New to this forum but not to Audi’s.
Long story but I bought an 07 S6 I think in 09. It is my car but my wife’s daily driver. Don’t ask. She loves it but never drove it hard and only has a short commute. Not great I know. Has about 120k miles.
So, early last month whilst chasing the oil filter leak, I observe that the intake is fubr… and butofcourse a carbon cleaning is in order.
Anyhoo, so it has become a 3-4 week project because I like to fix n clean I guess and Ive had to order pars as I go along. FWIW; here’s what I have learned in no particular order.
These cars need attention and if you cannot do it yourself, and don’t have a pile of $$, prolly best NOT to listen to the exhaust note and get involved. haha
Figuring that now is the time to do it all, new intake manifold and spacers, new plugs, flowed injectors, new plugs, valve cover gaskets, fuel filter, air filters… Oil separator is only a month old.
Not readily apparent is that the IM can be lifted and I think theres 5 connectors at the front bottoms of IM that can be slid out from slots on a plate attached to the bottom front of the IM. I had spent > an hour disconnecting them prior to learning this.
I bought a media blaster & walnut shells from Harbor Freight for <$95 and the air gun nozzle with 2 long probes… I only used the probes. This works fantastic. I modified a shopvac nozzle to fit over the intake valves, filled in the gap with hot glue and drilled a hole in the middle for the probe. Set the HF blaster to full velocity and media feed to about half… or less. Otherwise it will clog. I had chipped off the large carbon deposits and applied a shop towel soaked in BBQ grill cleaner for a day. Results were extraordinary IMVHO. The entire intake valve cavity, valve and valve stems and back of valve stems are spotless… This with very little if any elbow grease and no shells blown all over the place. A helper is recommended but not totally necessary.
You’ll need a tool to remove and reinsert the injectors properly… If someone knows where to get the white (teflon?) injector brings by themselves, Im all ears. The proper tool to install these rings usually comes with the removal tool kit … which is about $65 IIRC.
Many of my spark plugs tubes had some to very much oil in them. Each tube has 3 access points for oil to enter and since only the valve cover gasket is easily replaced, I cleaned each tube and have applied toyota rtv around the inside of each … for whatever that may be worth.
Of major note on the valve cover gaskets is that they majorly dry out and then for sure will leak. They’re a bit of a pain to change but totally necessary. Mine crumbled upon removal.
Since this is an Audi and the gods can be cruel, the lower front torx screw on the passenger side valve cover is near impossible to get to without disturbing the radiator hose that loops around it. The plastic connector on this hose incorporates a small plastic nipple protrusion that will easily break off. Ask me how I know. This too is really old plastic and literally crumbles. And too then while trying to disconnect the hose from the radiator, the radiator too is old and cracks at the neck. I have cleaned and jb welded this for now, but a new radiator will be in the works as for sure this is also probably waiting to fail. So perhaps this is a blessing in disguise and serves as a red flag that the radiator may be ready to fail?
I have to reassemble all this and hopefully it runs better than ever. I’ll post some pics when I figure out how to get them from my phone to here.
Stay tuned.
Hi, and welcome to AR! There’s plenty of resources for the Audi S6 C6 here in these forums, and most known issues have solutions. Thanks to many members you’ll find here, AR’s platform has paved the way to simplifying the 5.2 V10 after several years of research and dedication.
Here’s a how-to thread with pictures that goes over how to remove the IM and carbon cleaning. I believe we’ve found it easier to use the chemical method vs. walnut blasting, so you may want to look into that method as well in the future (for an easier, less messy process).
http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=3950.msg116391#msg116391
Also, feel free to post pictures of your S6! Lots and lots of helpful guys here, eager to assist and point you in the right direction whether you’re keeping yours stock and just need maintenance advice or modding it up. ;D