1 Year old and a fun present

[Mike00]

So I got in the mail the other day a birthday type card from Audi stating it's been a year etc... next day my sport diff light goes off and I find out today the entire sport diff has to be replaced. 10 day minimum to even get the part in and the price on the part alone is $5k. This has been by far my favorite car I've ever owned but I really struggle to see myself ever owning this car outside of warranty - especially since I have the DSG.

Oh well, still worth every penny but the thought of owning it out of warranty is certainly scary.

[SteveYem]

So I got in the mail the other day a birthday type card from Audi stating it's been a year etc... next day my sport diff light goes off and I find out today the entire sport diff has to be replaced. 10 day minimum to even get the part in and the price on the part alone is $5k. This has been by far my favorite car I've ever owned but I really struggle to see myself ever owning this car outside of warranty - especially since I have the DSG.

Oh well, still worth every penny but the thought of owning it out of warranty is certainly scary.

How many miles are on your car? In which mode (comfort, auto, dynamic) does your sport diff spend most of its time? Do you do mostly straight-line driving, or is there a lot of aggressive turning during which the sport diff will be hard at work? Did they tell you what exactly failed in the unit? Just curious from a technical standpoint why your sport diff would have failed so soon. I'm wondering if theoretically a sport diff left in comfort mode on a car driven primarily in straight lines will last longer than one left in dynamic mode and taken on twisty backroad runs regularly. As these B8's age more and more maybe we will get enough feedback from owners to see if we can see a trend between sport diff longevity and driving habits.

Glad to hear you are under warranty, though. While I currently regret having purchased an S4 without the sport diff (as many of my threads/posts support), my warranty coverage will be up by the end of the year (high mileage) and at that point I think I will change my tune somewhat, from a risk perspective. I'm thinking that in the long-term a 6MT non sport diff B8 is the most reliable from a power train point of view.

[Mike00]

How many miles are on your car? In which mode (comfort, auto, dynamic) does your sport diff spend most of its time? Do you do mostly straight-line driving, or is there a lot of aggressive turning during which the sport diff will be hard at work? Did they tell you what exactly failed in the unit? Just curious from a technical standpoint why your sport diff would have failed so soon. I'm wondering if theoretically a sport diff left in comfort mode on a car driven primarily in straight lines will last longer than one left in dynamic mode and taken on twisty backroad runs regularly. As these B8's age more and more maybe we will get enough feedback from owners to see if we can see a trend between sport diff longevity and driving habits.

Glad to hear you are under warranty, though. While I currently regret having purchased an S4 without the sport diff (as many of my threads/posts support), my warranty coverage will be up by the end of the year (high mileage) and at that point I think I will change my tune somewhat, from a risk perspective. I'm thinking that in the long-term a 6MT non sport diff B8 is the most reliable from a power train point of view.

I'm heading over to the dealer shortly where I will ask more details but my understanding is the motor/mech unit that tells the differential when to lock is not working - that was my quick 60 second conversation in between work meetings though.

As for the miles I'm at 15,999 flat with a lot of highway miles on comfort for the differential. The back roads and part of my daily drive (3 miles roughly) I tend to drop it into dynamic but I estimates it's very few of my miles overall.

Honestly I suspect I just had one of the few bad units. This has been pretty rare from what my SA tells me and you never hear it here on the boards. I should know more shortly though.

That being said I kind of wish I had the 6mt only because I would not worry about having the warranty as much. The engine seems to be bulletproof as does most of the car. The transmission worries me big time though.

[SteveYem]

I'm heading over to the dealer shortly where I will ask more details but my understanding is the motor/mech unit that tells the differential when to lock is not working - that was my quick 60 second conversation in between work meetings though.

As for the miles I'm at 15,999 flat with a lot of highway miles on comfort for the differential. The back roads and part of my daily drive (3 miles roughly) I tend to drop it into dynamic but I estimates it's very few of my miles overall.

Honestly I suspect I just had one of the few bad units. This has been pretty rare from what my SA tells me and you never hear it here on the boards. I should know more shortly though.

