B8 S4 Ownership

[MattS5]

mattb46 said:

Whats the general consensus on the reliability of the gearbox on these cars? I have provisionally bought a 2012 S4 avant with super low miles (less than 5k) but find the stories of £8-12k gearbox bills are making me lose sleep over the decision

Is this car red by any chance?

[Phill_1981]

fastgerman said:

Hi All,

Started using my S4 again recently (2015 Black Edition Avant), its a great car and very different to the S5 (early 4.2 V8). One thing I had forgotten is how much the car pulls you around on uneven roads. Does anyone else get this? I haven't ticked the dynamic steering option so just standard, whatever that is.

I get this in mine, it's so bad sometimes I actually got the dealer to check everything was ok with it. They said it's normal. (I have dynamic steering) Even the camber of the road pulls you to the curb meaning you have to always have some sort of pressure on the steering wheel. Sometimes it ruins the enjoyment of the car for me.

[silentbrown]

Adrian E said:

Assuming it doesn't have hill hold assist, putting it into R and releasing the brake with the steering straight should result in the car moving of its own accord on level ground. If you're having to dial in revs well above idle then there's something very wrong.

My car has always been a little slow when engaging reverse. Doesn't need revs, but does take a second or two to think about it. Certainly wouldn't want to go autotesting with it!

[fastgerman]

Phill_1981 said:

fastgerman said:

Hi All,

Started using my S4 again recently (2015 Black Edition Avant), its a great car and very different to the S5 (early 4.2 V8). One thing I had forgotten is how much the car pulls you around on uneven roads. Does anyone else get this? I haven't ticked the dynamic steering option so just standard, whatever that is.

I get this in mine, it's so bad sometimes I actually got the dealer to check everything was ok with it. They said it's normal. (I have dynamic steering) Even the camber of the road pulls you to the curb meaning you have to always have some sort of pressure on the steering wheel. Sometimes it ruins the enjoyment of the car for me.

I just drive with both hands on the dodgy roads and if you go faster, it does it less :-)

Good excuse to put it in manual, use the paddles and pretend you're a touring car driver

[Adrian E]

silentbrown said:

Adrian E said:

Assuming it doesn't have hill hold assist, putting it into R and releasing the brake with the steering straight should result in the car moving of its own accord on level ground. If you're having to dial in revs well above idle then there's something very wrong.

My car has always been a little slow when engaging reverse. Doesn't need revs, but does take a second or two to think about it. Certainly wouldn't want to go autotesting with it!

Yes, agreed it's not instant. I generally try to allow the clutch to engage itself before touching the throttle so maybe if being a bit hasty that's the effect? I generally find if you're a bit quick about it you just get a slightly lurchy step off, but no over-revving

[mattb46]

Apologies, how would you know if a car has hillhold assist? I just stuck it into reverse, made sure park was off and then touched the accelerator pedal. The car was not on a hill at the time.

Edited by mattb46 on Friday 2nd December 17:48

[Adrian E]

mattb46 said:

Apologies, how would you know if a car has hillhold assist? I just stuck it into reverse, made sure park was off and then touched the accelerator pedal. The car was not on a hill at the time.

Edited by mattb46 on Friday 2nd December 17:48

The parking brake button has another one behind it and looks like this:

[LocoBlade]

mattb46 said:

Thanks very much for the responses and advice, much appreciated
The reason I ask re the gearbox was that I noticed when I test drove it that from cold, it was initially slightly reluctant to reverse: it didn't want to start to reverse with just a tickle of the throttle and I had to dial in 2-3k to get it going.

Doesnt sound right, my 2012 S4 when cold (or hot) will reverse slowly with no throttle applied at all. Its occasionally a little more lethargic to engage the clutch to pull away when its cold but its only minor.

[catso]

Phill_1981 said:

fastgerman said:

Hi All,

Started using my S4 again recently (2015 Black Edition Avant), its a great car and very different to the S5 (early 4.2 V8). One thing I had forgotten is how much the car pulls you around on uneven roads. Does anyone else get this? I haven't ticked the dynamic steering option so just standard, whatever that is.

I get this in mine, it's so bad sometimes I actually got the dealer to check everything was ok with it. They said it's normal. (I have dynamic steering) Even the camber of the road pulls you to the curb meaning you have to always have some sort of pressure on the steering wheel. Sometimes it ruins the enjoyment of the car for me.

Same here, car is very keen to follow the undulations, camber etc. of the road and so need to be a little more aware than in 'other' cars.

I put it down to the low profile tyres and stiff suspension.

[Rich_W]

mattb46 said:

Thanks very much for the responses and advice, much appreciated

The reason I ask re the gearbox was that I noticed when I test drove it that from cold, it was initially slightly reluctant to reverse: it didn't want to start to reverse with just a tickle of the throttle and I had to dial in 2-3k to get it going. It didn't suddenly leap back with that throttle input and thereafter didn't need as much throttle. In every other respect the gearbox worked perfectly on my test drive with no clunks, noises, shifting problems or anything else that I noticed. Im told that this symptom could be nothing and is not consistent with a mechatronic unit problem by Unit 20. However Ive also been told the opposite by a forum member. The cost to sort using ecutesting.com to repair the existing mechatronic unit and then re-fit would I suspect be approx £1500-2000 I think. I can live that provided thats the end of its troubles. Its the gearbox Im nervous about though as what is currently a bargain, could quickly cease to be one....

