Dead Audi S5! Should be an Easy Fix BUT it's NOT! 

Now that ladies and gentlemen is what you call Real Mechanic and not a parts changer!!! You guys are far and few in between and that’s a fact! Thanks for your great Wisdom it’s greatly appreciated!!!

David, that is a Lupolen tank, produced under license from DuPont. These were first installed on the Porsche 928 back in 1978, and they have a sterling record. They are very tough and it takes a blow torch to actually cause the plastic to melt. But these tanks can take take a lot of damage from sharp metal in an accident and NOT leak. They are WAY better than a metal tank, since they bend tremendously rather than steel, which just punctures. Porsche used these because they designed the 928 and had it's production line set up. Then during crash testing it was found that this car was VERY susceptible to fuel leaks in a rear impact; This very serious problem literally threatened the whole program. Porsche found that simply changing the tank from steel to this very strong but flexible material solved the problem completely. These tanks are superior and why metal tanks exist anymore is a mystery to me- Great video!

I fix industrial machinery for a living. It's shocking how many times 1 electrical component has failed, causing another component further down the line to fail. I see it FREQUENTLY.

When I worked at BMW for 5 years, when we got a car that had a faulty fuel pump, we would always give the customer an estimate to replace the fuel pump control module in conjunction with the pump. Often times, just like what happened in this video, the pump would draw so much electrical current that it would internally damage the module as well.

Use aftermarket, better coils and fuel pump. That’s what I did on my side jobs as a Audi/VW certified tech. Just be careful about the resistance of the coil packs themselves and make sure to add a fuse to the fuel pump if aftermarket. Put a fuse between the module and the pump. Use a lower amp rating/meet amp rating of aftermarket pump. And yes, I've seen them start fires. ---Another EDIT: I've seen plenty of all models/engines coming in with a tune and/or they took off the parts/tune and brought it to the dealer. The computer we use at the dealer can and will identify that a tune has ever been put on the car and/or if the ECU was replaced. It's like a black box.

Most repair shops replace the fuel pump relay/module when the pump fails, for the precise reason that you detailed. Probably a good idea.

Years ago I read a report on Cadillac's, I think, that had stalling problems once the engine was warmed up. Ends up an owners survey was taken and they found out the majority of owners drove their cars almost to that gas empty mark. The in tank fuel pumps are cooled by the gas around the pumps and with little gas the fuel pumps run hotter which caused the pumps to fail earlier the report summarized. Because of that survey I hardly ever let my fuel tank get below 1/2 empty. I buy high mileage luxury cars, keep them for about 3 years or so and sell them for about 1/2 of what I paid. I've been doing this for over 30 years until obama started the cash for clunkers scheme. No more high mileage luxury cars now. I also had an 82 Lincoln Town car (beautiful) and it would stop in traffic, on the side of the road, in driveways - anywhere. After about $800 in towing bills and $500 or so of service to the Lincoln dealer with no resolve I eventually called up the Lincoln service manager and told him they could have the car after I told him the one year story of engine shutting down problems. He said "Did you change the power up relay to the fuel pump" in which I had not. He says $11.47 for for each relay which is mounted on top of the drivers side wheel well with his advice to also change the exact type relay which runs the main computer too. I got them, paid, installed and never had a problem while I had the car. Heat kills electrical and electronic things.

I had an 2007 S6 5.2 V10. It was a money pit. Ate coils for breakfast. Engine out for everything but an oil change.

My sending unit on my old truck went bad and I decided since it’s 28 years old I should check the tank. Opened it up and saw the tank was good, but the fuel lines were bad going to the tank. It has sat for almost 2 weeks because a fuel line got lost in shipping. It isn’t always a simple fix…. I understand the frustration of the client, but I completely understand your end of it also. This video is a good example of what can extend a repair with unforeseen complications.

Anytime I see/hear of a fuse blowing after something else has failed, I always suspect the wiring loom. In this case, the control module for the fuel pump got hot, as did the connector in the old fuel pump. I would check every inch of wiring you can; there may be melted wire insulation that could create an intermittent fault. Rainman Ray’s Repairs (YT Channel) recently featured a repair video where an O2 sensor heater shorted, and kept blowing a 15A fuse, but only intermittently. Once Ray traced it back to a connector, he removed the old tape and - sure enough - there was melted wire insulation and you could see the bare, copper wire. Tapping on it just right would cause the short and blow the fuse…. and one of his meter test leads! That sucker was pulling north of 24 amps! HTH! 😊

Fuel pump control modules are known to give out on vw/audi models that year. VW issued multiple revisions and even added heat sinks to help with the cooling.

We usually replace the Module along with the pump and also the wiring. Many an Audi tech has been burned just selling a pump. I’m so happy you made this video because it’s common across the line. Good repair Wizard!! Side note: I need that S5 as a donor for my V8 Q5 swap!! Tell the customer I want it! 😂

setting expectations and communication with clients is the absolute best way to retain them.

