Main Stealer's Service - now it's running hot!?

[jb7_uk]

Hi All,

Just a quick one for you collective wisdom... I had my S4 (pre-face) serviced at the main stealer just last week (30th oct) and since then the damn thing's been running hot?!

I've had the car since May this year, and even after some very spirited driving i've never seen the water temp guage rise above just over 90 (straight up on the dial) and oil much above 100, again even after some very spirited driving.

Yet now even afetr driving for half hour or so at no more than 3,000 rpm, dordling on country roads like its running at 105-110 water temp and 115 ish oil temp, and when i switch off even after a very gentle cruise the fans etc remain on (which i apreciate it is supposed to do when it gets hot), yet in the 5 months i've had the car it's bever had to do this before, and it has been subject to some extensive periods of "strictly on a private road only officer" driving

What could it be and are the stealer's likely to tell me to shove off if i try and get them to look at and fix it for free like?? Anyone else had a similar thing?

Any info much appreciated, i'll attach a pic of the dials from when i got to work this morning later so u can see what i'm babbling about!

cheers all,

A very paranoid JB7_uk !

[SimonS4MTM]

I doubt it is hot, more likely to be a temp sensor. Though I cant think why both oil and water would both be showing high. Are you sure the oil temp is higher.

The water temp sensors are prone to failure, easy to change and only £20ish pounds.

[fletchie55]

maybe they put a different type of oil in than you had before? that could explain the car running hotter and may not be an issue to worry about. double check the levels of water and oil in the car just in case.

I think my temp sensor is broken, but its reading nothing rather than reading too high! you can change it easily and it costs under £20 (cant remember exact price!) do a search for 'after run pump mod' even if its not broken, its not a bad thing to change anyway. make sure battery is in good condition 1st though.

[SimonS4MTM]

do a search for 'after run pump mod' even if its not broken, its not a bad thing to change anyway. make sure battery is in good condition 1st though.

I dont think this is the sensor that inputs to the gauge, though i could be wrong.

There is another sensor that is on the opossite side of the engine, left bank.

[Doug_S2]

check it has oil in it!

[jb7_uk]

Cheers for the responses thus far guys.

I checked oil and water and yes it has both Water is bang on between the two min / max marks, and ther's plenty of fresh looking oil in, infact if anything the oil level on the stick looks a little above the max mark, difficult to see for sure tho. Its def above the min mark tho.

JB.

PS - Have attached the image from this morning, this was after a 15 mile, 25 minute cuise to work, never mor ethen 3 maybe 3.5k rpm. oil actually looks slightly cooler than it was yesterday after drive home and usually sits near that mark, water was upto 110 while driving, dropped to temp shown in car park. Previous to this, i'd never seen water temp above the 90 mark, occaisionally a tiny fraction above it but only after a good thrashing like.

[SimonS4MTM]

Looks like temp sensor gone to me. Though oil does look a bit warm as well for the driving you describe.

What service work did they do? I presume they did not leave a set of overalls in front of the radiator?

[SimonS4MTM]

Actually, you must have given it some stick (or sat in a lot of stationary traffic), you are reading 125 miles with just under half a tank. That may explian the oil temp.

[MarkB]

Could it be a voltage regulator somewhere? Had this on an old mini. Gauges all went high.

[ZeroK66]

Very strange... normal driving oil shouldnt get over 90 (Unless prolonged motorway driving) and water temp should never get over 90. Perhaps your thermostat is stuck shut?

[jb7_uk]

strange indeed.

Honest Simon, i haven't given it any stick, certainly in last 3 days, mostly since it came bak from service (purely for reasons of economy) This tank has already done me 200 miles and it was idling for a couple of mins before i took the pic, i'm pretty sure it said more than that when i actually pulled in, so 125 remaining isnt too bad, i find the first half of tank last longer than second anyways. Its certainly better economy than i have been having!

Oh and the car has not been remapped to best of my kowledge so wont be enjoying any of the economical benefits that this can bring.

ZeroK66 - Thats what i've found, certainly since i've had the car since may i've never experienced things getting hotter than you describe, its been poifect... until now! Grrr!

I've rung the Main Stealer who's taking a look at it for me on saturday morning. (they offered to look at it tomorrow but i need it to get to work and they didnt have a loan car available tomorrow so sat it will have to be).

[Dippy]

I read somewhere (probably on this site) that actually the ECU does not control the water temp guage correctly. It shows 90 degrees even when the real temperature varies a bit. I think this so as not to bother the owner into thinking there's something wrong, because the S4 being what it is can get hot water after giving it a bit of stick.

So with a reading of 105, if there's no steam coming out of the engine bay then it must be the notorious G61 or G62 sensor (can't remember which).

[david7m]

Was it fine pre service, and now it isn't? If so, that suggests they have done something to it, or a very very very strange coincidence that it failed whilst they had it .....

Dave

[jb7_uk]

indeed that is the case David7m, it has been fultless prior to going in for its service. Now its reporting that it's getting hot. Hopefully they'll see what it is when they look at it on saturday. I'm gonna drive it for a little while before i take it in so i can show them that it is getting hot. Either way i'm gonna make damned sure they fix it for free, it's too much of a coincidence, i'm not gonna let em charge me, the bloody service costs are high enough as it is.

Dippy, no steam that i could see

[jb7_uk]

UPDATE:

Well, i took the car in this morning, and am an excedingly unhappy camper now!! The service guy i spoke to said they'd looked at it and yes it is getting hotter than it should and they'd found that the air con isnt working, and the viscous fans aren't doing their job properly?! They work in that they are spinning etc but they're not doing their job apparently.

He also played the "well, we didnt do anything at sevice which would have affected these things" card implying that as far as he's conserned its not their fault. I explained that i was less than happy with this diagnosis as the car was in perfect working order before i took it in to them, and now its not... as far as i'm concerened the car has ceased to be in perfect working order while it was in their care so it IS their fault! Also .. why were these things that they found today NOT picked up at the service less than a fortnight ago ?!!????

Regarding the air con not working, which is an even bigger mystery, he said if they were to fix this they'd need to re-gas the system and then diagnose why its not working... but the whole system was refreshed amd regassed just before i bought the car in May!? and was working perfectly, icey cold, before the service.

To summarise then, service chap that i spoke to said he couldn't do anything for me to address my concerns that the service was to blame for these faults until he spoke to the service manager on monday so i'm now left with a car i can't drive (because i dont want to run it while its running hot and the fans aren't working properly now do i!) and have had to fork out 80 squid to get myself added to my ma's insurance so ican borrow her car to get to work and back.

I am utterly disgusted by this treatment. Until now i have had nothing but good things to say about the Audi customer service, and yes although service costs were comparitively high, the quality of service provided was usually very good. I love my Audi to bits, it's the bee's knees and i grin like a child everytime i drive it but this has left a very bad taste in the mouth, i shall await the call from the service manager on monday but i'll be damned if he thinks he's going to avoid responsibility for this, i'm very displeased and in the mood for a (verbal only of course) fight!

My car is now sat on the drive not going anywhere ... disgracefull.