Hy Octane
September 20th, 2007, 21:04
Well, after 3 1/2 years, 42,000 miles and 17 tries, I finally have a fully operational RS6. Having written a letter to the president of AoA complaining that no-one in the USA knew how to fix these cars and it was shameful that they were not responding to customer complaints (it was alot more than this but thats the gist of it), they replied by sending me their top technician in the USA with the instructions to do whatever it takes to make me happy.
After dealing with several regional techs who didnt know squat, here was a fellow who really knows his stuff. He diagnosed my DRC as being improperly repaired (right in front of the regional tech who pronounced it perfect and refused to do any more repairs on it) and also decided that the whining sound coming from my rear differential was due to a faulty unit and this was also to be replaced. He personally did the repairs and informed me that the DRC system was running at a pressure of 10 bar before repair and now it was almost at 13 bar after repair (system should be between 12-14 bar). While its still not quite as firm as it came from the factory new, its the closest its been after 5 tries. The car was getting only about 8 mpg for months and had a horrible vibration .. shifting was rough and there was alotta drag while coasting. The new differential solved this and now MPG is over 12 in the city.. never before did it run this well. They also replaced the instrument cluster as it had lost a few leds..There were two cracked rubber bushings at the mount points for the rear diff (might want to check yours).. Oh yeah,, we dont quite know when or how, but the boost problem seems to be solved. It now no longer goes to total loss of boost when hot, but will do as designed by reducing boost to first stage when it gets too hot. We did discover that the car is not supposed to return to full boost by itself after it cools down by driving. If you suffer a stage 1 boost cut because of heat, you have to cycle the key ( thats right, you have to pull over and stop/start the motor) in order to reset the system
and get the power back. We think that the reason mine was cutting all boost had something to do with a faulty thermostat that failed and was replaced in the climate control system but its a best guess. There was also a rubber boot cover that was torn in the steering rack/control arm area causing the car to not center itself well. This was replaced and she is now straight and true.
I'm glad I stuck with it .. I knew it was only a car and if we could find somebody who knew it inside out, we could replace whatever was faulty and get her running right. I almost gave up and asked for a refund a few times, but i'm not a quitter. It has finally paid off. So now, its off to enjoy this machine the way it was intended.. finally. :addict:
After dealing with several regional techs who didnt know squat, here was a fellow who really knows his stuff. He diagnosed my DRC as being improperly repaired (right in front of the regional tech who pronounced it perfect and refused to do any more repairs on it) and also decided that the whining sound coming from my rear differential was due to a faulty unit and this was also to be replaced. He personally did the repairs and informed me that the DRC system was running at a pressure of 10 bar before repair and now it was almost at 13 bar after repair (system should be between 12-14 bar). While its still not quite as firm as it came from the factory new, its the closest its been after 5 tries. The car was getting only about 8 mpg for months and had a horrible vibration .. shifting was rough and there was alotta drag while coasting. The new differential solved this and now MPG is over 12 in the city.. never before did it run this well. They also replaced the instrument cluster as it had lost a few leds..There were two cracked rubber bushings at the mount points for the rear diff (might want to check yours).. Oh yeah,, we dont quite know when or how, but the boost problem seems to be solved. It now no longer goes to total loss of boost when hot, but will do as designed by reducing boost to first stage when it gets too hot. We did discover that the car is not supposed to return to full boost by itself after it cools down by driving. If you suffer a stage 1 boost cut because of heat, you have to cycle the key ( thats right, you have to pull over and stop/start the motor) in order to reset the system
and get the power back. We think that the reason mine was cutting all boost had something to do with a faulty thermostat that failed and was replaced in the climate control system but its a best guess. There was also a rubber boot cover that was torn in the steering rack/control arm area causing the car to not center itself well. This was replaced and she is now straight and true.
I'm glad I stuck with it .. I knew it was only a car and if we could find somebody who knew it inside out, we could replace whatever was faulty and get her running right. I almost gave up and asked for a refund a few times, but i'm not a quitter. It has finally paid off. So now, its off to enjoy this machine the way it was intended.. finally. :addict: