"2008 S6" intro and project list

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

I am re-posting this from the Official C6 A6 New Member Profiles thread.

ok, I’ve been lurking here on and off for the last couple of years…time to post. I hear this is the board to be on for S6 owners.

I have a 2008 Quartz Gray S6 that I bought May 2014 with 61k miles after my '09 A4 was totaled when rear-ended. I’m a few weeks from the car rolling 100k miles…it’s been a long journey. I’ve really enjoyed the car (when not dealing with the typical DI-related engine issues), and wouldn’t mind keeping it going to 200k+ miles. I’ve endured the typical carbon and fuel injector struggles, but I think I’m finally coming out on the other side and am entering maintenance mode. There’s a lot of satisfaction in keeping a car going into high mileage, especially one as fickle as this. Wink

Work I’m planning for this spring/summer:

  • replace seized tensioner, serpentine belt, and idler pulley bearing; can someone tell me if there is a carrier lock service position for this car? where can I find steps to get at this tensioner?
  • possibly replace w/p “while I’m in there”
  • replace trans fluid and filter
  • replace front and rear diff fluid and transfer case fluid
  • give the front and rear suspension a good look-last mechanic mentioned upper control arm bushings need to be replaced; who knows where this will lead
  • took a piece of steel to the front bumper on the highway a few weeks ago; will have to repair that

Thought/opinions welcome. I still consider myself relative new to Audi although I’ve owned one as a daily driver since 2011. I’ve always maintained my own cars, but not too much with these so far. I plan on rolling my sleeves back up.

I’ve watched this board for a while. Doesn’t seem like there are any jerks here and everyone seems pretty helpful…two huge pluses in my book. I’m in my mid-forties with four kids, so I don’t need more drama in my life. :wink:

I know my way around air-cooled Porsche 911s very well, but not these “modern” Audi’s. I’ve mostly paid someone else to work on my S6 for the last 40k miles, but now that it’s 100k I feel like I need/can/should take over the rest of the way. With you guys at my side, I feel like I have a fighting chance.

To expand on the “carrier lock” reference above, I understand that some Audi’s have a service procedure where you can slide the radiator forward to get a few extra inches to access the front of the engine without removing the radiator (http://www.audiworld.com/forums/a6-s6-c6-platform-discussion-58/lock-carrier-service-position-2844067/) Apparently the C5 (and B bodies) had this feature, but trying to figure out if the C6 does too. If not, can someone point me to a thread or two that shows what I need to do to get full access to the tensioner and w/p?

I’m a bit hesitant to take the radiator out, only because I don’t know what’s involved and I’ve never worked on a cooling system (again, the air-cooled thing). But I had the front fascia off to replace the DRL, and that was no big deal…only have to go a little deeper for the radiator.

Also, wondering how big of a deal it is to replace the water pump. My prior mechanic had noted that there appeared to be coolant dried around the w/p indicating a prior leak. Since I have had to add a little bit of coolant to the reservoir over the last 15k miles, I think this is the place to start. (I’ve already replaced a cracked reservoir about 35k miles ago).

Chasing some sort of oil leak underneath too. Looks to be near the oil pan or at a sensor coming out of the transmission fluid pan. Engine oil level never seems to go down though over 10k miles. Going to clean the area up next weekend and see if I can’t get a better read on what’s going on over the next 1k miles.

Although this car design has some challenges (mostly related to DI, it seems?), the build quality seems really, really good. So, I think I could keep this car running forever if I can do the maintenance myself to keep the costs on the more reasonable side. After 3 years, I still love driving it and looking at it. ;D

#2

Welcome, nice post, decent group of guys (maybe some gals?) around here. Most knowledgeable for the v10 crowd and of course other S and RS models, and even appreciation for non-VaG cars!

Let us know how we can help. The v10 is timeless. I think it’s a great idea that you have this great mindset and that you will start wrenching and poking around yourself.

I cannot underscore enough about being almost OCD for maint on these cars. If you are proactive and fix things when they rear their head you will be very thankful. I almost want to say we have almost figured these cars maint wise, which even stock Most Audi dealers didn’t even have much of a clue just mainly because not many came through the bays. When I had my first s6 about 3 ears ago and had it serviced in Tysons corner one of the wealthiest places in the us, I was only the third s6 to ever see their shop and that’s with both new and used cars and that was about 2013-2014 when my car was about 5-6 years old.

