IanH's 955hp V10 Audi RS6 - Another Car Diary!
Discussion
Joe M said:
Jeez, that must have been some bill for some pre sale tlc! How much was it out of curiosity, and how much would you sell the car for?
Sadly you can't talk about prices on PH.For the repair bill it was just over £8k with 60% of that due to the turbo seal (engine out, turbo refurb, engine in), and the 2x HPFP's cost over £1k between them then the labour was a big old chunk of the rest.
I'm glad it's not just me who ends up paying for major work on a car directly prior to selling it! Disclosed or not, I seem to be allergic to selling a car with issues, I always want it to be in decent shape to pass on.
The plan of going to two cars makes total sense to me, and I think you can safely say you've 'done' the fast Audi estate thing now!
GLWTS - and if I was in the market, I'd find this thread pretty persuasive in making the case to buy your car at thirty six quid per horsepower.
Ah Balls!
RS6 1 - Fox 0 but its a very pyrrhic victory to the RS6 as the fox, whilst now chasing chickens in the big farm in the sky, broke my bumper in the process! I've never had to do any body repair type stuff (I'm amazed considering how I drive at times TBH) so I've no idea yet if this damage is considered "repairable" on a 200mph+ car (probably not, I've only just noticed the rear bit by the arch has a big bit snapped off too) or whether it'll be have to be a new £1300+ bumper required, alongside the broken black "air guide" which I've already sourced a replacement for and oddly Audi were the cheapest suppliers.
I was coming back from a gig at about 2am and doing a genuine 50-ish mph on some (new to me) twisty B-roads as I came around a long left hander and saw movement of something "brown" on the grass verge on the left. The most annoying thing was the fox (seen as the lower orange blob in the masterpiece below) would have been perfectly safe just staying still or following the other smaller fox away from the verge but instead, despite braking from 50-ish and already moving over into the opposite lane to give them space, the lunatic decided to run right infront of me. I stopped to check my car over and on the fox and that thing was D.E.A.D, I think it's head may have gone under the rear tyre as it was very obviously flattened so at least it was instant for the fox, the little git!
RS6 1 - Fox 0 but its a very pyrrhic victory to the RS6 as the fox, whilst now chasing chickens in the big farm in the sky, broke my bumper in the process! I've never had to do any body repair type stuff (I'm amazed considering how I drive at times TBH) so I've no idea yet if this damage is considered "repairable" on a 200mph+ car (probably not, I've only just noticed the rear bit by the arch has a big bit snapped off too) or whether it'll be have to be a new £1300+ bumper required, alongside the broken black "air guide" which I've already sourced a replacement for and oddly Audi were the cheapest suppliers.
I was coming back from a gig at about 2am and doing a genuine 50-ish mph on some (new to me) twisty B-roads as I came around a long left hander and saw movement of something "brown" on the grass verge on the left. The most annoying thing was the fox (seen as the lower orange blob in the masterpiece below) would have been perfectly safe just staying still or following the other smaller fox away from the verge but instead, despite braking from 50-ish and already moving over into the opposite lane to give them space, the lunatic decided to run right infront of me. I stopped to check my car over and on the fox and that thing was D.E.A.D, I think it's head may have gone under the rear tyre as it was very obviously flattened so at least it was instant for the fox, the little git!
Edited by IanH755 on Friday 16th June 08:40
Update - Soooooo, new bumper and air guide have arrived ready for painting, parts swap over (grills, parking sensors etc) and then fitment. However the car is popping into MRC on Monday for a few days to sort out the following -
1. Non-working Aircon (oh boy do I need it now) which hasn't worked since the engine was refitted so suspect a forgotten plug etc (been checked for gas and its full).
2. Rear diff being replaced to hopefully cure the sticking needle bearing noise.
3. Leaky washer bottle which may/may not be cracked or have a loose pipe as it leaks onto the floor at random.
4. Missing anti-rattle clips from my AP calipers (originals "lost" during a Kwik-fit pad change - lesson learned).
5. OEM Brake Pad warning light, and as I don't have those I've cut, joined and tried up the loom for this which looks to have come loose post Fox impact.
