For Sale - 2004 Audi S4 Cabriolet

[ainarssems]

Now that the deal is complete an car collected I should probably come clean and tell that it was me who bought it but I guess some of you may have figured it out already even if ebay somewhat obscures bidder ID's.

Anybody wandering about bidding in error here is what happened. Without going into too much detail ( maybe more on that later) first I thought if I can get it a a low enough price I will go for it and set up snipe bid on Gixen.com. Then I kept looking a this thread and e-bay listing, and many searches online about the S4 Cabriolets. At the end I decided that this is not the best time for me to buy the car but forgot all about about my auto bid on Gixen .com and did not cancel it. Much to my surprise I got e-mail saying I won it. Contacted Paul to explain what happened and offered 1 bid step worth of compensation if he did not force me to complete purchase and either offered it to second highest bidder or relisted. After thinking about it overnight I decided that if second highest bidder does not take car I will complete the purchase myself so here I am the new owner of S4 Cabriolet.

Thanks to Paul for being understanding, new battery and 3/4 of tank of fuel got me home 160+ miles in Friday traffic with plenty of fuel left spare. It was not much fun do drive with roof up and AC not working, it was not bad starting at Manchester at low 20's C but as I was coming more down south temperatures increased to over 30C at some points.

I guess that's enough for this thread and I will start another one with first impressions and what I am doing to car. I hope I will fix the roof on Saturday, AC next on the list. Then look at other things it needs doing, then put it up for sale at higher price. If it does not sell by mid September then keep it till spring and put it up for sale again in spring when convertible market picks up, if I make some money out of if - great, if not hopefully I will at least enjoy it for a while without loosing on depreciation.

[IT]

Glad it's gone to a good home. It was a bit lower spec than I really wanted but I'm sure its a bargain nonetheless. If the timing was different I'm sure I'd have gone to see it....

Currently on my way to Italy. A way to go yet. I'm still this side of the English channel 😀

[paulrstaylor]

Originally Posted by IT

Glad it's gone to a good home. It was a bit lower spec than I really wanted but I'm sure its a bargain nonetheless. If the timing was different I'm sure I'd have gone to see it....

Currently on my way to Italy. A way to go yet. I'm still this side of the English channel 😀

Enjoy the break - I may sell you an RS4 one day!

Ainars - good luck with your plans for the car

[IT]

Originally Posted by paulrstaylor

Enjoy the break - I may sell you an RS4 one day!

I confess I had a week or so ago drifted off into looking at RS4 cabs having been there and done that with the S4 .

I'm just struggling to believe they are worth two to three times as much as the equivalent S4 ?

And do they suffer the same chain rattle problem ?

And do they really slip the clutch a lot in first and second under full power as some suggest ?

[paulrstaylor]

Originally Posted by IT

I confess I had a week or so ago drifted off into looking at RS4 cabs having been there and done that with the S4 .

Thread drift...... but....

Originally Posted by IT

I'm just struggling to believe they are worth two to three times as much as the equivalent S4 ?

My S4 to RS4 shift was a factor of 5+, but that was a high mileage lowish spec faulty 2004 S4, to low mileage high spec 2006 RS4. Both seem to be fairly static in value for the last few years.

I also looked at a facelift S4, similar mileage but lower spec to the RS I bought, it was 55% of the cost - which is maybe a fairer comparison.

Is the RS4 worth it? I'm not sure

S4 day to day, is to all intents and purposes as fast, cheaper to service, less to go wrong, more low down torque.

The RS4 however is the icon, it looks fast when not moving, it revs for ever, the ultimate model. Oh and I liked the colour

My thoughts were that the RS is more likely to be considered a desired classic - but then I struggle to thing of many alternate 4 door manual V8 rag tops, so the S4 is on that list also!!!!

Originally Posted by IT

And do they suffer the same chain rattle problem ?

No - but again, I have never had that on an S4 either! Similar engines, but they changed a lot for the RS that then went into the R8....

Originally Posted by IT

And do they really slip the clutch a lot in first and second under full power as some suggest ?

If it does, it's a faulty clutch (or defective driver) - Low down torque seems less than the S4 based on my butt dyno - so sure, ride the clutch and you will burn it out, but full throttle acceleration won't do any harm at all

[ainarssems]

Had a go with roof today. I should have been more methodical and actually tested it first but I dived straight for the motor. The motor is fine, commutator fairly clean, little of brush wear particles, brushes moving freely and plenty of meat left on them so just put a bit of fresh grease on bearing ad re-assembled. Time for test, surely enough I can hear motor working and roof opens half way then stops. Got the VCDS out, roof ECU full of error codes, cleared codes, 1 returned indicating implausible signal from roof compartment lid right latch microswitch. Lowered the roof manually wiggled around wiring on microswitches a bit, reset fault codes again, this time fault code did not come back. Closed roof, worked fine, just to be sure did adaption on channel 1 to be sure it learns correct values. Opened and closed it a couple of times, works fine so far so fingers crossed.

