DRC Knocking

4.2 V8 32v Naturally Aspirated - 444 bhp
jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:03 pm

one week later - Audi have no clue whatsoever what the problem could be.

They have admitted there is a problem with ride height as N/S is sitting higher than O/S. They have admitted there is suspension knocking noise from both sides, have replaced parts as listed above but now came back with the below response:

'We don't want you to think the car is just parked up at our service car park but at the moment we just don't know what the issue is so we can't give any time frame for when it will be ready. We're not saying it will be here indefinitely but we are waiting for further information from Audi UK to see if they can make any suggestions and until then we are where we are''

Does anyone have any further suggestions as I don't really want to just leave my car with them 'indefinitely' while nothing happens to it...

Warranty is due to run out in the next few weeks but I presume as they started the work before it expired they are obliged to continue until the problem is sorted out?

Any advice welcome!
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:10 pm

made a call to Audi UK today as getting a bit bored of waiting for Audio Manchester. Explained the situation blah blah blah.

Had a call from Audi M'cr within a few hours saying they had been trying to get hold of me for a couple of days (yeah, right, in that case I'd have some missed calls or voicemails..)

They now seem to think a damaged O/S/F spring is to blame. They have ordered one which will be with them Thurs so the car may be ready by the weekend (how long does it take to fit a spring...?!)

I'm not sure how a damaged O/S/F spring causes both front sides to knock but will let them fit it and see if it's made any difference at all..And surely they should have noticed it when they replaced the O/S/F shock, wishbone & top mount??

Not holding out much hope to be honest.
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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JamesRS5
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by JamesRS5 » Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:46 pm

Excuse me for being a bit simple but how did they diagnose a damaged spring?

Springs can break, usually resulting in a drop in ride height and a VERY noticeable look to it when the car is jacked up.

Did they replace the upper arms when they replaced the damper and wishbone?

jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:28 pm

Hey James,

The guy in the service dept knows absolutely nothing but the sound of it. He simply said that they have noticed a damaged spring on O/S/F and are replacing that. When I've tried to get any more information he clams up and just says one of the techs will run me through it when I come in.

There was a noticeable difference in ride height from N/S to O/S - the O/S is sitting around 1.5-2cm lower since I picked it up from them last time around. It was level when it originally went in so not sure how they've managed to achieve that while working on it...

They didn't replace the upper arms - only the O/S/F lower rear wishbone which I think is the one shown on the left on the below image. They said this had a crack in it. The image is from an S5 rather than RS5.
Image
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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JamesRS5
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by JamesRS5 » Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:50 pm

Ok well ride height difference could well be down to a broken spring, depending on where the spring coil snaps would depend on the drop in ride height.
A cracked rear arm!! Wow, have you been doing some off roading?

Some MOT test centres have the wobble plates that bounce the suspension to look for worn bushes, etc. Maybe it's worth putting the car on one of these and see if you can induce the knocking, it will make pin pointing it an easy task.

jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:06 am

Good thinking - I have a pal with an MOT centre so will ask him if he has the wobble plates or if he can take a look and at least it's someone outside of the Audi network giving an independent view.

Off roading - not as yet... Barely had it on the road - I think Audi have had it longer than me now... Although it would be good to see a Group B version of the RS5 harking back to the good old days..
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Thu Apr 03, 2014 1:32 pm

car is still in with Manchester Audi - will be two weeks on Monday its been in on this instalment... Must be coming close to 6 weeks in total now over various visits in the last 2 months

It is now in the hands of Brian Cusick (General Service Manager) who seems to be a stand up guy. Happy to help and answers & returns calls which is novel for this branch..

They thought last Friday they'd cracked it after changing out the O/S/F spring but after Brian took it for a test drive he noticed some noise still there so back to square one again..

Brian & Audi UK are now back & forth trying to find a solution.

I've suggested they put it on wobble / shaker plates as JamesRS5 suggested so he thought they'd give this a go to see if it highlights anything in particular.