When I have the bumper painted I'm thinking about having both rear arches also sorted as they're starting to rust.
I also checked by front AP discs for wear as I was concerned that after 20k miles they may be worn - LOL, not even close! Got my micrometer on the and both measured at various points at 35.2mm (34mm limit) but my pads are down to about 3mm of material (7mm when new) So I'll probably need more pads at some point and, despite being a huge fan of Ferodo's DS2500 compound which I've used for years, I've now found that they also do their new DS3.12 compound in my pad shape now, so something I might look into based on the reviews I've seen, even for a "street" car.
1. Non-working Aircon (oh boy do I need it now) which hasn't worked since the engine was refitted so suspect a forgotten plug etc (been checked for gas and its full).
2. Rear diff being replaced to hopefully cure the sticking needle bearing noise.
3. Leaky washer bottle which may/may not be cracked or have a loose pipe as it leaks onto the floor at random.
4. Missing anti-rattle clips from my AP calipers (originals "lost" during a Kwik-fit pad change - lesson learned).
5. OEM Brake Pad warning light, and as I don't have those I've cut, joined and tried up the loom for this which looks to have come loose post Fox impact.
When I have the bumper painted I'm thinking about having both rear arches also sorted as they're starting to rust.
I also checked by front AP discs for wear as I was concerned that after 20k miles they may be worn - LOL, not even close! Got my micrometer on the and both measured at various points at 35.2mm (34mm limit) but my pads are down to about 3mm of material (7mm when new) So I'll probably need more pads at some point and, despite being a huge fan of Ferodo's DS2500 compound which I've used for years, I've now found that they also do their new DS3.12 compound in my pad shape now, so something I might look into based on the reviews I've seen, even for a "street" car.
STRAYMANQ said:
hi
you know boost pressure in this configuration
Not without doing a logged run and, with a broke bumper, I won't be doing one soon. However, I'll ask MRC and they might be able to tell me.you know boost pressure in this configuration
Back from MRC and almost everything has been sorted -
1. Aircon now works - plug reconnected on sensor.
2. Rear diff replaced however it's turned out to NOT be the source of the diff whine, which was still there afterwards. MRC now suspect its the transfer box/centre diff making the noise which is apparently being quite hard to pin down.
3. The Washer pump and seal replaced and no more leaks.
4. Anti-rattle clips fitted to front calipers.
5. Shorting plug/loom remade which gets rid of the false low brake pad error.
6. New front bumper painted and fitted, it also broke a mounting bracket which needed replacing too.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this diff whine. I'll chat to a few ZF gearbox repair places and see if it can be looked at with the gearbox in the car or not. From the exploded diagram of the box it looks doable whilst still fitted if (and its a big if) its the bearing I think it might be based on the current guess of noise location (last one on the output shaft just before it connects to the propshaft).
1. Aircon now works - plug reconnected on sensor.
2. Rear diff replaced however it's turned out to NOT be the source of the diff whine, which was still there afterwards. MRC now suspect its the transfer box/centre diff making the noise which is apparently being quite hard to pin down.
3. The Washer pump and seal replaced and no more leaks.
4. Anti-rattle clips fitted to front calipers.
5. Shorting plug/loom remade which gets rid of the false low brake pad error.
6. New front bumper painted and fitted, it also broke a mounting bracket which needed replacing too.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this diff whine. I'll chat to a few ZF gearbox repair places and see if it can be looked at with the gearbox in the car or not. From the exploded diagram of the box it looks doable whilst still fitted if (and its a big if) its the bearing I think it might be based on the current guess of noise location (last one on the output shaft just before it connects to the propshaft).
IanH755 said:
Back from MRC and almost everything has been sorted -
1. Aircon now works - plug reconnected on sensor.
2. Rear diff replaced however it's turned out to NOT be the source of the diff whine, which was still there afterwards. MRC now suspect its the transfer box/centre diff making the noise which is apparently being quite hard to pin down.