Next on the list AC. VCDS shows low pressure among other faults. Sensor reads 1 bar, VCDS says it should be between 2.6 and 29 bar, if I remember correctly it should normally be 4-8bar with engine off. Pressure sensor fault is quite common on this era of Audis but when they go faulty they give error for too high pressure and show 40 bar in measuring values. So it looks like gas has escaped and will need filling/testing for leaks.

[paulrstaylor]

Originally Posted by ainarssems

Had a go with roof today. I should have been more methodical and actually tested it first but I dived straight for the motor. The motor is fine, commutator fairly clean, little of brush wear particles, brushes moving freely and plenty of meat left on them so just put a bit of fresh grease on bearing ad re-assembled. Time for test, surely enough I can hear motor working and roof opens half way then stops. Got the VCDS out, roof ECU full of error codes, cleared codes, 1 returned indicating implausible signal from roof compartment lid right latch microswitch. Lowered the roof manually wiggled around wiring on microswitches a bit, reset fault codes again, this time fault code did not come back. Closed roof, worked fine, just to be sure did adaption on channel 1 to be sure it learns correct values. Opened and closed it a couple of times, works fine so far so fingers crossed.

Next on the list AC. VCDS shows low pressure among other faults. Sensor reads 1 bar, VCDS says it should be between 2.6 and 29 bar, if I remember correctly it should normally be 4-8bar with engine off. Pressure sensor fault is quite common on this era of Audis but when they go faulty they give error for too high pressure and show 40 bar in measuring values. So it looks like gas has escaped and will need filling/testing for leaks.

Good news on the roof, 100% the motor was the original issue, so opening it up must have been enough to free the bushes! Hope it stays working, I like an easy fix!

[ainarssems]

I am pretty sure there was nothing wrong with the motor, I did not test it before taking off so cannot say for 100%. It had hardly any wear on the brushes and I would not be surprised if it has been replaced in the past. The brushes were moving freely and there was hardly any wear dust that could have reduced brush movement.

The sliding cover on the same right side where it was showing implausible switch error is broken and not closing so I think something may have been caught in mechanism on that side and disturbed switch/wiring.

[paulrstaylor]

Check the big box of invoices - no mention of a roof motor that I could see.

That cover does clip back in, not sure how or when (possibly before my time) but think one of the tabs is missing meaning it shifts out of it's runner sometimes.

I ran a VCDS readiness test on the roof, all was showing okay switch wise. I guess that the dead battery may have had an effect on that.

But in any case, sorted now

[ainarssems]

As you say the important thing is that roof works now and it did not cost me anything other than my time. I am still a bit worried it might throw a fault at some point as you are pretty sure it was motor but I think it was latch microswitch. Weak battery might have played part as well if the roof was operated with the engine not running and voltage dropped under load and motor draw too many amps.

There are several reason I think motor or in fact the whole pump has been replaced some time in the past. I already mentioned that motor looks very fresh inside but it could be due to roof being used very little not because it was replaced. Other clues are oil under pump and it's old dried up sticky oil not fresh leaks so I think it's the oil that escaped from hoses when replacing pump and not cleaned up. The last one is 'Approved' sticker on the pump which I think might mean approved warranty claim replacement.

The sliding flap does have at least one tab/pin broken, I can get it partially closed but not fully. It's best just to replace it. New one from dealer £86 but I have sent messages for several sellers breaking A4 Cabriolets for parts on e-bay for a price quote.

All the garages are closed on Sunday so I went to Halfords for their free AC check. Does not seem like they now what they are doing. Opened bonnet, they had a look said they cannot do anything and I need to go to garage. I asked why - they could not find ports. I showed them where they are, they connected bottle with the gauge, it showed 0 pressure in system so advised that system is completely empty and while they can charge it for £50 it could all escape very soon and stop working again. I decided to try my luck. So they started filling it but when pausing filling it would still show 0 pressure in system so he advised to stop filling as it looks like there is a big leak and whatever he fills in escapes straight away and did not charge me anything. Went home checked pressure again on VCDS, it now shows 4 bar instead of 1 so it does not escape as soon as fast as being filled in. If fact now it has enough pressure to start AC but not enough to provide any meaningful cooling. Will check pressure again tomorrow again to se iff it is dropping and how much also it is hard to judge part filled system as the pressure will change considerably depending on ambient temp.