Like I've always said, you can buy a car from anywhere but finding an honest mechanic to work on it is the key to a happy motorist!

Just shows that having an analytical mind is required when dealing with these seemingly simple strait forward problems.

The more i hear and see the more ii love my buick 3.8 v6

The fact that it didn't throw an error code indicating faulty fuel pressure sensor is a clear sign that the programmers who set thresholds and logic triggers for fuel system faults were on holiday when they should have been programming. If the engine is running ok based on oxygen sensor, manifold pressure, engine speed, ignition timing, fuel injector timing, and engine load data - then a low voltage reading from the fuel pressure sensor should immediately result in a faulty pressure sensor error code. If it doesn't, the programmers who mapped out the engine operating data statistics and error code triggers were clearly asleep at the switch. This is really substandard for a car that cost as much as this did when it was new and boasted advanced "German" technology.

Im not one to clean my engine bay much, but that guy needs to clean his engine bay lol

I have an '11 S5 with some sort of electrical gremlin. I bought it and it wouldn't start the next day. Took it to a local VW/Audi shop in Wichita. They had it a month, replaced the ECU and fixed some wires on the harness. Car started fine for a couple weeks, then no more communication with ECU again.. It's back at the same shop.. hopefully they can figure out the issue.. OR I might need to bring it to see you!

Having worked in electronic repairs for over 50 years these sort of issues where you fear that you are never going to fix it are all to common. And as in this case.all it takes is one damaged connector to drive you insane. Now that todays cars are stuffed full of connectors and modules a lot of cars will be scrapped as to expensive to repair in a reasonable time.

Having access to wiring diagrams and parts locations in the vehicle makes troubleshooting a lot easier. As a DIY'ER reverse engineering an electrical system can take quite a bit of tyme.

Those darn Audis are at it again 😪

What a great RU-vid channel Car Wizard is!

The Audi S5 is a nice vehicle. When the wrong people work on them then disaster strikes. Like your videos. Thumbs up

I have a S5 with the 4.2. I keep up on oil changes. No problems with this car. Love this thing

Brilliant deductions! And that last item, the power pin pushed out of the socket, I made that very mistake with one of my Mercedes. I was replacing front shocks on a CLK55, and had to remove some electrical modules out of the way. Somehow when replacing one of the plugs, this very thing happened. I could NOT figure out why the car wouldn't start and had to have it towed to my mechanic. I was embarrassed as all get out when he told me what the problem was!

I pulled the tank out on my Caddy 1.6 Tdi van today to replace an intermittently failing pump. This video was useful. Thanks.

Story I heard from the motor trade here in England, Audi went to a new, cheaper supplier for the coils with LESS WINDINGS. A short time later Audis by the dozen were being towed to the dealers.

I am a service manager ( former 40 yr ASE/Toyota MDT) at a used car retailer. A fix on an Audi inexpensive? WHAT? never!

I was an industrial mechanic for 25 years . We had a saying , we don’t want to make any worse than when we started . There were times that a piece of equipment would what we called snow ball on us !

Great content. This is why I love watching Ivan @ Pine Hollow Diagnostics, learn a lot from everyone.

I love these cars. I would love to have one someday but the repair bill scares the crap out of me. 🤕

Nice diagnostic work daniel-san, thank you car wizard for putting these informative videos out.

Great video! Explaining how we techs think and know there can be more than the one obvious thing to fix AND explain it to the customer. Wonderful way to do business!! I wish I could bring my fleet of two to your shop. Just like going to the Dr for a check-up. Good Job both of you!!

Excellent video, Car Wizard! A great reminder for us to think outside the box more often and to show the customer why things can sometimes take so long!

Wow!! First Flying Wheels and now Car Wizard. Broken down Audi’s are trying to take over the world…

I appreciate how you diagnosed the problem fully. Like you said, sometimes a problem is simple: replace the bad part. But other times there's a sequence of issues that needs to be looked at.

As a technician by trade. I dont work with cars for a living. I work with big machines, that make parts for cars. I can say your advice is 100% spot on. Anyone can turn a wrench. But how you think about the situation can make 10× the difference. Anyone can throw shit at something and hope it works. A true technician knows how to find root cause.

I like your videos very much ! That's the kind of thinking we hope every repairman/technician would have! Thanks.

You’re welcome for watching. Thanks for posting! Thumbs up man. 👍

Great content Mr. and Mrs. Wizard!

Great video keep doing the good work and I’ll keep watching. Thank you again.

This was a GOOD insightful video. I love the Audi videos.

Tuning kind of voids your warranty when everything starts overheating and breaking.

Great job CW!

Danielson knocked it out of the park with this one, great technician.

