New member. New Owner.

A6 All/ S6 All
#21

I’ve been trying, in vain, to get the car up to JHM, or at least get an idea on when they will have an available slot. I am going to assume they’re pretty busy up there, which is understandable with a popular shop. Hell, if they were closer, I’d just show up, as it always seems in-person visits yield the best results.

I’m being just a touch impatient as I want to get everything sorted sooner than later. It definitely needs some TLC. Outside of the hesitation on acceleration and horrible bucking I already mentioned, it is also missing horribly on cold starts, and drinking oil like it’s top-shelf liquor in the hands of an alcoholic. There is also a loud click from one of the right side calipers a few seconds after pressing or releasing the brakes (I assume floating caliper related). I haven’t taken the time to figure out which one specifically yet.

I’ve also decided it does indeed need a bit more volume from the exhaust.

For now, the car will remain parked until the 5 hour trek north to JHM (well, hopefully JHM).

#22

An appointment is best, there was about a 2 week wait before they could fit me in, when I took my car in. The main reason, I assume, is that different staff have different specialties, they have a few V10 experts there but possibly they’re all tied up with my car at the moment? Sorry :smiley: But ya, even if they can get your car in if you just show up, it might be a while before they can get started on it. So I’d recommend against that. Rest assured that in the interim, they’re actively learning new tricks and techniques for the S6 that will be an advantage when they do work on your car next. If you can call them, talk to “Z”, he’s the one who has been handling all the logistics with my project and should be able to give you a good idea on timeframe.

On the oil consumption, many S6 owners report about 1 quart of oil “loss” per 1000 miles. It’s a 12qt capacity. My car drank probably about that before, but JHM found a few oil leaks that they repaired so I imagine it will be significantly less now. None of the oil leak repairs were very costly, just needed some new gaskets.

Does your car have slotted rotors? If so, a clicking sound could be a sympton of a warped rotor. Mine did that, however it “clicked” all the time, it didn’t stop when I let off the brakes.

For the exhaust, people have had good luck with removing the resonators for some extra volume, and magnaflow mufflers help too. I think any exhaust shop can do those things, as well as installing an off-the-shelf exhaust system like Milltek, though if you go the milltek route keep in mind what I said about it earlier. It’s a great sounding exhaust, loud and “clean”, but don’t expect any performance gains

#23

Oh, with them being 5 hours away, I wouldn’t just show up. I was saying I would if they were local. No, no. At that distance, they need to know I am coming. :stuck_out_tongue:

As far as the oil, after having another look, it may be a sensor malfunction, or starvation somewhere. I say this because the level at the dipstick is fine, but the low oil warning keeps popping up on the dash. Something is amiss.

No on the slotted rotors. The sound I would describe as something popping into place.

I may have to pop into a local shop (South Bay Autohaus in Hawthorne, if anyone is familiar with them) and see what they can do for the time being. Having the car just sit idle in the garage when it was meant to take over daily duties is rather discouraging.

#24

Unfortunately I don’t know of any members in your area who can recommend a shop, just check into their reviews to make sure they know what they’re doing and don’t screw you.

I took my car to a local shop because they were walking-distance from my house, so I figured getting a quick oil change there was no big deal. The next morning my car was spewing coolant all over the exhaust. I took it back to them, they insisted it was just a cooincidence. Said I needed a new hose, but “the hose is really hard to get to”. Charged me $550 for the repair, on top of the $180 oil change. Needless to say, I haven’t gone back. There’s another Audi/BMW shop near me that is far more reputable, but they’re small and usually it’s a 3-4 week lead time to get anything done there, and their parts costs are a little extreme. But they successfully diagnosed a fuel pump issue I was having in very little time, so I give them credit for that. Anyways, best of luck. I’ll check out the reviews for the shop you suggested and see if anything seems fishy.

Edit: They seem to have pretty good reviews overall. A few bad apple reviews, which happens with any business - most of the reviews involve speculation about the shop sabotaging their car but without any real evidence to back it up, so take it with a grain of salt, but be cautious and make sure you understand the work they say they’re doing. Just for good measure, I’d mention that your car is going to a performance shop in a couple weeks as well. They might be more careful about the work they do if they know it’ll be inspected by a 3rd party shortly thereafter.

#25

The waiting game is terrible but in this case I would strongly suggest giving it a minute and just waiting out JHM. The fact that JHM already knows the ins and outs of the cars along with the fact that they make install and are continuing to develop parts for these cars says that youll have less labor time with them and less time spent trying to figgure things out. Since the cars are so rare and have several small uneque issues its best using a shop that knows all of whats going on.