3. The Washer pump and seal replaced and no more leaks.
4. Anti-rattle clips fitted to front calipers.
5. Shorting plug/loom remade which gets rid of the false low brake pad error.
6. New front bumper painted and fitted, it also broke a mounting bracket which needed replacing too.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this diff whine. I'll chat to a few ZF gearbox repair places and see if it can be looked at with the gearbox in the car or not. From the exploded diagram of the box it looks doable whilst still fitted if (and its a big if) its the bearing I think it might be based on the current guess of noise location (last one on the output shaft just before it connects to the propshaft).
Haven’t checked in on this thread in a while, shame as I now work about 50m from MRC, I stopped in for a chat the other day and they seemed very helpful. Proximity - as I have a one car does all situation - has put RS6s back up on or near top of the list for next car. 1. Aircon now works - plug reconnected on sensor.
2. Rear diff replaced however it's turned out to NOT be the source of the diff whine, which was still there afterwards. MRC now suspect its the transfer box/centre diff making the noise which is apparently being quite hard to pin down.
3. The Washer pump and seal replaced and no more leaks.
4. Anti-rattle clips fitted to front calipers.
5. Shorting plug/loom remade which gets rid of the false low brake pad error.
6. New front bumper painted and fitted, it also broke a mounting bracket which needed replacing too.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this diff whine. I'll chat to a few ZF gearbox repair places and see if it can be looked at with the gearbox in the car or not. From the exploded diagram of the box it looks doable whilst still fitted if (and its a big if) its the bearing I think it might be based on the current guess of noise location (last one on the output shaft just before it connects to the propshaft).
Ian, if you’re at MRC in the future give me a shout. Would love to talk all things RS6 over lunch at Reg’s sometime.
Nothing terribly exciting to report on the RS6 recently, just an MOT pass for another year of road legal silliness alongside a new set of DS2500 front pads with some new Castrol SRF React fluid.
The Citroen C1 however got some heavily TLC -
New Cat-Back exhaust
Engine Oil Cx
Gearbox Oil Cx
3x Plugs & Coils
2x Lambda
2x Engine Mounts
1x "VVT" actuator
1x PCV valve
Front Brake Discs and Pads
Wind Deflectors for the windows
New Door, Boot, High-level Brake light and Tail light water seals
New front Hi/Low beam bulbs
Still got the rear brakes to do and I think the nearside is sticking so probably a brake cylinder on that side, but might as well do both.
The Citroen C1 however got some heavily TLC -
New Cat-Back exhaust
Engine Oil Cx
Gearbox Oil Cx
3x Plugs & Coils
2x Lambda
2x Engine Mounts
1x "VVT" actuator
1x PCV valve
Front Brake Discs and Pads
Wind Deflectors for the windows
New Door, Boot, High-level Brake light and Tail light water seals
New front Hi/Low beam bulbs
Still got the rear brakes to do and I think the nearside is sticking so probably a brake cylinder on that side, but might as well do both.
So........................New Year, New Issue 
This one looks to be a fairly simple fix to be fair (touch wood etc). I was driving back home at night like a sensible A6 driver (which is how I drive all the time Officer!) when I got a ESP fail message on the dash with the car throttle having virtually no response. I pulled over and the car barely held idle at all with some serious vibration felt so I switched the engine off straight away, gave it a few seconds and restarted the car just in case it was a weird transient electrical issue (the throttle is Fly-By-Wire or FBW on these, not cable) and the fault remained.
I always carry my 15-ish year old "maintenance" laptop with me (with VCDS, ETKA & ELSAWIN software etc to look after my car) so I could quickly diagnose the issue at the road side and reset any fault codes if required and get myself the 6-ish miles back to my house. I got the following message -
I had a quick google and that specific P3035 message for "Mechanical Malfunction" is almost never seen, there's plenty of other "throttle" codes but I couldn't find "Mechanical Malfunction" so the internet wasn't a great help, other than to confirm "something" was not right with my passenger side throttle body/valve. I reset the codes a few times and they did disappear but after a short distance they'd re-appear but the car was just able to drive in Limp mode so I could get it home with the fault still obviously there.
