Audi S4 V8 engine

[blade7]

Love the exhaust note on these cars so toyed with the idea of an Avant for my daily, bit of searching suggests all is not well on the long life service plan Audi recommend though, cases of cam chain tensioners causing expensive problems are not uncommon.

This is the rear view so it has to come out to fix it apparently.

Edited by blade7 on Monday 2nd January 16:54

[blade7]

Cupramax said:

Yep, its an engine out job IF they go. Audi dont recommend long life service if you're doing mainly short journeys, its only for cars doing 15k or over per year mainly long journeys. If I was going to keep a car for myself it'd have an oil change every 10k.

Think there was mention of the chain guides causing problems too, some owners were talking about oil every 5-6k to be on the safe side and avoid the £3k+ bill to sort it out.

[blade7]

morgrp said:

As for long life servicing? Well you're a mug if you believe it's a good idea

I don't.

[blade7]

jason s4 said:

Rattling chains on start up is common on these, although the rattle should go within a second.

These cars are just starting to creep to 100K miles and so more problems are becoming apparent.

Lack of care is the main reason.

My V8 is running sweet with regular oil changes and services.

Best to try and pick one up with reasonable mileage, and well documented history.

Overall though, these engines are fairly bullet proof.

Doesn't really look like a diy job if there are problems though, on one of the forums an Audi tech suggested good cars could be scrapped when it becomes uneconomic to repair the engines.

[blade7]

Supposedly some leggy engines are also suffering from bore and valve guide wear, I wonder what would be the easiest transplant if the V8 went pop, 5 cylinder turbo maybe .

[blade7]

Scuffers said:

sounds like they need better oil and more changes?

Could be, interesting to know if another engine would bolt up to the gearbox without too much trouble though.

[blade7]

The Triumph Stag had a reputation for timing chain issues years ago, I've had 4 Stags and never had a problem with any of them.....

[blade7]

Four Litre said:

The only downer with these cars is the gearing, the manual cruises at 3.3-5rpm and as a result loves a drink, its one car where the auto is better on mpg and will cruise at 1.5rpm.

What speed is 3.5k rpm in 6th ?.

[blade7]

schmalex said:

About 85 IIRC

It could do with a much longer 6th gear, as that's a little too frenetic

seems strange.

[blade7]

blade7 said:

Four Litre said:

The only downer with these cars is the gearing, the manual cruises at 3.3-5rpm and as a result loves a drink, its one car where the auto is better on mpg and will cruise at 1.5rpm.

What speed is 3.5k rpm in 6th ?.

Checked my 2.0T and 85 is under 3K rpm.