A lot of us have been here to help eachother out when it comes to getting the V10 into other shops only to have us here on AR help tell the shops whats wrong. One guy here has had his car at a shop for months while they tried to find out what was wrong.

Maybe a great way to help ease the pain of waiting would be to post some more pictures. of the beast.

#26

Yep, everything Justin said.

I’ll add that my car is nearly done at JHM, as of late last week they were just doing tuning work, everything else was done. So hopefully that bay will open up shortly and if you play your cards right your car can hopefully take its place :wink:

#27

Ha, yes, my patience is being worked, but I am still holding on. Knowing that they are a goto resource for this engine helps in that regard.

Yeah, I need to shuffle around some cars to get it out of the garage and get some photos taken. I have neglected to do so, wanting to get it “right” before any glamour shots.

#28

Another thing to take note of. Is that you know your going to need to replace some maintantence parts. The cool thing is JHM has a growing list of better than OEM parts for the V10 cars. So that alone is a solid reason to feel better about the wait…

#29

Yep, I sure do, and it looks like it will be going up on Wednesday. Let the games begin!!

#30

What’s roughly the yearly maintenance for these S6s? I’m referring to a well maintained, serviced S6. :slight_smile: I remember seeing vague references to how much maintenance is a while ago, but can’t seem to find it anymore.

#31

This might help:

https://www.audiusa.com/content/dam/audiusa/Documents/maintenance-schedules/Audi-Maintenance-Schedule-Model-Year-2008.pdf

#32

This…

http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=4103.0

#33

Well, after a 5 hour drive north, the car is now in the hands of JHM. So many Audis there…sooooo many. It will be with them for a little while as they are giving it a proper once over and perhaps testing some extra goodies. We’ll see.

The typical stuff is getting replaced: plugs, coil packs, fuel filter, cabin filter, gaskets here and there, etc. Of course a carbon cleaning is going to happen with the intake spacers going on before reassembly. Some other stuff as well, but nothing was a head scratcher, at least not yet. 8)

I also hope to leave with a JHM exhaust in place and a proper tune to go along with it, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

The c.scott S6 got a mention and look while I was there too. ;D

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/87fjtarr9doliy1/jhmr1.jpg

#34

WOW very exciting stuff. Its great to see and hear more and more feedback from the V10 comunity on JHM. the 4.2 S4 RS4 S5 A6 are all about JHM and what they have done to the NA V8 motor.

Its rare that you get any company now a days that takes a real interest in any car let alone one that has such a small production number. The positive side is JHM is a solid company that is very passionate about the platforms they are in. Just as passionate as the owners themselves. Thats a good formula.

#35

That’s awesome, and 2 black C6 S6’s in the same place at the same time! Not something you see every day!

I should be down there this next week hopefully as long as there aren’t any more surprises, if I get a chance I’ll see if I can sneak a peak at yours!

#36

Just a minor update on where things stand.

The car is still with JHM. All of the maintenance jobs have been completed. There are a few other items I am asking them to look at, but the major stuff (carbon cleaning, all new plugs, all new coils, all new injectors, new filters all around, new gaskets here and there, and the replacement of some aged items) is done.

Now to the performance goodies; nevermind what I said earlier in this thread. :stuck_out_tongue:

I put K&N Filters in it before heading up to JHM.

JHM is moving forward with:
-The Intake spacers were done during the maintenance items.
-Their 6-Rib Alternator Belt Conversion Kit V2, which includes the lightweight crank pulley, alt pulley, the automatic tensioner, and the 6 rib belts.
-Their SS 2.75 Inch w/X-Pipe Cat-Back.
-ECU tuning and TCU tuning.

And there it is…for now.

Stay tuned.

#37

Nice!!

I’m supposed to pick up my car tomorrow, was going to be today but something involving the drive belt broke at the last minute and needs to be swapped out real quick before delivery. I’m excited to sit in the driver’s seat again!

#38

Great!!! I’ll just live vicariously through you until I get mine back. Get some pics for me when you are there. ;D

#39

It’s entirely possible I’ll be too excited and completely forget, but I’ll do my best ;D

I’ll try to put together some video of my car as soon as I can too, although that might need to wait til a later date when I can find a nice open road. Sounds like you’re on the home stretch yourself, should have your baby back in no time. The exhaust is the only thing that takes any significant time, if they don’t have one in stock already and need to manufacture one for you.

I’m excited that there will be 2 JHM tuned S6’s in california! We’ll have to meet up sometime and take some pictures of the twins.

#40

Thats a great list of parts. the LW pulleys are a great way to go and the auto tensioner is a must it is a great unit. The exhaust system opens up a ton of power on the S6 and obviusly the tune helps make it all work together.