Steve123

That’s very true. I hadn’t thought of that. The trouble is that I’ve kinda formed a friendship with the two independents, so I’d be feeling a bit awkward about doing what you suggest. I guess I’ll ask the wife to do it. The funny thing is that yesterday I took my Aston into their works in Newport Pagnell for a service. The showroom and the staff are fabulous. I trust them implicitly.

Hello Steve, I’ve checked out the events you mentioned. I’m mean no offence, but they are all too far for us to go just to see the car makes you speak of. My wife and I own a few classic cars and we would take one of those to a multi marque meeting. The Audi is our daily car, so there wouldn’t be much fun driving it to an event too far away. Something more local, ideally monthly, is what my wife and I want. I have put in my diary the event shown at Santa Pod and we look forward to that. Cheers, Steve.

Hi, I’ll check out those items you have suggested. Thanks.

I have an RS6. Six miles away from me is a main dealer. In between my house and this dealer are two independent Audi specialists. I am torn between all three of them. My reservations about the main dealer is their almost inevitable inclination to discover faults in the car irrespective of those I ask them to deal with. I am right in feeling this way ?

I see many, many Audi’s in the above area. It’d be great to have a local monthly meeting.

I’ve just pxd my RS4 B8 for a RS6 C7. The C7 didn’t come with an Owners manual so I bought one off eBay. However I’m not sure that it is for a C7 and might be for an earlier model. The date of publication in the back page is 27.08.2015. in order to check that it is correct would any owner of a 2014 C7 please do a check with me ? Does page 54 begin the section on “ Seats and storage “. and does page 119 start the section on “ Parking aids “. Also, see picture on the front does show a car with QUATTRO displayed prominently on the front under the number plate and also what appear to be circular holes in the lower front corner of the honeycomb side panels. Cheers, Steve.

Hi, did you have any luck in finding a local group.? I’m in Bedford and asked the same question some years ago.

I’ve put this post here rather than in the specific section devoted to the above model, because I am likely to get a less biased response,I hope. I’m going to get rid of a few cars because of poor health ( I had a mild stroke two months ago ). The ones under consideration are my Aston Martin DB9 Volante, Alfa Romeo Guilia Quatrofoglio, Alfa Romeo 156 GTA Sportwagon , Triumph Herald estate and my Audi as per above. These are the cars that my wife doesn’t particularly like driving. To keep a level playing field here, apart from the Herald and the Audi, all the others were bought new and have very low mileage. In the overall scheme of things ( and please put Audi favouritism to one side ), what ones do you think are worth keeping, if any ?

Like most people over the past few months I have resorted to much internet surfing to alleviate the boredom. YouTube always used to be a good place to spend a few minutes, but now there are just too many adverts. Does anyone know of a similar alternative ?

I live in a small Cotswold village of about five hundred people. Almost without exception the population is comprised of retired, middle class, executive management types who, in their day, worked for a multinational conglomerate which had its global head office a few miles away. The village is on a sharp bend which slows traffic down appreciably. We have had two accidents in fifteen years, both due to black ice. Despite this the villagers are campaigning for cameras, chicanes, speed bumps etc. I have no strong opinion on this, largely because I expect they are inevitable. However, the three moderators of the village Facebook page has now banned further discussion on the matter. This incenses me. How are moderators chosen , can they be requested to resign , do they hold the position in perpetuity ? Cheers.

Thanks for your comment. I DO like my RS4 B8, even more than my Alfa Romeo Guilia Quatrofoglio. The Audi is more planted on the road, whereas the Alfa is skittish like a thouroubred racehorse. Let’s hope that the Audi doesn’t incur many other bills ! cheers.

Some weeks ago I asked for help re a loud screech from the engine bay on my car. It has finally been identified and corrected. The pair of PCV valves ( part no’s. 079103209CB. and. 079103210E ). otherwise known as VENTHOSE. and. VENTHOSE RH had malfunctioned. One seemed to have stuck closed and this forced the other one to stick open. This caused excessive crankcase pressure. To replace they cost £119.08 each plus VAT and labour. The garage owner explained their function to me, but I’d struggle to describe it here. Frankly, I’m pleased that it wasn’t a new engine that was required. This car is getting expensive to maintain now at 80,112 miles in six years.

I’m afraid I haven’t got any pictures. But I am still investigating it. Cheers.

Right now I’ve got a loud screeching noise coming from the engine compartment of my RS4 V8. This starts a few minutes after the car is turned on, even when it is stationary. I’m hoping that it is nothing worse than just changing the belts. Earlier this year I had to have the suspension changed for new. Shortly after I bought it about 18 months ago, it required all discs, pads and callipers changing. I can’t blame the car for that, it was wear and tear. I threatened the dealer with legal action and he paid me £3000.00. I can’t remember what problems I had with my previous S4 V8, but that cost either me or the dealer about £2-3000.00 in the first six months. I had always assumed Audi’s to be reliable. I’m not so sure now.

