B8 S4 Ownership

[Wake]

troc said:

On another note, my S4 is due it's 1 year oil service and when booking it in, I was told they'd need the car for the whole day to carry out a workshop recall to replace my water pump. It seems Audi have finally admitted there's a problem with the S4 (at least those made before around April 2010) water pump and are preventively replacing them on cars going in for a service rather than waiting for them to go pop

From what I gathered from another (US) forum, the affected cars are those with VINs ending in the range 003862 - 048910 (mine is in this range)

It's not a recall as such I think so they won't call you about it but if your car's VIN is in this range it might be worthwhile calling your dealer.

Yes My Water pump literaly exploded!!! Coolant all over the engine bay and instantly overheated.

Then the garage dented my car while it was in and then I understeard into a curb and bent my alloy and killed the wheel bearing. The ESU also went FUBAR and told be there was no oil, this is a problem as there is no dip stick in the B7 S4 oh and had to replace my rear tyre as it had a nail in it.

Wheel Bearing = £198.00
Alloy Wheel = £523.00
Tyre 19" = £246.00
Dent in door = TBA they will pay oh yes they will pay!


word to the wise: If your s4 tells you to add oil, follow the instructions carefully! only add 1/2 liter and then recheck. If all is ok then the computer will register the added oil if it does not then take your car strait to the dealer. If you overfill the engine with oil it will seize requiring a new block £££ this is not covered under warranty as it was you who overfilled the oil!!!


Rant over, awesome Car!!!!!!!!!!!

[worsy]

Had the car detailed this week ready for winter, very pleased as ever.

Edited by worsy on Saturday 6th November 12:04

Edited by worsy on Saturday 6th November 12:05

[Cupramax]

Feck me, you never heard of resizing your pics? Car no doubt looks great but I need to sit in another room to view them.

[dicktracy]

FUBAR said:

Funnily enough an email from my supplying dealer has just landed in my inbox about winter tyres. Whilst I am sure they give much better grip, especially for the 2wd cars, my S4 coped remarkably well with last winter's snow and ice (as did the 2 previous quattro A4s I have owned) as long as you are reasonably sensible. In fact, on many occasion, I was one of the only cars in my turning (which has an uphill exit) to make it out, 4x4s included. Sadly, this meant I was one of the few car borne commuters to make it to work every day

Just remember 4x4 gives more traction but no more grip. So breaking distance is still significantly worse on summer tyres during cold spells (not just snow) than winter tyres.

[worsy]

Cupramax said:

Feck me, you never heard of resizing your pics? Car no doubt looks great but I need to sit in another room to view them.

I'm lazy, don't they resize automatically, they do for me.

[Witchfinder]

Looks stunning - what effect does the Milltek have?

[worsy]

Witchfinder said:

Looks stunning - what effect does the Milltek have?

Improves the noise marginally, nothing too over the top, enough to be what it should have been as standard. It feels sharper but that could be all in the mind.

[FUBAR]

Wake said:

troc said:

On another note, my S4 is due it's 1 year oil service and when booking it in, I was told they'd need the car for the whole day to carry out a workshop recall to replace my water pump. It seems Audi have finally admitted there's a problem with the S4 (at least those made before around April 2010) water pump and are preventively replacing them on cars going in for a service rather than waiting for them to go pop

From what I gathered from another (US) forum, the affected cars are those with VINs ending in the range 003862 - 048910 (mine is in this range)

It's not a recall as such I think so they won't call you about it but if your car's VIN is in this range it might be worthwhile calling your dealer.

Yes My Water pump literaly exploded!!! Coolant all over the engine bay and instantly overheated.

Then the garage dented my car while it was in and then I understeard into a curb and bent my alloy and killed the wheel bearing. The ESU also went FUBAR and told be there was no oil, this is a problem as there is no dip stick in the B7 S4 oh and had to replace my rear tyre as it had a nail in it.

Wheel Bearing = £198.00
Alloy Wheel = £523.00
Tyre 19" = £246.00
Dent in door = TBA they will pay oh yes they will pay!


word to the wise: If your s4 tells you to add oil, follow the instructions carefully! only add 1/2 liter and then recheck. If all is ok then the computer will register the added oil if it does not then take your car strait to the dealer. If you overfill the engine with oil it will seize requiring a new block £££ this is not covered under warranty as it was you who overfilled the oil!!!


Rant over, awesome Car!!!!!!!!!!!

Checked with Audi last week. They say my car doesn't need the recall. Should have recorded the convo for future reference

[FUBAR]

dicktracy said:

FUBAR said:

Funnily enough an email from my supplying dealer has just landed in my inbox about winter tyres. Whilst I am sure they give much better grip, especially for the 2wd cars, my S4 coped remarkably well with last winter's snow and ice (as did the 2 previous quattro A4s I have owned) as long as you are reasonably sensible. In fact, on many occasion, I was one of the only cars in my turning (which has an uphill exit) to make it out, 4x4s included. Sadly, this meant I was one of the few car borne commuters to make it to work every day

Just remember 4x4 gives more traction but no more grip. So breaking distance is still significantly worse on summer tyres during cold spells (not just snow) than winter tyres.

I hear what you are saying



Worsey, car looks magnificent. However, I do question why you would want the car detailed at the beginning of winter? Think I'll get mine done at the beginning of Spring

[Dr G]

Bit of paint protection for all the salty gravelly junk the roads will be covered in for the next few months.

