Another DRC failure

[RichRS6]

This may be quite a long post so apologies if I ramble on………

Before spending My hard earned cash I did quite a lot of reading up on this forum to see what I was letting Myself in for so was aware that the DRC (amongst other things) was potentially a big problem.

When I found the right car (in March) and took it for a test drive (mostly on reasonably smooth tarmac) the suspension seemed a little firmer than I'd expected from My previous RS6 drives but they were Saloons so I thought maybe there's a difference in the ride between Saloon and Avant.

On checking over the paperwork I noticed that the last time it had been in to the dealers they had advised that Two of the shocks were showing signs of leakage.

Of course it was Saturday Afternoon so I couldn't try to find out how bad it was by talking to them and after an Eight Hour Train ride to go and pick it up I didn't want to go home alone.

So as the car still had Six months Audi extended warranty left on and haggling the price down a bit more I drove home (well to Leeds actually to see My folks then back to Cornwall the next day).

I noticed on the drive home and in the following days that at almost any speed, hitting any sort of uneven surface resulted in clonking noises from the rear sounding like the battery was loose, (sounds familiar?) and worse it felt like the back end would jump to one side at speed.

I took it to my local Audi Dealers (Truro) who test drove it and said they thought it was fine and the noise was probably a front ball joint.

I have a friend who has just installed a one man mot test lane in his garage which has pneumatic shaker plates for testing front suspensions and he could find nothing wrong.

But while it was up in the air I noticed a transmission fluid leak (I was expecting this as I had noticed a few spots on the driveway).

So I went back to the dealers for them to investigate and asked that they remove the wheels to inspect the shocks.

I went to pick the car up and sure enough all four shocks are leaking, so much for nothing being wrong.

The good news is that they are did all the work (all Four shocks and a new transmission sump gasket, filter and fluid) under warranty.

The bad news was even though I explained to them that the job will not be satisfactory unless they replace both the valves, they refused to replace them (unless I paid for them) as they say there’s no sign of them failing.

They did the work and it didn’t really cure the problems.

So I took it back again and took their supposedly top tech for a ride and tried to find some poor road surface to reproduce the driving conditions that I have to drive on every Day (the roads in my area are pretty appalling and full of pot holes) and after a 20 Minute test drive he “diagnosedâ€

[HyOctane]

The RS6 users guide clearly states that you must replace the central valves when you replace the corresponding shocks. They are what pressurizes the system and without this, they have wasted their time as there is not enough residual pressure to charge them to operating system pressure (approx 12-16 bar). Have your dealer call Audi HQ in your presence and tell them you want to hear this from the top.

[RichRS6]

Thanks for that HyOctane,

You can bet that if I tried to get hold of the man at the top in the U.K. he'd be out of the office for the week.........

Grizz from Unit 20 emailed me a copy of a DRC Suspension problems flow chart from an Audi dealer which basically says if the shocks are replaced and the problem persists then they should change the valves but as they insisted that they could find no fault they refused to change the valves.

I would like a copy of the part of the user guide where it states this to prove the point as I did try to be as forceful as possible without resorting to losing my temper as I have found this to be counter productive.

The dealers in Truro told me that if they removed the valves and replaced them under warranty the defective valves would have to go back to Audi for testing and if Audi tested them and found no fault they would have to pay for them !!

I found this hard to believe, do Audi have a defective parts testing department ?

Then a couple of weeks later I noticed the water temperature seemed to be creeping up the dial a bit and the fans seemed to be running more than usual then the red warning lamp came on. As I was fairly close to home I let it cool down and nursed it home.

Luckily the car was still covered by an Audi extended warranty so a couple of calls later it was on the back of a truck.

The warranty said I would have the use of a car of similar engine capacity for the duration of the work but I got a Chrysler Sebring which was the best they could do. Urrrrghh!! Not in quite the same league !

As Audi dont let anyone else carry out work under their warranty (even though its actually a company called Mondial who pay out the claims and I spoke to a couple of people at that company to try and get the work carried out at an Independent specialist) I decided to have it taken to the next nearest Audi dealership (Plymouth) who confirmed my first guess that it was the water pump so they did that and the Thermostat and cam belt at the same time plus I had them check the suspension over.

