B8 S4 Ownership

[Adrian E]

So is this on the input shaft to the rear diff, presumably? What year?

A quick look suggests all seals, flanges etc are available, but there's nothing showing internal parts of the diff, for standard or sports diff, or bearings.

[daveydees]

Adrian E said:

So is this on the input shaft to the rear diff, presumably? What year?

A quick look suggests all seals, flanges etc are available, but there's nothing showing internal parts of the diff, for standard or sports diff, or bearings.

Yep, it's 2009. He mentioned there was some play, but I've not noticed any noises or anything. If it was bad enough to cause a leak, surely it'd be making a noise? Wonder if its worth just getting the seals done and seeing how it goes?

[daveydees]

daveydees said:

Adrian E said:

So is this on the input shaft to the rear diff, presumably? What year?

A quick look suggests all seals, flanges etc are available, but there's nothing showing internal parts of the diff, for standard or sports diff, or bearings.

Yep, it's 2009. He mentioned there was some play, but I've not noticed any noises or anything. If it was bad enough to cause a leak, surely it'd be making a noise? Wonder if its worth just getting the seals done and seeing how it goes?

Actually, just spoken to the guy in more detail today. He was referring to one of the output shafts from the diff, not the input as I thought. Not so bad afterall - there's a TSB on these:

"Oil leak in the area of the sport differential side flange, or axle shaft inboard flange.
Technical Background
Insufficient sealant on the protective
cap of the inboard constant velocity
joint can allow oil to leak passed the
protective cap or bolt holes. It may
appear like a sports differential side
seal is leaking.

All greases consist of oil and
thickener. It is a normal characteristic
of all greases that some oil may
separate from the thickener. Due to
the oil’s lower viscosity, only the oil
leaks from the axle and this can make
it appear like the sports differential is
leaking"

Still wont solve the issue of play in the bearing, but I'll get him to replace the seals anyway and see how it goes.

[bungle]

Bloody annoying. Noticed my rear light was broken this morning. I can only assume someone ran into it when i was parked. But seems strange, as it isn't the most "sticking-out" part of the car (the bumper protudes more).

Does anyone know:

1. where to get one at a decent price?, and;
2. how easy is to remove/refit?

Is it worth sticking some tape on it for now to stop it falling apart? (or any other bright ideas??)

[daveydees]

bungle said:

Bloody annoying. Noticed my rear light was broken this morning. I can only assume someone ran into it when i was parked. But seems strange, as it isn't the most "sticking-out" part of the car (the bumper protudes more).

Does anyone know:

1. where to get one at a decent price?, and;
2. how easy is to remove/refit?

Is it worth sticking some tape on it for now to stop it falling apart? (or any other bright ideas??)

Oh man, that sucks! You can pick them up on ebay. Pretty easy to replace, it's like 1 screw that's hidden down a long hole. There's lots of stuff on youtube showing how to do it. My old fiesta had a cracked light similar to that for a long time, lots of spider web cracks all through it similar to yours. It was like that for 3+ years and never had any trouble with it so depends how bad yours is damaged? Obviously you wont want to obscure it so you'd have to use sellotape if you were going to tape it up as a temporary measure.

[Adrian E]

My S5 Sportback has decided cooling the engine is over-rated.....

Noticed the fans had been running harder than usual for the time of year/temperature just over the last week, but gauge reading was fine and coolant level spot on. I rarely drive the car except at weekends and my wife will drive round any fault whilst failing to mention it (thinking coil packs on our old A6 which she managed to drag to her office before telling me it wasn't running right - on 4 instead of 6 as it turned out!)

Sunday I parked it up and noticed the gauge was hovering just over 90C and fans running hard - no leaks, no coolant loss. Went to drive home and about 3 miles from home the gauge climbed to the top and the 'stop engine' warning came up, which I obeyed.

Initial thoughts are it's probably a jammed thermostat, as running the interior heater generated plenty of heat, which usually you won't get if the water pump is the issue (ours has the later metal pump). Deep job - supercharger off just to get to the poxy thermostat!

Currently waiting for the recovery outfit to rock up and collect the car to drop it to the main dealer - have extended warranty on the car, so looks like it's going to get its first use in the 3 years we've owned it! Anything else that's gone wrong has been below the excess threshold, or not covered, or done under goodwill.

Should a thermostat really fail on a sub-6 year old car with 50k miles?! I can't recall changing one on a car except as a precaution since I owned Mk2 Cortinas 20+ years ago!

[TomScrut]

Adrian E said:

(ours has the later metal pump)

That doesn't bring back good memories!

[Adrian E]

TomScrut said:

That doesn't bring back good memories!

Oh dear - care to elaborate!

[TomScrut]

Adrian E said:

TomScrut said:

That doesn't bring back good memories!

Oh dear - care to elaborate!

