RS6 service position

[RS6 rick]

Never having done it and having heard wildly varying times, from 3 hrs to 30 min, how long does it take to put car in service position. Thanks for any and all help. Be safe.

[GreggPDX]

If you've done it a few times, 30 minutes is doable. 3 hours seems a bit extreme unless you taking a shot for every part removed (particularly brutal if you count screws...)

I'd vote an hour for reasonably competent shade-tree mechanic the first time.

What service are you planning to do?

[RS6 rick]

Thank you thank you thank you ! The cam chain tensioners and possibly the oil cooler pipe.

[P1054]

I would agree with Gregg's assessment. However, I don't think you'll be doing the oil cooler pipe from service position. Having swapped it out on two cars, I would hesitate to even try it with the engine in. I've heard it's doable, and it probably is, but honestly, I think you'd be better off pulling the engine. Cam chain tensioner should be doable. Getting the valve covers off is a bit tricky, especially the passenger side if you have the secondary air system installed still. If the secondary air system is deleted, it's not bad.

[Bigglezworth]

30mins from drive in including jacking and tire removal. Get's quicker after you've done it a few times.

[GreggPDX]

I would agree with Gregg's assessment. However, I don't think you'll be doing the oil cooler pipe from service position. Having swapped it out on two cars, I would hesitate to even try it with the engine in. I've heard it's doable, and it probably is, but honestly, I think you'd be better off pulling the engine. Cam chain tensioner should be doable. Getting the valve covers off is a bit tricky, especially the passenger side if you have the secondary air system installed still. If the secondary air system is deleted, it's not bad.

I agree that it's going to be tough to do the oil cooler with the engine in place. I would at least try to drop the motor down a few inches to allow better access. If the car is in service position, and you have a hoist attached to the motor lift points, its not too hard to drop the whole assembly down. You can leave the cradle attached, along with the suspension, and just unbolt the cradle from the chassis to drop it. There are various hoses/lines that also need to be disconnected, but they should be fairly obvious when you start to lower the motor. You definitely need to remove the PS lines from the pump, and disconnect the three small coolant lines on the back of the motor.

I did the cam tensioners with the engine out, and the air injection gone, so it was fairly easy. Again, probably possible with the motor in the car, but going to be tough.

How is your torque converter? Maybe you should just pull the motor and do a "big bang" service of everything!

This is a pic of mine on the hoist with engine dropped about 12 inches. In this picture, the alternator is removed along with the oil lines to the sandwich adapter. Plenty of room now :)

18047

[Aronis]

Is transmission and exhaust still attached? front axels? 12 inches seems low without doing the before mentioned.

Mike

[GreggPDX]

Is transmission and exhaust still attached? front axels? 12 inches seems low without doing the before mentioned.

Mike

This picture is actually from putting the engine and trans back in after swapping to the 6-speed, so it's not really representative of what you would do if you're just trying to get better access for service. Transmission is attached, but nothing else. Actually, I think I had the lower control arms bolted on as well.

I had previously bolted it all the way in, but when I went to bleed the clutch, I realized it would be much easier if I lowered everything again, so I just unbolted it from the chassis and dropped it back down.

I mostly wanted to illustrate how you would connect to the hoist, and the general view of how the engine and cradle would drop.

[Bigglezworth]

In order to 'lower' in chassis a nominal 100mm, you need to be in full service position, unbolt torque snubber, radiator hoses, PS tank line, disconnect intercoolers from top and bottom, and uncouple coolant lines at back on firewall. in order to lower any more than that, you really need to disconnect struts, exhaust, central driveshaft, starter, fuel line, O2 sensors, ECU, and consider some additional lowering of the front clip if you are keeping all coolers still hooked up. This would impact cars that still have aux rads. Probably a couple of more incidental items I'm not rattling off the top of my head to add to the list.

You 'can' remove and overhaul both turbos WITHOUT entirely removing the engine. I plan on doing exactly this in prior to the summer wrapping up as I need to overhaul both turbos on the one ride here this summer.

[GreggPDX]

I spent some quality time laying under my car last night while reinstalling a bunch of stuff, and looking at the area around the oil cooler, I actually think it would be reasonable to R&R it with the engine in, BUT you'd need to remove the intercooler, alternator, oil filter line sandwich adapter and oil hard lines, air pipe from turbo to intercooler, and finally the passenger side engine mount and chassis mount. With all that stuff out, you'd be pretty clear to get at the oil cooler. I think you could leave the wiring to the starter connected (which is good, because it's a bitch to remove), and just move it aside. That's a lot of stuff to take out, but most of it is not too bad. The alternator can be a pain because it tends to get stuck on the upper mount, and the intercooler is also a pain with all all the aux radiator stuff. You might want to try and leave it in at first and see if you have enough room.