My new (to me!) B6 S4

^adam^ · Jun 22, 2015

Picked up my new (to me!) car last weekend.

S4 Avant in Dolphin Grey

A few pics:

****** love it!

It's mechanically sound, but not without it's faults.

Those that I knew about:

Wheels need refurb
Paintwork is scruffy
Interior needs a good clean

And those I didn't know about:

Every now and again the ABS and EPS light come on
Reverse sensors don't work occasionally
Windscreen de-mister doesn't work

My first mod is complete, ISOFIX fittings purchased from Audi direct for £120 a pair.

Then the second, light switch was manky, replacement £15 from eBay.

Before:

After:

Then the third, number plate holder was bulky and didn't look great, free!

Before:

After:

So just a couple of little things.

Coming soon ...... new floor mats, Symphony upgrade, VCDS read for ABS and ESP light.

^adam^ · Jun 29, 2015

As seen on this forum, I removed the glove box and removed the actuator for the demister vent. Taking it apart and rebuilding it seems to sort it, so working again. Will re-do once I've got the correct grease to clean and re-grease the gears. A new part from Audi is £130 so well worth trying to fix!

Had a code scan yesterday by @Ash187

Main faults below:

00287 - ABS Wheel Speed Sensor; Rear Right (G44)
30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent

17831 - Secondary Air Injection System; Bank 1
P1423 - 002 - Insufficient Flow - MIL ON
17819 - Secondary Air Injection System; Bank 2
P1411 - 002 - Insufficient Flow - MIL ON
Readiness: 0000 0100

00727 - Potentiometer in Positioning Motor for Defrost Flap (G135)
30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent
00727 - Potentiometer in Positioning Motor for Defrost Flap (G135)
29-10 - Short to Ground - Intermittent

01546 - Sensor for Parking Aid; Rear Mid-Left (G204)
37-00 - Faulty

Have ordered a Bosch ABS speed sensor from Euro Car Parts as they currently have 15% off everything, so comes in at £60-ish. Again, Audi taking the pi$$ wanting £120.

In the process of removing the rear bumper to check out the faulty reverse sensor, big job!

All codes were cleared, but the ABS and parking errors came back straight away. There were also a couple of historic codes in the log. Not sure about the Air injection system, the engine management light only came on yesterday on the way to Ash, was cleared and hasn't come back since.

Also, occasionally the boot wont open, but no codes came with that

norris_309 · Jun 29, 2015

Nice motor, I'm worried to hear removing the rear bumper is a big job!... I've got a reverse sensor gone too. (has been for a year now!)

As for your boot lid, mine doesn't like the heat, so on a sunny day you can hear the boot latch move a bit & it pops the boot but not enough to actually open it.
You might have the same problem, it's a 'lazy' solenoid, about £40ish from audi so I've heard.
Mine eventually opens but you can normally hear it seeming to struggle to unlatch it. That doesn't flag up a code either.

How are you finding the ebay light switch? I've been meaning to get a replacement for mine as well, wasn't sure if they were up to much or not compared to original ones, yours certainly looks good though.

^adam^ · Jun 29, 2015

Exactly the same. You can hear the latch trying to open when either pressing the button on the boot, or pressing the boot button on the remote.

Thanks for the pointer, worth changing as can't have the misses locked out the boot when the buggy is in there for the little 'un!

norris_309 · Jun 29, 2015

yeah I get the grief from my mrs, comes back with the shopping trolley on a hot day ... can't open the boot!
It normally opens when locking & unlocking a few times.

But is a pain, a mate of mine has the same problem with his too, he's got the part which isn't too expensive, but he's not got round to changing it.
As well as the solenoid, he also has a trim removal tool bought from audi too as you need to remove the boot lid trim, which I've heard isn't for the faint hearted!.
good luck.

Ash187 · Jun 29, 2015

Did you not manage to get to the rear sensor from underneath?

jimbob79 · Jun 29, 2015

Lovely lookin motor.. I had a similar code throw up on my Passat 1.8t for the secondary air injection bank 1 and 2.. Lots of changing parts until I found just a simple clean of the MAF sorted it..

^adam^ · Jun 30, 2015

Ash, can't get a grip on the sensor from below, bumper bar in the way.

Should be able to get an hour or so tonight to have another go.

vr6gordy · Jul 2, 2015

Lol euro car parts just because it says Bosch on doesn't mean it is from euro car parts they buy a lot of copied parts .. You can now take your horse to euro car parts and leave it out side to get a drink then as you walk in the shop you will see lots of cowboys and cow girls all talking ***** as none of them
Have a clue

^adam^ · Jul 2, 2015

I'm confused?

dualmono21 · Jul 4, 2015

hi adam its nath off t/a
you need to sort the secondary air injection problem
check the inlet manifold is working correctly , if not your about 70 horse power down on standard

Broken Byzan · Jul 4, 2015

vr6gordy said:
Lol euro car parts just because it says Bosch on doesn't mean it is from euro car parts they buy a lot of copied parts .. You can now take your horse to euro car parts and leave it out side to get a drink then as you walk in the shop you will see lots of cowboys and cow girls all talking ***** as none of them
Have a clue

Bosch is Bosch. regardless. Internet folklaw

Broken Byzan · Jul 4, 2015

dualmono21 said:
hi adam its nath off t/a
you need to sort the secondary air injection problem
check the inlet manifold is working correctly , if not your about 70 horse power down on standard

SAI is the extra air blown into the exhaust system to heat the cat up on cold start, it has no bearing on power at all. It will however need to be fixed or mapped out

^adam^ · Jul 4, 2015

dualmono21 said:
hi adam its nath off t/a
you need to sort the secondary air injection problem
check the inlet manifold is working correctly , if not your about 70 horse power down on standard

Hey Nath.

