S4 Centre differential broken

Kondax · Sep 15, 2019

Unfortunately last week I lost all power in the car whilst driving, and after having it recovered to Audi I was told that the centre diff had broken.

Nobody I've spoken to knows why it could have broken, but is mashed up pretty bad. I haven't heard of this happening before. I also have the stock diff. It was covered under warranty but will take a couple of weeks to order the part in.

Anybody have any ideas as to why this could've happened? I've slowly lost power the past few weeks - I'm wondering if it's been slipping this entire time and then finally gave up completely?

Dingah from Downundah · Sep 15, 2019

Have you ever had your car running on a dyne and have you done many 'launches'?

Kondax · Sep 15, 2019

Dingah from Downundah said:
Have you ever had your car running on a dyne and have you done many 'launches'?

I've done my fair share of launches that's for sure. Unfortunately not on a dyno yet - would that make a difference?

Dingah from Downundah · Sep 15, 2019

Not at all certain what impact dyno operations may have on a smart all wheel drive system such as the QUATTRO system.
Were the S4 a manual or auto clutch engagement system (aka DSG) I would have some concerns as to driveline integrity after multiple crash engagements but being a ZF with a torque converter that has to spool up and lock, I imagine that to be a lesser concern.
If you have the time, try to fish out the report of a US S4 owner who fitted a DTUK box and then experienced a bunch of issues when obtaining numbers on a dyno - whether they were operator or dyno induced your guess is as good as mine.
The fact that Audi have covered you for replacement is great and hope it is fixed carefully and quickly for you.

Kondax · Sep 15, 2019

Dingah from Downundah said:
Not at all certain what impact dyno operations may have on a smart all wheel drive system such as the QUATTRO system.
Were the S4 a manual or auto clutch engagement system (aka DSG) I would have some concerns as to driveline integrity after multiple crash engagements but being a ZF with a torque converter that has to spool up and lock, I imagine that to be a lesser concern.
If you have the time, try to fish out the report of a US S4 owner who fitted a DTUK box and then experienced a bunch of issues when obtaining numbers on a dyno - whether they were operator or dyno induced your guess is as good as mine.
The fact that Audi have covered you for replacement is great and hope it is fixed carefully and quickly for you.

I remember reading the issues he had on the dyno, sounded like a nightmare. I can't seem to find any other instances of the diff failing though.

I'm just glad Audi have covered it. Thanks for the kind words

A12RNX · Sep 16, 2019

I have done lots of very aggressive launches and drive very hard. Only 22k on the clock.m, I’ve also done 3 dyno pulls when it was a week old and 3 more a month ago with my Jb4 box and still no issues. Probably a manufacturing fault and was just very unlucky with it I expect.

Kondax · Sep 16, 2019

A12RNX said:
I have done lots of very aggressive launches and drive very hard. Only 22k on the clock.m, I’ve also done 3 dyno pulls when it was a week old and 3 more a month ago with my Jb4 box and still no issues. Probably a manufacturing fault and was just very unlucky with it I expect.

Yep, I think I'm just going to chalk it up to a manufacturing fault.

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S4 Centre differential broken

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