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Hi all, a newbie to the Audi RS scene and proud owner of a 15 plate Panther Black RS4 this weekend, and 2 days in I am loving they raw power and way it shifts!

I have a quick clutch / warranty question however to throw out there. I have read a few posts here about transmission / gearbox related issues on the RS4 and other RS models and whilst they don’t answer my question directly, I wonder if I should be worried…

All service history is up to date with the car and it seems to have been very well looked after with 24k miles on the clock, however 3 months ago through Audi (i.e. 3 months before the manufacturers warranty ran out), the previous owner had a lot of work done to “replace the clutch pack and oil cooler” under warranty (over £2.5k worth of work). There is no mention of it on myAudi (assume that's normal as none of the other warranty work is shown) but I have the paperwork for the full list of replacement items which were handed over in the sale docs.

Has anyone had ongoing issues with gearboxes in their RS4 after a full clutch replacement near the end of their warranty? Is something like that common on a 3year old car with 24k miles – a prior post “new gearbox needed at 26k miles” jumped out at me but wasn’t conclusive and some owners report clunky / violent shifts.

I don’t want to make anything big of it yet, so looking for advice from members who have had clutches replaced and if it’s likely I might have issues cropping up again…it seems to shift perfectly in all driving modes for now. The Indy I bought it through uses this site, so I will contact them separately just to make sure there is nothing I have missed, as they were very good to me during the sales process, but didn’t mention this work.

Big question; should I be worried about gearbox / clutch issues in future and should I have extended the warranty through the Indy?

Cheers
Peter

Hi,

Firstly FON! Second - pictures!

The issue with the clutch pack being replaced is due to the seal in the ATF radiator failing and allowing coolant into the gearbox oil which then contaminates the clutches. It is a known issue with this type of DSG gearbox going back a number of years. There is a TPI on it. However, I've not heard of any issues reoccurring once the parts have been replaced.

Personally I wouldn't be worried as if it does occur again then you can point to it being a previous issue and they should offer some kind of 'good will' if you don't have any kind of extended warranty. In essence you should get some level of support from Audi, particularly if you maintain the service history through Audi.

+1. In my limited experience when the cars break it is very expensive (so I’ve opted for an Audi extended warranty guaranteeing nothing will now break).

Secondly Audi picked up 60% of the cost on a six year old S4 because it had been maintained by them

My advice would be to Shop around but get the stamps for service work. In my mind gearboxes are the weak component in these cars. Audi even admitted they had moved away from the DSG box for reliability reasons in the new B9

Oh and welcome!!

Cheers gents! We’ve since established the prior owner I guess! Very much appreciate the advice, photos to come for sure once the sun is out.

Look forward to contributing and learning about these beasts! Also glad to hear about Audi’s seemingly good servicing and goodwill.

True, Audi goodwill stems from a few things, but mainly how much service history you have with them.

I had my 2 x front DRC shocks replaced on my RS4 B8, even though it was out of warranty.

They basically offered me a “buy one, get one free” option. So I went for that. 2 x new shocks regassed and fitted (with the revised damper with extra sound cladding) and a new under tray cover for the gearbox for roughly £700.

I had all of my servicing work completed through the same dealer, built up the relationship and Audi also had the same Master tech work on the car when it came time diagnose faults. Never had to test the goodwill theory outside of warranty, however in this instance if the same issue re-occurs then I would be straight back to Nottingham Audi (even if another dealer has completed other servicing work) as they did the warranty work on the gear box and would be asking questions from there.

The gearbox is a scary issue, I tend to drive mine with kid gloves until the digital oil temp is above 80. However, there are companies out there who specialise in repairing the s-tronic and dsg units. This style of box appears across the audi/vw group in multiple guises, dealers do not carry the skills to strip one down and diagnose (and can't afford to), audi UK have to just replace at the scary £ figures that people pick up on.