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Hi All,

New member just bought an 03 plate S4 last Friday. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome, once I figured out that I had to push the clutch pedal to start the car from cold. Doh!!!!!

All standard so wanted to fit a decent cat back exhaust system. Can't afford to replace the cats yet. Is the Milltek cat back system the best. Also, resonated or unresonated? Does the Milltek system sound better than the stock system? Also, whats an estimate power gain for using a Cat back system only.

Cheers all. Cracking website.

Welcome.
Power gains on these cars are poor so you only do it for the sound!!
Where abouts are you located?
In a thread just this week a guy has had a new exhaust custom made at MIJ in Walsall, the build quality is meant to be pretty damn good and a lot cheaper thean a Milltek.
You have to push the clutch in to start yours???

Dunc

chunky79 wrote:Power gains on these cars are poor so you only do it for the sound!!

Not necessarily. I have replaced the whole system and had a custom map and my car is considerably quicker than stock to 60mph and over 1/4 mile. The 1/4 mile times are not that good IMO but the high trap speeds are a good indicator for power. See the last post on pg2 here http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... c&start=15 So the gains are not that poor. Sure you do not get the same bang for your buck as with FI cars but I am happy with my gains.

OP: A catback alone will give you no power just adding aural pleasure. Milltek? IMHO you pay a premium for the the brand name. My whole system, MIJ, cost about 1K. The Milltek downpipes alone cost more.

Cheers to you both.

Milletek do seem a bit pricey. I have looked at a couple of other posts and somebody mentioned a company in Darlington (where I live) who can make custom made exhausts/cats/etc similar to MIJ. Going to get quote and will post results. The company in question is called Exhaust-a-Fit.

Chunky. From cold, I have to push the clutch on to start the car. After that it starts normally. The manual says you have to start the S4 this way and the dealer told me that all Audis need to be started this way also.

Weird. Only needs to be done after the car has been left standing overnight or its being particularly cold.
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never heard of the clutch thing, sounds like a load of tosh to me

i had a '53 S4, didnt have to do this

you may have a problem

Must admit, I have not heard this either and mine starts fine without depressing the clutch. Even when it was down to -12c last month.

Worth investigating if it is still under warranty!

paulyd65 wrote:Cheers to you both.

Milletek do seem a bit pricey. I have looked at a couple of other posts and somebody mentioned a company in Darlington (where I live) who can make custom made exhausts/cats/etc similar to MIJ. Going to get quote and will post results. The company in question is called Exhaust-a-Fit.

Chunky. From cold, I have to push the clutch on to start the car. After that it starts normally. The manual says you have to start the S4 this way and the dealer told me that all Audis need to be started this way also.

Weird. Only needs to be done after the car has been left standing overnight or its being particularly cold.
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Hi,

I would be careful about getting a custom exhaust made from any random company. Exhaust fabrication is a very skilled art and you can easily end up with an exhaust that actually reduces power and/or torque. For example if the pipe lengths are poorly designed or pipe diameters are too wide you can reduce exhaust gas pressure that in turn reduces the gas speed and so the scavenging effect of the cylinders is reduced or even stopped.

If you're in Darlington try AAS in Newburn, Newcastle. They have an excellent reputation and do loads of race cars. That's where I had my exhaust made. It includes an X-pipe that increases the cylinder scavenging effect. It sounds like the car has a Turbo Wastegate when you lift off, there's so much vacuum.

Just a thought.

BTW, several people have said that the Miltek Cat back has actually reduced power on a Standard S4. A well designed exhaust should increase power ( slightly) without remapping.
Regards, Chris.

BlingBling wrote:

chunky79 wrote:Power gains on these cars are poor so you only do it for the sound!!

Not necessarily. I have replaced the whole system and had a custom map and my car is considerably quicker than stock to 60mph and over 1/4 mile. The 1/4 mile times are not that good IMO but the high trap speeds are a good indicator for power. See the last post on pg2 here http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... c&start=15 So the gains are not that poor. Sure you do not get the same bang for your buck as with FI cars but I am happy with my gains.