Powerwise we are at the top of the iceburg with JHM (and their awesome beta and initial customer base) starting to invest heavily we are starting to see really cool things even just a few key boltons.

Will have a fun, rare, and sporty all around car. While many poeple don’t know what it is, the people do will show respect and interest in the car. It’s a true under the radar car, and personally if you add the right mods the s6 becomes more of a Audi somewhere special between an S and RS experience because of the NA v10 soul imo.

#3

You’re right about the importance of staying on top of maintenance, as it can get away from you in a hurry! Plus, I’ve always felt it’s a great way to feel connected with the car.

I’m definitely getting the sense that my suspension needs some attention. The car doesn’t feel as tight to me lately, although it could have something to do with still have my 18’s on with winter tires and banging around on the busted up roads of SE MI. But 100k on a heavy car like this has to take it’s toll. What are people seeing with suspension wear on these cars?

#4

Control arms (possibly all of them) can go as early as 50k sooner or later depending on road conditions and how you drive. Proper greasing of the control arms is important.

Stock struts actually last a pretty good while. I’ve actually not heard of pre-emotive failures. I think they are bilstiens (always spell that wrong) now if you are up and over 100k and you want to refresh then if money no object air suspension, otherwise kw or h&r coils, and honestly another set of Bilstein struts possibly a newer version would do well, could go stiffer or softer depending on what you want to do.

CV boots can go in like 60-80 range maybe less or more again depending on driving etc.

If it were me I’d put it up on a rack or left and inspect. Assuming your alignment is dialed in and tires are fresh and still feels tired i would check the control arms first (about 8 each side Lower and upper), then move into checking suspension bushings, and so on and so forth.

All depends on if you want it top notch or OEM+ which I find is a nice compromise and keeps he cars character.

#5

Hi,

The S6 is a great car. Suggest you get the VAGcom and service manual for the car.
They have been very useful in my rebuild.

#6

Thanks for the recommendation. I’m going to do it for sure. Where do I get the manual? Is it the Bentley one? If so, don’t I have to run a really old version of Windows? I’m kind of a freak about correct torques, so I’ll need the manual for that reason alone. Also which VAGcom version should I use?

Thanks for all the help, guys!

#7

http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/

#8

Always great to see another new owner post.

Ill just repost what I wrote in the other thread with a few changes.

Welcome to the forum. Its always great to get more excited 5.2 guys on here.

A few things. This is not like the other forums. So if you have a question ask. dont hesitate to ask anything. There is a large group here that are experts in all aspects. So your bound to find help is you ask for it.

the 5.2 is just like the 4.2fsi. The big deal is doing the proper maintentance work and knowing what the car needs and when

To quickly answer your questions.

The term the Audi techs use is called service position of the core support and there isnt anything specific. But when i want to put a car into service position. I take deepwell black forged sockets and place them between the frame rail and the core support. But in almost all cases its best just pulling the core off.

I wouldnt worry about the removal of the rad unit.It comes out with the core support. Its a lot less complicated then you think

To do the belt system your going to want to pull the front end off the car including the core suppport.

You can also change out the crank pulley with a LW unit from JHM. JHM make a lot of great performance parts and they have a nice list of compeditive OEM parts to help keep these builds in check.

On the water pump thats not a bad idea while your in there you will be doing that the same time you do the belt system and crank pulley

Transmission filter you need to be careful on. The sooner you do that the better. The later you wait the more the clutches have broken down and that clutch material is actually in the transmission fluid. Depending on how much brake down you have this extra clutch material in the transmission fluid actually acts like a supportive additive. Some have changed there transmission fluid with higher miles and they report slippage of the clutches due to the new transmission fluid being possibly too slick

The front and rear dif is a safe fluid swap

The suspension control arms and busings are nothing new. They go bad and you want to keep an eye on them. A good rear sway bar will help keep the car more firm on its feet so that might be a good thing to look into as well.

