Bob's friend's TQC noise...

[Bryan Gunn <bgunn@voicetek.com>]

Hi Bob, et al,

Bob, I'm only going to guess once: cracked exhaust manifold. You'll get a 
"ticka ticka ticka" noise that sounds like lifter noise. Just about every
Audi with a one piece manifold eventually cracks it. When everything expands 
as the engine warms, it closes (sometimes). Of course, sometimes the 
manifold doesn't crack - the head does!! Let's hear it for those brilliant
Audi engineers! Bolt a big long piece of cast iron onto an aluminum alloy
head then rapidly heat and cool the whole deal a few thousand times. Hmm.
I wonder if something will break. If the crack is big enough, enough 
exhaust will escape that it affects the turbo. But hey - no sweat. Those
awesome Audi engineers made it really easy to get to the exhaust manifold.
They tucked it under the intake manifold and then leaned the engine over 
27.5 degrees. So all you need to remove the cracked manifold is a nice,
warm day, a shady garage, a few simple tools, and a few thousand dollars 
for your mechanics week of labor he'l spend to pull the thing and replace
it. Plus the cost of the new manifold.

At least you can replace it with a two-piece manifold that won't crack.

Sorry about blowing all this sunshine up your *ss.
-- 
Bryan Gunn                  Email: bgunn@voicetek.com 
Voicetek Corporation          Tel: 508.250.7998
19 Alpha Road                 Fax: 508.250.9378
Chelmsford, MA  01824