JAXRS6
January 24th, 2004, 08:42
The good news is, my beast is back after four weeks at the dealer! Asst service mgr said when I picked it up Friday that when they checked to see what hours to assign for the oil change and maintenance portion, there was no record of a 15K mi oil/maintenance yet in the US -- which meant mine must be the first.
Having this great car back after so long a break is almost like getting it new again. Reminds me of a high school joke: Bill says "Hit me!" (on the arm). Bob says "OK" and hits Bill. Bill says "Hit me again!" and Bob obliges. Etc., etc. -- this goes on for a while. Finally Bob asks Bill, "Why do you want me to hit you?" Says Bill: "Because it feels so good when you stop!"
The car is running great for the most part. I've driven 140+ miles since picking it up and when it's running right, it is indeed awesome.
Still, there were times when acceleration at 80 felt like it was backed by about 250-300 hp -- not slow, but not what I paid for either. So the dreaded "bad gas" symptoms may not be gone, if indeed that's the cause. (More below re bad gas.)
It was being awesome again as I approached home, however, and my hand-held-stopwatch 0-60 time is down to 5.1, from 5.5 just before I took it in for service on 12/29. It seemed to be running pretty good then, too -- tho apparently not AS good -- but it had been lagging a few miles earlier. The CEL (check engine light) had gone on, then off, and this time (according to the asst service mgr) the recorded data showed a problem with the serpentine belt, which was indeed splitting. So it was replaced, along with all related pulleys. Most pulleys showed up soon but the engine crank pulley, a $700 part which had to be ordered from Germany, took one business day shy of four weeks to get here -- or three weeks, if you factor in Audi AG taking two weeks off for the holidays. Three weeks is way too long IMO; my dealer agrees, as does my AoA owner advocate, but nothing has changed to improve it. So I may be writing soon to Len Hunt; anyone have experience doing that?
Then there's the ECM (aka ECU). The dealer asked & got my OK to open & inspect the engine control module. Result: It was showing that it had either been flashed (usually done to modify), or that the company Audi hires to set them right screwed up. Asst service mgr said, tho, that these deviations would not explain my performance issues. Personally I hope he's wrong, or at least that everything will be hunky-dory ALL the time after my new ECM is installed.
The dealer contacted AoA, who asked if I had modded the car; the dealer already knew I had not but asked me to sign, at AoA's request, a form to "confirm (that) 'Tuning' as described above (especially power increasing modifications) has NOT been performed on my vehicle." Another interesting paragraph appears above my signature: "I understand that if my Control Module is determined to have been tuned, any damage caused by the tuning of the Control Module (including adverse emissions consequences) will not be covered by Audi of America, Inc. warranties."
Since I have, indeed, NOT modified my ECM or any other aspect of the car, this could get interesting. I did meet Joe and Michael Hoppen, the MTM distributors located near me, and Mike made an offer that was tempting. After I told him about the subpar performance issues and Audi blaming it on bad gas (before I took the car in on 12/29), he offered to put in a chip & let me drive with it for a couple of days. If I didn't like it, no charge.
On one hand I am SO glad I didn't do that because I really am totally "clean." Then again, had I done it, maybe I wouldn't be having the lagging performance problem!
BTW when I asked the assistant service manager why they were blaming bad gas, he said it was a combination of factors that included codes showing sporadic misfiring of all eight cylinders (but no other fault codes at that time, i.e. my first visit re subpar performance), plus carbon buildup on the plugs. He also noted that the RS6 is "especially sensitive" to any gasoline imperfections, and he said a survey revealed Exxon as the only brand that met some sort of specification or expectation; sorry, I don't recall more, including whether this was local or national. But I plan to talk to him again because it's becoming a big problem here: There are no Exxon stations nearby, and the clerk at a local Chevron station that was Mobil three weeks ago said tonight, "It looks like Exxon-Mobil is moving out of SW Florida." Great, since SW Florida has heat & humidity conditions that can make it challenging for gas stations to maintain good gas anyway. Has anyone heard of similar Exxon exits elsewhere?
What else? My new Sirius radio sounds pretty good, but it's way to soon to compare it to XM, which I have enjoyed on my S4 in another state.
I know this is long but hope it hasn't been too boring. Since my beast may be the "oldest" in the US in miles, I thought it might be of interest for others to get an idea of potential issues ahead.