Had what seems to be a very similar situation to yourself, back in winter 2010/11, but basically it was when the engine got up to temp and the pump switched on it emptied the coolant system all over the floor. My car was left stranded (given that it drove a few miles before becoming an issue) and it was that the plastic water pump had ruptured in the cold weather. It went to the dealer, they said "we cannot get a pump as it affects all recent 6 cylinder Audis and it seems all of them are here with the same issue" (or words to that effect) so after about a week they ended up fitting a spurious metal pump until they could get an Audi metal pump which they replaced at a service. But the car they gave me for the week to replace the S4 was a FWD A4 which was useless in all the snow we were having at the time, and they had already given out all the 4WD courtesy cars. Despite me explaining the main reason I bought the Audi rather than the 335i was for its improved all weather ability they couldn't help me.

[Dr G]

Adrian E said:

Should a thermostat really fail on a sub-6 year old car with 50k miles?!

Not impossible - any part can theoretically fail I suppose. We did one for a very late, low mileage V8 S5 recently. I'd been driving it for a couple of weeks without issue and one day it just decided to get warm.

[Bluesmurff09]

I had the same symptoms i.e. no leak but the temp gauge shot up and water appeared to be boiling like a kettle. The garage replaced the water pump and thermostat and it now appears to be fine.

Fyi the pump they replaced was a metal one so I'm not sure if it had a plastic one originally as it's a September 2010 build.

Mat

[TomScrut]

Bluesmurff09 said:

I had the same symptoms i.e. no leak but the temp gauge shot up and water appeared to be boiling like a kettle. The garage replaced the water pump and thermostat and it now appears to be fine.

Fyi the pump they replaced was a metal one so I'm not sure if it had a plastic one originally as it's a September 2010 build.

Mat

I think it must have been some time in 2010 they changed it to the metal pump; mine was late 09 build but it was late 2010/early 2011 I had the trouble and there was a replacement part available already, just in short supply.

[Adrian E]

Bluesmurff09 said:

I had the same symptoms i.e. no leak but the temp gauge shot up and water appeared to be boiling like a kettle. The garage replaced the water pump and thermostat and it now appears to be fine.

Fyi the pump they replaced was a metal one so I'm not sure if it had a plastic one originally as it's a September 2010 build.

Mat

What was the reason for them doing the pump as well as the stat? Just uncertainty over the cause and a belt and braces approach, or did they manage to diagnose that both were faulty?

Spoke to the garage earlier and they seem to have decided that the stat is the most likely cause. They're suggesting I'll have it back before the end of the week, and I've given instructions to replace the belts for auxiliaries and supercharger while it's apart.

[Bluesmurff09]

They couldn't confirm which was faulty as the metal pump seemed to be spinning freely.

All in it cost me £645 as the pump was only £120 plus Vat to purchase. I decided that I may as well get it all done at the same time before I get the MRC stage 2 fitted.

Mat

[Adrian E]

Bluesmurff09 said:

They couldn't confirm which was faulty as the metal pump seemed to be spinning freely.

They seem confident in the thermostat diagnosis alone, so warranty company have authorised that. I asked them to quote for doing the water pump and both drive belts and at main dealer labour rates it was coming in at a stiff £564 on top of the £250 excess I'm going to have to pay. Have decided to leave it, as if the car still overheats they'll have to strip the front to do the water pump, at which point I won't have to pay the labour to change the belts.

At the moment the car doesn't need to go into the service position, as they can unhook the supercharger belt without removing it to gain access to the thermostat, so all the labour in doing that is on me if I choose to do the belts now, rather than wait for the car to be closer to 60k miles.

[andydax]

hi

Just wandering if anyone knows the true milage to get my supercharger belt changed on my 2013 S4.
Audi Edinburgh seem to think it's 40.000 , but the internet thinks 55 000 or 75 000 ??
Dont 100% trust the dealer i have to say.
thanks
andy

[TomScrut]

andydax said:

hi

Just wandering if anyone knows the true milage to get my supercharger belt changed on my 2013 S4.
Audi Edinburgh seem to think it's 40.000 , but the internet thinks 55 000 or 75 000 ??
Dont 100% trust the dealer i have to say.
thanks
andy

I had mine over 40k from new (09 plate though) and at around 38k they wanted the gearbox oil doing and that's it IIRC no SC belt.

[andydax]

TomScrut said:

I had mine over 40k from new (09 plate though) and at around 38k they wanted the gearbox oil doing and that's it IIRC no SC belt.

Hi
Yes i had the gearbox change done today on 37 500 , thats when they mentioned the SC belt.
cheers
andy

[Adrian E]

I've been told 60k miles for supercharger belt - about 1.5hrs labour to fit. Part is £20ish and worth doing aux belt too which is just over £50

[andydax]

Hi
To clarify , I messaged Audi uk last night . A technician left me a message this morning saying it is 40 000 miles.
I asked why it appears to be 75k in the USA , and he said he couldn't comment on cars outside the uk .
Seems a little strange, but i have to follow the guidlines for the uk i guess.
Thanks for the reply's .
Cheers
Andy