Faulty shock absorber

[chillin]

Hi one and all,
I am new to the forum, so l'm looking forward to reviewing the previous subjects - going by the subject matters there is alot of good stuff here.

I have a 3month old, RS4 avant - 2,000miles on the clock and have had a leaking rear shock absorber diagnosed on my car. I just wondered if anyone else has encountered anything similar. Hopefully this is an isolated case.

As for the car - lovinggggggggggggggg it, completely addictive and I'm just knocked out by the performance. Looking at possibly going for a Milltek exhaust and ECU, so will check out other forums for advice on that.

Looking forward to catching up with you at some point

regards

chillin

[simple1]

Welcome to the forum. Your diagnosis is not one I have heard about, my car is nearly a year old, 7500 miles and not suffered from this although it has suffered from the rest of the more common faults.

[W8PMC]

But TBH Simon, you don't really drive your car that hard:):)

Never heard of the leaking shock on an RS4, although almost every RS6 has suffered from failing DRC (Dynamic Ride Control) & IIRC the RS4 has something similar although a more up to date & advanced version.

As for mods, the ECU is a great idea & check this forums for many pointers (recent), however tread a little careful with Zorsts, as it's known many can cause the headache of Emission warning lights & dealers are more than aware of this issue. A Cat-Back will give you little-no gains & a full sports system is very expensive with only marginal gains & the headache of warning lights.

Pipes are a route i'll defo not be taking as even the sound from the stock system is so addictive, but each to their own & report back if you do get an after-market system.

[RI_RS4]

Leaking shocks do happen. In Rhode Island we have 5 RS4 owners. Two have experienced shock leaks. Both were repaired successfully.

[ChuckUK]

Do you acutally know when a shock is leaking? noise or something?

[RI_RS4]

In both cases the owners noticed a rattling sound coming from the suspension.

[chillin]

Hi again,
thanks for the feedback, I first noticed a definate hardness in the suspension on the passengers side - it was the rear shock absorber that went. Another indicator that something wasnt right was a slight rattle from what appeared to be the exhaust - but this was only apparent when the car was cold - added to that there was the harshness of going over any broken areas of tarmac. The good news is that it is being replaced this week, so back to normal shortly

[minou]

I am having a nasty deja vue feeling. All those symptoms are the ones that led to my Rs6 being unuseable for over 3 months because the dealer was unable to diagnose the basic fault which was the DRC valve. Went over to Subaru for a year but have had a Rs4 avant since Oct 06. I will be following this fault with interest and would suggest that you all do. I understood that the problem was sorted, now I wonder. If it is an unsorted problem my approach will be to dump the car before it is out of warranty.

[SteveH]

Would be worth finding out the hydraulic bleeding procedure for the RS4 DRC, as that is the difficulty that the dealers appear to have with RS6, in theory they need to turn the car upside down to bleed the system with absolute confidence.

Also, ask if the central reservoir is factory precharged? RS6 is charged to 16bar pressure, so if one side loses pressure then because of the high pressures involved its likely for it to fail also so the damper and the valve should be changed as a pair.

[RI_RS4]

FWIW, my RS4 tech has already repaired two DRC systems without incident. Apparently the new system is easier to bleed than the old RS6 system.

However, even if the system fails out of warranty, there's no need to worry, there are several good after market suspensions available that outperform the stock system. The Stasis Tracksport suspension uses Ohlin racing dampers.

[chillin]

Hello again,
the new rear shock was fitted today, along with a replacement hose ????? I have to wait until I get home at the end of the week to see what exactly was the cause of the problem. Rest assurred I'll update you when I get the full explanation

[Merlot]

Oh no. Audi kills RS4 residuals just like the RS6. DRC!

[chillin]

Good news all round - new shocker fitted, so I am now back to being a happy bunny again - also, for those of you with experience of the previous RS6 problem, the new RS4 system is far easier to prime being done individually on each unit. All work carried out under warranty, car polished and vacummed as well 10/10 ....... full marks to Dundee Audi. My car is now nudging onto the 3,000miles and it just feels faster and faster each time I go out in it.

[B1SEP]

I had the same problem with mine 2 weeks old RS4 and 400 miles on clock, it has taken a week but all sorted.

dave