mlbess

The patient: 2004 S4 6 speed 89,000 miles
Symptoms: Turn ignition key to first position and all expected indicators come on. Plenty of juice from battery (headlights bright; sat radio comes on). Turn to start position and get nothing. This nothing may go away in 1-2 seconds or continue for 30 seconds or more. The length of time with no starter reaction is dependent on how long it has been since I used the car; when colder (below 70F) it is also longer.
Of course when I take it in for service, it starts right up. The last incident happened a few days ago when I tried to start it after being on vacation for two weeks. Nothing, even when I held the key in the start position for over a minute or switched it back and forth several times. Also tried depressing the clutch several times, with no effect. Flatbed truck comes 2 hours later and we push the car out of my garage. Tried one last time to start and it turned over immediately and started.
Has anyone had a similar problem or insight what might be going on?

jun11

Starter. I know this posted a while ago, but I thought I'd chime in.

mlbess

Based upon personal experience? I hate to simply begin replacing parts, plus the Audi starter is a bit pricy (ECS Tuning has rebuilt Audi OEM for $465 or new Valeo for $200.)

vinnybuffone

does sound like a starter. can you have someone hammer on it when u try to start it to eliminate other possibilities? lol. Works a lot of the time. My GTI was doing the same thing after it had been sitting for a while. Good ol whack with a hammer or long ratchet and she fired right up!

jun11

Here's what you do when it doesn't turn over with the key....
Pop the hood and jump the starter (connection at the passenger side firewall connection) from the battery. If it doesn't turn over, it's the starter/starter solenoid. Unfortunately, they are a single assembly so you have to replace the starter.

From what you describe it sounds to me like the starter. This is based off of personal experience as well as the experiences of a lot of others. You could also try to rock the car while it's in gear in order to try and move the starter contacts a bit. That would also give you a hint.

Without proper diagnoses there is no way to know for sure and that is something you will need to do on your own, have someone locally help you with, or pay a shop to do.
If I was local I'd be happy to help.

mlbess

Thanks all. Jun11, many thanks for the starter jump suggestion. That would eliminate all the potential electronic issues and ignition switch as the root causes. As the S4 is up for sale (being replaced with a 2015 S5) I want to resolve this and not burden the new owner.

Damian Mak

Hi mate Ave just bought my 1st audi and it's the 2005 S4 b7 and exactly Wat you've said happens to me. Bloody embarrassing and doesn't happen all the time but twice it happened today. The 2nd time took 5 mins before it started. I thought it were something to do with gear safety or clutch. Any ideas on how to prevent this from happening again

kiwi s4

S4 B7 starting issue. Was plagued with a similar issue a while back, sometimes start then dash went black next time. If you open the drivers door the odometer lights should light up if not you have a problem, sometimes part of the dash will light up but no starting function, this turned out to be a faulty instrument cluster being your entire dash cluster in front of steering wheel. This controls the ABS, steering lock and interface with the ECU. Some faults can be fixed but it will need to go onto a computer diagnostic back to Germany. The result for me was a instrument cluster replacement thankfully by extended warranty insurance as they are not cheap. On this note would be very reluctant to own one of these without mechanical insurance. Had mine for 6 years now, great car but quite a bit of warranty stuff done.

Grisho

Have you checked the computer codes (e.g. with VCDS)? This could be a good indication of what is going on.

kiwi s4

Best check code faults, will more than likely be dash cluster as the S4 is a complex wee number and RS4 even more so. There are absolutely zero work arounds and this is a known issue. Dash cluster is part of the S4 brain that interfaces with the ECU and if it has a headache you aint going anywhere and that is a fact.