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Largely only posting since a few people have expressed interest, here's some details of my C5 RS6. Just before the twins were born in 2015, I decided that we needed a spare family car - we had one, but it would be useful to have 2 cars capable having kids in the back. A bit of googling told me that the standard Audi A6 isofix bars bolted straight in to the back of the RS6. And I am a bit of a petrolhead - and the cars were cheap! "A PLAN" started to come together.....
Lots of looking at the RS6s for sale at the time - many clearly in very poor condition, with some being crazy money. Eventually I came across this one:
What stood out about this one was that it seemed relatively decent and untouched, but even better, was black but didn't have the white leather interior. I don't like white leather - instead, this one had the black alcantara with aluminium trim interior, which is a rarer combo and I think it really works! So a few thousand £ later and the learning journey started. I'd read all about the weaknesses of these cars and that all the solutions are - but I figured it wouldn't need ALL of them doing - would it?
Engine Out - Part 1
Eventually I found the torque converter wasn't locking up correctly, despite the gearchanges still being silky smooth. I did a gearbox service with new oil and filters - the oil came out looking manky. The TC valiantly tried to lock up, but just couldn't manage it.
Audi claim these gearboxes are sealed for life, but ZF themselves make a service kit for them and it's well known that an occasional gearbox oil change is required to make the gearboxes last - what Audi really mean is they're sealed until the warranty expires. So I bit the bullet and removed the engine to do the torque converter and gearbox - for the first time. I've built or rebuilt loads of things before - but never in what I'd call "modern generation" cars. What I mean is in a car where everything is designed by CAD and crammed in, but gives no acknowledgement of needing to service things! It is a complex and tight fit in there. But we got there in the end and while it's a lot of work, it's actually not hard as long as you're patient and methodical
That job all went OK - you can see the new gearbox in the pic above - and bolted it all back together. The car ran well - but now it was loosing a little coolant! This was the moment where I learnt that the list of things to look for on a C5 RS6 are not "maybe" things - they will happen, it's just a question of when. The little plastic pipe that connects the oil cooler to the engine block had fractured - the notorious "bufkin" pipe. So it was time to pull the engine again! Argh!
Engine Out - Part 2
This time, I decided "lesson learnt" and went in to it much more fully, including not just replacing the bufkin pipe with the lovely alloy machined one you can get, but replacement intercoolers (Audi ones always leak, even when new), shortening one of the hard cooling pipes that prevents you from removing the RHS rocker cover unless you remove the engine (what moron designed that!)
Replaced the DRC entire DRC setup (another when, not "if" thing that fails) with Koni shocks - and had all the steel suspension arms and springs powdercoated too:
At the same time, also had the turbos rebuilt with new cartridges by Owen Developments. Stock - other than upgrading the thrust bearings in the turbos to 360 degree ones for better longevity. Also used the opportunity to replace the plastic shoes on the cam adjusters - they are known to wear at about the 80K mark and if they disintegrate, it causes a right mess.
I've sort of lost track of everything I did to it - it's all noted down in a spreadsheet somewhere - but I also tidied up the engine bay and replaced the inlet hoses (that always collapse) with some nice silicone ones. I think it looks smart - I've actually replaced the black inlet ducts with carbon ones that match the air filter covers now - they are lovely.
Brakes
At some point, I decided to redo all the brakes. New rear calipers are easy to source, but the fronts are a bit more special - so I had them rebuilt. With hindsight, I think I could have saved myself a chunk of money by doing it myself, but the convenience of having someone else do it was appreciated:
I think the calipers came out OK, although I think I overpaid:
You can see I both powdercoated the backplates at the same time, and also replaced the lower wishbones with new:
That Plastic Bit
There's a really nasty plastic air duct at the front of the cars, that channels air through the oil coolers. It's simultaneously floppy and yet also brittle - and annoyed me every time I went near it. So I decided to make a new one out of some nice NS4. The hateful plastic bit:
Starting to make a new kit of ali parts:
Assembled on the workbench with the old bit behind, oozing hate:
And on the car. I think it came out OK:
Today
That're pretty much where it is today. All the stuff that they need doing - is now done, and I can by and large enjoy the car. Currently waiting on some new wing mirror glass to arrive and is due a bit of a service - but the effort above was all worth it and the car all just works now.
Largely only posting since a few people have expressed interest, here's some details of my C5 RS6. Just before the twins were born in 2015, I decided that we needed a spare family car - we had one, but it would be useful to have 2 cars capable having kids in the back. A bit of googling told me that the standard Audi A6 isofix bars bolted straight in to the back of the RS6. And I am a bit of a petrolhead - and the cars were cheap! "A PLAN" started to come together.....
Lots of looking at the RS6s for sale at the time - many clearly in very poor condition, with some being crazy money. Eventually I came across this one:
What stood out about this one was that it seemed relatively decent and untouched, but even better, was black but didn't have the white leather interior. I don't like white leather - instead, this one had the black alcantara with aluminium trim interior, which is a rarer combo and I think it really works! So a few thousand £ later and the learning journey started. I'd read all about the weaknesses of these cars and that all the solutions are - but I figured it wouldn't need ALL of them doing - would it?
Engine Out - Part 1
Eventually I found the torque converter wasn't locking up correctly, despite the gearchanges still being silky smooth. I did a gearbox service with new oil and filters - the oil came out looking manky. The TC valiantly tried to lock up, but just couldn't manage it.
Audi claim these gearboxes are sealed for life, but ZF themselves make a service kit for them and it's well known that an occasional gearbox oil change is required to make the gearboxes last - what Audi really mean is they're sealed until the warranty expires. So I bit the bullet and removed the engine to do the torque converter and gearbox - for the first time. I've built or rebuilt loads of things before - but never in what I'd call "modern generation" cars. What I mean is in a car where everything is designed by CAD and crammed in, but gives no acknowledgement of needing to service things! It is a complex and tight fit in there. But we got there in the end and while it's a lot of work, it's actually not hard as long as you're patient and methodical
That job all went OK - you can see the new gearbox in the pic above - and bolted it all back together. The car ran well - but now it was loosing a little coolant! This was the moment where I learnt that the list of things to look for on a C5 RS6 are not "maybe" things - they will happen, it's just a question of when. The little plastic pipe that connects the oil cooler to the engine block had fractured - the notorious "bufkin" pipe. So it was time to pull the engine again! Argh!
Engine Out - Part 2
This time, I decided "lesson learnt" and went in to it much more fully, including not just replacing the bufkin pipe with the lovely alloy machined one you can get, but replacement intercoolers (Audi ones always leak, even when new), shortening one of the hard cooling pipes that prevents you from removing the RHS rocker cover unless you remove the engine (what moron designed that!)
Replaced the DRC entire DRC setup (another when, not "if" thing that fails) with Koni shocks - and had all the steel suspension arms and springs powdercoated too:
At the same time, also had the turbos rebuilt with new cartridges by Owen Developments. Stock - other than upgrading the thrust bearings in the turbos to 360 degree ones for better longevity. Also used the opportunity to replace the plastic shoes on the cam adjusters - they are known to wear at about the 80K mark and if they disintegrate, it causes a right mess.
I've sort of lost track of everything I did to it - it's all noted down in a spreadsheet somewhere - but I also tidied up the engine bay and replaced the inlet hoses (that always collapse) with some nice silicone ones. I think it looks smart - I've actually replaced the black inlet ducts with carbon ones that match the air filter covers now - they are lovely.
Brakes
At some point, I decided to redo all the brakes. New rear calipers are easy to source, but the fronts are a bit more special - so I had them rebuilt. With hindsight, I think I could have saved myself a chunk of money by doing it myself, but the convenience of having someone else do it was appreciated:
I think the calipers came out OK, although I think I overpaid:
You can see I both powdercoated the backplates at the same time, and also replaced the lower wishbones with new:
That Plastic Bit
There's a really nasty plastic air duct at the front of the cars, that channels air through the oil coolers. It's simultaneously floppy and yet also brittle - and annoyed me every time I went near it. So I decided to make a new one out of some nice NS4. The hateful plastic bit:
Starting to make a new kit of ali parts:
Assembled on the workbench with the old bit behind, oozing hate:
And on the car. I think it came out OK:
Today
That're pretty much where it is today. All the stuff that they need doing - is now done, and I can by and large enjoy the car. Currently waiting on some new wing mirror glass to arrive and is due a bit of a service - but the effort above was all worth it and the car all just works now.
Thank you. There’s a small group on the rs246 forum whose cars are all equally or even better sorted - shared knowledge on them. I’ve written a few of the DIYs over there, such as cam chain followers, gearbox service, oil cooler repairs and so forth.
It was liking the engine in this that made me go for the Audi v8 in the Ultima.
It was liking the engine in this that made me go for the Audi v8 in the Ultima.
It was a bit annoying last month. Got a pinch puncture on one of the Goodyear eagles from a pot hole. Not repairable and couldnt find any part worn identical tyre (they were asym 2 versions, now NLA). So ended up binning 3 perfectly good tyres and had to replace with 4 Michelin ps4s’s.
But the new rubber does make it feel ever so planted.
But the new rubber does make it feel ever so planted.
Love this era of RS6. Understated cool before they went all "angry"!
First post has put me right off ever owning one though! I have researched them on and off over the years and the potential problems just put me off. I suppose if you're as good on the spanners as you seem to be it helps!
First post has put me right off ever owning one though! I have researched them on and off over the years and the potential problems just put me off. I suppose if you're as good on the spanners as you seem to be it helps!