Excellent video ! I liked they way your team problem solved the fuel issue :)

Audi started the big front syndrome, the Chinese market demanded it. Oh yes VW coils, notorious in the UK.

Nice catch!

Yes, sir. Ive had a few of these types of things come up at a few dealerships i work at

Congratulations on a million subs!

That was a great diag, Good job wizard.

This is what real technicians do! A lot of places have people that don't troubleshoot like this. Analytical troubleshooting is science. Experience teaches you that certain actions done to a vehicle will leave an unintended consequence. The pump may have glitched during tuning and the tuner checked the pressure sensors to make sure that they were not failing. Someone was not careful with the connectors, and pushed a pin out while reconnecting one of them. Modern car problems. Good thing the wizard's crew are real techs.

Nicely done! Hoovies bill is always high!!!

An Audi is a good car as long as you don't have to pull the engine for a timing job.

Every time I think about an out of warranty audi you come in clutch to remind me

Love this videos 🙏

Unlike the '94 Camaro and '97 Trans Am I had.. had to have a shop replace the Camaro's fuel pump cuz i couldn't do it, and years later a friend helped me do the "Trap Door Method" on the Trans Am

This model looks cool because it was designed by Walter De Silva, an Italian car designer who previously worked for Alfa Romeo before joining the VW Group around 2005 or so. He designed really cool cars for Alfa Romeo before being lured away to VW back in the day.

Nice troubleshooting Danielson!

As a software developer and someone who works on his vehicles I really enjoyed the logical debugging process used by Mr. Car Wizard.

You should rename yourself the Car Detective! Great video...

Thanks for the explanation here. So people won’t believe one issue equals three problems.

I would say it was caused by the low pressure sensor not being connected fully. Low pressure pump telling ecu that it needs more fuel constantly. causing the pump to run 100% constantly. Then overheats and cuts out. Then after doing this a few times the motor locks sending a surge frying the ecu and permanently welding the motor.

I have the exact same car! Love it even if the engine light is on once a month! 2010 6MT 150k km on it, same meteor grey, white leather but stock grill. all the options 😍 same style rims but black and got it for a steal. 🥰

I believe most direct injected engines have a PWM controlled in-tank pump. I've certainly seen more (T)FSI/TSI VW/Audi engines with stalling problems due to the pump module rather than the pump itself. On the rare occasion you encounter a dead in-tank pump, like what the Wizard has here, I would still recommend a new FPM anyway just because of how frequently I see them fail. Good finds and info as ever, Wizard. Especially on the terminal for the high pressure fuel pump sensor.

Used to have one these and was absolutely one of my favorite cars I ever owned besides nickel and diming everytime I drove it toward the end would buy another tomorrow

good explanation

Love the Saab on the lift in the background! ❤

Good video. Sometimes, the trouble code does not seem to be related to the failure. In the case of my 2015 Mazda 3, the transmission started acting strange and a transmission control unit low power code popped up. As it was under warranty, I had the battery checked. It was starting the car fine, but had developed an internal short. I put in a new battery and checked the voltage, both with the engine running and not running. The voltage did not change, indicating a charging system issue. The alternator system was bad. Not sure which occurred first, the battery or alternator. In any case, the alternator, etc. on the Mazda costs a lot more than the one on my old Mustang II. At least the battery was covered under warranty. The battery + alternator change fixed the issue. As to being bald, I have a cousin who lives in Kansas. Both her husband and son are bald. They blame the Kansas wind.

Impressive competence.

Intermittent fuel pump issues are such a pain to diagnose. I had issues with a fuel pump not priming when it was cold outside or it would take a very long time like 10 min plus. Tested pump, relays, all wires, and last link was a pcm itself. Modules/computers/etc do odd things when comprised. See a lot of hate on audis in the comments. They can be a pain to work on but they are not all bad cars by any means. Also, it's hard to not have a smile on your face driving a well built one (b5 s4). Lot of fun when they are running right lol.

As much as my BMW E46 is a pain in the ass, after watching your videos and Doughnut Media, I wouldn't touch an Audi with a 50 foot pole. Love the line from one of the mechanics, "They are not meant to be worked on"

Nice you are actually recognizing that you have some accountability when pricing a job and not just always blaming the customer.

A similar thing happened to me with my Ford Five Hundred AWD system. The rear differential is a Haldex unit, that runs a hydraulic motor to pressurize a clutch pack for rear wheel engagement. If that motor goes bad/shorts out, it takes out the differential control module too. That part is no longer available from factory. Luckily I was able to find a replacement OEM module from a wrecking yards, and a replacement motor from Dorman. It's been solid ever since (+4 years). So what's the moral of the story? Change your fluids! The motor went bad because the screen filter on the motor got plugged from the clutch residue. It stressed the motor and burned/shorted it out, which then took out the differential control module. This would've be prevented with scheduled fluid replacements. Ford said these diffs are sealed for life and don't needs fluid flushes/changes. Here's the rub; Volvo uses the EXACT same diff in their C60/70 sedan/coupes. Guess what? They have a recommended service interval of approx. 60K Km between AWD fluid changes. Needless to say I'm not impressed with Ford. Fix Or Repair Daily is not an exaggeration...grumble grumble...

