Exhaust Manifold

[B5DOM]

I went to collect the car and was given the bad news the, noise is coming from the exhaust manifolds, and as such is not covered under warranty.

I have been told that the inner and outer manifold is parting company and that is where the noise is coming from, there was a bunch of cars that were called back for replacement manifolds and mine is not in that batch.

The Cost is estimated to be in the region of £2,200

The dealer recommended that I spoke to AUDI UK to see if there is anything that they can do, has anyone had any experience of this or heard of this before?

[DavidR]

I replied to your PM about it. Now I have read this post, what year is your car?

[wazza]

I had manifold replaced under warranty (within the three years, not extended)
See here . [img]images/graemlins/nodder.gif[/img]
Surely these should be covered [img]images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[B5DOM]

The Car is 1999 registered and purchased from AUDI Gatwick last December and supplied with an official AUDI (AON) warranty.

They have spoken to warranty co and been told that they will not fix it because it is part of the exhaust, and I need to follow up with AUDI UK

[DavidR]

As I suggested in PM, get the part numbers. If they match Biturbo's repairs and my own repairs then you should have a good case to argue for a warranty repair.

[B5DOM]

Thanks for the help guys as soon as I get the details of the repair requirements from the dealer I will let you know the parts etc

[Mik]

Have the exact same problem and no warranty. Took the car to AMD who think the turbos are ok, but in order to fix the noise which I would describe as a "rattle" from the manifolds - both need changing which is around £2500 (including a new Air Mass Meter which seems to be another common S4 problem...). [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
Apparently its a known fault on early models (have 98'S) where the heatshield "unwelds" itself off the manifold and thus creating the noise. A recommendation was made to owners way back when....not a recall - to have turbos and manifolds exchanged under warranty. As this was only a recommendation, combined with the fact that my S4 Avant didnt have the fault at the time - mine were never done....

However, have managed to get a nice discount through Audi UK as it is clearly unacceptable to not have recalled cars with risk of such a severe fault which can potentially cause heat damage and turbo failure.... [img]images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/s4anogaro.gif[/img]

[Golich]

Speak to Audi UK.

Personaly I think it is completely unaccepatble that you should pay for their known design faults as early as when the first cars came out. Especailly when you are talking about £2.5K of work. I know my warranty with warranty direct covered the exhaust manifolds.

Audi are taking the piss if they don't warranty a part they know from years back (their 2.2cc 5 cyclinder engine were notorious for cracking.) [img]images/graemlins/rocketwhore.gif[/img]

I never had a Audi warranty but my ECU "quality improvement" i.e. recall which wasn't carried out in the proper time was subsequently stumped up for when I spoke nicely to them [img]images/graemlins/clap.gif[/img]

[B5DOM]

The estimate for the work arrived in the post today and is as follows

Labour £1,224
078253033CT Manifold £318
078253034BR Manifold £372.75
plus screws & Gaskets etc

£2,281.70 inc VAT

Can you check those part no's against the warranty work you had done, and if they are the same I will contact AUDI UK and see what they have to say for themselves.

Does anyone have a contact or address for AUDI UK that has been useful in the past

[img]images/graemlins/yellows4.gif[/img]

[Golich]

The guy I talked with has left (James Pibwirth) All I have is the name of a lad Steve ? and a Girl Alex ? Sorry I don'y have their surname. But the general tel No is 0800 699888. or at least is was just over a year ago.

I got the number direct from James after I email Audi Uk from their web site http://www.audi.co.uk/

It took them 2 weeks to reply. They appologised saying that the email goes to Germany first for logging and is then sent to the UK customer services.

Good Luck

[DJG]

Dominic,

Any news on this?

David

[B5DOM]

Sorry for the delay guys been very busy at work, I am expecting a call from Audi in the morning, not sure what the outcome will be, so I will give you an update then

[img]images/graemlins/3flypigs.gif[/img] hoping that Audi will fix the beast

[Rivendell]

This is a common problem?! I bought my S4 last August and first noticed a rattle on the way home. Finally after 4 trips to various Dealers over 8 months, Swindon Audi diagnosed the fault as the Exhaust manifold, estimated cost of repair £2300 ish. Aon Warranty are refusing to cover it, same story as above. Audi have just agreed to cover half the cost, implying that they are doing me a favour paying for half the labour as well. However, when I bought the car it was only 2 yr 9 months old. I'll be taking legal advice and try to get them to cover the full amount on the basis that the fault occurred during the original warranty period. Will keep you informed.

Regards
Mike [img]images/graemlins/s4addict.gif[/img]

[DavidT]

Hi Mike, welcome to rs246 and as with Dominic, best of luck with your claim.

[Dippy]

Welcome Mike.

Getting a group of owners with the same problem to take action together sometimes helps - maybe more of the members here have cars which might get this problem in the future...