PROBLEMATIC RS4!

[Rich'sRS4Avant]

Hi guys! I would like to introduce myself as a recent RS4 Avant owner, I’m new to the V8 club and after trying to combine a work estate car with an everyday sports car I decided on the RS4 as a compromise.
I settled on a low miles (52k) Black 2007 which was a private sale from the Notting hill area. I did all the checks and after viewing and test driving the car which was in immaculate condition I agreed the sale and drove it home back to Yorkshire. After previously running a high powered GTR I was slightly disappointed in the RS4 and just thought to myself it doesn’t seem to pull that well and seems to struggle after 80mph but thought to myself I’ve been spoilt by the GTR. However after a few weeks and covering a few more miles it started to become obvious it had a splutter / misfire / kick after building up the torque from around the 3800rpm and anything up to 8000 and always intermittent and at different rpm’s. I have now realised the car is down on power and isn’t pulling around the rev range as a RS4 should. I decided to take it to my local garage for a service who said they knew this engine and was sure they could find the fault.

Visit 1: Diag which showed no fault codes, Oil change, spark plugs, Coil packs (Not invoiced yet) but fault not cured
Visit 2: Diag which again showed no faults so replaced the airflow meter £300 + VAT
Visit 3: 11 hours labour and told me it’s an issue with the valve seals (pic attached) and to get rid of the car asap. They flushed the engine out twice and put some oil seal re generating fluid into the engine and sent me on my way. (Another £400 + VAT) After only covering about 12 miles I noticed some smoke and burning oil smell coming from under the bonnet to took it back and apparently they hadn’t sealed the sump plug correctly and it was dripping onto the exhaust.
I was now very unhappy with this garage and had absolutely no confidence in them diagnosing the car only doing more damage so I was then recommended a specialist who could find and cure the fault so I picked the car up from the 1st garage and set off to drop it off at the new garage. Pulling off the four court the EPC light came on and shortly after the engine management light which is the 1st time these have been on.
The new garage plugged the car into their Autologic diag machine and it instantly came up with two fault codes (8213 (P2015) INTAKE MANIFOLD FLAP POSITION SENDER, IMPLAUSIBLE SIGNALSporadic and 8217 (P2019) INTAKE MANIFOLD 2 POSITION SENDER Electrical Fault In Circuit, Sporadic) also see reports attached. They reset the codes and told me to cover 100mile to try and re generate the inlet manifold which never worked and both lights was on almost immediately. The fault is now clear that it’s the inlet manifold which could be anything up to £3100 + VAT + 8 hours labour. Is there anybody that’s had the same fault / issue with the car or can give me any advice how to tackle this fault? My major concern is that I’m going to buy a new Inlet manifold and then find the initial fault is still there (splutter / misfire / kick) and that the 1st garage has damaged something causing the EPC and engine management light to come on which is a totally different fault. The other option is the flushing out has cleaned the sensors enough to allow them to move to a position to send the fault signals.

I hope I haven’t bored you guys too much but I’m now approx £1’500 out of pocket and in a worse position than before it went to the 1st garage.
Many thanks
Richard.

[sar]

howdy rich, you have been unlucky in your choice of garages the first one are not only clueless they sound like robbers! £300+vat for a maf sensor swap its a £90 quid part and five minutes to fit.
you haven't got leaky valve stem oil seals all rs4's valves look like that, its carbon build up do a search on here its normal.

the second place didnt sound a lot better, regenerate the inlet manifold???lol

your problem sounds like a broken manifold flap position sensor on bank 2, you certainly dont need a new manifold.
get your car to MRC or UNIT 20 they will fettle it no problem.

[S4Player]

Mrc or unit 20 all day [THUMBS UP SIGN]

[neilparf]

Hi Richard, what a nightmare.

Agree with sar - the garage choice unfortunately for you have not done you any favours. The MAF is indeed 90 quid and 5 minutes to switch with a coffee break.

You have carbon build up and potentially a vacuum issue.

MRC for you.

The 'local' garage unless they are RS specialists, will generic diagnose and can't call on the wealth of experience that's required in these situations and indeed has made the aforementioned the go to for most owners.

Book it in and let's us know how you get on. Good luck.

http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=109407

[vestax32]

Your first mistake was taking it to your local garage. MRC.

[Terry1948]

Agree with all the above. I had this issue when I first disconnected exhaust valves and did not make sure they were sealed properly. You lose vacuum and the manifold flaps do not operate correctly and you get a stutter/misfire at about those revs. I have sold mine but there is a wealth of valuable info on this site on most issues.
Terry

[MikeFish]

It's already been said but the 1st 3 places you took it to sound like they were clueless. Take it to the proper experts who will fix it properly.

[klauster]

not being funny, but you can't treat the B7 RS4 as any old car, I would never take my RS to a 'normal' garage. Yorkshire doesn't have any good VW/Audi independents I would trust with my car.

As said previously, you need to get it over to Unit20 or MRC

[Spectre]

Hearing that your car was previously a city car (stop start town driving etc) I would put money on it being a carbon build up / vacuum issue.

Dig deep (another £1600 ish) and take it down to MRC and get it vacuum tested - then have them de-coke, de-flap and a stage 2 map. I'm certain you will not be dissapointed! (Here is my experience of doing similar -> http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=109135

As some one else on this forum once said - the RS4 V8 engine is essentially a race spec engine for the road - so you have to treat it with a bit more tlc than your 'stock' Audi V8.

Mak.

[WillRS]

hindsight is a wonderful thing but you should have come on here and asked before letting some local garage who don't know their RS from their elbow lose on what is still as far as parts and tech is concerned a 55k car !

as others have said get it over to MRC or similar ASAP to check the garage haven't f***d up anything else and also to resolve the original issue which was quite possibly just carbon buildup and sticking manifold flaps all of which could be sorted for similar to what you've paid already to these other "places"

on the upside its probably stuff which is easily rectified and you can then get on with enjoying what is a great car when maintained properly

[adsgreen]

As above. Sounds like either a vacuum issue (v common) or a stuck manifold flap.
When this happens the engine will get around 270ish bhp.

Also a brand new manifold from a dealer is 1600 supplied and fitted.


It's not a new manifold - a decent garage like mrc will simply remove the flaps and remove the error checking from the Ecu. Whilst te manifold is off you might as well go for a second clean, new vac one way valve and maybe a ported manifold (not expensive as done in an exchange basis.

[sync24]

Hi Rich - sorry to hear you are having such a nightmare - hindsight is a wonderful thing but If you have any doubts over anything get searching on here before you do ANYTHING and if you can't find info on your subject get a post up someone,somewhere will have some solid advice. I don't know where you are in the UK but we all thoroughly recommend MRC and Unit 20 and Revolution who are split across the country - but if you can - do yourself a favour and take your car to MRC - they really will get it to perform better than new. People have been know to come from as far as the Netherlands to go visit MRC - anything else - just ask and welcome along to fold FON

[lengster1]

Hey long shot but you weren't near cherry burton in it this morning?

[neilparf]

Cherry burton

For the record, is that a geographical location or a female?

[Rich'sRS4Avant]

Thanks guys appreciate the helpful comments!

I wish I had posted this problem 1st instead of trusting people who don't have a clue and just want to take money off you. Spoke to Junction 20 today because there a 100 mile closer to me and have identified it as a broken flap I think they said in the right bank manifold. Replacement flap, de carbon should cure the problem hopefully.

Cheers Richard