My B6 S4 Avant

[S2central.net]

Here is the new blue daily driver. Looking a bit dirty and urban sporty today. It is overdue a bath to be fair... And a new oil cooler amongst other things to fix next week hopefully.

MY03 Noggy blue with half leather (black) and blue alcantara electric recaros with full carbon trim. Roof rails and silver mirrors. 6-speed manual. Pretty much loaded... Climate control. Heated seats. Xenon lamps. Pre-select sunroof. Parking sensors. Dimming mirrors. CD changer, Bose and RNS-D with obsolete analog tv tuner for now. Soundtrack supplied mostly by hearty V8 BBK lump and it's 40 valved VVT heads.

Since I bought it, I have done the following:

Locked the exhaust flaps open - they were seized shut before !
B7 RS4 pedals - they look and feel great but a bit of a PITA to fit
Retrofitted B6/B7 Aero wipers
LED interior and blue puddle lamps (cos I am so down with the yoofs)
B7 Climate head swap - crappy B6 plastic was peeling off - small wiring change
Repaired the crappy B6 glovebox hinge
RS4 rarb and bushes bought but not fitted yet

Still to do sooner or later on the old wish list -
Renew defrost flap
Renew oil cooler
Renew undertray
Renew other crappy B6 plastic buttons
Delete the leaking right aux radiator and make room for cold air intake
Retrofit cool box option
Add an aftermarket DVB-T tuner with diversity inputs and ghost powered amps etc
Swap RNS-D for RNS-E (unless Pioneer app radio gets more extensible in future)
Throw out crappy parrot Bluetooth and swap to factory version with RNS-E integration
Add a funk switch for VIM
Maybe add Airport and ATV for added media fun if I get really bored
Add removable towbar (just for a bike rack)
Remove primary CATs and space out 1st O2 bungs
MRC remap, Milltek pipes and maybe an X-pipe for added burble
Splurge on new rims maybe if the price is right
Maybe add the FISCON module as well with extra sensors

I don't do big miles anymore but I get decent mileage averaging 23-24 considering the engine size. Obviously if you are enjoying all 350bhp more frequently then it gets worse. Lovely big smooth machine that seems to enjoy a family cruise on the motorway as much as a spirited run on some B roads although she sits a bit low for anything outrageous without a Motorsport grade sump guard.

[Duffelcoat]

Looked at these before, definitely good value cars and with a manual gearbox too...

What's the performance like comparing to the S2?

[S2central.net]

At 410Nm the torque for overtaking is similar to my remapped / homefry S2 but you can feel the extra oomf by way of power at the top end in the S4. It's altogether much more linear experience compared to S2 as you might expect.

Tonight's drive home was worrying though - misfires and MIL - gotta hope its a loose cable somewhere and not the dreaded camshaft chain tensioner or cracked guides - the bane of that V8 - give me an S2 boost leak anyday.

Hopefully vagcom tomorrow will point to a simple fix but it's a always a worry with these. Engine has been faultless until last 10 mins of drive home tonight except for an oil leak at high temp.

[Duffelcoat]

Hope the problem isn't too bad... There is no such thing as a cheap fast Audi!

Know what you mean about the linear performance, my other car (A V8 MG) is the same, never picks up as such, just the same all the way to the red line, also regardless of what gear you are in!

I think I prefer now the turbo boost (lag) which ever way you look at it and am enjoying the surge factor!

[S2central.net]

It is showing random misfire fault and misfire on #8. I need to swap a couple of coil packs over and hope the fault moves. Could be a duff or loose plug too of course. Hope to get a look tonight. It sounds and runs really rough for a single cyl being off but I am worried that it is missing more and can only detect #8.

It is not showing camshaft position or VVT errors so I have to remain hopeful of an isolated electrical fault - maybe an injector as well.

The only thing different about last nights journey was a series of traffic calming ramps that I took really gently but maybe that motion disturbed something.

[Duffelcoat]

Might well be a coil, they can do weird things, my mg had one go and it ran lumpy for 2 miles then concked out and wouldn't start, weird as it should run on 7 cylinders but didn't want to know... (PS engine is ford v8 in mg)

Easy enough to test...

[S2central.net]

Swapped coil pack - still misfiring on 8

Left 8 coil unplugged - and she sounded the same - same fault and no evidence of chamber gasses in the coil tube.

Pulled plug 8 - took me ages to find a suitable 16mm thin wall socket

Plug was absolutely filthy with heavy carbon build up. Cleaned it down with a bottle of dettol, a wire brush and a blow dry and the engine sounds sweet as ever - no misfire or fault.

