Potential head gasket failure ?

[Jacksav1502]

2018 Audi s4 I’m currently going through coolant pretty fast , have some bubbling in coolant reservoir and some wetness and slight sizzling noise by exhaust valves coudlent see any leaked coolant by spark plugs etc 27, 441 miles any help?

[Gunnarrrrr]

2018 Audi s4 I’m currently going through coolant pretty fast , have some bubbling in coolant reservoir and some wetness and slight sizzling noise by exhaust valves coudlent see any leaked coolant by spark plugs etc 27, 441 miles any help?

Grab a bottle of the combustion leak detector fluid and rent the combustion leak tester from oreilly’s if you want to know for sure.

[AldermanToffee]

Much more likely to be thermostat / water pump related to be honest (in which case get it fixed ASAP so the car doesn’t overheat), but draining the oil will quickly confirm your suspicions.

[spacecase]

There is a tester you can find on amazon that is inexpensive and can detect if combustion gasses are in your coolant reservoir. This points to a head gasket failure usually.

But I'm with alderman on this one, seems like it'll most likely thermostat/waterpump issue as this is common on the B9 S4. There are different revisions of the pump and thermostat and 2018 definitely has the older PNs. You're probably out of warranty but go to Audi and see if theyll fix it on good faith. My old A3 had a lawsuit for the waterpump and thermostat and Audi gave all impacted vins a 1400 dollar credit/refund. Not sure if this is the case for the A4/S4/S5 models.

[Jacksav1502]

I’m still on warranty but I’m tuned and have an intake rn .. anyway u think I can get around that?

[spacecase]

I’m still on warranty but I’m tuned and have an intake rn .. anyway u think I can get around that?

Just tell the service advisor, remove your tune flash it to stock. If they plug-in you will get a TD1 and they will most likely not honor warranty since a tune could cause added heat. However, still worth a shot. It's a common issue and I know of people that were stage 3 tuned on the A3/S3/GTI platforms that sill got it honored. This might be different as those models could have a 3rd party shop do the work and audi would reimburse them for it due to the lawsuit.If not expect to pay between 1-2k for the repair.

[Jacksav1502]

Just tell the service advisor, remove your tune flash it to stock. If they plug-in you will get a TD1 and they will most likely not honor warranty since a tune could cause added heat. However, still worth a shot. It's a common issue and I know of people that were stage 3 tuned on the A3/S3/GTI platforms that sill got it honored. This might be different as those models could have a 3rd party shop do the work and audi would reimburse them for it due to the lawsuit.If not expect to pay between 1-2k for the repair.

I can also Unflash the car and put my stock intake back in . Do you think they would check the Ecu for no reason ?

[spacecase]

I can also Unflash the car and put my stock intake back in . Do you think they would check the Ecu for no reason ?

I made friends with a service advisor and they say that for major warranty work tied to the engine they will plug in. I had to do an ECU update for emissions reasons on my A3 and it stated that any tuned ECU will be charged labor on the notice. My service advisor said don't worry it won't get flagged and told me to bring my car in stock. Everything was fine. He told me that audi technicians are trained to plug in to their server most services and powertrain warranty work so techinically if you're tuned you should get flagged sooner or later. Most look the other way. tuning is a pay to play game and these types of things are expected. Im just offering you a possibility to maybe get this fixed for free, but don't hold your breath. You're already in the hole regardless, what's the harm in being open with your Service advisor and seeing if they can do you a solid?

[AldermanToffee]

I’d recommend just flashing back to stock, alongside refitting OEM hardware. If you have any stickers or anything, remove them.

It doesn’t hurt to take it in, act dumb, say you’ve been noticing some issues. Worst case you get TD1’d, best case you don’t.

I had my centre differential replaced on my car under warranty after it had been tuned and they never mentioned anything. It won’t always flag you as TD1, it entirely depends on the heuristics.

[Jacksav1502]

I made friends with a service advisor and they say that for major warranty work tied to the engine they will plug in. I had to do an ECU update for emissions reasons on my A3 and it stated that any tuned ECU will be charged labor on the notice. My service advisor said don't worry it won't get flagged and told me to bring my car in stock. Everything was fine. He told me that audi technicians are trained to plug in to their server most services and powertrain warranty work so techinically if you're tuned you should get flagged sooner or later. Most look the other way. tuning is a pay to play game and these types of things are expected. Im just offering you a possibility to maybe get this fixed for free, but don't hold your breath. You're already in the hole regardless, what's the harm in being open with your Service advisor and seeing if they can do you a solid?

Take it in and tell service advisor first or just risk it and unflash car and add stock intake back and see if they say anything

[Gunnarrrrr]

yeah assumed u were out of warranty cause 2018. If you only have an intake, just swap it and reflash. nbd. swapping out downpipes fmic’s and fuel pumps/hybrid turbos is another story.