Do these V8's drink coolant?

Post by **cobraBLACK** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:14 am

People say they go all the time but I've only just had one go after a year.

I went down through France at Christmas so I thought I'd take a spare.

I'm interested in VAG-COM or something similar too.

Post by **IntJetSet** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:22 am

What are the consequences of one going?

Post by **R33** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:27 am

I've been told by MRC that they go, and that seems to be what others say on the site. I usually have my laptop with me so I though there was no harm keeping a couple in with the spare wheel just in case. MRC said if one goes it's bad for the engine to drive it like that so coupled with VAGCOM I could be back on the road quickly.

Post by **cobraBLACK** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:08 am

IntJetSet wrote:What are the consequences of one going?

You'll get a misfire on anything but light throttle. It'll need changing ASAP but you don't have to pull off the road and call a breakdown truck or anything.

The nearside are pretty easy to change but you might have to take the air intake (or even the whole airbox) off to get at the offside.

If you do carry the equipment around to change one, it's worth familiarising yourself with the technique - steps in the first part of this.

As I said, you don't need to be worried about it: I got the misfiring on the way into work so I dropped into my local VAG specialist (IGS, Eastleigh) after work and they confirmed it was cylinder no. 1 with VAG-COM. I then went up to the Audi dealer to pick up a couple.

Post by **BlingBling** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:54 am

^ However, it the CEL continually flashes and you are misfiring. PULL OVER.

Post by **marv** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:30 pm

biyitch wrote:People say they go all the time but I've only just had one go after a year.

I went down through France at Christmas so I thought I'd take a spare.

I'm interested in VAG-COM or something similar too.

I've had my S for about 15 months, and have also only had one coil pack go.

For VAG COM, I bought a chinese copy cable, which seems to work fine.

A lot of people will tell you to avoid them, and they do have good reasons for saying so, because you wont be able to upgrade your VAG COM software from the version that the cable works with, and you'll also not get any real support on how to use it, or if things go wrong (I'm also not sure where they stand on being legal...). However, I took the view that for the money I'd save I was willing to risk having to faff on to set it up.

As it turns out, it's worked fine. There are a few funnies with my version of the software, like you have to run it on windows xp and can't let it connect to the internet, but other than that it does everything that the "real" cable does.

The thing with the chinese copies is that the cables will generally only work with one version of the software (hence no updates and not being able to connect to the internet). But if you get a cable that works with a later version of software (8xx or 9xx rather than the 409.1 which is what seems to be on ebay), then it should be fully functional for everything you need. Just be aware that you may need to be computer literate to set it up. I used mine to code the car for cruise control 100% fine.

Post by **BlingBling** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:30 pm

@Marv: You have a Chinese fleabay cable that allows for full functionality of 409.1?

Re coilpacks: I've owend mine for nearly 5yrs and never had a coil pack fail. I voluntarily changed them before christmas along with the plugs during its annual service.

Post by **xyber** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:15 pm

Ive got a fully functioning VAG-COM copy as well, I can't update it, but can download for free the newer version from where I bought it.

Post by **marv** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:33 pm

Not full functionality of 409.1, no. 409.1 is the limited version as far as I'm aware.

Mine is a 8xx.x (maybe 812.4 - can't remember the exact details), but it allows full functionality. I didn't get it on ebay though, and I can't find any of these on ebay any more (I can only find 409.1 cables), which is what led me to wonder about the legality of the later versions.

I had seen the 8xx.x and 9xx.x versions on ebay over a year ago, and had saved one in my watch list. But by the time I came to buy, there were none for sale on ebay, so I contacted the seller and they had set up a separate website to sell the later cables through, so I bought from there.

Post by **BlingBling** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:12 pm

@Marv & xyber

Do you have a link to the cable you both bought?

Post by **marv** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:46 pm

It looks like the site I think I bought it from is down at the moment.

I'll try to remember to have a look through my emails tonight, and see if I can get an email address for them, I'll PM you if I find it.

EDIT: Had a quick google, and found this site that sells the cables, although at £80 it's more than double what I spent I think:
http://www.vag-diagnostics.com/index.html

Post by **R33** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:49 pm

Wow I check my oil at lunchtime today and it needed about two thirds of a litre! I know I had a leaking rocker cover gasket that's been replaced but I guess I can add oil to the list of the fluids the S4 drinks. It's worth it though, even though I was seen off by this at lunch time:

http://www.streetrace.co.uk/forum/showt ... hp?t=40899

I was way quicker off the mark but when he got into 3rd and could get the power down boy did it move!

Post by **cobraBLACK** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:33 pm

In a FWD shopping cart?! I take it you didn't go near any corners then.

It's always comforting (literally) to know you're in an S4 whilst he's in a rattley shitbox. But I wouldn't be pleased about getting beaten by a Honda.

Post by **IntJetSet** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:33 pm

marv wrote:It looks like the site I think I bought it from is down at the moment.

I'll try to remember to have a look through my emails tonight, and see if I can get an email address for them, I'll PM you if I find it.

EDIT: Had a quick google, and found this site that sells the cables, although at £80 it's more than double what I spent I think:
http://www.vag-diagnostics.com/index.html

Do you then need to get the software on top of having the cable or does that little disc in thier image contain the software. Slightly naieve question but I'm brand new to these things

Post by **IntJetSet** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:34 pm

R33 wrote:Wow I check my oil at lunchtime today and it needed about two thirds of a litre! I know I had a leaking rocker cover gasket that's been replaced but I guess I can add oil to the list of the fluids the S4 drinks. It's worth it though, even though I was seen off by this at lunch time:

http://www.streetrace.co.uk/forum/showt ... hp?t=40899

I was way quicker off the mark but when he got into 3rd and could get the power down boy did it move!

He's spent a fortune on that, could have bought a good car to start with.

RS246.com Forum :: The World's #1 Audi R, S and RS Enthusiast Community

Do these V8's drink coolant?

Who is online