Want to just about cry. Having a rough last 6 months. Im getting really close to 5k in reapirs. Here's what Ive done. Had a few sensors replaced that caused check engine light to come on, one was mass air flow. Replaced turn signal switch. Cv boots, just did front struts and bushings. Had to replace back calipers cause they were ceased up and of course one was leaking all over the pads I put on about 6 months before. Top it all off I lost my job last year and this car is killing me now. Any other things that might be coming up on that may need to be replaced? Im pretty close to 120k miles. I do need to do spark plugs here soon but I'm going to try doing that myself to save some money. Anyone else dumping money into there S4?

 

youre only at the tip of the iceberg. have you done your timing belt, turbos, rubber hoses, vacuum lines, control arms, diverter valves, throttle body boot, cleared rain gutters in sunroof or auxiliary water pump? if you havent, then you will soon. After about six years of owning this beast i have spent close to 15k on maintenance alone and thats not even counting go fast mods.

At the moment i have the engine out and am fixing a few oil/tranny fluid leaks, replacing all my hose clamps and changing out all the gasket/seals/washers/bolts/etc that i can find on the engine and turbos. this of course has escalated into the adding of stern engine/tranny mounts, intake mani spacer, control arms, all new fluids(amsoil), sub-frame bushings, piggie pipes w/cel deletes, spark plugs and a whole bunch of clearance crap from ecs. oh and i almost forgot to mention all the audi ONLY tools i had to buy! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

These cars are a definite money pit. Especially if you take it to repair shops to do work! you should for sure check for DIY's for most of what you need to do on these cars. it just gets to expensive to have shops do it.

trust me i feel all your pain when it comes to these cars.

p.s. **** those god damn bolts that hold the axles to the transfer case! Are they designed to strip immediately? these cars should come with easy-outs in the tool box from the factory. (sorry had to vent)

 

Totally forgot. The timing belt and control arms are apart of the 5k I put into it. So those are done. I'm praying to God my turbos hold up. I'm actually praying that I don't have any more repairs in the next 6 months. I need to recover from this first. My GF just got a car tho so that cuts a ton of milage I was putting on driving her to work so I should be way better off.

Oh and don't worry about venting. That's pretty much the reason I made this thread. Lol. If I do cry I'll make sure I shed one for your too. 15k huh? Ouch

 

Sorry for typos and stuff. Posting using my iPhone and the box is pretty small to type into.

 

All that stuff (brakes, sensors, suspension) could be done yourself and you'd save a ton. The suspensions on these cars is so simple. I can change a strut assembly on mine in no **** 20 minutes. That includes putting the car on jackstands and removing the wheel. Air tools help, but with hand tools its still pretty easy to do.

Brakes are easy too, except if some moron hammers in your front caliper bolts with an impact wrench.... I'd love to find who did that. I broke a swivel socket and had to heat the bolt with a torch til it was red hot. I used hand tools to tighten them on the re-install.

 

I'm 5 wheel bearings in and got it down to under :30 to get the bearing out of the car and about the same to put the new one back in..