Boo. I'm RS6less for a while.

[gmk666]

Halfway through washing Iceland's finest off my car last Sunday, I had to move it to allow a neighbour to drive by. I started the car up and was greeted by the dreaded PING and the red coolant sign on the dashboard.

Turn off.
Check coolant level behind door hinge.
No coolant to read the level of.
Bugger.

I finished washing the car, rang Audi Assist and arranged for them to come and have a look. Dave (or was it Steve?) the RAC man turns up the next day, and diagnoses what he thinks is a cracked expansion tank, although he can't be sure as it's inside the wheel arch and he can't get at it.

(Edited to add - What's slightly worrying is that the warning light didn't come on again when he started the engine.)

The RS6 is recovered to the Audi dealer, although they can't look at it until Wednesday or Thursday. Double bugger. Never mind sir, here's your replacement car, a Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 Diesel. Thanks.

I got the call yesterday from the rather helpful service lady to say that it is indeed a faulty expansion tank and the part is on back order from Germany, ETA next Thursday. Triple bugger.

Popped in to Audi today to drop off the Vauxhall and pick up a slightly more suitable courtesy car (a 120mile old S4 Avant - yippee, whingeing works) and a chat to the technician. It took him 4 hours to find the fault and he told me he was starting to get nervous - supposedly in the C5 it's an engine out job.

Please don't get me wrong - this isn't a rant. I'm just relieved it wasn't a holed radiator. I'll let you know how I get on with the S4. It's ironic really as I very nearly bought one before finally deciding on the RS6. First impressions are that I'm glad I did.

In the meantime, enjoy your cars gentlemen. Nothing like a Vauxhall Repmobile to remind you how lucky we all are.

[doodlebug]

From my split coolant hose experience, where thankfully the engine didn't have to come out, I was lead to believe that a lot of jobs are engine out on the C6 as you simply can't get at anything.

I hope you're not without your monster for long!

[gdavison]

not fun .. ..Spares for the C6 RS6 never seem to be in stock .. grrr

[Cornishmoocher]

Sorry to here your woes..hope it gets sorthed quickly.....

As for the spares, it is bizarre, things that you may expect themn to have in stock, they haven't, where as Grizz got my c6 calipers pretty much next day- now who need to replace calipers after a year or so?? How come sumut like that is in stock and not an expension tank? OR......... Is it just the usual Audi tardyness?
TBH, I would ber mega pissed off if they had told me sorry- we cant' look at it until a week next easter, may have done some jumping up and down on that one too! I learnt from experience that if they figure you are a reasonably sopft touch (like I was) they will walk all over you to appease that guys who stand their ground. ( I gave in and folded like a pack of cards when my 6 was in for the dreaded DRC (3rd replacement), had a call from the servad who said " oh hi mr Pino, any chance you could bring back the 4.2 Q7 you have as we have an important customer who needs it, He has jus bought a similar Q7 and will only go in one as a replacement." "errr, well I'm in cornwall on holiday......" "Oh, well. We really could do with it". " Ah, er, well I suppose i best bring i t back then....") The service adviser never even said thank you, but the guy who was going in to the Q7, when I told him what I'd done, he called me a daft bugger and should have stood my ground- as he did!

Any hoo- no such trouble with grizzly- except that lee does not wear short skirts or have nice tits!

[SteveCuz]

Haven't seen him in a skirt but I know he's working hard down at the gym working on his moobs!

[gmk666]

Two days into my temporary ownership, I've got to reiterate how glad I am I chose my second hand RS6 instead of a brand new S4.
It just doesn't feel all that special.
Admittedly the one I've got isn't all that well-optioned, having the 18" alloys, no sunroof, standard seats and standard suspension but it feels such a step down, even from my old B7 RS4.
Rear legroom isn't great with my 2-year-old daughter easily able to kick the seat in front of her, and town driving sees around 15mpg. The RS6 is only slightly worse at 12mpg.
I like the gearbox and build quality though.
There was one with much better spec in the dealers up at £48k, about what I got to when playing on the configurator last year. FYI, that's about 87% of what I paid for the RS6, but the S4 is no way near 87% of the car.

Saying all that, and in riposte to Cornishmoocher's caving in, there's no way I'm taking the S4 back to them. Well unless it's to swap it for the R8 I was originally angling for.

