New Family Car - Audi S6 V10 Content
Discussion
Hey, yea that was me! Pretty sure there can't be many other V10 wagons in reading beside these two!
That M5 looks lovely, always really like the E6X shape and could it get much better than an NA V10?!?
Would have liked one of budget and type approval allowed! Plate is awesome
Funnily enough we had just got back from the new forest... 16.5 mpg while towing wasn't as bad as I expected!
That M5 looks lovely, always really like the E6X shape and could it get much better than an NA V10?!?
Would have liked one of budget and type approval allowed! Plate is awesome
Funnily enough we had just got back from the new forest... 16.5 mpg while towing wasn't as bad as I expected!
Low teens is standard around town with low 20's on a steady run.
I'll need to have a ride in the M5 as I've never been in one. My only experience is being passed by one at full throttle down the Wokingham road by Sol Joel Park back when they were first released. From the way it was being driven I assumed it came from the local "hire car" company lol
I'll need to have a ride in the M5 as I've never been in one. My only experience is being passed by one at full throttle down the Wokingham road by Sol Joel Park back when they were first released. From the way it was being driven I assumed it came from the local "hire car" company lol
Couple of issues to report.....some self induced!
First, the car wouldn't change out of first gear, unless I used the paddles/manual mode. Then it would also seemingly cut all power.
Thoughts of expensive gearbox rebuilds running through my head were not too pleasant, however a quick trip to the phirm and it was all sorted.
Turned out to be an £11 brake light switch. As the gearbox thought the car was going to be slowing down it wouldn't change up (unless manually told to or you hit redline). A quick replacement and all was well....
Until i noticed that the Airconditioning seemed to stop working, I was increasingly having to demist the windscreen. Having done two compressor changes on my MPS I really didn't fancy doing anything like that on this car and could imagine the potential bill being fairly large. I contacted a local car A/C specialist i've used before (and was recommended off here) - auto air conditioning ltd. He came out to my work and had a quick look over. Car didn't have a full charge of gas but was not low enough to stop it running. Diagnostic scan revealed a faulty pressure sensor which is apparently pretty common on this age of VAG.
20 minutes later he had fitted a new updated design one and topped up the gas and everything kicked in. Nice icy cold A/C ready for the (supposed) hot weather next week
Looks like the electrical gremlins are starting to show up!
Self induced issues - looks like a hole has been punched into the arch liner - i expect from when it went out in the snow. Also while in the new forest a trip through a ford managed to snap off the rear engine shield/undertray. I'm guessing it was missing a bolt or two in the first place as I wasn't exactly hitting it at speed (I had a caravan on the back!). Unfortunately it snapped it so its not salvageable.
Audi parts prices mean a not insignificant bill of £200 for the liner and undertray
They are ordered up and should be on their way from Germany
Someone also left me a nice present in the form of a small car park ding on the rear door
Made myself feel better by giving it a good blast - I dont think i'll ever tire of the noise
First, the car wouldn't change out of first gear, unless I used the paddles/manual mode. Then it would also seemingly cut all power.
Thoughts of expensive gearbox rebuilds running through my head were not too pleasant, however a quick trip to the phirm and it was all sorted.
Turned out to be an £11 brake light switch. As the gearbox thought the car was going to be slowing down it wouldn't change up (unless manually told to or you hit redline). A quick replacement and all was well....
Until i noticed that the Airconditioning seemed to stop working, I was increasingly having to demist the windscreen. Having done two compressor changes on my MPS I really didn't fancy doing anything like that on this car and could imagine the potential bill being fairly large. I contacted a local car A/C specialist i've used before (and was recommended off here) - auto air conditioning ltd. He came out to my work and had a quick look over. Car didn't have a full charge of gas but was not low enough to stop it running. Diagnostic scan revealed a faulty pressure sensor which is apparently pretty common on this age of VAG.
20 minutes later he had fitted a new updated design one and topped up the gas and everything kicked in. Nice icy cold A/C ready for the (supposed) hot weather next week
Looks like the electrical gremlins are starting to show up!
Self induced issues - looks like a hole has been punched into the arch liner - i expect from when it went out in the snow. Also while in the new forest a trip through a ford managed to snap off the rear engine shield/undertray. I'm guessing it was missing a bolt or two in the first place as I wasn't exactly hitting it at speed (I had a caravan on the back!). Unfortunately it snapped it so its not salvageable.