Here's hoping that as you pile the miles on, you have fewer issues than me! :) :mad: :) :mad:
Having this great car back after so long a break is almost like getting it new again. Reminds me of a high school joke: Bill says "Hit me!" (on the arm). Bob says "OK" and hits Bill. Bill says "Hit me again!" and Bob obliges. Etc., etc. -- this goes on for a while. Finally Bob asks Bill, "Why do you want me to hit you?" Says Bill: "Because it feels so good when you stop!"
The car is running great for the most part. I've driven 140+ miles since picking it up and when it's running right, it is indeed awesome.
Still, there were times when acceleration at 80 felt like it was backed by about 250-300 hp -- not slow, but not what I paid for either. So the dreaded "bad gas" symptoms may not be gone, if indeed that's the cause. (More below re bad gas.)
It was being awesome again as I approached home, however, and my hand-held-stopwatch 0-60 time is down to 5.1, from 5.5 just before I took it in for service on 12/29. It seemed to be running pretty good then, too -- tho apparently not AS good -- but it had been lagging a few miles earlier. The CEL (check engine light) had gone on, then off, and this time (according to the asst service mgr) the recorded data showed a problem with the serpentine belt, which was indeed splitting. So it was replaced, along with all related pulleys. Most pulleys showed up soon but the engine crank pulley, a $700 part which had to be ordered from Germany, took one business day shy of four weeks to get here -- or three weeks, if you factor in Audi AG taking two weeks off for the holidays. Three weeks is way too long IMO; my dealer agrees, as does my AoA owner advocate, but nothing has changed to improve it. So I may be writing soon to Len Hunt; anyone have experience doing that?
Then there's the ECM (aka ECU). The dealer asked & got my OK to open & inspect the engine control module. Result: It was showing that it had either been flashed (usually done to modify), or that the company Audi hires to set them right screwed up. Asst service mgr said, tho, that these deviations would not explain my performance issues. Personally I hope he's wrong, or at least that everything will be hunky-dory ALL the time after my new ECM is installed.
The dealer contacted AoA, who asked if I had modded the car; the dealer already knew I had not but asked me to sign, at AoA's request, a form to "confirm (that) 'Tuning' as described above (especially power increasing modifications) has NOT been performed on my vehicle." Another interesting paragraph appears above my signature: "I understand that if my Control Module is determined to have been tuned, any damage caused by the tuning of the Control Module (including adverse emissions consequences) will not be covered by Audi of America, Inc. warranties."
Since I have, indeed, NOT modified my ECM or any other aspect of the car, this could get interesting. I did meet Joe and Michael Hoppen, the MTM distributors located near me, and Mike made an offer that was tempting. After I told him about the subpar performance issues and Audi blaming it on bad gas (before I took the car in on 12/29), he offered to put in a chip & let me drive with it for a couple of days. If I didn't like it, no charge.
On one hand I am SO glad I didn't do that because I really am totally "clean." Then again, had I done it, maybe I wouldn't be having the lagging performance problem!
BTW when I asked the assistant service manager why they were blaming bad gas, he said it was a combination of factors that included codes showing sporadic misfiring of all eight cylinders (but no other fault codes at that time, i.e. my first visit re subpar performance), plus carbon buildup on the plugs. He also noted that the RS6 is "especially sensitive" to any gasoline imperfections, and he said a survey revealed Exxon as the only brand that met some sort of specification or expectation; sorry, I don't recall more, including whether this was local or national. But I plan to talk to him again because it's becoming a big problem here: There are no Exxon stations nearby, and the clerk at a local Chevron station that was Mobil three weeks ago said tonight, "It looks like Exxon-Mobil is moving out of SW Florida." Great, since SW Florida has heat & humidity conditions that can make it challenging for gas stations to maintain good gas anyway. Has anyone heard of similar Exxon exits elsewhere?
What else? My new Sirius radio sounds pretty good, but it's way to soon to compare it to XM, which I have enjoyed on my S4 in another state.
I know this is long but hope it hasn't been too boring. Since my beast may be the "oldest" in the US in miles, I thought it might be of interest for others to get an idea of potential issues ahead.
Here's hoping that as you pile the miles on, you have fewer issues than me! :) :mad: :) :mad: