spagolli94

Big difference between manual cleaning and a fuel system additive. From what I understand, manual cleaning is a very laborious task, taking from 8-12 hours to complete. Fuel additive is worthless as the car has direct-injection, thus fuel never passes over the carbon-fouled valves.

Are you saying you got a manual cleaning AND fuel treatment for $475? At a dealer no less? If so, that's the steal of the century.

ryan_qttro

Manual cleaning isn't too hard, hardest part is pulling intake manifold. Spray a BG cleaner on intake valves with them closed so the BG cleaner puddles up around valves. Let it soak a while then clean em off with a pick and a little brush, blow it all out with air gun

NoahWeb

That is exactly what I'm saying. $475.

Remove intake manifold.
Clean Valves.
Clean flaps/vanes.
Replace manifold.
Fuel System Treatment.

The service invoice reads as follows -

"Customer states there is carbon buildup on intake valves, runners and intake manifold. Customer Request. GFF - no codes - may have ECM software update available - customer declined update.

Bleed off high side fuel pressure, remove intake manifold, take photos of intake valves for customer request. Media blast intake valves. Take photos for customer request. Replace intake gaskets. Reinstalled intake manifold. Perform fuel induction service to clean injectors."

ELEVENS

And there's your reason for the fuel treatment - it cleans the injectors. That reason, and keeping the combustion chambers clean, is why I run fuel treatment in every tank of fuel (25ml of RLI Bio-Plus).

spagolli94

Wow, I wish your dealer was my dealer. Wonder why most dealers charge 3x as much? Even most indy shops charge double what your dealer does. Is your other service cheap as well? Seems everything my dealer does is pretty expensive.

benonj

I took it in on Monday and snapped these pictures after they opened it up. These are the only 2 pictures that came out. There are tar ***** on the stems the size of marbles. The car has 41,000 miles on it. I hope to get it back today or tomorrow.

My mechanic said that not all DI systems are the same and due to the throttle body on the RS4, oil is sucked into the valves at idle and makes the problem worse then on a BMW with variable lift on the intake valves. It is just a problem we have to deal with. I figure the next time I have the engine cleaned (when the car is out of warranty) I will slap on the APR supercharger.

fluevog

My dealer just sent these pics of my valves. Car has 39,000 miles. My build up looks similar to yours. Car should be ready early next week. I was quoted 7 to 8 hours of labor at $118 an hour. That excludes parts. So I'm not sure how these other dealers are doing it for 500-

I recommend anyone paying out of pocket for this service to contact Audi and demand reimbursement for this service and future ones. You can use the url below:

https://secure-www.audi.com/us/brand...care.form.htx/

benonj

I got my car back on Saturday. They cleaned the valves and also replaced the oil separator and of course the gaskets. The car not only feels like it has more power but it is MUCH smoother. Idle, shifting, acceleration, are all much smoother.

I paid about the same as you. I do not see how anyone can do the job for under $1000. There are just too many man hours.

I tried to get this done through my dealership and offered to pay them to open it up if they did not find anything. They said there is no way that AoA would pay unless there was a code. Of course they already put in the new engine management software that "fixes" the problem. What it fixes is preventing the car from throwing the code.

I had 41,000 miles on the car. You had a few less and the build up looks worse. Good luck with the clean-up. I am already saving for the next one.

fluevog

Thanks for posting this. As I called Audi while my car was being cleaned and asked what they could do for me. (Informed them of the photos the dealer sent me of massive build up on the valves) 2 days later when I picked up the car the dealer stated that Audi would be covering 50% of the cleaning. So a 5 minute phone call saved me $500+

Be nice if they covered 100% but it's better than nothing.

benonj

Now I am bummed. I did not have a dealer do the cleaning, it was a private garage. No chance of getting money from Audi now.