Can anyone on here think of anything else that could be making the knocking noise apart from the parts they've swapped out already? (O/S/F lower rear wishbone, topmount, spring, shock, 2x actuators, recharge etc)
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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mark758
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by mark758 » Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:05 pm

Not sure what other folks think but tbh the level of knowledge in Audi dealerships seems frighteningly sparse when it comes to RS vehicles.
I'd be tempted to get some feedback from a specialist MRC/APS/Revolution/APR ....
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jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:58 pm

had a call from Audi Manchester last Thurs afternoon. They have swapped the spring / recharged the system and it is still making some noise...

They were then asked by Audi UK to find a similar spec / comparable car in the dealer network to compare settings / parts etc from one to the other to check it was all set up correctly. They got a customer's car in to M'cr Audi but told me that it made noise and drove terribly but the owner hadn't complained yet so they haven't carried out any work on it... They then used this to compare to my car?!? and said my mine drives a lot better?! Not sure why you would bother checking the settings on a car that has issues with the very components you're trying to check... Logic?

Anyhow - they said 'mine sits around 5-10mm higher than the other car but there is nothing then can do about this as the car sets its own ride height'

They also read me an Audi technical bulletin saying that in some cases the DRC system will make some noise when travelling over larger holes / manhole covers etc due to the pressure of the hydraulic fluid passing a valve in pipes leading to the damper and causing a knocking sound to be passed through the damper and topmount and being heard / felt by the driver..
I replied with 'It didn't make noise and now it does so there is a problem than needs rectifying' I'm not really that interested in the one bulletin that they can try to use as a loophole. If it didn't make noise and now does, something is not right, Simple.

Brian Cusick (Service manager) did agree that if I took the car to an independent specialist and they could identify the components causing the issue or the root cause of the problem them would cover the costs of the replacement parts and labour. I have asked for him to give me this in writing..

They gave me the car back yesterday wishing me the best (service manager not present)

It is still sitting higher on the N/S than the O/S, knocking noise is still the same.

I have today called Audi UK and expressed my frustration. Explained the situation and advised them of Brian's comments regarding paying for a specialist to fix the problem - I sensed a slight air of uncertainty form Audi UK on this matter... but they are now also contacting Manchester Audi for confirmation on all of the above and will get back to me in due course.
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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JamesRS5
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by JamesRS5 » Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:31 pm

Here's an idea to Run by Audi, if they can't rectify the problem and the car is still knocking then how about they remove the DRC altogether from the vehicle and you come to some sort of deal on a KW system, you retain the adjustable settings the DRC offers, you gain a far superior damper and spring combination and you also gain adjustable ride height so you can level out the car and make it sit correctly.

As for diagnosing your fault, it sounds to me like they need to replace your dampers, the dampers contain pressurized oil, one of these dampers must have an internal fault causing both the knocking (possibly through a failed internal valve) and the ride height discrepancy.
Have they replaced all the dampers?

jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Fri Apr 11, 2014 9:04 am

JamesRS5 - thanks for your comments.

I would like to post on here the e-mail I received from Audi Manchester yesterday but not sure of my legal position with regards to posting other people's correspondences. I think most of you would find it laughable and their comments to be fundamentally flawed..

Anyhow - they are now trying to wriggle out of the suspension issue stating that it is 'Concept related noise' and unavoidable. I have of course challenged this again. They seem to think the ride height discrepancy is normal... We all know it isn't...

They have only replaced the following parts:
8K0407694S Lower rear suspension wishbone arm
8T0412020A Shock absorber
8K0805922A 054628 / Control valve
8K0616887A 054641 / Control valve
8K0253144M Exhaust bracket
8K0253144M Exhaust bracket

They told me they had replaced the O/S/F spring & top mount too so I have queried why this isn't listed.

They therefore have only replaced one shock so I will ask if they would prefer to change all 4 shocks or go down the route of contributing heavily towards a full replacement system by KW etc.

I'll keep posting updates if only to highlight the ineptitude of Manchester Audi.
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
Sports Pack, Sports Exhaust, B+O, Nappa, Black Optics, Tech Hi, Home jobby (garage door thingy) and whatever else its got..

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eightfoot
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by eightfoot » Fri Apr 11, 2014 11:22 am

jpcartel wrote:JamesRS5 - thanks for your comments.

