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RS4 - Nice car, shame about the faults


MikeeB
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I bought a 2007 RS4 a week last Saturday. Cracking car but:

1) The driverside headlamp failed on the way home which = 3 days in garage getting fixed (waiting for parts)

2) The boot lid is filling up with water, which then pi55es out everytime you open it

3) The reversing lights have now decided to come on when driving fowards

4) The satnav had me driving in reverse 'off the map' whilst on the motorway last night for30 miles.

Have I bought a lemon or are they all like this and full of niggles?

Have kicked off the process of exchange today under the 30day/1000 miles thing :(

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Sorry to hear about your issues. Which motorway were you on? I knwo some of the new sections of the A1(M) near Leeds / Wetherby are seen as offroad. The other thing that throws off my sat nav is if I start it in an underground car park because it disorientates the GPS signal to it and it doesn't correct for a few miles afterward.

As for the other issues water in the boot is a saloon trait I think because it is not something I have ecountered in my Avant and they other bits are unique to your car.

Don't give up on it, the car otherwise is pretty much bombproof on reliability and certainly no less so than any other make I have owned but by in far the best car I have owned for all round performance combined with practicality.

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The sat nav/reverse lights things are related. Doesn't make it OK, just wanted to explain why the sat nav thought you were in reverse!!

Actually, that makes sense now that you mention it. When it happend, it was like an unfolding commedy of errors.

So I heard a ping, but didn't realise for a bit that my parking sensors had activated, then I noticed I was about 10 miles away on the SatNav, driving backwards (the pointer was moving down the screen, then jumping forward, then doing the same again), then I noticed the reflection in the traffic cones. The rest is history. Fixed by stopping the car, turning off engine, and starting up again.

Everything else is spot on.

Edited by MikeeB
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I bought a 2007 RS4 a week last Saturday. Cracking car but:

1) The driverside headlamp failed on the way home which = 3 days in garage getting fixed (waiting for parts)

2) The boot lid is filling up with water, which then pi55es out everytime you open it

3) The reversing lights have now decided to come on when driving fowards

4) The satnav had me driving in reverse 'off the map' whilst on the motorway last night for30 miles.

Have I bought a lemon or are they all like this and full of niggles?

Have kicked off the process of exchange today under the 30day/1000 miles thing

1) Not heard of that happening before - have they said what part has failed?

2) That's a B7 A4/S4/RS4 saloon thing, not an RS4 thing. Doesn't happen with Avants or cabs.

3) My wife's Skoda did this last week - so I adjusted the switch on the gearbox.

4) Caused by 3)

I've not had any reliability issues at all in nearly 2 1/2 years of RS4 ownership, you do seem to have got a Friday afternoon special (or one that's sat around for a while).

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1) Not heard of that happening before - have they said what part has failed?

2) That's a B7 A4/S4/RS4 saloon thing, not an RS4 thing. Doesn't happen with Avants or cabs.

3) My wife's Skoda did this last week - so I adjusted the switch on the gearbox.

4) Caused by 3)

I've not had any reliability issues at all in nearly 2 1/2 years of RS4 ownership, you do seem to have got a Friday afternoon special (or one that's sat around for a while).

Hi,

They attempted to fix the headlight by changing some parts first, but in the end, replaced the full unit.

Regarding the leaking boot lid, IMO, they still need to fix it, as I don't remember reading it in the list of "standard features" :)

As you say, it probably is just a switch issue, but it's not something I'm going to start playing with.

And it's interesting you mention the car being stood for a while, as I suspect it has, and I guess that's the reason why the main headlamp failed in the first place. A few tell tail signs of condensation. And we all know electricals and water don't mix.

Anyway, over and above all that, I'm looking forward to a trackday or two.

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It sounds like the the water may have got in and corroded the wiring to the reverse light, if this is shorting out it may put the reverse light on which in turn would tell the nav you have put the car into reverse throwing the nav out.

I would get them to check for water damage around the rear lights.

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it may put the reverse light on which in turn would tell the nav you have put the car into reverse throwing the nav out.

The sat nav gets its reversing signal off the Infotainment CAN bus not from the signal to the rear lights (so a short on that wiring won't affect the sat nav), so it looks like it's the wiring to the reversing light switch (or the switch itself) that's at fault.

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  • 1 year later...

I just collected by new RS4 yesterday, went to fire it up today and nothing.

Ignition lights come up, but when you push the starter, I get nasty clicking sounds, then the whole thing appears to reboot.

Now, it doesn't even show the "Depress clutch to start" message and other electrical bits appear shaky (though thankfully not the alarm, central locking).

Now waiting for Roadside Assistance to have a look :-(

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  • 5 weeks later...

Apart from coilover pack going on 3 cylinders (all at the same time) - mines been solid as a rock even after i decatted it and remapped it

I would be pissed off too in your situation though, stick with it! The roadside audi engineer said he barely ever sees an RS4, and when he does it;s usually the coil pack

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