OP: A catback alone will give you no power just adding aural pleasure. Milltek? IMHO you pay a premium for the the brand name. My whole system, MIJ, cost about 1K. The Milltek downpipes alone cost more.

He did say he was only doing cat back, thats why i made my comment.

Hi All.

Thanks for the advice on the exhaust. Will have a think?

Done a bit more digging about this clutch thing with both Audi and an independant Audi specialist and found out the following:-

Its a safety switch that prevents you from starting the car in gear and it jumping forward. If the car has been left for a long period of time (i.e. overnight) then the switch kicks in and the clutch is required to be depressed when you start the car for the first time. When you start the car after the initial clutch down start, it starts normally

Have tried this the last three mornings and it works. Tried to start car normally and no joy. Depressed clutch and car fires up. Turn off car and restart without clutch pressed down and it works.

It actually says on pg 123 of my manual and I quote:-

Apply the handbrake firmly

Move the gear lever into the neutral position.

Push the clutch pedal all the way down

Turn key.

Sorted. Happy now.

Never had to do this and the wife always leaves it in gear over night. I just lean in, knock it in to neutral and fire the beast up (thats when the battery isn't flat!!)

Dunc

That clutch thing is weird. I have a 2004 S4 and don't have to do this. (I hope this doesn't mean that the clutch pedal switch has died or something, as this will screw up adding cruise control! But I have no fault codes relating to this so I assume it's fine.)

The only similar thing I know of is on the new A4s, as I had one as a courtesy car last week, the DIS displays a message to depress the clutch before it will let the engine start.

Maybe this can be enabled/disabled in VAG COM??

that might explain a lot of people having cold start issues... will have a look at that when I get back to the UK!

I have the non-res full Milltek system (started with the cat back then added the cats - different noise again.) Had the car serviced by a an independent Audi specialist (who's also a friend) at the same time (panel filter fitted) and have to admit the car is far more responsive now (maybe down to knackered plugs and an airbox full of leaves!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dP_-GK ... re=related

Any exhaust will improve the V8 burble. As already covered - you pay a high premium for Millteks. There are many companies out there that will probably make a nicer system for half the budget.

Word of mouth is the best advert to date.

nihc wrote:

paulyd65 wrote:Cheers to you both.

Milletek do seem a bit pricey. I have looked at a couple of other posts and somebody mentioned a company in Darlington (where I live) who can make custom made exhausts/cats/etc similar to MIJ. Going to get quote and will post results. The company in question is called Exhaust-a-Fit.

Chunky. From cold, I have to push the clutch on to start the car. After that it starts normally. The manual says you have to start the S4 this way and the dealer told me that all Audis need to be started this way also.

Weird. Only needs to be done after the car has been left standing overnight or its being particularly cold.
[/list]

Hi,

I would be careful about getting a custom exhaust made from any random company. Exhaust fabrication is a very skilled art and you can easily end up with an exhaust that actually reduces power and/or torque. For example if the pipe lengths are poorly designed or pipe diameters are too wide you can reduce exhaust gas pressure that in turn reduces the gas speed and so the scavenging effect of the cylinders is reduced or even stopped.

If you're in Darlington try AAS in Newburn, Newcastle. They have an excellent reputation and do loads of race cars. That's where I had my exhaust made. It includes an X-pipe that increases the cylinder scavenging effect. It sounds like the car has a Turbo Wastegate when you lift off, there's so much vacuum.

Just a thought.

BTW, several people have said that the Miltek Cat back has actually reduced power on a Standard S4. A well designed exhaust should increase power ( slightly) without remapping.
Regards, Chris.

A second vote for AAS in Newcastle, had my B6 S4 converted there and an x-pipe put on my current RS4. Considerably cheaper then Milltek and better quality.

I have a complete Miltek setup including dp's for sale as I have just had an MIJ exhaust fitted.