I would like to post on here the e-mail I received from Audi Manchester yesterday but not sure of my legal position with regards to posting other people's correspondences. I think most of you would find it laughable and their comments to be fundamentally flawed..

Anyhow - they are now trying to wriggle out of the suspension issue stating that it is 'Concept related noise' and unavoidable. I have of course challenged this again. They seem to think the ride height discrepancy is normal... We all know it isn't...

They have only replaced the following parts:
8K0407694S Lower rear suspension wishbone arm
8T0412020A Shock absorber
8K0805922A 054628 / Control valve
8K0616887A 054641 / Control valve
8K0253144M Exhaust bracket
8K0253144M Exhaust bracket

They told me they had replaced the O/S/F spring & top mount too so I have queried why this isn't listed.

They therefore have only replaced one shock so I will ask if they would prefer to change all 4 shocks or go down the route of contributing heavily towards a full replacement system by KW etc.

I'll keep posting updates if only to highlight the ineptitude of Manchester Audi.
do you think that audi will at some point realise that they cant just sell cars and not have proper backup/warranty services,i'm affraid this is all to normal from audi great product but poor sales staff (mostly) and almost zero backup if it looks like its going to cost the dealer,they kiss your ass and give you free coffee and buns if your spending your money,i would try and get a decent loan car then tell them you dont want your car back untill its fixed or you get a full refund so that you can buy a product with some sort of customer service,my new rs4 has lots of annoying niggles but i would rather buy something else that deal with the muppets that audi seem to employ, poor quality for a £63000+ car but they still pull in new buyers with good finance deals so people that would not normally buy in this price range can now afford to,go and give them <beep> as ultimately its down to them to fix it and being nice does not seem to work now oh and my DRC knocks also but i have not been back as if im told its normal i'll prob end up in jail (lol) as no other DRC system i have had has made noises unless it was fooked :audibash:

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northernpar
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by northernpar » Fri Apr 11, 2014 12:44 pm

Not a great result but what p!sses me off most is the contempt that Audi seem to have in thinking they can fob customers off with the 'concept' theory and leave it at that. Were the RS4 DRC noise issues purely concept? No the system was inherently unreliable which forced the extended warranty gesture until they could manage the problem.

These are not inexpensive cars and are supposed to represent the RS brand so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a better level of product/service?

I lived through the RS4 DRC issues where after the dampers were replaced you were always left wondering how long they would last this time and also the prospect of shelling out for repairs if they failed after the extended warranty had expired. Despite this I stayed loyal to the Audi brand and bought the RS5 assuming that by now they must have resolved the issues - however after my first recent failure (MY10 O/S/F after 24k miles) I have that horrible situation where every time I drive the car I find myself listening for any knocks/rattles rather than just enjoying the drive. The warranty runs out in September and unfortunately I am now leaning more and more towards changing the car before then and moving away from Audi altogether.

C63 AMG, BMW M4 or Porsche 911 anyone? :audibash:

jpcartel
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by jpcartel » Fri Apr 11, 2014 2:50 pm

Manchester Audi just called after I sent another quite reserved but firm & detailed e-mail to themselves and Audi UK listing existing problems and a few new ones I discovered last night after lifting up the car on a friend's ramp and going for a long & uninterrupted test drive.

Car booked back in for Wednesday next week...

They are still adamant they are only using Audi UK's technical advice as guidance but do appreciate and take on board my concerns and comments so if they can't fix it the car will be transported to Audi Milton Keynes for them to do their thing until it is 100% right.

Not sure if I will be driving a TDi courtesy car indefinitely but let's see... By the way - Audi Manchester's stance is that they only offer A4 TDi's as courtesy cars no matter what car you own or what is happening to it which seemed an interesting stance to take... I queried this last time and they begrudgingly gave me an A5 1.8TFSi - the one they say will do 50mpg but actually does around 25mpg, no matter how carefully you drive it...
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2011 RS5 - Daytona Grey
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HYFR
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Re: DRC Knocking

Post by HYFR » Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:55 pm

Did u buy this car brand new from Manchester Audi?

If not, then cut them some slack...

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