That being said I kind of wish I had the 6mt only because I would not worry about having the warranty as much. The engine seems to be bulletproof as does most of the car. The transmission worries me big time though.

I feel that the word "automatic" as it pertains to car gearboxes is a bit misleading. We've all been in a car with a driver who is less than an enthusiast, and they just mash the gas (and the brakes for that matter), thinking (or not thinking) that's what the car was designed to do. But I feel that any time you can feel the car jerking/lunging it's putting a lot of stress on the transmission. Even though it's an automatic transmission, it still takes some finesse with the right foot to make it operate smoothly and keep the stresses down. [I'm not suggesting you are rough with the car, just making an editorial observation]. With the 6MT, at least I feel like I have a chance to control how smoothly the transmission operates, and if it does fail some day I only have myself to blame (barring a manufacturing error in the gearbox).
But, if the plan is to only own the car during the warranty coverage, then the DSG + sport diff configuration is a great choice.

[theedge111]

So I got in the mail the other day a birthday type card from Audi stating it's been a year etc... next day my sport diff light goes off and I find out today the entire sport diff has to be replaced. 10 day minimum to even get the part in and the price on the part alone is $5k. This has been by far my favorite car I've ever owned but I really struggle to see myself ever owning this car outside of warranty - especially since I have the DSG.

Oh well, still worth every penny but the thought of owning it out of warranty is certainly scary.

I had my sports diff replaced on my old 2011 S4, 55000kms, it was a $9000 job up here in Canada. I was quoted 10 days also but it turned into 5 weeks, I ended up buying my new 2014 S4 while waiting for the replacement to be done lol!

[MrFunk]

That sucks. There will be parts that go out on cars... I don't think it's common though... plenty of sport diff's with high miles out there...
Glad it's covered under warranty... these are expensive cars in the end - they don't pretend to be inexpensive.

[bergaler]

this thread isnt making me want to go stage 2 which makes me sad :(

[FLYINGLEGGS]

This is making me second guess the sport diff that I have on the s4 I ordered last week....

[Jango3434]

I had my sports diff replaced on my old 2011 S4, 55000kms, it was a $9000 job up here in Canada. I was quoted 10 days also but it turned into 5 weeks, I ended up buying my new 2014 S4 while waiting for the replacement to be done lol!

$9000 without warranty right? I sure hope you didnt have to pay for that..

[Mike00]

This is making me second guess the sport diff that I have on the s4 I ordered last week....

Don't. The reality is I already notice the sports diff is missing while taking turns. My SA has only seen this one other time personally and for the dealer I'm the 2nd and they push a fair amount of S4's out the door. I still think it's worth every penny the problem I have is between the DSG and Sport Diff I just feel the extended powertrain warranty is necessary. Just too much that could cost a lot. Realistically I've only ever kept a car 4 years max over my life so I doubt I'll have this much more than that anyway.

[b8audis4]

Don't. The reality is I already notice the sports diff is missing while taking turns. My SA has only seen this one other time personally and for the dealer I'm the 2nd and they push a fair amount of S4's out the door. I still think it's worth every penny the problem I have is between the DSG and Sport Diff I just feel the extended powertrain warranty is necessary. Just too much that could cost a lot. Realistically I've only ever kept a car 4 years max over my life so I doubt I'll have this much more than that anyway.

Just buy the Audi pure protection plan. Like $3k to extended for 80k miles.

[MrFunk]

This is making me second guess the sport diff that I have on the s4 I ordered last week....

You should also second guess the nav screen, and the power seats, and the auto climate control too - heck, second guess the entire car... LOL...
The sport dif is a piece of tech that has been used in cars for ages. Heck, I'm pretty sure Acura had one in their TL long before the Audi - it's not like it's new tech... It's been on the S4 since 2009... The car is inherently reliable. Just enjoy your car and don't worry about it. The amount of people with issues with their sport diff is fractional vs those without issues.

[Auditude2.0T]

Just because one sports diff failed all you guys are nervous lol relax

[DEEZ]

So is the issue with DSG's in general or DSG's with sports diffs?