What's strange, is that the EML only lit on the way to the scan, was cleared, and hasn't come back since.

Annoyingly, I've just gone to replace the rear right ABS sensor only to see a new Bosch part already. On closer inspection through the pile of receipts, it was replaced a month or two ago.

That's annoying.

dualmono21 · Jul 4, 2015

i know exactly what your saying mate as regards secondary air pump for cat
but it is also connected to 2 other bits which are known to cause problems
one being the intake manifold for the second stage of air injection which is right at the front of the engine and only works above 5000rpm
the other being the vacuum pump which opens the second stage of standard exhaust

^adam^ · Jul 4, 2015

Reversing sensor done and bumper back on. Two light coats of Dolphin Grey and two light coats of lacquer(purchased from Audi dealers).

No more long beep after putting car into reverse, just a short beep.

Although, a quick test suggest they're not actually very good! Do they need to be calibrated/coded once painted?

Didn't go quite so well with the ABS sensor, didn't manage to remove it completely, Turns out it was replaced recently so I cleaned it up and hooked it back up. Slightly different Bosch part number between the two parts.

dualmono21 · Jul 4, 2015

i only ever replaced the control module on mine so not sure
you could have a look in the module if you have vcds

when you get chance and you have an extra body
lift the bonnet , warm her up and then ask someone to rev car beyond 5000rpm
if you look down and in between the very small gap between radiators and the front of the intake manifold
youll see a piece of plastic with an armature about 2-3" long on it
check this is moving about 90 degrees
if it is all well and good , if not you may with a little care be able to free it off , if not unfortunately you cannot buy the piece separately
and the last time i looked a new intake manifold was 1300 quid !!!
if your car still has standard exhaust , have a look underneath and see if its fitted with ex ups or not
the early b6 s4,s were the later ones were not
if you have them make sure they are working correctly and have not seized
again rev the engine above about 2500 rpm and the actuator should move

^adam^ · Jul 6, 2015

Cheers Nath, will do!

A bit more Googling on the ABS sensor.

Interestingly, there's two Bosch parts listed on ECP for the car.

One more expensive than other. I bought more expensive one.

Cheaper one £40, more expensive £70.

Looking HERE

Under the Bosch section, there's part number 681 (currently on the car) and the cheaper part number from ECP (just called them for it) ending 824. But not the part I bought from ECP ending 680.

Audi, of course, they don't give out part numbers

^adam^ · Jul 8, 2015

Just re-read this and I've got myself confused.

The part that is on the car is 680 and isn't listed on the above website, the new part from ECP I have is 681 which is listed.

I got it the wrong way around.

So I'm wondering is the part on the car incorrect?

The above site lists 681 as rear right.

^adam^ · Jul 8, 2015

Looks from here that the 680 part is original Audi, and 681 aftermarket Bosch.

http://www.easycarparts.nl/Controls/Custom/ECP/ProductPdf.ashx?type=a&path=00574/0+265+006+681.pdf

^adam^ · Jul 8, 2015

So removed the offending sensor again, cleaned it up again, and cleaned up the socket where the sensor plugs in. Took it out for a quick spin and no ABS/ESP light so far.

Come to the conclusion that the sensor isn't at fault. Continuity test on both rear sensors reads the same.

Last option must be the ring that the ABS sensor reads from?

^adam^ · Jul 10, 2015

Now I'm really confused.

First drive after removing and cleaning the sensor again, no ABS/ESP light.

Next drive, to the gym, both lights were on from ignition and never switched off.

Then after the gym, both lights out. Not on for 2 mile journey home.

The intermittent nature, plus the fact the light comes on sometimes on ignition, would suggest a sensor fault.

I'm thinking of buying myself a VCDS for times like these

Mike.M · Jul 10, 2015

Sensor or damaged/broken wire/terminal.

VCDS is a worth while investment and use mine loads for monitoring and also fault finding.

^adam^ · Jul 10, 2015

The sensor was replaced just before I bought the car in May, and I've checked the sensor with a multimeter and seems to give a decent resistance reading. I will check again this weekend.

The wiring loom also gave a decent continuity reading.

Mike.M · Jul 10, 2015

Check the loom, but try to jig the wires about to see if there are any breaks in the wire that may be making intermitent connection

^adam^ · Jul 11, 2015

So gave up troubleshooting and fault finding tonight and fitted the ECP sensor. Only takes about 30 minutes.