Audi parts prices mean a not insignificant bill of £200 for the liner and undertray
They are ordered up and should be on their way from Germany
Someone also left me a nice present in the form of a small car park ding on the rear door
Made myself feel better by giving it a good blast - I dont think i'll ever tire of the noise
Funny you should say that.....
Had the dent removed from the door by a local PDR guy so the bodywork is back to being lovely and dent free.
It then decided that having a working thermostat wasn't required. In stop start traffic heading into london on the M4 I suddenly noticed the temp guage climbing (reached about 3/4 and fortunately no dash high temp alert) - pulled over and shut the engine off, Fired it back up 5 minutes later and it was sitting in the middle again. Turned the interior blower onto full heat mode which kept it in check for the remainder of my journey in (and back out again). However the combination of 25+ degrees outside and full heat was not the most pleasant!
Thermostat replaced and all good. Except now it has decided to develop a very intermittent electrical fault,
Occasionally when starting it, it will turn over for much longer and struggle to fire up. When it does the dash looks like a christmas tree. Turning it off and on again resolves in 90% of the cases. The other 10 it just needs a bit longer..... Fault scanner revealed a load of low voltage faults however investigation seem to suggest they are all on the same circuit and run off the same fuse;
2x MAF sensors
Right hand engine mount
Left hand engine mount
Secondary Air Pump Relay
Evap Canister Purge Valve
Initially thought it was my battery but got it tested and its in perfect health (advantage of removing the battery was that my gearbox has obviously relearnt its programming and is now smoother than ever. Shifts are completely imperceptible when cruising)
My inkling is a Relay - it would explain why it only happens when its starting (first energised) and a restart makes everything fine.
Garage suspect similar and its booked in for them to investigate. Ive opened up both relay boxes and cant see anything obvious, but with the lack of proper wiring diagram i'm a bit lost as to where to begin. Relay boxes are also not exactly the most accessible thanks to some moron fitting a V10 in the engine bay....
It also got 4x new tyres - went for Yokohama Advan Sport V105's for the bargain price of £160/corner. I'm normally a big Michelin fan and wanted PS4S's but at nearly £100 extra per corner this seemed like it was worth a shot
In other news - it has been a fitting workhorse for moving our Soapbox cart around being the only car any of us have thats big enough for the body to fit in has meant its come in super useful. It was an idea we had while at Le Mans 2017 and unlike most of these ideas its actually produced something! So we will be hurtling it down a rather steep hill, with various obstacles and jumps in the name of a local kids charity.
Pics of the only properly working thing I can drive at the moment
Had the dent removed from the door by a local PDR guy so the bodywork is back to being lovely and dent free.
It then decided that having a working thermostat wasn't required. In stop start traffic heading into london on the M4 I suddenly noticed the temp guage climbing (reached about 3/4 and fortunately no dash high temp alert) - pulled over and shut the engine off, Fired it back up 5 minutes later and it was sitting in the middle again. Turned the interior blower onto full heat mode which kept it in check for the remainder of my journey in (and back out again). However the combination of 25+ degrees outside and full heat was not the most pleasant!
Thermostat replaced and all good. Except now it has decided to develop a very intermittent electrical fault,
Occasionally when starting it, it will turn over for much longer and struggle to fire up. When it does the dash looks like a christmas tree. Turning it off and on again resolves in 90% of the cases. The other 10 it just needs a bit longer..... Fault scanner revealed a load of low voltage faults however investigation seem to suggest they are all on the same circuit and run off the same fuse;
2x MAF sensors
Right hand engine mount
Left hand engine mount
Secondary Air Pump Relay
Evap Canister Purge Valve
Initially thought it was my battery but got it tested and its in perfect health (advantage of removing the battery was that my gearbox has obviously relearnt its programming and is now smoother than ever. Shifts are completely imperceptible when cruising)
My inkling is a Relay - it would explain why it only happens when its starting (first energised) and a restart makes everything fine.
Garage suspect similar and its booked in for them to investigate. Ive opened up both relay boxes and cant see anything obvious, but with the lack of proper wiring diagram i'm a bit lost as to where to begin. Relay boxes are also not exactly the most accessible thanks to some moron fitting a V10 in the engine bay....