On the Morning I was due to pick it up they rang to say the tool they used to re-pressurise the system had broken, they had requested a new tool from Audi U.K. and I would have to wait another day to get the RS back.

When I picked it up they told Me they had drained and renewed the fluid and re-pressurised the suspension and could find no fault.

I'm still not happy as the ride is no better and certainly not what I would expect from a vehicle which cost £50,000+ when new.

In my job I drive a lot of cars and would say that a comparable (not that there is anything to directly compare to an RS6) Merc or BMW rides in a way that an expensive fast car should, firm but with no rattles or clonks over rough surfaces.

At this point I have to say they were very professional and polite and I have no problems with their customer handling skills whereas the first dealers were practically dismissive of my opinions.

My Audi Warranty expired so I have changed to Warranty Direct who have sent written confirmation that when the suspension fails again I can replace it with aftermarket parts so am just waiting for the day that the shocks start leaking again (which won't be long) and I can take the car to Grizz at Unit 20, have the whole lot ripped out and get a set of coilovers fitted.

[rtd]

Yep I think Grizz is the man for this..........

[Cornishmoocher]

Truro Audi are cocks anyhoo.......

[RichRS6]

Ah You have local knowledge Moocher !

Yes I think Cocks is probably right.....

I had to get them to replace a Tyre valve stem.
The centre pin in the core was bent making it difficult to get an air line on and the core was jammed in the stem.
I didn't want to use too much force trying to remove it as snapping it off may have damaged it and released all the air and with no spare tyre to fall back on I could have been stuck.

My local Tyre fitter didn't want to get involved due to potential problems with the tyre pressure sensors being held on by the valve stem.

Truro Audi did not assemble it correctly and It was still impossible to get a normal airline on it the only way I could put air in was to use the 12v compressor in the boot with the screw on fitting.

If they can't manage that then do I want them doing anything to my car......I dont think so!!

I had this sorted recently when I had a set of new tyres fitted at Plymouth Audi who don't seem quite as bad.......Have You had any dealings with them ??

[HyOctane]

Rich. Your service manager dosent know the product. The central valves dont become faulty. They are cannisters that are pressurized from the factory at 16bar. Once the shocks and lines have been evacuated under negative vacuum and then refilled and pressurized to 5 bar, they are sealed off and connected to the new factory filled central valves. Once the pin is pulled on these valves, the 16 bar pressure from them charges the entire system and voila.. your DRC is operational again. It should then be checked to make sure it is at no less than 12 bar and hopefully closer to 15-16 bar sitting. Anything under 12 bar is considered malfunctioning and needs to be recharged agin. have them pressure check the system as it sits now.. I can email you the self study guide that explains it very well.. Its written by Audi so they cant argue with it. Once you have used the central valves, they are considered discharged, not defective and must be rechaged to 16 bar before they can be used. There has been some talk about a kit that dealers might have which will recharge the valves in house rather than haveing to have them sent from Gmbh. Either way, if you want, let me know your email address and I'll send the guide as an attachment.

[RichRS6]

Hi, thanks for all the help.

If You could email the paperwork You refer to then it might help me to pursue it.

I'll pm my email.

I went armed with as much info as I could but short of standing in the showroom and screaming there's not too much else I could do.

Its a bit sad when the owners of these vehicles know more about them than the people trusted to work on them.

Audi Customer service U.K. are pretty useless even at Head office.

I hate being lied to by people especially when they take your money and treat You like an idiot too!

[RichRS6]

Thanks for the paper work Paul,

I spoke to the dealers about the DRC valves and said I had a copy of the Audi self study guide they said they had repressurised them rather than replacing them (which may be the problem) but that they were prepared to open a case with Audi U.K. to try and sort it out.

This will involve me driving up to Plymouth (a 4 Hour round trip) leaving the car with them for investigation / rectification work then going back up to pick it up.

Even if they can sort it out, in the long run I'm going to end up with DRC issues again anyway so am just going to put up with it until the shocks start leaking again and claim under the new (non Audi) warranty for a set of Coilovers.