DaveyBoyWonder said:
Love this era of RS6. Understated cool before they went all "angry"!
First post has put me right off ever owning one though! I have researched them on and off over the years and the potential problems just put me off. I suppose if you're as good on the spanners as you seem to be it helps!
Yeah, I agree and it's why I have this generation RS6, not a later one.First post has put me right off ever owning one though! I have researched them on and off over the years and the potential problems just put me off. I suppose if you're as good on the spanners as you seem to be it helps!
I'd happily own it again, it really is fantastic to drive, but it did take a bit of sorting in the early days.
That said, have been giving some thought to selling it on as the Ultima comes back together - the RS doesn't really get enough use.
Howitzer said:
What put me off wasn’t the high maintenance costs but hearing stories of parts availability. Which I’ve had to go through with an older Merc and was a big bugbear of mine.
Until recently, everything has been easy to get - availability has only ever been an issue if you insist on buying it from Audi. But, for example, the master cylinder is a TRW item that's easily available for 1/3 of the audi price. Front upper arms are Lemforder IIRC - if you buy the lemforder arms from autodoc, you can see where the audi logo has been ground off them, and the original audi ones say lemforder on them too. So it's generally not an issue except for some particularly niche bits - such as the front calipers, which you can rebuild anyway. But yes, Audi availability and pricing is one of the reasons I wouldn't want a newer Audi.Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Monday 18th March 10:44
Thank you for satisfying my need to learn more, so glad you shared as this is a testament to your ownership and quintessentially the type of stuff I love to see on these pages.
I had a C5 Allroad and found the aftermarket / OEM supply to be pretty painless, consumables commonplace, and unless heavy duty / specific items like turbos and trim were needed I didn't worry much. Built like cliched army vehicles which removed a lot of general worry.
Whats the mileage? I would argue, if it's low enough (sub 100k) you could sit on it SORN'd and it would still be as valuable later on. If higher than 150k I'd keep it and enjoy it, however infrequent. Or.. y'know, sell it to me for peanuts on the promise I'll look after it like my firstborn
I had a C5 Allroad and found the aftermarket / OEM supply to be pretty painless, consumables commonplace, and unless heavy duty / specific items like turbos and trim were needed I didn't worry much. Built like cliched army vehicles which removed a lot of general worry.
Whats the mileage? I would argue, if it's low enough (sub 100k) you could sit on it SORN'd and it would still be as valuable later on. If higher than 150k I'd keep it and enjoy it, however infrequent. Or.. y'know, sell it to me for peanuts on the promise I'll look after it like my firstborn
Great work breathing some life into this classic. A good friend has owned one for the last 8 years and covered around 20k, it’s barely put a foot wrong. The poor thing is starting to look a little tired, the bonnet needs a respray and the headliner requires a retrim. It’s kept outside and I feel they’re getting to an age that requires proper pampering.
I recently picked up a B9.5 RS4 and I think they still look great/subtle. Asides from the oval exhaust tips most people would think it’s a normal A4 Avant.
Here’s my old C63 looking frumpy compared to the C5 which is 12 years older!
I recently picked up a B9.5 RS4 and I think they still look great/subtle. Asides from the oval exhaust tips most people would think it’s a normal A4 Avant.
Here’s my old C63 looking frumpy compared to the C5 which is 12 years older!
FMOB said:
I'm wondering what was the plan, bankruptcy?
These things are money pits.
Certainly "back in the day" when people used Audi to do the work, yes. But I wouldn't let Audi near it these days, I doubt there are any mechanics left who are familiar with them. And being Audi - they'd replace it with the same audi part the failed in the first place - the DRC suspension, intercoolers, bufkin pipe etc - which would fail again. But those bits - there are much better non audi parts available.These things are money pits.
JAMSXR said:
Great work breathing some life into this classic. A good friend has owned one for the last 8 years and covered around 20k, it’s barely put a foot wrong. The poor thing is starting to look a little tired, the bonnet needs a respray and the headliner requires a retrim. It’s kept outside and I feel they’re getting to an age that requires proper pampering.
I recently picked up a B9.5 RS4 and I think they still look great/subtle. Asides from the oval exhaust tips most people would think it’s a normal A4 Avant.
Here’s my old C63 looking frumpy compared to the C5 which is 12 years older!
The headliner is dropping in all of them now - but they are 21 years old. I took my headliner out yesterday to start just this job - the removal, along with how to reuse the alcantara and then reattach it to the biscuit is fairly well documented, quite a number of guys have done it already. Just waiting on some new scrim foam to be delivered. Mine mostly lives in the garage, certainly through the winter. I recently picked up a B9.5 RS4 and I think they still look great/subtle. Asides from the oval exhaust tips most people would think it’s a normal A4 Avant.
Here’s my old C63 looking frumpy compared to the C5 which is 12 years older!
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