It also got 4x new tyres - went for Yokohama Advan Sport V105's for the bargain price of £160/corner. I'm normally a big Michelin fan and wanted PS4S's but at nearly £100 extra per corner this seemed like it was worth a shot
In other news - it has been a fitting workhorse for moving our Soapbox cart around being the only car any of us have thats big enough for the body to fit in has meant its come in super useful. It was an idea we had while at Le Mans 2017 and unlike most of these ideas its actually produced something! So we will be hurtling it down a rather steep hill, with various obstacles and jumps in the name of a local kids charity.
Pics of the only properly working thing I can drive at the moment
I found this service training guide really helpful when I had minor issues if you haven’t already got it.
http://www.vaglinks.com/vaglinks_com/docs/ssp/VWUS...
http://www.vaglinks.com/vaglinks_com/docs/ssp/VWUS...
That soapbox racer is absolutely brilliant! It has my full approval.
I'm just guessing, but I'd go along with your thoughts about a relay being the issue. It could be a hooky board or earth that is intermittent too I suppose.
Hope its an easy fix. Intermittent electrical issues bring me out in cold sweats!
I'm just guessing, but I'd go along with your thoughts about a relay being the issue. It could be a hooky board or earth that is intermittent too I suppose.
Hope its an easy fix. Intermittent electrical issues bring me out in cold sweats!
Haven't updated this for a while, but the electrical issue is now sorted. No idea what it was but I removed all the scuttle and accessed both relay boxes and ECUs. Couldn't spot anything obvious so put it all back together and booked it in for a few weeks time. While I was there I cleaned the drain holes and a small collection of leaves out too.
Ever since though it has been faultless and hasn't repeated the trick at all. It had all the symptoms of a sticky relay so it may have just freed itself, either that or one wasn't seated quite right and my prodding resolved. Either way it's done a few thousand miles now with daily starts and has been great.
Still need to order the replacement gearbox undertray and drivers arch liner but other than that it's all been good.
I'm starting to do more mileage with work and the expense rate barely covers the fuel so I may need to rethink car options long term. But the S6 is wonderful for wafting down the motorway and is decent enough when there's some clear roads. Loving the NA power delivery over my old turbos - it's just so much fun to wind the engine up and also to have that instantaneous throttle response - it's not as fast but it's much more satisfying. The new Yoko's have removed a lot of the understeer (probably down to the worn tyres) and it's less prone now - there's no getting round the fact there's lots of weight over the front axle though so it's never going to be last word in dynamics.
Managed the 200 miles to North Devon with a caravan on the back admirably although we did find out that Westfalia hadn't worked the split charge relay in correctly so ancillary electrics like fridge weren't working.
Overall its been fairly uneventful and it continues to be a great all rounder - also passed its MOT with no advisories which is always nice!
Ever since though it has been faultless and hasn't repeated the trick at all. It had all the symptoms of a sticky relay so it may have just freed itself, either that or one wasn't seated quite right and my prodding resolved. Either way it's done a few thousand miles now with daily starts and has been great.
Still need to order the replacement gearbox undertray and drivers arch liner but other than that it's all been good.
I'm starting to do more mileage with work and the expense rate barely covers the fuel so I may need to rethink car options long term. But the S6 is wonderful for wafting down the motorway and is decent enough when there's some clear roads. Loving the NA power delivery over my old turbos - it's just so much fun to wind the engine up and also to have that instantaneous throttle response - it's not as fast but it's much more satisfying. The new Yoko's have removed a lot of the understeer (probably down to the worn tyres) and it's less prone now - there's no getting round the fact there's lots of weight over the front axle though so it's never going to be last word in dynamics.
Managed the 200 miles to North Devon with a caravan on the back admirably although we did find out that Westfalia hadn't worked the split charge relay in correctly so ancillary electrics like fridge weren't working.
Overall its been fairly uneventful and it continues to be a great all rounder - also passed its MOT with no advisories which is always nice!
Very nice car. We were considering this over our current A6 3.0T, but decided to go with the 3.0T because it was considerably newer and facelifted, with modern day technology, and seemingly less bork. That didn't stop the thermostat going the day we bought it.
We also get 9.6mpg sometimes when doing short drives, think there wasn't much of a fuel economy difference between the two.
We also get 9.6mpg sometimes when doing short drives, think there wasn't much of a fuel economy difference between the two.
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