In my experience there's only 2 things that get replaced often on these. The mechatronic and the clutch packs. The former more often and doesn't need the removal of the box.

The gearbox itself, by which I mean the gears, shafts, bearings are pretty reliable (ymmv of course)

silentbrown said:

Adrian E said:

Assuming it doesn't have hill hold assist, putting it into R and releasing the brake with the steering straight should result in the car moving of its own accord on level ground. If you're having to dial in revs well above idle then there's something very wrong.

My car has always been a little slow when engaging reverse. Doesn't need revs, but does take a second or two to think about it. Certainly wouldn't want to go autotesting with it!

That's a characteristic of the box.

Essentially customers would start the car, put it in reverse to back off drive/out of garage. There would be a pause. And customers would get frustrated and nail the throttle some more. And the car would launch backwards at a greater speed.


Reason is that when it goes into reverse the oil ways are longer than for the forward gears. So there's a slight delay as the fluid makes its way around the box to engage the right part of the mechatronic and thus engage reverse.

But it's only "really bad" for initial startup/first use of reverse. And "less" when in normal driving.

If you break the system down to a pretty simple level. The driver puts it in gear. that info is sent to the gearbox electrically. The solenoids inside move the fluid to the selectors in the box, the gears are engaged accordingly. The clutch engages away we go. So if the mechatronic playing up, you get all manner of shift issues. If the clutches are knackered you might get a judder on pull away (much like a normal clutch being shagged) or slipping. And bear in mind the mechantronic also contains the gearbox ecu.

[mattb46]

Thanks Rich. So on what was a really cold morning is it possible that what I experienced when first engaging reverse and getting nothing until I gave it some revs was a delay caused by the oil and this described initial sluggishness?

[catso]

Not sure if relevant but my old A3 3.2 DSG the delay into reverse was much more pronounced than the S4. Guessing the newer box had various improvements?

[Rich_W]

mattb46 said:

Thanks Rich. So on what was a really cold morning is it possible that what I experienced when first engaging reverse and getting nothing until I gave it some revs was a delay caused by the oil and this described initial sluggishness?

Possible, but only if it did it once. You mentioned it did it several times. And from that I interpreted it was a pronounced delay each time. Not a momentary pause. So still leaning towards possible mechatronic. If you've ever driven a regular auto. Mercedes/BM etc. Was the delay comparable going between forward and reverse?


This specialist you went to. Any fault codes in the gearbox?

[RammyMP]

Adrian E said:

mattb46 said:

Apologies, how would you know if a car has hillhold assist? I just stuck it into reverse, made sure park was off and then touched the accelerator pedal. The car was not on a hill at the time.

Edited by mattb46 on Friday 2nd December 17:48

The parking brake button has another one behind it and looks like this:

That button holds the handbrake on when you stop on the brake without you having to flick the handbrake switch. That is hill hold assist.

The hill hold was fitted as standard from about 2014 which holds the car for a second or two when you release the foot brake but only when you are on a hill. There isn't a button for this, it does it automatically when you are on a slope.

[mattb46]

Hi Rich

Thanks for the post and further thoughts. I only had to select reverse once so no it wasn't a problem that repeated itself. It might have done so, but I didn't check again. Thereafter I only drove it in M, S and D and it was faultless

At the time, when the car refused to start reversing with a nudge of the throttle I thought that maybe there was a large stone behind one of the wheels, it was that kind of feeling (there wasn't!). Once Id gotten it started moving backwards with a decent application of throttle, I think it felt normal and continued to roll backwards without issue

That was the first time Id driven an auto Audi and have always owned manuals so could I have done something wrong out of ignorance? I am pretty sure that I turned off the elec park button but didn't know to do anything else.

Edited by mattb46 on Saturday 3rd December 13:51

[LocoBlade]

The S-Ttronic box does a very good impression of hill hold anyway. Mine's not got HHA but on a hill you can come off the brake and it won't roll backwards

[catso]

mattb46 said:

At the time, when the car refused to start reversing with a nudge of the throttle I thought that maybe there was a large stone behind one of the wheels, it was that kind of feeling (there wasn't!). Once Id gotten it started moving backwards with a decent application of throttle, I think it felt normal and continued to roll backwards without issue

Auto handbrake release?

If the handbrake is on, mine will only auto-release the brake after the application of some throttle (and if seatbelt fastened) so it will feel like something's holding it until it does let go, maybe yours activates at a higher throttle opening?

If so try manually releasing the brake first and it should roll back without any throttle.

[mattb46]

Thanks Catso

I think Ihad released the elc brake but now am beginning to doubt myself. I definitely didn't have the seatbelt on though if that makes any difference?

[Adrian E]

mattb46 said:

Thanks Catso

I think Ihad released the elc brake but now am beginning to doubt myself. I definitely didn't have the seatbelt on though if that makes any difference?

The parking brake won't release automatically at all without your seatbelt on, unless the interlock has been coded out.

Where's the car located, as maybe someone more familiar with the model can offer you a 2nd opinion?

[mattb46]

Thanks v much. Thats a great idea re a second opinion. Its in Ellesmere Port (its a trade sale). Anyone in that neck of the woods able to help? Bottle of wine and petrol money paid of course.