Curiously enough I wanted to buy a Merc in the first place, but I was looking for a quite rare one which I couldn’t find. I think I’ll sort my B8’s problems out and take it from there. Fortunately I have a very low mileage Alfa Romeo 156 GTA Selespeed Sportwagon under a dust sheet in my garage, so if the Audi goes !Removed! up I won’t be at a loss. thanks for your reply. Cheers.

After some years of running BMW X5’s as my main car, some six years ago I changed to Audi’s. I had a S4 first, now followed by my RS4 V8. both of the Audi’s had some problems, but the B8 has cost me or the supplying dealer about £6000 since I first bought it 18 months ago. The B8 did haVe about 10,000 miles over its years when I bought it, but it was still less than 70,000 on the clock for what was then a six year old car costing £30,000. It’s history was fine and it looked great. The supplying dealer also specialised in S and RS Audi’s. I am now also faced with another likely to be large bill. Two pals of mine, one who owns a Formula 1 business which erects pits, and another who is a electronics engineer and pilot, both have also troublesome A4’s. I can’t remember the engine sizes of these two cars, but neither was an S or RS. One was bought new and the other one used and they have had major problems, with the used car requiring two new engines. Even before I bought my B8 a pal who is a motoring correspondent for a national Sunday newspaper, warned me off the type due to their having known suspension problems. Sue enough, that happened to mine. It is very disappointing. Two other pals have either Jaguars or Mercedes, neither of which have been troublesome. Please persuade me not to buy a Merc as my next car. Thanks.

Thank you, Gareth, for the further useful advice. Cheers, Steve.

Hi Gareth, it is hugely useful to be told that the negative lead of the charger can be connected to any suitable metal earthed point. Thank you for that, I should have realised that, but WTF. So, if I were to bare the cable that passes from the hugely inaccessible Negative post into a point where it is screwed into the body work for an Earth, then that should do the job from the point of giving me a suitable Earth ? re charging - If I use a charger that has a trickle charge facility which detects the level of charge in the battery and then trickle charges to an appropriate level before automatically switching itself off, then that should do the job. Am I right? Thanks for your helpful input, mate, I owe you one ! cheers, Steve.

I live in a small village in the back of beyond. My house is on the village green and my drawing room looks out across the green to the busiest road, which carries very little traffic apart from tractors, combines etc. Imagine my surprise then, when on a nice sunny day late last month, I saw a beautiful Austin Healey 3000 going one way and a stunning Jaguar XK 120 going the other way. The Healey was painted pale blue metallic over Old English white, and the XK was in Obsidian black. Both had their tops down......as indeed they should have. What a truly gorgeous sight, eh !

To either fully or trickle charge the above car one has to expose two posts within the engine bay, as is normal. One Negative, one Positive, of course. The Positive is relatively accessible, but the Negative is a perfect swine. A typical case of German over engineering. Apart from the fact that the N post is several inches below multiple metal pipes which make getting even a finger on to the wretched thing virtually impossible, it is then protected by two very awkward clips, one a relatively heavy duty clip, and the other a clip that has to be released in order to release the first clip. Neither would budge despite liberal applications of WD40. The second clip is as fragile as a butterflies wing, and broke off with very little pressure, leaving me in a situation where charging or trickling the battery is impossible. Don’t manufacturers ever give any thought to scenarios like this ?

That’s a good idea, Gareth. Thank you.

Thank you, guys, for your input, which is all very useful stuff. I don’t know if my RS4 B8 has a belt or a chain, that was what one of my earlier posts this week was about, since nothing is visible from the top. Does anyone know ? I’ll see if the handbook has anything to say on the subject. On another subject, though, this is my second A4 type Audi. The first was a V8 S model and now I have the B8. A motoring journalist friend of mine advised me against S and RS AUDIS due to the high cost of frequent repairs. I think he was right. I also run a Bentley Continental GTC and a DB9, never mind two high performance Alfa’s. The two Audi’s have cost me much more in repairs than the rest of them put together.............now I think of it, apart from general servicing, neither the Aston nor the Bentley has cost me a bean.........don’t mention the depreciation, though !

I hope that you are right, since a belt change is preferable to any engine repair that might be necessary. I’ve had this car for about 18 months and although I had it serviced immediately after I bought it, I don’t believe that the belts were changed then. Given that a broken cam belt on my Alfa Romeo 156 GTA required a new engine, I guess that I’d better replace the belts on my RS4. Thanks for your kind response.

My 80,000 miler B8 has developed a worrying squeak when either stationery or moving at any speed. It emanates from the engine area and I believe it to be belt squeak. I have bought a spray to deal with this but there are no belts whatsoever visible from above. Will the removal of any of the various plastic covers reveal any or all of the belts ? If so then which one(s) ? cheers, steve.

Hi, knowing the Jaguar forum [ I used to be Chairman of the club ] I don’t think it’ll have half as many graphic designers, advertising men or publicity agents as this Audi forum. However, not having had much response here [ thank you for yours, by the way ], I will try another forum as well. I’ll try both the Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin forums since I am a member of both those clubs. As it happens, the subject matter of the pictures doesn’t matter. It could be cans of beans, packets of painkillers, or the latest Lamborghini. The name I am seeking is what the type of picture that is used to make presentations or obtain approval prior to being used for advertising, printing etc. Cheers.