Happy to report a positive update! I received a call a few hours ago letting me know that the warranty finally approved the work to be done - very thankful because this would have been a pretty big hit on the wallet if I had to personally pay. The service manager called me and told me they will be ordering the parts tomorrow. I can’t wait until I actually have my car back to a healthy state and in my posession!
Update: 8/16/11
I made it into the shop area today and snapped off two quick pics with my BB. Not very good quality and not the best shots but at least I was able to get them.
First one is of my car on the lift, engine & trans on the motor lift below the car.
Second pic is of cylinder 1 & 2. You can see the top of the pistons and the cylinder wall of #1.
http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz269/NY07RS4/2007%20Audi%20RS4/RS4pistontopandcylinderwalls.jpg
I asked him about the little bits of sediment that was present in the cylinder and he said all would be removed by vacuum with extreme care. He said even though they cover the cylinder and other openings dust and other bits of sediment always get in there. He reassured me everything would be spotless prior to reassembly. He said he was not interested in being responsible for scored cylinder walls on an RS4 lol. The service manager laughed and said, “trust me, now that you saw the sediment and I’m present there is now way he could get out of it. He HAS to clean it and make it perfect.” I think the tech is a good guy and he took the time to point out other items I didn’t inquire about and he didn’t have to which I appreciate.
Good news is the tech was very impressed with the condition of my cylinder walls. He said that the coating they use during manufacturing was still 100% there and all of the walls looked flawless. He took the time to inspect everything he could since now would be the time to address anything since the motor was out and dissassembled. He said he has replaced rings on a ton of other FSI motors (not RS4) and the insides of those motors did not look as clean as mine or in the same condition.
The timing chain was visible as were the guides. I asked if he had inspected those and he confirmed he did. He pointed out a bunch of possible “problem” areas to me and mentioned there weren’t even signs of wear in those areas on my motor which I was very happy to hear. He said the overall health of the motor is fantastic and he was surprised that the valve guides failed but he said he as seen stranger things happen on otherwise healthy motors.
I looked at the heads and the tech was showing me the amount of play in the valves. All of the components were still in tact and overall he said the heads were in good shape. No broken pieces and everything other than the actual guides seemed tip top. All four driver’s bank guides were bad and two on the passenger side were bad.The valves were crazy gunked up with carbon (as expected). I had a cleaning done 12K ago I believe. Another positive is I’ll have super clean valves again when the new heads are installed ;D.
Since this thread took such a turn from the original topic (my fault), maybe we should break it up into two different threads, one for the VAG programming vs. one the valve guide issue?
great Idea please start a new thead and add your new pictures. I would host then on the site so they don’t get lost. By ya start a new thread for all this.
^ Would love to, just not sure how to - maybe a mod could help us move the OT content to a new thread?
Update 9/5/11: Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.
The heads came in! They were working on reassembly/install on Friday and I should finally have my car back this week. I’m also on the list for the next batch of the full JHM 2.75" exhaust which should be ready this month. Once I receive it I plan to flash the tune back on and I should be good to go for a while. The only mods after the exhaust for will be the JHM LWFL/Clutch combo and a LW pulley if they have it for sale (I forget.) Combine those items with what I have already (LW rotors, intake spacers, clean valves, new plugs, new fuel filter, possibly some LW wheels {still TBD on the wheels} and I should have one of the quickest N/A RS4’s. Looking forward to enjoying my car again. I do have some additional pics and will post them soon.
That’s all GREAT news! 8)
great update
great results
great to hear
all around a great post. Good to see they have you covered.
good to hear the warranty came thru!
what warranty was it again…audi proper?
Thanks all, I’m relieved that this whole thing is almost finished.
Sakimano - the warranty company is Fidelity aka JM&A, purchsed through my Audi dealership.
I was supposed to get the car back on Monday but now it’s looking like tomorrow (Thursday.) I’ll update once I have the car back with the rest of the interesting information I have come across in addition to some of the bumps in the road I experienced with my dealership. Some good, some bad, nothing mind numbing.
Ill be tuning in. I hope I don’t have any issues with my car. Im thinking about looking into a 3rd party warranty due to the guide scare.
Do you know if the RS4 has any of the chain guide issues the S5 seems to be having
Nice to see everything worked out! I have the same warranty until April, so if somthing happens at least I see they pay out!
you going to extend it?
the more I think about it, the more I think a $3000 warranty on these cars makes sense. If anything, you get a premium for your car when you sell it, so the cost is partially recovered if all goes well and nothing breaks.
No extention for me, too many parts hanging out in my closet. I would hate to go through the hassle of being denied because of aftermarket parts. (Been through it before with my last STI)
Just got the car back today at 8PM…the day was filled with unecessary drama. The stealership was trying to pull some shit and I kinda caught them with their pants down. Wasn’t pretty. I’m shot right now but will post with details tomorrow.
One quick comment; the car feels unreal. New heads = ZERO carbon. Broken in bottom end since all those parts were in tip top shape, no carbon, fresh fluids everywhere and 58 degrees = ;D. I’m stock at the moment too (no tune since I’m waiting on the JHM 2.75" full exhaust before I flash back.)
The car pulls harder than I’ve ever felt while in stock form, seriously there is a significant difference. Even after my last CB cleaning which made a big impact there is no comparison. I guess between brand new spotless parts (heads, valve covers, PCV system, cleaned up throttle body and I/M, new fluids, new plugs, cold temps all added up to optimal conditions for making power. I’m sure driving the B8A4 for two months played a role in how I felt jumping back in to my car but I’m impressed. Now I really can’t wait for the exhaust/tune and finally the JHM L/W clutch f/w combo.
Nice! Bet that’s a good feeling to have it running, but also a lot better and more powerful then before.
^ It is a GREAT feeling to have it back and the new found or recouped power is a nice bonus.
Basically the dealership was trying to double dip in a lot of areas and it didn’t work out for them. First they submitted their requests to the warranty company who said no way and then they tried to pass it off to me the customer…who also said no way.
Here’s one example: the dealership wanted “X” amount of money to “diagnose” the car. Which really was removing the motor and tearing it down to get to the heads. Ok, no problem, they are entitled to be paid for their work. BUT, then they determine what the issue is (bad valve guides) which requires the heads to be replaced. Well the dealership then placed a request for the repair…sounds ok so far right? Wrong. They wanted to be paid for removing the motor, tearing the motor down to the block to remove heads again! Ummm, you already were paid for that during the diagnostic portion. It’s not like they reassembled my car after diagnosing the issue and reinstalled the motor!
That is just one example of many where they were trying to increase their profit in a manner that is not ethical. They tried charging me for fluids, nut, bolts, misc parts and other labor hours. I knew fthat the only thing I’d be responisble for is “wear” parts. Like the spark plugs and oil filter. I was able to get an itemized list from the warranty company (over the phone verbally) of each and every item requested by the dealership and wehat was paid. The bastards got paid for everything they requested in full with the exception of the double dipping supid shit that they were not entitled to. If they had tried this with the warranty company only and not me I wouldn’t be nearly as mad (as selfish as that sounds), because who knows they may have been doing this for years and it may have been viewed as an acceptable practice. Don’t try this shit with your clients though! WTF? Retards.
Long story short when they presented me with a ridiculous bill and tried to blame it on the warranty company claiming they wouldn’t pay for certaint things I naturally called the warranty company to inquire. They politely shed some light on what was really going on. I let my dealership know how upset I was that they felt this practice was ok. I re-read them the language from the contract and reminded them I owe $100 deductible + wear parts and thats it.
I was really turned off by this and I’m considering going to a different dealership moving forward.
Other odd ball stuff; I was told the drivers side valve cover gasket was discontinued (really?) and they had to order a new valve cover in order to get a gasket and install it. Ok fine, whats another 4 day delay at this point? Another stupid thing was the one of the cam follower covers - they claim “AOA” never told them this part was a one time use part, therfor once removed a new one had to be ordered. Really, you want to blame corporate for not telling you something you should have known when working on this project? You can’t do your own due dilligence??? Way to impress and they literally thought I was on their side with this one. Normally I’d brush these little things off and move on but add them all up and it was an additional 3 weeks of waiting time after they told me the car would be ready. Meaning, from the first time they said I could pick up the car in a few hours it took another 3 full weeks before I actually picked it up!
End of rant, got my car back, I’m happy, time to move on. Just thought I’d share a story that shed some light on the dealership vs. warranty company drama we always hear about. Apparently, sometimes it’s not the warranty company, it might be your dealership lying their arses off to you!
I fugg’n spoke too soon! :
The I/M actuator flap/arm broke on the passenger’s side. I shit you not.
My EPC light came on while driving today, all I could do was chuckle to myself. It was either that or yank my wheel to the right, floor it and drive off the bridge I was on.
I’m thinking to myself a sensor went bad or wasn’t connected tightly enough during assembly. Shit happens, I’ll call the dealer and come back in for them to fix it. I park at my lunch meeting and when I come back to the car to leave the CEL comes on in conjunction with the EPC and my idle is bouncing a tiny bit. Then I’m thinking possible vacuum leak. The little hose under the I/M was the one I was assuming had come loose.
Get it to the dealer and they scan it. Points us to the actuator arm assembly. We were able to see it with a flash light in the engine bay, snappped clean in half. (I bet the tech broke it accidentally during removal or install without realizing it. Possibly fracturing it so it was still in tact but once under load it broke clean through. I know those little suckers are somewhat fragile.)
I think they have to order a new I/M because I under the impression you couldn’t order those two assemblies by themselves - maybe I’m wrong. Either way it is frustrating.
Hell by the time I’m done it may have been less time consuming and expensive for the dealer to have just ordered me a long block from the get go. ;D
While I was there I had a convo with the GM and Service manager - they are comping my original bill including the deductile to make ammends and move forward. I thought that was the right thing to do and I’m glad I didn’t have to ask for it.
I’m hoping this is my last update, lol.
wow hope it gets resolved neatly
I hate the idea of my engine coming out for just this reason…there are a few hundred little things that need to be done just right, and if not, it’s awful
I’m not sure if I missed this…but did Fidelity get you new parts from Audi for the car? Or did they find used ones somehow? RS4 warranties must be a horrible business lol. These engines and cars in general are so damn rare they must struggle finding parts.
Thanks, it seems it will be. I’m just waiting for a new I/M.
True. I also understand that the volume of RS4’s the techs see annually is not the same as an A4, A6 etc. So I do realize there will be some learning curve or book reading to refresh ones memory.
Yes, all brand new parts from Audi. Most had to come from Germany which is one of the main reasons my car was there for so long.
so glad your keeping us updated on this. Sounds like they got you taken care of but its a scam that they wanted to dump more charges on you. thats kinda not cool
What sucks about warranty work is that most of the people doing the work don’t know as much as say a good performance shop that works on the cars more often.
Some of that they said was BS. The valve cover thing was to by time and the other stuff makes no sense. Still its good to see your going to have a long list of new parts.