Have you done a vid/recording with the Milltek on?

[FUBAR]

Here's a question for you Dr G. Do you know if the paint on the current S4s/Audis is 'softer' than previously? I say that as I've picked up a few stone chips that seem to have gone through to the metal! Never had that problem with my previous Audis

[worsy]

As DrG says, protection for the winter and removed all the soft summer tar from the underbody. We had the wife's Mini Cooper S done as well, and that came up beautifully.

Not as yet recorded a sound bite, there are a few on youtube but personally I think you have to hear it in the flesh so to speak.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

Wake said:

troc said:

On another note, my S4 is due it's 1 year oil service and when booking it in, I was told they'd need the car for the whole day to carry out a workshop recall to replace my water pump. It seems Audi have finally admitted there's a problem with the S4 (at least those made before around April 2010) water pump and are preventively replacing them on cars going in for a service rather than waiting for them to go pop

From what I gathered from another (US) forum, the affected cars are those with VINs ending in the range 003862 - 048910 (mine is in this range)

It's not a recall as such I think so they won't call you about it but if your car's VIN is in this range it might be worthwhile calling your dealer.

Yes My Water pump literaly exploded!!! Coolant all over the engine bay and instantly overheated.

Then the garage dented my car while it was in and then I understeard into a curb and bent my alloy and killed the wheel bearing. The ESU also went FUBAR and told be there was no oil, this is a problem as there is no dip stick in the B7 S4 oh and had to replace my rear tyre as it had a nail in it.

Wheel Bearing = £198.00
Alloy Wheel = £523.00
Tyre 19" = £246.00
Dent in door = TBA they will pay oh yes they will pay!


word to the wise: If your s4 tells you to add oil, follow the instructions carefully! only add 1/2 liter and then recheck. If all is ok then the computer will register the added oil if it does not then take your car strait to the dealer. If you overfill the engine with oil it will seize requiring a new block £££ this is not covered under warranty as it was you who overfilled the oil!!!


Rant over, awesome Car!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine went pop yesterday. "10" reg car with 6k on it and I had to geta taxi from silverstone to bristol ( which audi paid for,) as I ddint have my paper driving licenece with me and they couldnt phone SDVLA as it was a sunday. I must say im a little pi55ed off about this if it was a known problem. theres fluid everywhere and we missed a family commitment yesterday. Im keen now to see how long it will be before I get it back.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

worsy said:

Looks like March 10 was the cut off for the good pumps. Mine is a Nov 09 car so likely to have a plastic pump. I must be way off a service yet, just done 4000 miles

m,ine was registered in march but I dont have the VIN to hand to check.

[Witchfinder]

It makes you wonder how these parts pass any sort of testing.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

ive just come off the phone from audi uk customer services who initially denied there was an issue, and then backtracked and said that they recently recognised the problem and that they will be rectifying it. I argued that because they started fitting a different part in April this year, that they should have been aware of the problem for a while and in a way they are gambling with peoples lives by not doing a recall.

Although the pump itself going isn't a major issue ( i.e. you will overheat gradually giving you time to pull over) from my experience yesteray the coolant and water hiting the power steering pump and belts are. I completely lost power steering moving at slow speeds.

If this happened while I was driving on the motorway then the implications of losing the power steering are quite serious. I may have been OK to hustle the car off the road, however im not sure that the outcome would have been the same if my wife had been driving the car with our baby in the back.

I think its reprehensible that Audi are aware of this problem and are gambling on whether to fix it or not.

The guy at Audi also said that "we dont take any notice of forums on the internet".

What a bloody stupid attitude to take. You have a central area where all of your customers can communciate with each other and you decide that their feedback is worthless because its on the internet. These are people buying £45,000 cars. Their opinions should be valued not sneered at.

I will let you know what happens, but my wife and I had been talking to one of the sales guys there about ordering a new Q5. thats now not going to happen.

Edited by Obiwonkeyblokey on Monday 22 November 13:00

[worsy]

Interesting Obi. I actually had my service last week, I asked about a recall for the pump and provided the recall number to Swindon Audi to check. They told me it did not affect my car and hence it has not been carried out.

Edited to say mine is a Nov09 (59 plate) car with 5k miles. VIN number does not match the range posted on the Audizine forum.

Edited by worsy on Monday 22 November 13:28

[Dr G]

Power steering makes very little difference at motorway speed, it's only at town speeds where the pump is overcoming friction and the vehicle weight that you notice it.

[Dr G]

FUBAR said:

Here's a question for you Dr G. Do you know if the paint on the current S4s/Audis is 'softer' than previously? I say that as I've picked up a few stone chips that seem to have gone through to the metal! Never had that problem with my previous Audis

Not just you, I don't know what the official line is but more often than not I go home with coloured fingers having spent half my day touching them in!

[FUBAR]

Dr G said:

FUBAR said:

Here's a question for you Dr G. Do you know if the paint on the current S4s/Audis is 'softer' than previously? I say that as I've picked up a few stone chips that seem to have gone through to the metal! Never had that problem with my previous Audis

Not just you, I don't know what the official line is but more often than not I go home with coloured fingers having spent half my day touching them in!

Oh really? Are Audi paying for the touch ups or the customers? I assumed that paint chip rectification would be, sadly, down to me, but if it's a known problem, are they picking up the bills?