Anyone have parts list from DRC repair?

[Spidercat]

Long story short, my DRC finally gave out and my aftermarket warranty company will only authorize payment for struts and some seals, not the accumulators (these are almost $3k). My Audi dealer says that their standard of care (if the car were still under the original factory warranty) would be to replace the accumulators as well. Warranty rep says without "written documentation" or "technical service bulletin" stating this, they will not authorize it (accumulators). :deal: My Audi rep and techs can't find this documentation anywhere, and the car's been in the shop since Sunday and no parts even ordered yet!

I was wondering if those of you that had had your DRC systems repaired/replaced had the accumulators replaced as part of the deal. The Audi tech seems to think that not replacing those at the same time is BS, and once they replace the struts only and then repressurize the system and set the car down, it will likely go to crap again. :mech:

At this point I'm very close to saying effit and getting KV3s or something similar, but that would be all out-of-pocket, so I'll probably hold off for now.
Would anyone know where I might be able to find this "documentation" or who I could contact? The Audi rep says he's searched high and low and couldn't find this anywhere and thought me contacting AoA would be a dead-end, but I thought it might be worth a shot posting the forum...

[GrantG]

There should be a tool available to repressurise the RS6 accumulators as well so they wouldn't need replacing. Unfortunately there are very few around at the moment as they only became available from Audi Germany in May. I had this straight from the senior bods at Audi UK.

If they don't have the tool then it depends on the current pressure in the system as to whether they actually have to replace the valves or not.

FWIW, when my DRC went the aftermarket warranty company refused to pay for the valves even with the technical documentation in their hands. So I replaced it with KWv3 coilovers and Hotchkis ARBs and haven't looked back.

HTH

Grant

[rs-mad]

From my understanding the tool to re-pressurise can only get to 5bar as opposed to the 12-15bar the shocks are pressurised from the factory!

[GrantG]

Well, it would need to repressurise to 15 bar or it wouldn't be worth making one, hmmm.:doh: :lovl:

It wouldn't surprise me though, but I hope Audi haven't been that stupid. :nana:

[rs-mad]

hope I am wroong but that what my friend who is an Audi tech told me when they did mine and it went bad 2months later

[GrantG]

Yeah, I hope so too as many are depending on this. In my experience when it comes to the DRC system Audi UK and the Audi techs are hardly ever on the same wavelengh. If you are lucky enough to find a dealer/tech that does a proper job (Camberley Audi is one) then you really are lucky; I won't name and shame some of the other rubbish main stealers I've dealt with.

Mind you, even saying that, I've heard that at least one of the "fixed" RS6s with new struts and the new boots to cover the pistons had all 4 shocks leaking...:nono:

[Spidercat]

Mind you, even saying that, I've heard that at least one of the "fixed" RS6s with new struts and the new boots to cover the pistons had all 4 shocks leaking...:nono:

I hope I not going to be one of them!

Thanks for the above info. That jives with what my dealer told me-- he doesn't have the special tool to check them (I don't think he even knew whether or not one existed). He's a good guy, though. I guess I'll consider myself lucky that the aftermarket warranty co is shelling out anything at all for the DRC. I think my Audi rep is preparing me for the possibility that they'll have to repeat this fiasco all over again after they swap out the struts. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the accumulators are still ok (no negative waves!). Especially since my leaking struts were noticed serendipitously by an astute mechanic as I was just getting a routine tune-up (engine/trans oil, plugs, etc). I'm ashamed to say that I didn't notice the change in ride myself. Anyway, I'm going to use this down-time to finally send the TCU to MTM for their mod as some others have done. Now's a good time, I guess!

[Spidercat]

Thanks to Audi's documentation, I'm getting both the accumulators replaced on my warranty company's dime, too. The local Audi master tech has done one other DRC before (without a problem), so we shall see how this goes!