AUDI RS4 (B7) EXPERT VIEW:

MARTIN ADAMS

OF VW GROUP SPECIALIST UNIT 20

‘ THE RS4 IS A GOOD FUTURE CLASSIC and the biggest drawbacks to it are agerelated problems.

‘ Firstly, inlet manifolds wear out. It has an air- guide system in it where flaps open and close, helping to increase air velocity and improve low- down torque. The spindles turn and wear – they’re made of plastic and aluminium – and Audi doesn’t do replacement parts, so you have to have a new manifold at about £ 2700. The oil coolers have a habit of corroding, too, and can be about £ 1000 for a new one, plus pipes.

‘ Performance- wise, the engines suffer from carbon build- up inside the heads. It’s a common problem on all FSI [ direct injection] engines and it reduces the airflow into the engine, which in turn reduces power. A carbon clean for around £ 500 is worthwhile, removing the manifold to physically clean the carbon out and bring the engine back up to factory specification.

‘ External oil breathers have been experimented with to try to sort the issue, but they don’t make any difference. The problem is to do with the way engine crankcases breathe back into the engine, as well as the valve overlap.

‘ There are quite a lot of vacuum- operated items on the engine and when they leak they reduce power, too. The leaks are easy to identify, but only when you’re familiar with the engine.

‘ Every RS4 with 50,000- miles plus will be suffering from carbon build- up, vacuum leaks and a corroded oil cooler. We have seen the engines produce as low as 330bhp because of this. But if everything is done, it’ll be around about the 400 to 410bhp mark.

‘ The DRC [ Dynamic Ride Control] has been a reliable system, but, just the same as any older car, the RS4 requires shock absorbers. If you change any of the shocks, the system then needs to be repressurised, which is a specialist job.

‘ The RS4’ s Recaro seats were an incredibly desirable item and were being stolen. A couple of years ago RS4S were just being written off because of the cost of the seats. To replace them costs thousands because you have to buy every component individually.

‘ We recommend customers change the fixing points or fill the bolts full of chemical metal. After, if the seats do need to be worked on, it can still be done. It’s more of a pain to do, but it does mean someone else can’t just take them out in two minutes.’