I'm a mechanic and I love where I work and have been at this place for 12 years happily and I still dream of a day where I willl work for the Car Wizards shop. what a dream job that would be, working for a humble and honest business owner.

This is also a down side to tuning, your cool tuner might screw something else up, and might actually make diagnostics harder. My old Dodge pickup was tuned, my mechanic and dealer had it noted in the computer that it was tuned and wouldn’t touch it if I hadn’t turned the tuner off first.

Ah yes! One bad module will corrupt the next module in line. I knew a lady who owned a Cadillac that had one module go bad. The next thing you know there were two more bad modules. Amazing!

13:38 "So, everyone's happy". Except for me!! The car wizard lives too far away from me to fix my cars! He's the ONLY mechanic I trust in the world to work on my car car. I think I may need to move to Kansas. 😊

Had a 2016 Passat with a similar issue after purchase (30k miles). Would be driving and throttle would randomly tank, sometimes it would stall (tapping on the gas usually brought it back. It spent 3 months or so in and out of the dealer. At the end they had to re-run the entire wiring system for fuel pump as it had melted and then grounded out to the paneling as well as they replaced nearly every controller/relay in line

Best episode ever.

I had a 2010 S5 Prestige trim for 7 years/55k miles with ZERO issues. I took it to Audi for all my scheduled and preventive maintenance during the time I owned it. It was my favorite car I’ve ever owned. I only got rid of it because I had kids and needed more space.

I wonder if the inoperative low pressure signal pin is why the pump and module overheated? The pump may have been overworked trying to compensate by maintaining higher pressure than was needed. Over time it took its toll.

I had a intermittent fuel pump issue with my old Audi. I took it to an auto electrician who couldn't pin down the real cause of the problem. They "fixed" what they thought was wrong and the technician admitted that he wasn't fully confident with the "fix." Well it refused to start the very next day (I had to take a taxi to work), they had to come out to my address, got it started and took it back to the shop (might have been a butcher's shop). It turned out to be dirty contacts on the fuel pump, (you'd think it would be one of the first things they would check) and wanted to charge me again for repair work and for the call out. I felt that I shouldn't have to pay for anything but I knew that business didn't run like that so in the end I paid for the repairs only because the call out was of their doing.

The necessity of the price estimate cushion is due to what ive heard referred to as "found work"

13:15 I'm always happy when it comes in under budget.

Interesting facts in this Episode.

I've moved payback up to x2. These videos are so much better now.

I'm in the exact situation right now with my 08 S5. My mechanic discovered oil in the water holder tank, its been in the shop for 2 weeks because it's been a chain reaction, finding bits faulty the deeper he goes to fix it. I still love it though, the joys of owning an Audi 😂😂

Thanks Wizard. What's with the "orange dust" (rust? corrosion?) under the seat/just behind the fuel pump access? Anyway, you've fully convinced me to never, ever buy a European import - no matter how sharp or cool they look (and some of them do look very cool). Great episode.

My friend had an issue with a shop doing that to him--ran up the bill with a bunch of work he hadn't approved. He took them to the California state commission that deals with auto mechanics and the shop was forced to eat like $5000 in work because he didn't approve it (and wouldn't have approved it).

I've seen the wires under the pins on the fuel pump where they connect are loose and failing. Crazy with it being in the tank. With this car best to change everything since one hot connection makes the current go up, arch, heat up everything and damage everything. Bad battery connections can damage an alternator's regulator for the same thing. Never can charge up a battery that is fully charged but sensed as needing a charge.

Wait till you get a Q7 in the shop Wizzard ! 🤣

Still stand by my 13 a4, the best daily I’ve ever owned

You guys are geniuses'🔥

Mr wizard. Our shop we go through what cause the part fail and why? Make sure go through system and investigate. Double check the parts make parts don’t get chain reaction.

Is there any way to move that pressure regulator away from the fuel tank or maybe insert some heat shielding under it? I always thought these were good-looking cars, but now I'd be a little afraid of it. Thanks Wizzard 😊

I had the fuel pump housing get so hot do to an electrical connector issue, that it actually burnt a hole in the top of the housing. 2015 Grand Caravan. I found the problem when diagnosing an evap leak with a fuel smell. We were very lucky it did not catch on fire.

Couple more reasons for me to NEVER buy an Audi. Thanks! Lol!

There is another port on the sending unit. It's under that black cap piece and unused in this application.