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[PitchS4]

mech unit = DSG not sports diff?

[achilleas101]

your car is about a month older than mine, and my sport diff failed at 2,500 miles. although at first it was only the awd pump, then the whole diff went. The first problem threw the DIS error, the second did not. i noticed a howling sound whenever i'd hit the gas, most noticeable around 40-60mph, so i took it in to the dealer. Did you get that at all?

anyway, it took about 10 days for me as well, they had to get the part from Germany. I contacted AoA requesting that they extend my power train warranty, because i didn't want this become a problem part, and i wanted to keep the car for a while. they extended it by 2 years, so the SD has a little more coverage at least. They waited till after the repairs were done to grant it.... you may want to contact them. I just politely said that as much as i love this car, my A4 had similar problems early on and ended up having a ton of work done in and out of warranty, so i'd like to have some sort of assurance that i won't be out thousands of dollars on a costly drivetrain problem due to a bad part. worst they can do is say no.

[Mike00]

your car is about a month older than mine, and my sport diff failed at 2,500 miles. although at first it was only the awd pump, then the whole diff went. The first problem threw the DIS error, the second did not. i noticed a howling sound whenever i'd hit the gas, most noticeable around 40-60mph, so i took it in to the dealer. Did you get that at all?

anyway, it took about 10 days for me as well, they had to get the part from Germany. I contacted AoA requesting that they extend my power train warranty, because i didn't want this become a problem part, and i wanted to keep the car for a while. they extended it by 2 years, so the SD has a little more coverage at least. They waited till after the repairs were done to grant it.... you may want to contact them. I just politely said that as much as i love this car, my A4 had similar problems early on and ended up having a ton of work done in and out of warranty, so i'd like to have some sort of assurance that i won't be out thousands of dollars on a costly drivetrain problem due to a bad part. worst they can do is say no.

Wait they extended your entire powertrain warranty by two years? Can you give a little more detail? I'm just curious because part of me feels like I need to go back and look at the Lexus GS in another 2 years or I'm shelling out $2-3k for an extended warranty.

[achilleas101]

Wait they extended your entire powertrain warranty by two years? Can you give a little more detail? I'm just curious because part of me feels like I need to go back and look at the Lexus GS in another 2 years or I'm shelling out $2-3k for an extended warranty.

They extended it by 2 years, 24k miles. It was pretty cut and dry. I asked them for a warranty extension, at least for the power train. I played up the fact that i had a previous Audi with problems that started while very new, but kept it for 10 years; that i stayed loyal to the brand and would like to keep this car for 10 years if possible, but i wanted to have some reassurance that they can stand behind their product.

They took a few weeks to get it done and finally let me know that they decided to extend the powertrain for 2 years. I had a rep who touched base every couple days to let me know they're working on it, and she was the one to inform me that they finally did it. they then sent me a letter.

not sure what other details you'd want to know...

[Mike00]

They extended it by 2 years, 24k miles. It was pretty cut and dry. I asked them for a warranty extension, at least for the power train. I played up the fact that i had a previous Audi with problems that started while very new, but kept it for 10 years; that i stayed loyal to the brand and would like to keep this car for 10 years if possible, but i wanted to have some reassurance that they can stand behind their product.

They took a few weeks to get it done and finally let me know that they decided to extend the powertrain for 2 years. I had a rep who touched base every couple days to let me know they're working on it, and she was the one to inform me that they finally did it. they then sent me a letter.

not sure what other details you'd want to know...

That's everything I needed. Thanks. The only other question I have was did you go to AOA directly or go through the SA?

[achilleas101]

That's everything I needed. Thanks. The only other question I have was did you go to AOA directly or go through the SA?

AoA directly. i can't remember if i emailed them or called them... but i want to say i emailed them via the website. i wouldn't go through the SA, they'll get in touch with them to confirm the car's situation. so assuming the SA is doing a good job, i think it'd help to say something to the effect of, "they were great, they're taking care of me, i don't have any complaints about the service department, i just want a little more peace of mind that i won't be having a lot of trouble with this car." You don't want a defensive dealership throwing any kinks into it.