Symptom of Intercool leak? Boston-area mechanic advice

[urs6ville]

So took off in the early morning hours from Boston to Long Beach Island NJ. No traffic, easy drive down. About 4:30am, stopped at rest stop so the GF could use the loo, I waited, car on, outside.

She came back out, got in, and I got to the on ramp to merge with traffic, give it 3/4 throttle and hear a WOOOOOOOOOOSH from the front right of the of car... lift. I then ease the throttle in and boost builds and no noise... gradual power. Get on highway.... give it 3/4 throttle again.. once the lag passes WOOOOOOOOOOSH from the front right corner again. Ugh. Car seems fine so long as I don't bury the pedal... and I can drive it that way... guessing it is still sucking air through whatever hole or crack, just not enough to hear it. Can't be a hose can it? So I am thinking a crack in the intercooler? Or is there another pipe/connector prone to failure?


So, going to be down here on LBI for a week... back in Boston Sunday. Haven't properly vetted a mechanic yet in Boston yet... my UrS6 guy went back to work at a dealer as a shop manager. I got the point where I did 95% of the work on my old S6 myself so that was no big deal, but right now:

1. this car is 10lbs of stuff in 5lbs bag (WRT to engine/etc)
2. work/life is crazy busy right now

So would rather have a mech handling in the shop. Any rec'd?

Can one get to the intercooler by dropping the belly pan? or do also need to pull the front bumper?

as always, thanks in advance.

[Dmb408]

Yes you can get to the hose that (might) have come off with just the belly pan off. Somebody had this symptom not too long ago and it was just the hose. Get it on jacks or a ramp and take the pan off and see if that hose is off.

[Turbowned]

+1 to what Dmb408 says. Chris Cavalieri at Audi Westwood is a good person to service your car, or the folks at Auto Engineering in Lexington. I'm sure there are others; Justin Becker at South Shore Autoworks but he's all the way down in Kingston MA which is probably 45mins+ from you. That's where my RS6 is currently.

[kruat]

This sounds exactly like mine, and I had the lower passenger side boost hose clamp come loose. I fixed the problem, but now it seems to have worked it way loose again. But same symptoms, full throttle, hear a loud wooossh noise from that side. Keep the throttle under 3/4, and it seems fine.

I'm hoping mines just a bad hose and or clamp. Haven't had time to take another look.

[UrS6]

Heard good things about the place in Gloucester. Can't remember the name but you could always hop the commuter rail back to boston

[Bigglezworth]

Thankfully one of the easier repairs that can be done without putting the front clip in service position or dropping the powerplant...

[urs6ville]

thanks all. I ended up at new audi dealer in Freehold NJ. Beautiful place (I am sure it is reflected in the labor rate :).. and given I am pretty sure that it is just a loose hose (and that I didn't bring ramps or really want to get under the car to deal with it this week [supposed to be vacation]) so I am hoping they can take care of it quickly. They took the car in right away.. so that is good sign.