What is the expected longevity of the RS6 engine before rebuild is needed?

**p3u** · January 19th, 2009, 18:32

Just curious to see if anyone has had to rebuild and RS6 motor yet due to mileage, or if anyone has a realistic expection on its lifespan?

Highest mileage I have seen is around ~125k miles, anyone have higher and any input on this?

Thanks!

**Copper** · January 19th, 2009, 18:35

I saw one in NJ at Riverside Audi with 132K miles on it. Original drivetrain including turbos. "Highway miles" were advertised.

**DuckWingDuck** · January 19th, 2009, 19:17

My dealership services a few RS6s that are over 100K, one of them has a new engine but the other one is all good and the owner drives it hard.

**Bigglezworth** · January 19th, 2009, 19:31

This is Audi's PREMIUM piece of work. There is no reason not to believe the engine performing with regular maintenance well into the many hundreds of thousands kms. Now the tranny however - that's a different matter. lol

Tim

**Hy Octane** · January 19th, 2009, 20:00

Dont think anyone has reached the upper limit of mileage.. any engine replacements so far have been due to faults or bad maintenance i'd guess..

**DuckWingDuck** · January 19th, 2009, 22:41

highest I know is in the 140Ks and he hasn't needed to get the engine rehauled.

**Boosted-Bora** · January 20th, 2009, 06:20

IM at 65K and may be rebuilding my motor with stronger components for my new turbo/intercooler set up

**Bigglezworth** · January 20th, 2009, 06:33

Originally Posted by Boosted-Bora

IM at 65K and may be rebuilding my motor with stronger components for my new turbo/intercooler set up

I think that qualifies more as 'modifying' your motor as part of a hot rodding effort vs. rebuilding due to mileage/wear and tear.

**grizz** · January 21st, 2009, 19:32

I've had to replace the l/h head on two cars due to them cracking .....a head is £3300 + labour to remove the engine ..

**Bigglezworth** · January 21st, 2009, 20:49

Originally Posted by grizz

I've had to replace the l/h head on two cars due to them cracking .....a head is £3300 + labour to remove the engine ..

What was the diaganosis for the failure? Was the owner constantly running low on glycol? Did a gasket or hose go somewhere else on the cooling system which went unnoticed and then created an overheating situation for a mechanically unknowledgable person? Was it a head gasket? Was it the result of a sensor on the emission system making the engine run leaner than it should and then burnt the valve or overheated the cylinder and cracked the head?

I've had numerous cylinder head failures over the years and I can't say as any one in particular was the result of high mileage. They all came as a result of hot rodding and modificiations to the engine.

Tim

**grizz** · January 21st, 2009, 20:59

It was using a lot of water , a lot of steam was going from the l/h exhaust .
When i removed the manifold the back 2 exhaust ports were wet !! The manifold had a lot of water in it.
The head would not hold any vacuum on the test bed ..

**MikeL01** · January 21st, 2009, 21:19

I test drove 132,000 mile RS6 in great condition at a local dealer with orig turbos and transmission and it ran very strong. The DRC was replaced with PSS9s.

**Clubsport** · January 25th, 2009, 14:12

When I broke my first rs6, the odometer showed 275 000 Kms.......

**rs6fred** · April 3rd, 2015, 03:29

I have 154k but I will be having the engine rebuilt next week

**Bigglezworth** · April 3rd, 2015, 03:45

Originally Posted by rs6fred

I have 154k but I will be having the engine rebuilt next week

What is necessitating a rebuild effort? I have 236000 miles on one of the RS6 motors here and it still runs auper strong. Yes the turbos are new along with other numerous items, but all the internals are OEM and still at spec.

**lswing** · April 3rd, 2015, 15:35

Originally Posted by rs6fred

I have 154k but I will be having the engine rebuilt next week

So what's the reason?

**rs6fred** · April 3rd, 2015, 17:13

Valvetrain tapping got pretty loud and I figured while he's in there to replace it all, it wasn't cared for that well by the previous owner

**Bigglezworth** · April 3rd, 2015, 20:31

Valve slapping can well be associated with cam tensioners. Run a compression test for goodness sakes. You likely just need to do the cam tensioner shoes and valve cover gaskets.

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