[s-cars] New to S-Cars

[Lee Levitt]

He's a goner.

Martin, welcome to the monkey house!

Lee



On Tue Mar 13 15:29:44 PDT 2007, Martin <derocco_16v at comcast.net> 
wrote:

> This place already feels like home :-)
> Thanks for kind words and first tips/advices. As for Quattro 
> disease, I kind of realized I had it a while ago, after
> switching from a '98 JettaVR6 to B5 A4. That car was meant to be 
> my wife's,
> (so I did not "harm" the vehicle in any way with mods) At that 
> point I knew
> my next vehicle was going to be an S-car. I looked at couple of 
> B5 S4's, and
> really liked them, but kept looking for C4 as that's the body 
> style I've
> truly craved for. I have found one locally and here I am, a fresh 
> S-car
> owner, with head full of plans of how to make my "green tank" go 
> faster both
> from 0-60 and 60-0 :)
> I have just put new rear brakes on yesterday, along with pads. So 
> many
> things to get, so little $$$ :( but I'll manage. Big Reds are on 
> my '07
> Christmas list, so are Samco hoses. I'm excited. Thanks again!
> 
> Martin,
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Winter [mailto:tom at freeskier.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 
> 13, 2007 11:11 AM
> To: derocco_16v at comcast.net
> Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] New to S-Cars
> 
> Welcome, Martin, welcome.
> 
> This list is very helpful. When I joined, I enquired about known 
> issues with
> S6 vehicles, you may find the following info helpful (attached 
> below) as you
> sort out your new to you vehicle. I'm sure other listers can add 
> more info
> to be conscious of as well.
> 
> Tom
> 95 S6 Avant
> 
>> From Robert Rossato
> 
> Problems that are specific to the C4 body S6 are:
> 
> Ignition coils that fail resulting in misfire at higher boost 
> levels.  Very
> difficult to track down which coil is the culprit when it 
> happens.
> 
> The Power Output Stages (POS - and it really is), which trigger 
> the coils,
> also fail.  Typically it is a constant misfire and can easily be 
> diagnosed
> at idle by disconnecting the injectors one cylinder at the time 
> until you
> find the one doesn't result in a change.  With the POS at least 
> you get one
> free fix, assuming the PO hasn't already taken advantage of it.  
> There are
> two POS's with 3 channels each, so one is available to swap with 
> the bad
> one.  Factory coils are approx $100 each.  A POS is probably 
> $150-$200, don't
> really know as i haven't priced one lately.  Your car is at the 
> mileage
> where if they haven't had a problem yet, they will soon.
> 
> There is an alternative fix that is out there now that replaces 
> the factory
> coils and POSs with the coils from the 1.8T, which have POSs 
> built in.  Kits
> are now available from 034Motorsport and Apikol for around $300+, 
> or you can
> roll your own for less.  You won't want to reinstall the coil 
> cover when
> going this route as the heat buildup is likely too much for the 
> 1.8T coils
> and will result in premature failure.  There are several folks 
> running this
> set up now.
> 
> If I needed to change my coils right now, I would opt for the 
> original
> factory setup.  Yes it is expensive.  But it is a known quantity. 
>  Plus I
> don't really care for the kluged look of running sans coil cover.
> 
> Another S6 specific problem, like other turbo Audis, will be the 
> intake
> hoses.  Usually the Michelin Man hose, which is the one 
> connecting the
> cross-over tube to the intercooler, will fail.  Samco makes a 
> replacement
> set of silicone hoses which run $350 for all three - turbo to 
> X-over tube,
> MM, and intercooler to throttle body.  There have been 2-3 GBs 
> over the last
> few years that usually result in a price of about $260-$280 for 
> the set.
> Given you have an MTM chip already, it's possible that the 
> original hoses
> have already failed due to the higher boost and been replaced 
> with Samcos.
> 
> The transmission can develop a whine, or sometimes a ticking, in 
> 1st gear.
> The problem is due to galling of 1st gear on the main shaft.  In 
> later
> years, like 95.5 models, the mainshaft was replaced with a one 
> that has a
> wider 1st gear.  The clicking noise seems to be more prevalent to 
> the
> earlier '92 - '94 S4s. My '95 S6 has the whining noise.  I equate 
> it to the
> noise of straight cut gears.  Frankly, if you develop that I 
> wouldn't worry
> about it.  Mine started at around 50k miles and now have 100k 
> miles on it.
> After 50k miles of hard 1st gear launches it hasn't gotten any 
> worse.  I've
> tried to break it but it just scoffs me and asks for more.
> 
>> From Matt Ludwig:
> 
> 1. A/C- does it blow cold and/or is there a canary-like sound 
> under
> the dash board
> - if yes; the blower motor is going and sucks to replace
> 2. the accelerator pedal (plastic part) will almost certainly 
> break
> off. there are solutions though, or just leave it off- mine has 
> been
> gone for years now.
> 3. outside temp gauge backlights will burn out- need to re-solder
> them in place w/ Radio Shack 20 cent jobbers.
> 4. all bulbs in gauges will burn out- again about 12 lights from 
> the
> Shack will fix this
> 5. make sure the spark plugs are tight!! there is a AAN (engine 
> code)
> lore about how these like to back their way out and sometime blow 
> out
> of the head. mine did this and it could have been worse. 
> something to
> check w/ a high-induction motor like these.
> 6. the tailgate wiring can get brittle through the hinges- mine 
> has not
> 7. sunroof switch can get electrical gremlins in it. mine has for
> years, it is annoying.
> 8. the suspension sucks if it is stock and has not been changed.
> highly, *highly* recommend ditching it and going with the 
> Bilstein/
> H&R combo. unless you are driving through some of the super-deep,
> unpaved roads in the Rocky's, this is a real benefit.
> 9. also suggest upgrading the front brakes to Porsche system. w/ 
> the
> weight and power of these avants, it is a nice thing to do. mine 
> are
> awaiting to go on.
> 10. do NOT park too far 'over' parking curbs! this one *just* bit 
> me
> in the arse about an hour ago and it is beyond annoying. 
> basically,
> the overhang of the bumper is pretty far and the way the under 
> belly
> pan tucks into the lower part of the bumper. this can get caught 
> on a
> parking curb and when you back out, it rips out the lower grills, 
> the
> bumper clips and the belly pan on the front end. it is a gnarly 
> one-
> way ridge to get caught on and it is not pretty when it happens. 
> i am
> currently looking to replace all the plastic struts that hold it 
> all
> together as it ripped them all off. : (
> 
> _______________________________________________
> S-CAR-List mailing list
> S-CAR-List at audifans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
> 
>