rattle on startup and in low rpm load

[michel]

Hey guys,

My dad has a 2012 golf/jetta sportwagon and for a while now I notice (mostly cold start) it has a rattle that sounds like the timing chain on startup. The same noise is present when driving around and it shifts to higher gear (low rpm) with some load or if a/c is running.

It definitely sounds like the chain, but I'm wondering if anyone else has this noise and if it's nothing to worry about. Gonna get the dealer to take a look at his next oil change, but I suspect "No fault found".

It's an Auto, and has about 50,000 km's (~31k miles).

Thanks,
Mike

 

[KillerPM]

Mike,

Is the correct oil in the car? I believe the correct spec is VW 502. Its pretty similar to ACEA A3/B3, BMW LL-01 and a handful of other MB specs.

My oil of choice for non dealer changes is Castrol 0-30 (AKA German Castrol, Made in Germany)

http://machinezealots.blogspot.ca/2011/10/german-castrol-syntec.html

I guess what I am saying is, did you happen to put the wrong oil in the car?

Anything other than that, I would have your dealer take a look at it. You are well within warranty..

Good luck.

 

[Plinyyounger]

There are a lot of noisy sounds at start up and low rmp in this rig. Probably okay, but if the car is not performing well, take it in and have it looked at. . Good luck!

 

[KillerPM]

Mike,

Is the correct oil in the car? I believe the correct spec is VW 502. Its pretty similar to ACEA A3/B3, BMW LL-01 and a handful of other MB specs.

My oil of choice for non dealer changes is Castrol 0-30 (AKA German Castrol, Made in Germany)

http://machinezealots.blogspot.ca/2011/10/german-castrol-syntec.html

I guess what I am saying is, did you happen to put the wrong oil in the car?

Anything other than that, I would have your dealer take a look at it. You are well within warranty..

Good luck.

I just did some more oil research and it turns out that "German Castrol" is now made in Belgium. Rumor has it that it is the same oil but we don't know yet. Upon further reading, it seems there may be a better oil option now as well. I will have to dig deeper since I haven't done my full research into oil analysis since roughly 2011. GC was pretty much king then.. I might send my next oil over to Blackstone to see what they have to say about VW dealer oil.

Anyway, back to your car. I recall that mine sometimes got a bit noisy at startup at the end of its oil life. Once I changed the oil it went away. My last oil change (last Saturday) it didn't seem noisy. Dunno... Again, maybe your dealer has some better insight (but probably not).

 

[michel]

Thanks for the reply, sorry forgot about this thread. Oil changes were always done at the dealer, so we are using dealer spec. They said the noise is normal. To me it sounds like the timing chain rattling, but if its normal then hey I don't care lol.

Thanks killerpm