Transmission rumble from 3.0 TDI Quattro

When setting off from standstill (forwards or backwards), with any left or right turn on the steering wheel, I get a slight rumble from the middle/rear transmission for a few seconds. If I set off in a straight line it does not happen. I don’t think it could be the clutch as it is fine in a straight line. The main dealers have the car tomorrow for a service and diagnosis of this, but I think I’d appreciate the feedback and experience of the enthusiast community more - has anyone got any ideas what could be wrong please? Have I got a differential problem perhaps? The car has covered 93,000 miles and has a full main dealer service history.

Hi Boycie,

Would be very interested to know what they say - mine does this and I just put it down to it being Quattro (my first) - mine has only done 12,000 miles!?

Mike.

Boycie,

My 2.0 TQ does it too! If it is having a bad day then it feels a bit like a judder. Reversing out of the driveway then setting off will do it for sure.
At first I thought is 'just a quattro thing' but have been told it may be an issue with the rear diff 'winding up' as they couldn't actually find anything wrong. Not convinced myself, so would really appreciate it if you could post your findings?
Maybe it is just a 'quattro thing'...

Tim.

Hi Boycie,

What did the dealers have to say for themselves?

Cheers,

Mike.

Well, for the princely sum of £44.50+VAT the invoice reads as follows, "INVESTIGATED RUMBLING NOISE FROM THE REAR TRANSMISSION FROM STANDSTILL WHEN GENTLY PULLING OFF WHEN TURNING. ROADTESTED AND CHECKED ON RAMP. ALL OK. NOISE IS CAUSED BY QUATTRO DIFFERENTION (boycie - I assume he meant 'differential') AND IS A NORMAL NOISE." So there we go, £51.18 inc. says there's nothing wrong! Literally straight after that it went for a re-map with the approved tuning company owned by the same dealer network, taking my BKN engine from 201bhp to 256bhp. I asked the Sales Manager of the tuning company about the rumble too. He said, "they all do that, even low mileage and new cars too. It's a Quattro thing." I even asked the Audi dealership chauffer service collection/delivery driver about his experiences with the rumble from Quattro cars and he had much the same response. Apparently it gets worse with the width of the rear tyres - he said an R8 Quattro suffers from it the worst. The jury is out for me - I'm just not sure... I think, if my car was brand new, I would want this looked into further... I'm still interested in anyone else's comments or points of view on this...?

Mmmm, was what I was hoping you were going to tell us but like you say - if I paid 30 odd grand for a new Quattro I wouldn't want it rumbling!! Ours is an 05 plate but has only done 12K so was kind of hoping it was a characteristic rather than a problem!

Mike.

Just to elaborate for you chaps, it IS a Quattro thing,I had an A4 3.0 q,at 60,000 miles and it did it ,my S3, also quattro, did it with around 68,000 miles.
As said by the various techs above they all do it.
In response to the above remark about spending thousands on a car to find it grumbling soon after,you would not get it from new, it basically starts to show itself when the tyres fitted are of the wider type and are getting toward their lifes end.
I researched this when mine did it to have it confirmed when the tyres reached their end and were then replaced,SORTED.
Relax and enjoy your Quattros

Stuart

My A4 2.0 Tdi quattro has a slight noise too. Interestingly, this wasn't noticeable in my Audi 90 quattro, even when it had covered 135k miles.
The 90 quattro only had 195mm wide tyres fitted so the tyre width may be a factor ? The A4 has 235mm wide tyres fitted.

Thanks for your comments Stuart - much appreciated! However, my car has only done 400 miles on a brand news set of 4 ZR rated 235 wide Continental Sport Contact tyres, so how new do they need to be for it to goes away, and, what does anyone think the technical theory is behind the problem going away with new tyres - could it be a slightly larger total rolling circumference thanks to maximum thread depth, giving the differentials the correct gearing to work efficiently? Sorry everyone but I'm not totally convinced - perhaps my car has a particularly bad case of it! I also owned an Audi 90 Quattro many moons ago and it didn't make the noise, but, I dare say the differential technology has moved on since then... More comments from anyone else are still very welcome...

Boycie, interesting to see that you have the same tyres that I do, and ( I guess) the same noises that I do. If it is a quattro thing, I wonder if certain tyres exacerbate the problem
I am putting mine back in week after next as it also shudders very badly at speed, and I want to know if these things could be related? This could go on a while :-(