Interested in seeing how you get on!
Good idea on the prices. People can look up the parts prices if they really want to know what each thing cost and knowing JHM they are probably doing what they can to take care of you so all that is between you and them. Each car and siuation is going to be different but you are really showing a good outline on what needs to be done.
The two big giveaways on how much maintenance work has or hasnt been done on your car in the past is to pull a few coil packs and look at the ACC belt. If the date on the coils is before 2010 and you see a cracked ACC belt you know the past owners probably didnt get much long term maintenance work done.
That is a very strong list of maintenance and performance mods. A really good blend. Knowing how well the 4.2 responds to all those mods and maintenance work I would think you will be very happy with choice to get it all done. That and after all that you really dont have to do much for the next 100k but drive it and enjoy it.
The accessory belt, from what I’ve been told by both JHM and a local shop as well, was pretty much split down the middle. The coil packs are dated 2009, so they got replaced at some point but probably not recently.
Definitely hoping to squeeze another 100k (or more) out of this car, and I think it’s doable. Even if I buy a newer car in the future, I’ll likely still hang on to this one, I’ve never had another car that was such a pleasure to drive. Now that I have a better idea of what parts need preventative work and when it should be done, I’ll do a much better job in the future of staying on top of everything. Not having a local shop knowledgeable in these cars is the biggest problem for me (and for most of us, I’m sure), so this forum has been a huge help, plus obviously having JHM semi-local (90 minutes away) is a big bonus.
Any update here? How’s your progress? Any surprises good or bad?
No updates, waiting to hear back from Jason over at JHM once they’ve got a plan put together, they’re going to start ripping into the car soon and hopefully they don’t find any new surprises along the way. I’m without phone til next week, which isn’t helping haha… floating on a boat 20 miles off the coast of Spain at the moment. Yes I have a strange job ;D
I kinda mentioned it above and thats why this thread is part of the start of the big movement for the V10 platform. Right not think about it. We are starting to build a list of things that need to be done to get the V10 cars in good shape but there is a lot of unknowns. We know maintantence is a big deal but we need to build a list of what everyone needs. When you get your car back and you have a list of all the issues and things that needed replaceing it will help in taking one more step in the direction of helping the V10 comminity out.
AR is the site for V10 and other platform knowledge. Getting all the V10 guys in one place is and that place is AR is just good for the entire community. Because like you said not everyone has a good shop so close.
Enjoy Spain, and snap some pics of any audis or other cool VAG cars abroad. Do you have a second vehicle or do you plan on leaving the s6 as long as possible to troubleshoot, repair, and then tune up?
Update in post #2! I’ve funded the project in full, and JHM has the green light to start getting dirty. See the update for where everything stands as of now!
I was mostly on a yacht in the ocean, so not a lot of cars to see, but funny story… the yacht I was working on used to have a Bugatti Veyron SS on its helideck, that the owner would crane down onto the ground when he got to his destination. I snapped a photo of it a couple years ago, I’ll try to dig it up! He has since replaced it with an actual helicopter, haha
Edit: here it is
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the ECU tune has any effect on rev limiter? Both in terms of neutral revs and drive gear revs. My understanding is that the neutral revs are factory limited to ~4k or so because the engine doesn’t like to be revved without a load, is this correct? And possibly the redline can’t be lifted without significant remapping and possibly some valve upgrades, I’m guessing.
Also with the TCU tune, I’m hoping it would solve a downshift issue I have, where the car doesn’t want to drop into 1st above a certain speed (like 20mph or so) when I mash the throttle, even though it would be well within the safe RPM range if it were to do so. Hoping someone might have some insight into these things, otherwise I guess we’ll wait and see once I get the car back
I would increase rpm a touch but not sure if that’s in the beta tcu tune
The factory redline appears to be 7000 RPM for both the S6 and S8, with peak HP reportedly at around 6800-7000, so I bet higher revs would be beneficial, the question is whether or not the motor can take it. I know these motors aren’t at all built like the high-revving R8 version that redlines at 8700, but maybe something in the ballpark of 7300-7500 would be safe?
7200 would be a nice target, either way I’d do a little diag with the ecu tune only plus maint then once the tcu is dialed it put it on and see what makes sense
Before I answer. If you want think about pm`ing CV he would be the one to talk to.
But from what I know. The ECU has the hard limits in them. So for N it will be there to stop endless free revs.
The JHM ECU tunes have always been a big deal to us automatic guys because JHM is able to help the trasmission through the ECU and not just through the TCU.
Im thinking there is a good chance that if you get the TCU tune JHM will have the ability to fix the lurch issue.
So you would need an ECU tune to extend the motor rev limit and a TCU tune to extend the transmission rev limit. If that makes sense.
Thanks, makes sense. I don’t really want to ask for any custom programming beyond what’s already in their beta tunes, especially since I’m completely uneducated when it comes to this. Was more just curious than anything else.
I saw the S6 up on the lift yesterday when I was out there getting fluids changed. The paint looks good. I didn’t take any pictures while at the shop.
I just saw on their facebook page that you “drove 5k miles for a fluid change” haha ;D Nice looking S4, even with the splattered bugs!
I haven’t seen my car since the 11th, glad to hear it’s still in one piece 
(Well, figuratively anyways, I’m sure it’s in lots of pieces at the moment!)
Is it wrong that I and I think others are sharing your excitment to get the car back and hear how it all turned out…
How u doing man, nice to
Meet u at 034!
Nope. Not wrong at all