Are they really that unreliable...?

[HUNTERANGEL121]

I keep hearing boost leak this, boost leak that, coolant leak, oil leaks.

I also forgot control arm stuff.

See, the thing is, I think I've had the 2.7 experience when it comes to leaks. The plastic T shaped piece before the coolant reservoir snapped, got that fixed. Now just miscellaneous leaks.

So, to you B5 guys. Are they really that unreliable?

[2003svtjrc]

Just think of oil leaks being a "corrosion protection package"

[morris400]

Meh depends on who you ask really. I've sinned moved away from the 2.7t.

[HUNTERANGEL121]

Just think of oil leaks being a "corrosion protection package"

It's the sweat from all the performance hauling a 4k lb wagon :)

Meh depends on who you ask really. I've sinned moved away from the 2.7t.

Ouch. What happened there?

I've had my timing belt jump a tooth. Crank pulley gasket...

[CELison]

They're unreliable if you want to have fun with them.

[01audia4]

They're unreliable if you want to have fun with them.

100%. Stock they are very reliable, issue is once you start adding more power, if you don't fix shit first...Be prepared for a world full of pain.

[HUNTERANGEL121]

100%. Stock they are very reliable, issue is once you start adding more power, if you don't fix shit first...Be prepared for a world full of pain.

Now comes a second thought. About a year ago, a thread saying how stage 3s were more reliable than stock lol

[hibiscusS4]

Trick is maintence maintain it and ull be fine

[01audia4]

Now comes a second thought. About a year ago, a thread saying how stage 3s were more reliable than stock lol

As I said, "if you don't fix shit first"

Many people buy these cars stupid cheap, throw BS stage 3 parts at them and bitch when they break.

If you don't re-seal the motor, do the proper suspeion steps the car will leak and creek like a siv.

Both of my stage 3's have been extremely reliable, but that is because proper maintenance was done on them. Even so, you have to remember a stage 3 PROBABLY won't last as long as a bone stock car without more maintenance coming.

[morris400]

Cam wore out and valve hit piston. No biggie.

[jballou]

You should ask the guys that have had their S4's for a long time and that have a lot of miles.

Hmmm. I can think of one person that comes to mind.

They are reliable if you treat them right. If you take care of the problems right away, if you do the maintenance that is required of these machines, if you don't put things off, these cars are a blast to drive, and will be good to you. In the 290K miles that I have driven my car, I have been left stranded once (slave cylinder popped.) The other times I was left stranded with this car was out of my own stupidity (Race track, drag racing.) If you just drive these cars as a daily, and only romp on the occasionally and not every stop light, treat them correctly, they will treat you right as well.

[Africandude13]

Justin couldn't have said it better!!

If she's your baby treat her right and she'll return the favor.

[Shhmaudi]

You should ask the guys that have had their S4's for a long time and that have a lot of miles.

Hmmm. I can think of one person that comes to mind.

They are reliable if you treat them right. If you take care of the problems right away, if you do the maintenance that is required of these machines, if you don't put things off, these cars are a blast to drive, and will be good to you. In the 290K miles that I have driven my car, I have been left stranded once (slave cylinder popped.) The other times I was left stranded with this car was out of my own stupidity (Race track, drag racing.) If you just drive these cars as a daily, and only romp on the occasionally and not every stop light, treat them correctly, they will treat you right as well.

I couldnt agree more.. Preventative maint is key, especially before mods.... 90% of the people out there aren't doing it right.. Trying to go fast and cutting corners in the maint department is setting yourself up failure on this platform. God knows if I am pulling the motor I am gonna replace seals, sensors, etc..

[HUNTERANGEL121]

I couldnt agree more.. Preventative maint is key, especially before mods.... 90% of the people out there aren't doing it right.. Trying to go fast and cutting corners in the maint department is setting yourself up failure on this platform. God knows if I am pulling the motor I am gonna replace seals, sensors, etc..

Good to hear. Though, I think me being paranoid person. I think maint shouldn't be a problem.

Seeing that I do oil on my allroad every 4k miles and check her every week I think that I'd be okay as long as j find a clean one.

[james 408]

the number of electrical sensor failures, plus having turbos, plus being tuned and abused by varying skills of mechanics and drivers, these cars are less reliable than say an NA miata. add on the cost of repairs for many parts, and you have your well-deserved reputation.

can you get one that's maintained and have a regular maintenance experience comparable to other vehicles of its age? sure. odds are though, no you'll spend a little more. and if it's modded, unless it's top notch, you tend to have more failures. but the cost of entry compared to anything of similar performance usually offsets, so buy one, beat it, and join the rest of us in bitching about maintenance.

