Have a read.....


By Mark Toljagic, MSN Autos, July 7, 2010Eight Euro-trash used cars
2004-05 Audi S4
PlayPause
SlowMediumFastPrevious1 of 8Next

Larger image
Photo: Audi


Those maniacal engineers at Audi married the sensible A4 with the 4.2 L V8 from the flagship A8 and created a startling all-wheel-drive bullet cloaked in an elegant and well-behaved package. The S4 is fetching - but it's not always reliable.

Owners have reported short-lived ignition coils, clutches (not surprising given its mission statement), batteries, starters and valve-cover gaskets. The engine may develop leaks, both in terms of oil and coolant, thanks in part to some sub-par O-rings.

Entire engines and transmissions have been replaced. On top of all that, there are electrical issues, including faulty lights and power windows, lousy seat warmers and bad sensors.

The S4 is expensive to repair largely due to the very tight packaging constraints of the compact design, not to mention many parts are sourced in Germany and are dearly priced. Keep a barrel of cash on hand.

 

interesting and inaccurate. The 4.2 is not the A8 engine. It shares displacement and # of valves, but it's a very different engine. Audi has half a dozen 4.2 V8 engines

C5 RS6 4.2 - totally different block...belt driven...and turbocharged of course
A6/8 4.2 - belt driven
B6/7 S4 4.2 - chain driven
B7 RS4 4.2 FSI - totally different block...direct injection
B8 S5 4.2 FSI - another different block again...direct injection
etc. etc.

The article is also a bit of a research fail

ignition coils - umm...they were recalled and replaced. The Q version onwards have none of the problems the old ones did.
clutches - well...actually the flywheel on the B6 was the fail, but lets give him that one
batteries - the battery is fine if you don't run it down to zero 4 times like I did, killing it.
power windows - yes, the B6 has a problem with a faulty window regulator...or course it's about a $300 repair and is maybe a 1 in 10 car problem among only the oldest B6 cars
coolant leaks - not because of an o-ring, but because the coolant tank ages and fails

At the end of the day, the stuff they referenced was largely inaccurate. The B6/7 S4 is actually a very reliable european sports sedan. I'm not sure what they said about the other 7 cars, but they really should have done their homework on the S4. Maybe they ought to check with Consumer Reports' data...

 

Thanks for the great info...I just bought my S4 and I Love it!! There's always going to be repair costs with buying a used car....I've had problems with the valve cover gasket..... Audi has replaced two gaskets in the past 3000kms and I still smell oil...do you have any info on why this could be happening?

Thanks again!!

 

they replaced the gaskets for both sides, and you still have a leak? That's interesting. Could be residual leaking oil that's still burning off (downpipes etc are all under there)

post up on euroaddiction.net in the S4 section...huge V8 membership there and they'll have more good ideas for you

p.s. more fail for that article...look at the picture they used for the '2004-2005 S4'

 

Thank you....going to check for residual oil.