If you want to do all the work. your in the right place. We have it from time to time where we almost are working with other members around the globe real time when they are working

#9

If you’re still in the same area, I guess we’re not far from each other…

#10

Clicking off some projects:
Bentley, VAGOM running on MacBook-DONE
Front control arms, shocks, stabar bushings, links, uppper mount–DONE
Front inner CV joints–DONE
Rear shocks, upper mount–DONE
Rear rotors, pads–DONE
Purge valve–DONE

Up next month:
Tensioner, belt, w/p
Change rear diff fluid
Change p/s fluid (COULD USE SOME ADVICE ON HOW TO TACKLE)
Reseal oil pan
Oil change

If I have the guts, I’d like to replace the trans fluid and the center/front diff fluid. Not confident on that, but with some coaching I’d be willing to give it a shot.

Also hope to figure out by fubar’d nav unit.

Thanks for all the help AR!

#11

Got some help for you on the transmission filter change and fluid change
http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=2719.0

Same concept on the S6.

As for the power steering. I use the pull and fill method. I empty out the PS res with a drain device and then add back fresh fluid. Turn the car on and run the steering from left to righ lock without locking out the steering. I do this pull and fill a few times in one session. It gets most of the fluid if you take your time and its a bit less messy than dumping the entire system.

Also on the tensioner and belt pulley change. Look into the JHM LW crank pulley at the same time. Its a good mod dropping all that rotational weight helps give the car more jump worth it IMHO

#12

In the process of addressing the following:
Tensioner, idler pulley bearing, belt
w/p
Reseal oil pan

Got the bumper and radiator removed no problem. Someone backed into my bumper, so that’s going out for repair soon. I have to remove a few remaining pipes to get access to the w/p. Other than that, I’m R/R parts in no time.

Please let me know if there’s any tips or common problems that people run into when addressing the above. For example, removing the hoses from the radiator was a huge challenge.

Advice welcome.

#13

Getting the hoses off is a whole prossess. I use a lot of penetration lube and a blunt screwdriver to tap on the face of the female plastic hose. you actually tap the plastic hose off from the front of the car. Its much better that way and you won’t break anything.

While your doing all that front end work you might want to consider getting a JHM LW Crank pulley its a good maintenance itum due to the fact that the rubber in the OEM pulley can fail after a while and its a good way to add some power and smooth acceleration to the car.

#14

Here’s the latest…looks like oil cooler was leaking. Maybe that’s why it looked like the pan was leaking. I think I’ll reseal the pan anyway.

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/708303820.jpg

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/784631565.jpg

And, Murphy showed up. The T30 torx bit snapped off in the back coolant pipe screw. Who knows how I’m going to get that out as its completely buried.

#15

Also, cannot find the part number for the seal for the small upper radiator hose (driver side). Doesn’t seem to appear in ETKA. Please let me know if you find it. TIA.

#16

You will have a bit of difficulty.

Your car is a hot weather package car. My car has the second radiator on the driver’s side as well (originally Arizona car)

Our radiators are specific to the car, even has the same part number as the non hot weather package cars (I’ve verified that with our local Audi dealer) and through experience. I ended up ordering 2 separate radiators that were incorrect, even with the right part number, one was right from the dealer, even with my VIN entered it was the wrong radiator, the other was from “Genuine Audi Parts” website.

I ended up getting the correct radiator from ECS Tuning, but not until after calling and verifying that there is an extra outlet on the radiator for the auxiliary radiator. I can take some pictures tonight to show what I’m talking about.

You may need to call either the dealer or ECS maybe has it. My guess is you’ll have to use something from a generic oring kit with varying sizes.

Hope that helps.

#17

I don’t think mine is a hot weather package as the second oil cooler is not at the passenger side, which is where I believe they are normally located (see red).

The coolant radiator hose I’m talking about is circled in yellow.

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/549659816.jpg

#18

Check out this diagram. I believe it might be #2 as listed. Think it’s p/n 4E0121666.

#19

Follow that hose that you circled in yellow… it goes to a small rad under the driver’s side headlight.

#20

That’s for the passenger side coolant hose. The one he is looking for is for the driver’s side auxiliary radiator. I still have my old rad I can take a look at the part number on it, but I’m sure it’s the same part number as the regular radiator.