New owner + maintenance log

[Mark-RS]

Coming along nicely !

[Mɐʇʇ]

Re the CLT sensor - I found the same WRT to seating that seal.

Mines actually gone back in with a sniff of black silicone sealant just to help bind the seal in the right place as I pushed it back in.

[dwh13]

Decided to change out the transmission fluid this weekend, which of course became a 3 day ordeal (one day to let it drain overnight, one day to get almost done only to strip a bolt, and another day to wrap up). At 136k miles, it was time

Old fluid was the greenish OEM color


Since I wasn't sure the last time the fluid was changed, I went ahead and replaced the filter and pan gasket. I did one drain and fill on the old filter, then went for a drive so that any gunk that loosened up from the new fluid would be removed with the old filter.


I swear every job I try to do, there's always that *one* bolt (you know the one!) that holds things up. This time it was the bolt that holds the filter to the valve body; my torque wrench apparently wasn't accurate and the bolt head snapped right off as I was tightening it back up. Took about 4 hours of lying on my back, getting waterboarded by trans fluid, trying every kind of extractor bit before I finally was able to back it out with a hammer and screwdriver. Then of course had to tap the hole back out...what a fun Sunday that was


Since that took so long, I had to wait until the next day to actually install the filter and pan. The good news is there were minimal metal fragments on the magnets. The bad news is that paper pan gasket was absolutely baked onto the pan. It took about an hour to scrape it off in flakes, then buff and clean the pan. Here's the old vs. new gasket:


The job is actually pretty straightforward - I have a Lexus GX that uses a similar process for changing the fluid, although it has a third hole to fill from that's above the "check valve" and the drain plug. Using the check hole as the fill hole meant lots of spilled fluid. I used an infrared thermometer to check the trans fluid since I don't have VCDS yet. I also used a 12v fluid pump rather than a handheld pump that comes with most kits, it made quick work of the ~2.5 gallons I went through.

Went for a quick drive yesterday afternoon and the shifts do seem a bit smoother, but there was nothing really wrong with them in the first place, so that may just have been me looking for validation of my three days of work...

[dwh13]

While I was underneath wrenching on the trans, I also happened to notice this loose intercooler air hose. I suspect that's the source of my intermittent CELs for running rich. Threw a new clamp on so we'll see if the code returns.

[steve2003rs6]

Great work you are doing. Really enjoy following your progress.

[Mɐʇʇ]

If you need to replace the hoses, I like the Roose Motorsport ones - they are solid & well made.

[dwh13]

A couple small maintenance items on the RS6 over the past few weeks:

Chasing down a CEL for the SAI system, I started by replacing a bunch of dry rotted air line. It didn't hurt, but still hasn't solved the problem. Next step is to pull the kombi valves and clean out the carbon.



Did a couple drain and fills on the power steering fluid, but after about a week I got this horrible whining noise. I'd somehow introduced a ton of air into the system, even though the reservoir never went empty? Decided to do a proper flush through the lines with Pentosin mineral oil - all quiet now.



Still going strong at close to 138k miles!



Next projects - cleaning kombi valves and replacing valve cover gaskets/tensioner gaskets/half moon seals.

[Mɐʇʇ]

14.9 mpg

[IchBautAuto]

14.9 mpg

Are you saying its too much or not enough, noting US gallons which are a bit different.? I've had a life of 10 mpg cars so that has become my benchmark which is really stupid, but old standards are hard to break. That's 15.8 ltr / 100km which seems to be OK for city driving.

[Shoppinit]

Rule 30

[Mɐʇʇ]

I'm not saying either. I am just chuckling that our "chosen" car is a 15mpg lunatic thing.

Are you saying its too much or not enough, noting US gallons which are a bit different.? I've had a life of 10 mpg cars so that has become my benchmark which is really stupid, but old standards are hard to break. That's 15.8 ltr / 100km which seems to be OK for city driving.

[IchBautAuto]

I'm not saying either. I am just chuckling that our "chosen" car is a 15mpg lunatic thing.

Are you saying its too much or not enough, noting US gallons which are a bit different.? I've had a life of 10 mpg cars so that has become my benchmark which is really stupid, but old standards are hard to break. That's 15.8 ltr / 100km which seems to be OK for city driving.

Your first post comment went through to the keeper. I thought the consumption was good. Clearly I'm impressed with how economical the RS6 is. The one thing about the more modern cars, you definitely get more HP per gallon than you used to.

[dwh13]

Being on winter break, I decided to knock a few more maintenance items off the list that probably haven't been done in years (if ever).

First up was the rear diff fluid - nothing special, just drain and fill.



Then I figured, brake fluid is cheap and important, I bet that's never been done either. I got 2 liters of the good stuff from Audi (only $24 total).



What should have been a 1-hour process turned into three days after one of my rear bleeder plugs wouldn't budge for anything. I tried penetrating fluid, breaker bars, heat, cold chisel, EZ-out bits, the works! I started looking into just replacing the entire caliper, but just finding one was difficult, and the cost... I finally ordered a set of extractor sockets from Amazon and that did the trick in 30 seconds flat!



You can see how I absolutely mangled the old one. I've got no idea what sort of mysterious forces were holding that on so well, but what a feeling when it finally broke free!

Now I've got a bit of a spongy pedal. I went through all 4 front bleeders again, but ran out of light so I'll take another test drive and flush the rears again if needed.

[Mɐʇʇ]

Did you just cycle some fluid through by foot, or did you have a pressure bleeder at >30psi?

[dwh13]

Did you just cycle some fluid through by foot, or did you have a pressure bleeder at >30psi?

Just cycled by foot the old fashioned way!