Quote Originally Posted by Jake@JHM View Post
No wheels are turning. Like I stated previously in this thread that even though is valve may be failed, the clack is because the guides are broken/cracked and/or your mechanical adjuster is failing. Applying pressure to the broken guide is only going to mask the sound of an issue that could lead to engine fatality. Every time we have a customers car in here for timing chain jobs with warm start rattle, replacing the broken guide with the new updated guides and new adjusters have solved the issue.
I'm by no means an expert on B6/B7 S4's, but my 2004 S4 has 132k and it's rattled for the past 50k. I find it very difficult to believe that a broken guide would last for 50k and still show only beginning signs of issues (only a cold start rattle). It's not that I don't believe you - you guys have vastly more experience with this - but, more-so, for so long it's been commonly accepted as "this is a $7k required maintenance if you want your car to last". I find it a little odd that, now, 4 out of 5 people have tried this and it's corrected their issue at hand but isn't even being given a second glance by the experts.

Sorry man, but that really seems fishy to me.

EDIT: Not to mention - if you're replacing all the timing components, and one of those check valves has failed, the customer will be right back in the same place in a bit. The timing system will depressurize, the chains will slap against the guides which will lead to them cracking. Why wouldn't you include that as part of the servicing if they're being shown to fail?