Audi A6/S4 2.7T - Turbo Issues

[Tonberry]

I'm after an effortless wafter with a bit of poke and the A6 2.7T fits the bill.

Sadly it seems that the 2.7TT engine shared between the S4 and A6 has a habit of lunching its turbos.

Can this be avoided by regular oil changes as preventative maintenance? Or is it a given that the K03s will fail eventually?

It seems as if 2000 car with 100k on the clock can be picked up for circa £2k which is very tempting.

[HiAsAKite]

I have an A6 2.7T manual, and it is a lovely car to drive - currently on 117K with turbo's going strong.

Its not the most 'precise' interms of steering/feel etc, but for a large 4x4 estate it does very well.

Its also very cheaply tunable, which transforms the car to be honest..

Unsurprisingly it likes a drink (25-28mpg in the real world), but thats the price you pay for the rest of the package..

In the right colour, its extremly anonymous, which can be a good thing

[blade7]

Heard it's an engine out job to do the turbos when they go, fancied an S4 but I think it's when not if for turbo repair.

[redgriff500]

I think it's turbos are no better / worse than any other cars.

It used to be they all went around 70k but with modern oil / intervals they last much longer these days.

Mate had an S4 and managed to get 27mpg and he drove pretty quickly.

But he let it get low on oil which killed the turbos £3k bill IIRC

[V8Wagon]

I had an S6....same car with the V8 in it. Loved it! quicker than the Turbo's with less potential hassle.

[Herman Toothrot]

I wanted a V8 A6, couldn't find one anywhere that wasn't clocked or had iffy history so settled on the 2.7T, found ine under budget with full history and a Clean record. It's been faultless, currently on about 90,000 miles on original turbos, did 2000 miles in one week round France earlier this year, averaged 25.6 mpg I think.

[Scuffers]

used to have an A6 2.7T quattro a while back, mechanically, never had any issues with it except for a split air pipe on one of the inter-coolers (cost ~£10 to fix).

had it for ~3 years, it was a great barge, not at all sporty, very softly sprung, etc.

Only issues I have heard about with the turbo's is either lack of oil (they die before the engine) and when they have been chipped up and over-worked.

[crusty]

Had a couple of S4's one did over 150K when I sold it, and engine was very strong.

Don't listen to all the internet scaremongering

[Deerfoot]

Tonberry said:

I'm after an effortless wafter with a bit of poke and the A6 2.7T fits the bill.

Sadly it seems that the 2.7TT engine shared between the S4 and A6 has a habit of lunching its turbos.

Can this be avoided by regular oil changes as preventative maintenance? Or is it a given that the K03s will fail eventually?

It seems as if 2000 car with 100k on the clock can be picked up for circa £2k which is very tempting.

I`d try DrG or Tame Technician in the VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda forum, really helpful guys who will see you right.

[LeoSayer]

For the price these cars go for now, it's worth the risk.

I invested a fir bit of money in my 2.7T A6 recently on suspension, autobox oil change, discs etc. I wouldn't have done that unless I had confidence it would last a good few more years. It's a 2002 250bhp model with 91k.

[Tonberry]

Thanks for the replies. Mainly positive ownership experieces so far.

What exactly is the 2.7T lacking in regards to the full fat 265bhp S4?

I would imagine a very tame map but is there any differences in hardware too?

An S4 should remap to 300bhp so in theory the 2.7T sould also yield similar results after a remap.

I've found a link that explains in slightly more detail as to why the turbos may fail. Seems the actual turbos are fine which would make sense as the K03 is used in many VAG cars without issue.

http://germancarwiki.com/doku.php/audi/s4/b5/commo...

[HiAsAKite]

Tonberry said:

Thanks for the replies. Mainly positive ownership experieces so far.

What exactly is the 2.7T lacking in regards to the full fat 265bhp S4?

I would imagine a very tame map but is there any differences in hardware too?

An S4 should remap to 300bhp so in theory the 2.7T sould also yield similar results after a remap.

I've found a link that explains in slightly more detail as to why the turbos may fail. Seems the actual turbos are fine which would make sense as the K03 is used in many VAG cars without issue.

http://germancarwiki.com/doku.php/audi/s4/b5/commo...

Exact same engine mechanicals, go and see MRC or AMD and it will remap to c300bhp

[Herman Toothrot]

Just drove mine home and noticed it's not on 90,000 that's the other cars it's on 111,000 so i'd agree forget the scaremongering. I think the 1st thing to fail will be the tiptronic box as it's a bit clunky sometimes, just had the fluid replaced in it so will have to see how long it lasts.

[LeoSayer]

Tonberry said:

What exactly is the 2.7T lacking in regards to the full fat 265bhp S4?

It has more torque at wider rev range but loses on the top end.

I very rarely explore the upper rev range as the autobox on mine has very long ratios - 85mph in 2nd and 2000rpm at 70mph in 5th.

The additional body weight (c 200kg) of the A6 helps to blunt performance.

[Herman Toothrot]

I can't say I've ever felt mine to ever feel underpowered and I only ever drive it as an auto I do tend to keep the foot buried when overtaking an it'll rev straight through the 6500rpm rev line to 7000rpm and it makes a nice howl whilst doing so