[HUNTERANGEL121]

the number of electrical sensor failures, plus having turbos, plus being tuned and abused by varying skills of mechanics and drivers, these cars are less reliable than say an NA miata. add on the cost of repairs for many parts, and you have your well-deserved reputation.

can you get one that's maintained and have a regular maintenance experience comparable to other vehicles of its age? sure. odds are though, no you'll spend a little more. and if it's modded, unless it's top notch, you tend to have more failures. but the cost of entry compared to anything of similar performance usually offsets, so buy one, beat it, and join the rest of us in bitching about maintenance.

Are there any real differences between my 2.7 and the 2.7 in an S4? Other than my AR having the space for the turbos to be a little cooler. I don't think an AR is far off of an S4.

Won't be buying one any time soon, just kind of looking around lol.

[jpurre]

Trick is maintence maintain it and ull be fine

This. Even with higher hp mods, proactive maintenance is the key to happiness.

[bobkatkat]

They are 15 year old cars that a great majority of us are pushing double the factory HP and torque. It used to be that anything over 100hp / litre of displacement was holy grail of performance engines. In this community the standard on stock internals has crept up toe 185-200 HP per litre. With this comes a lot of heat. It is all the little rubber and plastic bits that suffer the most. Stay on the maintenance and you can continue to beat on these for another 15 years. It will be funny with all the big frame twin and huge single turbos that are coming for this platform what will people will be saying about the B5. I can just hear them now..."I know it has 300HP/ Litre but I hear he had a spot of oil on his driveway and he just recently had to spent 50 bucks on plastic T's and silicon hoses...I'd stay away"

[chaos2984]

Justin couldn't have said it better!!

If she's your baby treat her right and she'll return the favor.

Bingo. This is key. I owned my B5 S4 for 4 years and I only had one issue with is. I did all the proper maintaince to it. I bought it with the ABS problem but I fixed that. I had normal wear and tear stuff but that's to be expected with a car with around 100K miles. I did the T-belt valve cover gaskets. Motor mounts. I went full stage 3. I replaced all the 0 rings in the cooling system. The only issue I had with the car was the coolant pipe that comes out the back of ther water pump in the engine valley leaked on me and I had to fix that. Other than that. That was the only major issue I had with the car. I took very good care of it. I got the car with 80k on it and sold it at 130K. The car never broke down on me ever. never failed to start.

[tico]

very unreliable. i have two, one with a manual transmission and another with a tiptronic one and they keep my exactly the way like it. Thank you B5 S4s. In a few weeks I am going to explode the the Tiptronic transmission when I upgrade turbos and fueling... you see the car is running just fine as it is but i am adding new intercoolers, new fuel pump, new DVs, new downpipes and catback, new turbos, new injectors, etc... just to explode the transmission and who knows what else...

[Slave IV]

Most reliable car I've ever owned. No leaks, no issues other than regular maintenance.

[jakecro]

Most reliable car I've ever owned. No leaks, no issues other than regular maintenance.

I'll second this. I've owned my car for 10 years and have put over 200k mi on it myself. Currently the odometer is at 325k with no major problems to note. The motor has never been out of the car. The original turbos and clutch are still working well. As others have said, keep current on maintenance, just as you should with any vehicle, and you will be rewarded with many trouble free miles. Preventative maintenance is key. Fix it before it breaks, don't wait until after because it will likely cost more and take longer to repair.

[Audimilo]

I'll second this. I've owned my car for 10 years and have put over 200k mi on it myself. Currently the odometer is at 325k with no major problems to note. The motor has never been out of the car. The original turbos and clutch are still working well. As others have said, keep current on maintenance, just as you should with any vehicle, and you will be rewarded with many trouble free miles. Preventative maintenance is key. Fix it before it breaks, don't wait until after because it will likely cost more and take longer to repair.

This.

I pulled my K03's out of my Avant at 257,000 miles only because I wanted to upgrade.. not because I needed to. anyone want some quarter million mile fully functional K03's my PM box is just waiting for ya...

[christianb5s4]

You should ask the guys that have had their S4's for a long time and that have a lot of miles.

Hmmm. I can think of one person that comes to mind.

They are reliable if you treat them right. If you take care of the problems right away, if you do the maintenance that is required of these machines, if you don't put things off, these cars are a blast to drive, and will be good to you. In the 290K miles that I have driven my car, I have been left stranded once (slave cylinder popped.) The other times I was left stranded with this car was out of my own stupidity (Race track, drag racing.) If you just drive these cars as a daily, and only romp on the occasionally and not every stop light, treat them correctly, they will treat you right as well.

Absolutely. Granted, I haven't had my car as long as many. My car should be the ultimate basket case; 290K miles, a cobbled together new engine and trans 65K ago, idiotic past owners, etc. Besides the coolant temp sensor and issues that were on the car prior to my ownership due to neglect and lack of maintenance, it has been very reliable.

Even things that needed to be fixed, I've been able to fix very cheaply. Granted, I also made sure the core of the car i.e. engine and trans components were the most solid part of the car. All the peripherals I was comfortable dealing with and I lucked out.