Quick trip to Tesco, no ABS/ESP light in either direction.

Will have a longer drive tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Next up, boot release mechanism has pretty much stopped working in the heat of the last few days. Old one already removed, now to find a replacement.

^adam^ · Jul 12, 2015

Was too good to be true of course.

5-10 mins into the third journey since the change and the lights were back on.

Then on again from ignition on return journey, and to compound the misery, the EML came on about 15 mins in also.

Waste of a new part

Oh well guess I've got a spare to keep in case the other side goes.

Time to get troubleshooting again!

Mike.M · Jul 12, 2015

Def sounds like a broken wire to me that looses conection, worth checking the wires and moving them about at the same time

^adam^ · Jul 12, 2015

Nath,

Having the EML on prompted me to check the inlet manifold like you said.

Is this the bit I should be looking at?

Rev'd up to red line (****** loud with your head under the bonnet!). It barely moved, it did a little, but not much.

Misses popped out now, and a bit loud to be doing again now, but will try and get a video.

EDITED to add bigger picture.

^adam^ · Jul 15, 2015

A cheeky little repair on the boot release using this http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/2-wire-door-lock-motor-yd79l

Saw it on another post of this forum so gave it a go, for a fiver, what's the worst that can happen.

Managed to fit it and get it working without cutting or breaking anything standard on the car so will get an original part when it's higher up the priority list. But at least now I have a working boot release

dualmono21 · Jul 16, 2015

yes mate
thats the part for the secondary air system .... it needs to move at least 90 degrees or it isnt fully opening
might be worth checking it again

^adam^ · Jul 16, 2015

Nice one, will check again away from the house this weekend as ****** loud revving to 5k.

You're right about it being a tight squeeze!

^adam^ · Jul 16, 2015

Found what looks to be an excellent video on YouTube about the secondardy air injection system.

Not for an S4, but a 1.8T, worth posting

^adam^ · Jul 16, 2015

The VCDS proving its worth already.

Using that video as a guide, I ran the output tests listed.

As soon as I ran the tests, can hear an air leak, I've got a video here, let's hope the dropbox link works!

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/iq2zlnf4kc0pcur/AAAYArKW-5QmF_q2wDhDHaSia

dualmono21 · Jul 17, 2015

ok

at the back of there are a few small vacuum pipes which connect to a couple of different places
you need to find out which one is compromised
one runs round to the front of the block for the actuator , the other can be connected to your ex ups
if you have them installed

have a look in the left hand side rear of the boot are there any electronics under the covers ?
if so thats the solenoid for the ex ups

^adam^ · Jul 17, 2015

Whilst digging around I noticed this, I'm guessing this the one running around the front for the actuator?

Also, when I was changing the reversing sensor, I noticed something in the boot that looked like it was something vacuum related, the blue thing.

^adam^ · Jul 18, 2015

Found this excellent guide, might be worth a sticky?

http://www.vaglinks.com/Docs/Audi/C..._4.2L_Secondary_Air_Injection_Maintenance.pdf

Looks like I've broken the secondary air injection solenoid valve.

Garth_S3 · Jul 18, 2015

^adam^ said:
Nath,

Having the EML on prompted me to check the inlet manifold like you said.

Is this the bit I should be looking at?

Rev'd up to red line (****** loud with your head under the bonnet!). It barely moved, it did a little, but not much.

Misses popped out now, and a bit loud to be doing again now, but will try and get a video.

EDITED to add bigger picture.

That part shouldn't give a EML light, no. I can bet it won't be working correctly though as most seize after a while. If it is only moving a little bit, it's seized and will need freeing off. If you can't move it fairly easily with your hand, it's seized.

dualmono21 said:
yes mate
thats the part for the secondary air system .... it needs to move at least 90 degrees or it isnt fully opening
might be worth checking it again

No, it's not part of the SAI. This is the flap for the dual stage inlet manifold, this is not the same as SAI. The manifold has a flap in it that changes the airflow inside the intake at 5000 rpm to increase bhp above that rpm. If it's stuck closed (which is likely), you will not be making peak power above 5k rpm. If it's stuck open, you will be losing a lot of torque at lower rpm.

Funnily enough, my flap was completely seized and I fixed it yesterday. Wasn't too difficult, although it took a while to get the casing off as it was stuck very tight.

This is a DIY about fixing it on the A6 4.2, which has two flaps (unlike our S4's that have only one) but the principle is exactly the same:
http://forums.quattroworld.com/a8/msgs/44689.phtml

I will be updating my thread with a DIY specifically related to the S4 4.2 as I took photos when I was doing mine.

Nice car by the way. I wanted a dolphin grey one, but settled on silver when mine turned up.

Garth_S3 · Jul 18, 2015

Here's how much the solenoid should move when it hits 5k rpm.
I took this video after I fixed mine

dualmono21 · Jul 18, 2015

i know exactly what its for and what it does , as said earlier in the thread
how it works with the secondary air injection im not sure , but i do know its connected to it by vacuum pipes so must have something to do with it

My new (to me!) B6 S4

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