[Cornishmoocher]

good man

[jezitalia]

I agree you need to be tough on these guys. An important customer with a Q7, so an RS customer is of less importance? Agree you should have stuck to your guns and kept it, leave the dealership with the problem.

Having said all that, in Hong Kong, where I live at present they don't ever offer a courtesy car. I have ranted long and hard a Audi in Germany, but they say its down to the local Monopoly ( sorry Dealer, yes theres only one who also operates Bugatti, RR, Toyota in HK ) to provide this. So here its even worse, having said that they return the cars pretty quickly.

[jazzsalt]

Two days into my temporary ownership, I've got to reiterate how glad I am I chose my second hand RS6 instead of a brand new S4.
It just doesn't feel all that special.
Admittedly the one I've got isn't all that well-optioned, having the 18" alloys, no sunroof, standard seats and standard suspension but it feels such a step down, even from my old B7 RS4.
Rear legroom isn't great with my 2-year-old daughter easily able to kick the seat in front of her, and town driving sees around 15mpg. The RS6 is only slightly worse at 12mpg.
I like the gearbox and build quality though.
There was one with much better spec in the dealers up at £48k, about what I got to when playing on the configurator last year. FYI, that's about 87% of what I paid for the RS6, but the S4 is no way near 87% of the car.

Saying all that, and in riposte to Cornishmoocher's caving in, there's no way I'm taking the S4 back to them. Well unless it's to swap it for the R8 I was originally angling for.

Thanks for the feedback. Really helpful as I was also thinking about a S4 or S5 Sportback but they easily hit £50k when you put all the options that you would normally expect. On that basis, I think a stretch to a barely used RS6 at mid to high £50s makes a lot of sense. Moreover, you will see alot less RS6s around that S4/S5s ...

[alphamail]

Blimey Gaz, that's a bummer.

I'm glad it hasn't caused the dreaded cognitive dissonance in that the S4 has made you realise just how good the RS is, when it works.

I have been away in Norfolk and chose going and coming back at exactly the right time.The conditions were perfect and just a trickle of traffic. I had a gentleman's dibble with a Carrer 4 S soft top, and blow me down, Snowy reeled him in. Some of it was tow but blimey I think he was more surprised than me.

What a bloody marvellous car, when it works.

What was the cause of your car's problem?

[gmk666]

Norfolk, eh? That explains the delay. I'd expected a post from you within minutes of me mentioning the S4, complete with a "told you so".

Regarding the problem, the technician talked about a crack between the expansion tank and a hose, which explains the warning light coming on then going off. It only manifested itself once the engine heated up. There was no pressure loss until then. Does any of that make sense?

(PS I had to look up what cognitive dissonance meant. I'm still not sure though, except it's something to do with a fox and some grapes.)

[alphamail]

Re c.d. you are nearly correct, although it is fox and grape (singular).

Do you know what caused the defect? Wasn't by any chance driving too slowly for prolonged periods of time?







.

[gmk666]

Do you know what caused the defect? Wasn't by any chance driving too slowly for prolonged periods of time?

Assuming you're not comparing me to Miss Daisy, I'd be a bit worried if driving the car in London breaks it. Hope not, because that's where I use it. I'll find out the exact cause when I pick it up. Wonder if it's a common RS6 problem?

[alphamail]

Do you know what caused the defect? Wasn't by any chance driving too slowly for prolonged periods of time?

Assuming you're not comparing me to Miss Daisy, I'd be a bit worried if driving the car in London breaks it. Hope not, because that's where I use it. I'll find out the exact cause when I pick it up. Wonder if it's a common RS6 problem?

I accept she'd had a few bumps while driving her car before hiring her chauffeur, but I reckon if Miss Daisy did the driving - not Morgan Freeman, the film would have a run time of about twenty minutes....

Re a possible common fault, that is what I was thinking ie my ECUs blowing seem to have happened on other cars,


Could it be the fact that you are doing lots of low speed driving in town?

What do I know






.

[gmk666]

Could it be the fact that you are doing lots of low speed driving in town?

Maybe. I'll ask the tech if it's something Audi know of. However, I'd be royally pissed off if after all that testing in Mojave, the Arctic Circle or wherever, my car can't cope with Hampstead.

(Saying that, my RS4's DRC couldn't cope with speed bumps, so let's see...)