I had a quick look on Youtube and this video was quite helpful for showing me the internals of my specific type of throttle body and how it can cause failures due to age/wear etc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-2Ui1PXQPc
I had a quick look at how the throttle body came away (looked simple) except for the bolts holding the throttle body in where Audi had used a type of bolt I'd never seen before on a car, a Spline drive or XZN bit, so I had to get a set from town before I could continue (got a second "commute" car so no issues).
Once I had the right type of Bit drive I following ELSAWIN and started to take apart the left intake setup which was fairly easy except for a few pipe/hose connections on the underside of the intake pipe and the extra Water/Meth injection pipework I've had fitted -
Once that was out of the way it gave me access to the throttle body which came out in seconds -
Once out, I took in the house to take it apart which only needed the simple removal of 6 metal push-on type tabs using a thin jewellers type flatblade. Once the clips were off the plastic backing comes away and you can see inside. The motor is on the left and that turns the centre cog which is a dual layer with the upper large diameter for the motor and a smaller diameter cog underneath which connects to the large arc'd cog on the right which physically moves the valve, only in my case it doesn't -
With the centre cog removed the motor spins freely but the valve, now isolated from the rest, only moves a few degrees then stops and won't move any further using normal "a few white knuckles" pressure to push it, whereas in the YT video it can be seen that the valve should easily move fully open.
So that would seem to explain the error code of "Mechanical Malfunction" as the valve doesn't move fully open, which the ECU can sense as the valve does move a few degrees to start but then stops. Now I haven't yet tried beating the valve open to see if this is just a temporary issue which might be fixed with some brute force, but seen as its already off and seen as something is clearly wrong with it, I decided it's just best to buy another just for peace of mind as I don't want this re-occuring at full throttle and this time it might stick open etc.
The new one should be here in a few days and I'll stick another post up once its fitted. If it does fix the issue I'll try beating (carefully disassembling Officer!) the old one apart and seeing whats gone wrong with it. Once a new one is fitted, again due to this being a "FBW" throttle there is an "adaption" which needs to be carried out which is very simple using VCDS, where the cars ECU drives the throttle body through a range of motion to make sure it has full control of the valve and it recalibrates the settings in the ECU for that valve i.e. 3 degrees requested actually moves the valve 3 degrees and not 2 or 4 or 90 etc.
This one looks to be a fairly simple fix to be fair (touch wood etc). I was driving back home at night like a sensible A6 driver (which is how I drive all the time Officer!) when I got a ESP fail message on the dash with the car throttle having virtually no response. I pulled over and the car barely held idle at all with some serious vibration felt so I switched the engine off straight away, gave it a few seconds and restarted the car just in case it was a weird transient electrical issue (the throttle is Fly-By-Wire or FBW on these, not cable) and the fault remained.
I always carry my 15-ish year old "maintenance" laptop with me (with VCDS, ETKA & ELSAWIN software etc to look after my car) so I could quickly diagnose the issue at the road side and reset any fault codes if required and get myself the 6-ish miles back to my house. I got the following message -
I had a quick google and that specific P3035 message for "Mechanical Malfunction" is almost never seen, there's plenty of other "throttle" codes but I couldn't find "Mechanical Malfunction" so the internet wasn't a great help, other than to confirm "something" was not right with my passenger side throttle body/valve. I reset the codes a few times and they did disappear but after a short distance they'd re-appear but the car was just able to drive in Limp mode so I could get it home with the fault still obviously there.
I had a quick look on Youtube and this video was quite helpful for showing me the internals of my specific type of throttle body and how it can cause failures due to age/wear etc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-2Ui1PXQPc
I had a quick look at how the throttle body came away (looked simple) except for the bolts holding the throttle body in where Audi had used a type of bolt I'd never seen before on a car, a Spline drive or XZN bit, so I had to get a set from town before I could continue (got a second "commute" car so no issues).
