaining clips that it would rattle. I don't believe that this tool is even supplied on later generations of Audi's but in case you'd like to see the thread from way back then ('11-'12), you can read it here.

TIL what that tool is for.

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[tristan325]

Nope. I never put anything lower than Super in my car. I hope you get a resolution so I can go back to them with an answer on how to fix it. I’ve given up at this point as I’ve tried with multiple dealers and nobody can fix it. Please keep me posted on it

Another question, you mentioned having just moved into the DMV area, did you ship your car by chance?

[B9S5SB]

Could it be rocker failure? https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...cker-arm-issue

[tristan325]

Could it be rocker failure? https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...cker-arm-issue

This seems to be happening even when idling. Mine only happens (or at least, can only be heard) during acceleration

[bigbas101]

This seems to be happening even when idling. Mine only happens (or at least, can only be heard) during acceleration

Sounds to me like it could be the exhaust valves rattling. It usually only happens in D mode(when valves are closed), not S mode. And sometimes on startup. Usually at low rpm’s.

If this sounds like the issue, you need to replace your valve springs with these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/26576022150...mis&media=COPY

[tristan325]

Update:

What pisses me off about this the most is, in order to have a standard repair procedure for something like this or a recall etc, SOMEBODY's car has to get fixed FIRST. Until that happens, this issue is gonna persist with everybody who is experiencing it. If you guys have any other suggestions just let me know...

Update:

Took my car in this morning, just got this message back from the service advisor:

"Good afternoon, was able to get it into the shop today and diagnose the sound. Looks like the noise is not engine related and it is coming from the intermediate steering shaft. We do need to order the shaft, and it will arrive on Wednesday. It is part of a TSB, #2063528/3 to be specific if you'd like to look into yourself."

I believe this is it:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...10569-0001.pdf

We'll see how it goes?

[tristan325]

[SOLVED]

Yup, this was the issue. I just want to take a moment to commend the team at Aud Beverly Hills Service Center. Not only did they resolve the issue, identified by the above TSB, but they even let me compare my car to another S5 with similar mileage to mine, owned by another technician working there. I'm so glad this got figured out!

[S4Fin]

[SOLVED]

Yup, this was the issue. I just want to take a moment to commend the team at Aud Beverly Hills Service Center. Not only did they resolve the issue, identified by the above TSB, but they even let me compare my car to another S5 with similar mileage to mine, owned by another technician working there. I'm so glad this got figured out!

Hi! I know this is an old thread, is there any way I can message you about this? I'm having a ticking/clacking noise and I'm wondering if this is the problem and would like you to take a listen if possible.

[chrismadson]

I’m quite curious about this as well. I hear the sound just as the OP described, though I’m out of warranty. I’m wondering if this is a difficult job to do or if I could DIY a sound-proofing solution.


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[tristan325]

Of course, happy to help in any way I can.

[permeusvita]

Of course, happy to help in any way I can.

Hi there, could I PM you about this as well? I notice a sound that’s metallic-y, driver side, between 1500-2000 RPM. On startup sometimes as well. Curious if this is what you heard and to see if I can catch audio and have you relate.

[jdw]

I had this same issue described, low rpm (12-1800), strange rattling that was seemingly right in front or below me. I replaced the steering shaft and that didn’t work. It wound up being the exhaust hangers closest to the trans. I was able to use rubber radiator hose to prevent the hanger bracket from contacting metal. Just put it around the post that goes in the grommet to gain the separation. I have seen another thread where someone also put a spacer between the bracket and the frame but that wasn’t necessary in my case. Just get the side of the bracket from contact on the metal and you’re good. I haven’t heard it since. 19 S4 here