B8 S4 Ownership

Author
Discussion

George7

1,130 posts

149 months

Thursday 23rd July 2020
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Searider said:
Loving it already!
Out of interest, how much did you pay? I'm looking at B8 S8 manuals at the moment, and as there aren't many available for sale, it's hard to gauge how much I should be paying!


MattS5

1,896 posts

190 months

Thursday 23rd July 2020
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Jack2106 said:


Hi all! first time Audi owner having been an Alfa owner for the past 8 years. Picked my S4 Avant (manual - big tax eek ). Based in Norfolk and had a full service after picking it up, Clive Atthowe here in Norwich gave it a clean bill of health which was a welcome relief! It then went straight off to the body shop for a front end respray having have a bad job done previously!

Few more jobs to do but I think it compliments my GT nicely! (3.2 V6). Love the power and ease with which it covers ground! Had a nice clear run through the Peaks last weekend. It appears to be well equipped with B&O, adaptive dampers, drive select, start stop and sports seats.
Hello, fellow Norfolk owner here. Albeit an S5 sportback as opposed to an S4.
I’m very familiar with Clive, he’s tuned 4 of my last cars, 3 Audi’s and an Impreza Turbo. He really knows his stuff.

Enjoy the car




Adrian E

3,248 posts

175 months

Saturday 8th August 2020
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Hi all

This may be of interest to those with S4/5 that are now getting on a bit in years who might be thinking about preventative maintenance or facing a sizeable bill for a thermostat repair......

Our 2011 S5 Sportback has covered just over 70k miles, and apart from a thermostat failing closed 3 years ago, and a faulty instrument cluster covered under goodwill, has been really reliable.

I noticed recently that the thermostat was again failing - this time not fully closing which meant the gauge was sitting below 90C when moving and the engine was taking an age to warm up. Last time it failed shut. Knowing it wasn't going to get any better I booked it in with my local trusted indy and plotted what else was worth doing 'while we were in there'. Car was due a service and MOT anyway, plus the air-con hadn't been serviced for 4 years.

Doing a bit of digging about, the list of jobs while it was in bits ended up being:

Change the supercharger oil (no recommended interval and can only be done with the s/c off the car)
Service the injectors (idle on these is fairly lumpy anyway, but felt it had got worse over our ownership)
Replace the PCV valve (this is about the last thing you get to in the engine bay, short of removing the engine, and together with an ECU software change deals with the tendency for pre-facelift cars to like a drink of oil between services)

For those that haven't had the 'delight' of a thermostat change on the v6t, the supercharger needs to come off to get to it, so you're looking at 6 hours labour as a starting point........



The supercharger oil change was relatively straightforward, although Audi have the cheek to charge £40 for a 150ml bottle of the stuff

Supercharger off the car - quite a lump!


Old vs new oil for the supercharger


Open heart surgery - the thermostat lives at the front where the pink coolant can be seen.




So basically the oil in the supercharger was as icky as you'd expect given the environment, no filtration, and its age! It apparently smelt rank as well. No great dramas doing it, so happy with that.

Injectors were interesting - this didn't really 'need' doing, but given the labour involved in accessing them and the relatively inexpensive cost to have them flow tested and cleaned I figured in for a grand, in for a bit more.....

They actually flowed perfectly well and within tolerances. What was less expected was that the filter baskets had completely broken up in all 6 injectors to varying degrees, so no mesh to catch chunks of debris that make it as far as the injectors. £150 spent, and the idle is noticeably improved, even though the flow rates aren't much different. Flow rate before ranged from 99-103ml before and 101-105ml after.

The PCV valve was something I was aware had been replaced during production and some digging identified a TSB covering 'high' oil consumption. For Audi to action it requires the engine to use more than 0.5l of oil every 1,000km. It was a running production change to the part from 2013. Mine's never needed that much oil, but usually needs a couple of litres between annual services over 10k miles. The valve change increases vacuum in the crankcase, basically keeping oil in the crankcase rather than letting it blow by the piston rings or get sucked into the combustion chamber. The ECU software change, I suspect, winds back EGR activity as well. The breather unit is less than £90 and part number is 06E103547AB. You used to be able to get a replacement cap for the PCV, but this option has been dropped. The PCV is pretty inaccessible, even with the supercharger off, and takes some digging out. It's not small either.....



Having read a few posts on USA forums, it's apparent there are pipes running under the supercharger which degrade through heat and age. On mine it turned out these were seriously knackered and borderline coolant leak territory anyway. They fell apart as they were removed to access the thermostat. The pipes aren't cheap (£70 and £21) but that's about the limit of unexpected expense sorting all this out, so happy with that.

Hopefully the now 9 year old S5 is now good to go for another few years smile

Raddors

492 posts

147 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Adrian E said:
Hi all

This may be of interest to those with S4/5 that are now getting on a bit in years who might be thinking about preventative maintenance or facing a sizeable bill for a thermostat repair......
Thanks Adrian this is really useful. I am coming up to very similar age and mileage and keen to prevent rather than react..