Once I had the right type of Bit drive I following ELSAWIN and started to take apart the left intake setup which was fairly easy except for a few pipe/hose connections on the underside of the intake pipe and the extra Water/Meth injection pipework I've had fitted -
Once that was out of the way it gave me access to the throttle body which came out in seconds -
Once out, I took in the house to take it apart which only needed the simple removal of 6 metal push-on type tabs using a thin jewellers type flatblade. Once the clips were off the plastic backing comes away and you can see inside. The motor is on the left and that turns the centre cog which is a dual layer with the upper large diameter for the motor and a smaller diameter cog underneath which connects to the large arc'd cog on the right which physically moves the valve, only in my case it doesn't -
With the centre cog removed the motor spins freely but the valve, now isolated from the rest, only moves a few degrees then stops and won't move any further using normal "a few white knuckles" pressure to push it, whereas in the YT video it can be seen that the valve should easily move fully open.
So that would seem to explain the error code of "Mechanical Malfunction" as the valve doesn't move fully open, which the ECU can sense as the valve does move a few degrees to start but then stops. Now I haven't yet tried beating the valve open to see if this is just a temporary issue which might be fixed with some brute force, but seen as its already off and seen as something is clearly wrong with it, I decided it's just best to buy another just for peace of mind as I don't want this re-occuring at full throttle and this time it might stick open etc.
The new one should be here in a few days and I'll stick another post up once its fitted. If it does fix the issue I'll try beating (carefully disassembling Officer!) the old one apart and seeing whats gone wrong with it. Once a new one is fitted, again due to this being a "FBW" throttle there is an "adaption" which needs to be carried out which is very simple using VCDS, where the cars ECU drives the throttle body through a range of motion to make sure it has full control of the valve and it recalibrates the settings in the ECU for that valve i.e. 3 degrees requested actually moves the valve 3 degrees and not 2 or 4 or 90 etc.
v8notbrave said:
Very impressive diagnosis, good luck on the cheap fix. Is this age related or due to your mods?
Just age & heat cycles I guess. I ended up distractedly playing with the valve for a about an hour, just moving it back/forward whilst I was watching a movie and it's definitely opening more and more so I'd guess "something" (dried oil residue, red dye from the water/meth dried into powder?) has become compacted over time within the base of the rod the valve rotates around as the "stop" doesn't feel hard like its hitting metal, it feels like its a soft impact, like compressed soil/dirt with a dull thud rather than a metallic bang etc.I've left the valve in some cleaning solution/degreaser overnight and I'll check it in the morning. If its all freed up, I'll put it back in the car just to check it's fixed the fault but I'll still swap it our for the new one once it arrives, it's only a 15min swap.
Well I had to have a little play didn't I! Like someone using a fidget spinner, as mentioned above, whilst I watched a film last night I was absent mindedly working the valve back and forth and after about an hour I noticed that the valve was opening just a tiny more and more as time went on (like another 1-2 degrees after an hour). As the hard stop didn't feel like it was something hitting metal, but more of a soft feeling thud like hitting compressed soil etc, I decided to leave the top part of the valve in some cleaning solution overnight (the top part in the below image has no electronics in it) and this morning after just a few minutes of working it back & forth again -
TADA!!!!!!
With a very rough feeling it finally was able to be fully opened (yay!), and then stayed open (bugger!) as the return spring couldn't over-power whatever was causing the jam. However, now I knew the jam wasn't permanent I squirted some electrolube where the rod entered the body and started working the valve again and after about 10-15 minutes the valve was able to open and, more importantly, the springs were able to close it.
It was still rough with one place about 1/2 way being a very obvious sticking point but after more electrolube and another 30mins the valve is now back to fully opening and closing correctly!
As fitting/removing the valve from the car is only a 15min job I refitted the valve to see if that clears up the fault and [Borat]Great Success![/Borat]. The idle hunts about 150rpm so the valve isn't perfect but at least when the new valve arrives I know it'll cure the fault and, as mentioned, its only a 15min swap over plus 30 second "Adaption".
As to what's caused this, I've no idea as nothing has come out (dirt/dust etc) during all this and the cleaning solution was the same colour before/after. If I had to guess based only on what the jam "felt" like, I'd say something organic rather than something metallic, but without taking the valve apart (potentially destructive) then I've no idea, especially as it happen whilst driving (which is 2-3 times a week) rather than say after being left unused for months etc.
TADA!!!!!!