Had a look at plug 5 and it was loads cleaner which makes me think injector 8 is too rich but gawd knows when plugs last changed.

To say I am relieved this turned out to be so simple is a massive understatement with knowledge of all the many tales of woe with chain tensioner etc

I will post pics tomorrow and order a new set of plugs too. Meantime I need a celebratory beer.

[newsh]

Good news, looks like a nice car Paul

[S2central.net]

She is a nice motor - when not giving me heart attacks with misfire niggles !

Attaching a couple of pics. First one of Plug #8 with the misfire… phone photo doesn't really do it justice - the carbonisation was really heavy such that some of the outer prongs of plug were in contact with the insulator.

2nd pic is same plug after some careful cleaning - a free repair - pretty rare ;-)

Have to say the diagnostics on this engine are far superior to the S2 - when it senses rpm fluctuations (from counting flywheel teeth per second), using knowledge of firing order, crank and camshaft positions it is able to work out which cylinder is misfiring… I think you get a random/multiple misfire fault code until the ECU works out the most likely baddie.

Without the very good fault code I would have had to pull all 8 plugs looking for a baddun and that means I would have got to #8 last.

[S2central.net]

Made a start on changing the oil cooler & deleting the right aux rad last night... Makes working on the S2 seem like mere childsplay - access is so tight in some areas it is unbelievable. Annoying there is as much oil on cooler side of engine as there in on the other so I need to dig in deep to find the root cause - a lot looks like old oil which might be valve cover (or camshaft) seals.

Took me best part of 4hrs to get covers off, bumper off, lights out and fluids drained due to the following fun :

- took my time as it was 1st time under an Audi V8 for me - voyage of discovery etc
- took plenty of pics along the way
- had to degunge the left aux rad intake scoop of a thousand leaves and detritus... car never runs hot... doesn't need two aux rads FFS
- had a good look for best way to remove right aux rad and associated hoses & temp controlled valve... should make for a good cold air scoop some day
- left wheel liner needs removed to get access to section of modular water bottle which needs removed for access to bumper bolts
- the bottom radiator hose is stupidly difficult as it cannot slide back until the other end at thermostat housing is removed first

Tonight / Tomorrow I have the joy of getting the entire front end end removed... to get the alternator off... to get the alt bracket off... to get to the stupid oil cooler... who ****ing puts an oil cooler in there for crying out loud ? On the S2 its job done in 2hrs unless a bolt is seized somewhere.

[S2central.net]

An hour or so later and the main cause of oily chaos is apparent for all to see. Valve cover gaskets and those stupid half moon seals. It has been slowly gunging up for years and you cannot see any of it with the radiator in place.

There is oil at the cooler too but most likely dripping down from above.

Fun now is that I probably need the car tomorrow so it's going to be a long night.

Plan is to hold off on the oil cooler swap and 1st clean off as much grunge as possible and put her back together while I wait for parts. Another couple leaky weeks won't make a difference and the next time I am in there it will be easy to see fresh oil egress.

I will post separately on the right aux rad deletion but I think I have a cunning enough plan for a nice cold air scoop there.

[S2central.net]

BTW - what an abomination of design to fit the AC condensor with a pipe each side so it has to be supported like this unless you open the circuit.

I also hate the new style AMP electrical connectors that need a ill screwdriver to tease the lock back - the old metal spring JPT plugs are bigger for sure but so much more user friendly. Inevitably one snapped on me at the resistor pack - ****.

The other stupid bit of design is concealed clip that secures the bonnet cable into the latch - squeezing it apart and it broke off - means I have to fabricate some other way to lock it in place - otherwise the cable can hop out of position and hey presto one bonnet that cannot be opened. Of course the clip cannot be bought separate as it is part of the bonnet cable - another Audi design fail !

[S2central.net]

So here is the offending and slightly leaky aux rad. It is fed with a decent sized scoop. Imagine the radiator removed with plumbing that bypasses it and a modified / ducted lower section of the airbox shown behind that headlight plug.

I would like to get the rad bypassed tonight but I may not have suitable sized joiners etc

[S2central.net]

Got busy with the fizzy last night working from top down to clean this filthy muck off. Lots of degreaser, paper towels and umpteen gloves. More pics to come including progress on the aux rad delete and cold air intake.

[s2driveruk]

looking pretty tidy in there now PAul. Doesnt look like much room to do anything in there!