BrittasBay

55 posts

74 months

Sunday 23rd August 2020
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just re-joined the S4 familybowbeer - bit've a jump from B5 to B8yes

but having some MMI issue's - Samsung 7 does connect via Bluetooth - put only seems to pull the Phone function?
No sign of my music etc - apologies, I could be missing something very obvs - other quirk is under the arm rest, the little fuzzy area where the bit pops out to reveal a 3.5 jack point - nothing - blank, my old B8 2.0 had itconfused
And lastly, in the glove box is this (pic) insert point - but what the hell goes into that? Specific Audi cable maybe??

any help much appreciated

silentbrown

8,793 posts

115 months

Sunday 23rd August 2020
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What year, etc?
IIRC Bluetooth audio streaming is only on facelift cars, and may need the higher spec MMI also.

If you have it, then the "media" MMI section should list bluetooth as an available source, alongside SD cards, etc.

Adrian E

3,248 posts

175 months

Sunday 23rd August 2020
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As above, pre facelift doesn’t do Bluetooth music unless you buy a tunes2air or similar to plug into your missing AMI socket you’ve pictured.

Have you got x2 sd card slots? If so I just use those with 32gb cards and that’s enough for me

MattS5

1,896 posts

190 months

Sunday 23rd August 2020
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From my previous B8, pretty sure you can get a AMI to 3.5mm socket if you’re happy use the headphone jack on your mobile.

BrittasBay

55 posts

74 months

Sunday 23rd August 2020
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sorry, it's 2010 - cheers fella's - will source one of those AMI to Jack cables - it's really just Spotify I need working
nice one, thank again

BrittasBay

55 posts

74 months

Tuesday 29th September 2020
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Quick one - correct oil for standard 2010 S4?
Just bought, and can't find any mention in service paperwork - brother threw in Mobil One 05/30 Fully snyth.

Just want to make sure - thanks

silentbrown

8,793 posts

115 months

Tuesday 29th September 2020
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Should be fine. My receipts say either "Castrol 5W30" or "LongLife 3" which I think is this stuff.

BrittasBay

55 posts

74 months

Tuesday 29th September 2020
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spot on, cheers mate.

matrignano

4,345 posts

209 months

Wednesday 30th September 2020
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More issues with my car!

Coolant consumption issues have been ongoing and the dealer has now had the car for a couple of weeks.
They found a small leak below the supercharge (wouldn't be more specific) but that didn't solve it.
Now they think the leak is internal and want to remove the cylinder heads.

Anyone ever had anything similar?

mrdanbartlett

702 posts

216 months

Tuesday 6th October 2020
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matrignano said:
More issues with my car!

Coolant consumption issues have been ongoing and the dealer has now had the car for a couple of weeks.
They found a small leak below the supercharge (wouldn't be more specific) but that didn't solve it.
Now they think the leak is internal and want to remove the cylinder heads.

Anyone ever had anything similar?
I think (not got time to watch/confirm) this video might have some things about leaks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCH13WaTbW4

matrignano

4,345 posts

209 months

Thursday 22nd October 2020
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Update: well there is no update, car has been in for 6 weeks and they still can't find the coolant leak.

Any advice how I can turn up the heat a notch or 20?

This lemon of a car has been in the shop for about 3 months so far this year, and in its life has had several mechatronic units, suspension level sensors, water pumps and thermostats, and loads of oil and coolant leaks (known to me, at least).
Complete piece of garbage.

troc

3,740 posts

174 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
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It looks like my 11 year S4 ownership is coming to an end. We’ve ordered a Porsche Cayenne as a replacement.

Deliver in February. Been a blast and the best car I’ve ever owned.

worsy

Original Poster:

5,776 posts

174 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
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troc said:
It looks like my 11 year S4 ownership is coming to an end. We’ve ordered a Porsche Cayenne as a replacement.

Deliver in February. Been a blast and the best car I’ve ever owned.
Blimey, from Page 1 troc! Kept mine 2 years biggrin

Murph7355

37,651 posts

255 months

Sunday 25th October 2020
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matrignano said:
Update: well there is no update, car has been in for 6 weeks and they still can't find the coolant leak.

Any advice how I can turn up the heat a notch or 20?

This lemon of a car has been in the shop for about 3 months so far this year, and in its life has had several mechatronic units, suspension level sensors, water pumps and thermostats, and loads of oil and coolant leaks (known to me, at least).
Complete piece of garbage.
How low is the coolant going?

Just googled pics and the expansion tank looks similar to my B7 - ie it has a seam.

Is the coolant dropping markedly below the seam? I ask as my B7 had a leaking expansion tank...

Rads on a B7 could also leak readily.

Appreciate they're different cars...but similar issues might apply as the cars age smile

matrignano

4,345 posts

209 months

Monday 26th October 2020
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It can almost reach the bottom of the expansion tank, if I let it.

Tank, hoses and thermostat (supercharger off) have been checked or changed multiple times.
Sometimes pressure tests don't produce leaks, other times it does leak, but there is no visible evidence of where it might leak from.
Next step suggested by the garage is to take the heads off, but they are busy and haven't been "able" to put the car on a ramp for the last 2-3 weeks...

fastgerman

1,911 posts

194 months

Saturday 31st October 2020
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Leaking coolant again :-(

Only just had this fix last year:



Guesses anyone?

It’s needing about 1 litre of coolant every 10 miles. Ps I had goodwill from Audi on the work above, just paid £200 only.

Edited by fastgerman on Saturday 31st October 12:16