With a very rough feeling it finally was able to be fully opened (yay!), and then stayed open (bugger!) as the return spring couldn't over-power whatever was causing the jam. However, now I knew the jam wasn't permanent I squirted some electrolube where the rod entered the body and started working the valve again and after about 10-15 minutes the valve was able to open and, more importantly, the springs were able to close it.
It was still rough with one place about 1/2 way being a very obvious sticking point but after more electrolube and another 30mins the valve is now back to fully opening and closing correctly!
As fitting/removing the valve from the car is only a 15min job I refitted the valve to see if that clears up the fault and [Borat]Great Success![/Borat]. The idle hunts about 150rpm so the valve isn't perfect but at least when the new valve arrives I know it'll cure the fault and, as mentioned, its only a 15min swap over plus 30 second "Adaption".
As to what's caused this, I've no idea as nothing has come out (dirt/dust etc) during all this and the cleaning solution was the same colour before/after. If I had to guess based only on what the jam "felt" like, I'd say something organic rather than something metallic, but without taking the valve apart (potentially destructive) then I've no idea, especially as it happen whilst driving (which is 2-3 times a week) rather than say after being left unused for months etc.
IanH755 said:
Well I had to have a little play didn't I! Like someone using a fidget spinner, as mentioned above, whilst I watched a film last night I was absent mindedly working the valve back and forth and after about an hour I noticed that the valve was opening just a tiny more and more as time went on (like another 1-2 degrees after an hour). As the hard stop didn't feel like it was something hitting metal, but more of a soft feeling thud like hitting compressed soil etc, I decided to leave the top part of the valve in some cleaning solution overnight (the top part in the below image has no electronics in it) and this morning after just a few minutes of working it back & forth again -
TADA!!!!!!
With a very rough feeling it finally was able to be fully opened (yay!), and then stayed open (bugger!) as the return spring couldn't over-power whatever was causing the jam. However, now I knew the jam wasn't permanent I squirted some electrolube where the rod entered the body and started working the valve again and after about 10-15 minutes the valve was able to open and, more importantly, the springs were able to close it.
It was still rough with one place about 1/2 way being a very obvious sticking point but after more electrolube and another 30mins the valve is now back to fully opening and closing correctly!
As fitting/removing the valve from the car is only a 15min job I refitted the valve to see if that clears up the fault and [Borat]Great Success![/Borat]. The idle hunts about 150rpm so the valve isn't perfect but at least when the new valve arrives I know it'll cure the fault and, as mentioned, its only a 15min swap over plus 30 second "Adaption".
As to what's caused this, I've no idea as nothing has come out (dirt/dust etc) during all this and the cleaning solution was the same colour before/after. If I had to guess based only on what the jam "felt" like, I'd say something organic rather than something metallic, but without taking the valve apart (potentially destructive) then I've no idea, especially as it happen whilst driving (which is 2-3 times a week) rather than say after being left unused for months etc.
Looks like a perfect excuse to buy an ultrasonic cleaner! TADA!!!!!!
With a very rough feeling it finally was able to be fully opened (yay!), and then stayed open (bugger!) as the return spring couldn't over-power whatever was causing the jam. However, now I knew the jam wasn't permanent I squirted some electrolube where the rod entered the body and started working the valve again and after about 10-15 minutes the valve was able to open and, more importantly, the springs were able to close it.
It was still rough with one place about 1/2 way being a very obvious sticking point but after more electrolube and another 30mins the valve is now back to fully opening and closing correctly!
As fitting/removing the valve from the car is only a 15min job I refitted the valve to see if that clears up the fault and [Borat]Great Success![/Borat]. The idle hunts about 150rpm so the valve isn't perfect but at least when the new valve arrives I know it'll cure the fault and, as mentioned, its only a 15min swap over plus 30 second "Adaption".
As to what's caused this, I've no idea as nothing has come out (dirt/dust etc) during all this and the cleaning solution was the same colour before/after. If I had to guess based only on what the jam "felt" like, I'd say something organic rather than something metallic, but without taking the valve apart (potentially destructive) then I've no idea, especially as it happen whilst driving (which is 2-3 times a week) rather than say after being left unused for months etc.
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