[FlyboyS4]

I keep hearing boost leak this, boost leak that, coolant leak, oil leaks.

I also forgot control arm stuff.

See, the thing is, I think I've had the 2.7 experience when it comes to leaks. The plastic T shaped piece before the coolant reservoir snapped, got that fixed. Now just miscellaneous leaks.

So, to you B5 guys. Are they really that unreliable?

Boost leak, check; coolant leak, check; oil leaks, minor on vcg; control arms, check. My car is 14 years old, over that span of time with the additional loads levied on it I don't think it has been unreliable.

[bobkatkat]

I can say that my b5 has never left me stranded in 15 years. My B6 and B8s are a different story. So from my experience the B5 is very reliable in comparison.

[MikeyB3]

Most reliable car I've ever owned. No leaks, no issues other than regular maintenance.

3rd. Be anally German about your maintenance, and you'll be fine. I've had my car for close to 7 years now. Never left me stranded anywhere. Foresee your next problem and nail it down before it become an actual issue.

[landfill]

Take good care and be proactive. When replacing certain parts try to go OEM or with high quality or stronger
aftermarket parts. Maintenance before mods as well even though it's an addiction for modding.

[rnagy86]

If you start tuning your car it will break, period. I have to do a clutch job every 6 months or so because I either destroy it completely (doing continuous launches with a 2T car on 19" rims is not healthy on your clutch) or it just wears down because I daily the car as well and I put miles in it like a mofo. Yeah I could turn the power down and drive it for 2 years without touching any damaged components, but hell where is the fun in that? When something breaks just say:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is how "motorsport" is buddy :) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[christianb5s4]

Have a lot of you had to do VC gaskets?

[jballou]

Have a lot of you had to do VC gaskets?

Done my share of them. Not on just one car though.

[jakecro]

Have a lot of you had to do VC gaskets?

Valve cover gaskets and timing belt three times so far. Due for fourth timing belt soon. Control arms, axle boots, center drive shaft, tie rods, fuel pumps, and brake lines are some of the other common items that will go over the years.

[christianb5s4]

Just curious because my driver's VC gasket is going. What were your symptoms btw?

[jballou]

Just curious because my driver's VC gasket is going. What were your symptoms btw?

Uh oil leak...

[jakecro]

Just curious because my driver's VC gasket is going. What were your symptoms btw?

Oil leaking as has already been mentioned. If it is dripping onto the exhaust manifold bad enough you will get some wisps of oil during warm up.

Easiest way to tell is to run your finger along the lower edge of the VC and if you come up with fresh oil you definitely have a leak.

[christianb5s4]

Uh oil leak...

Haha, thanks Justin.

Oil leaking as has already been mentioned. If it is dripping onto the exhaust manifold bad enough you will get some wisps of oil during warm up.

Easiest way to tell is to run your finger along the lower edge of the VC and if you come up with fresh oil you definitely have a leak.

There's definitely some fresh oil, I cleaned up to valve covers a month or so ago to make sure it wasn't residual oil. Definitely weeping oil, just not enough to make it to the exhaust manifold or the floor. My first symptom was actually burning oil smell through my exhaust if I was driving in vacuum for a while.

[HUNTERANGEL121]

Haha, thanks Justin.



There's definitely some fresh oil, I cleaned up to valve covers a month or so ago to make sure it wasn't residual oil. Definitely weeping oil, just not enough to make it to the exhaust manifold or the floor. My first symptom was actually burning oil smell through my exhaust if I was driving in vacuum for a while.

Your cam seals are leaking?
I'm beginning to think that my leak isn't a leak. In fact, its just eating most of the oil. There was a lot of oil residue in the y pipe. Might have to buy krankvents, brother had em on his s2000. Effectively stopped oil burning.

Only thing that is leaking pretty bad is the transmission. Instead of rebuilding it again, or dealing with it. I may just pickup a used one...

[zdriver]

I had 4 B5 S4's. Two stage 2 (just software/catback), two stage 3: one with BW K04's, and another with RS6X.

Stranded myself twice, once I had the driveshaft bolts back out (my fault) and the other time I fused a clutch launching over and over (still drove home just had to shut the car off in between shifts).

Other than that, some check engine lights for o2 sensors and a couple small things related to EGT sensors.

[Audimilo]

I had 4 B5 S4's. Two stage 2 (just software/catback), two stage 3: one with BW K04's, and another with RS6X.

Stranded myself twice, once I had the driveshaft bolts back out (my fault) and the other time I fused a clutch launching over and over (still drove home just had to shut the car off in between shifts).

Other than that, some check engine lights for o2 sensors and a couple small things related to EGT sensors.

^ Nice! wonder how many cumulative miles you've logged in a B5..


what type of clutch were you abusing that day?