Getting a Real Shop Manual for Your 2001 Audi S4
The 2001 Audi S4 Bentley Manual covers the B6 generation Audi S4 with the 4.2-liter V8. It breaks down into three main sections: engine mechanical, electrical, and chassis. The B6 S4 runs on the MLB platform shared with the A4 and Quattro models from that era, so a lot of the content overlaps with standard A4 manuals, but the S4-specific details — intake manifold, valve covers, suspension geometry, the quattro center differential — are treated separately. Bentley Publishers still sell physical copies and digital PDFs directly through their website. You can also find them on Amazon and eBay, though the used market has some older printings with different page counts depending on whether they include the B7 refresh updates. The digital version is usually $40 to $50, while the printed hardcover runs around $55. AutoZone and other retail parts stores occasionally carry it in-store if you call ahead. I bought a used copy back in 2018 from a seller in Pennsylvania. It had a coffee stain on page 312 and the binding was already cracked at the transmission removal section. It worked fine, but if you're buying used, check that the wiring diagram pages aren't dog-eared. Those diagrams are the most referenced part of the book once you start working on anything electrical.
What's Actually Inside the Manual
The B6 S4 has a few things that trip people up, and the manual does a decent job covering them. Torque specs are listed for nearly every fastener. The valve cover bolt torque is one of the more important ones — these are M8 bolts that stretch if you overtighten them, and replacing them costs more than the $3 you save by not buying new ones. The manual gives you 18 Newton-meters as the spec, which is roughly 13 pound-feet. Use a torque wrench and don't guess. The timing chain tensioner release procedure is another section you'll come back to. The B6 4.2 FSI uses a single-row chain with a hydraulic tensioner. When the engine is off, the tensioner is depressurized, and if you remove the cover without holding tension properly, the chain can jump a tooth. I've seen two engines do that on my own garage floor over the years. The manual walks through the process, but it doesn't emphasize enough that you need to rotate the crank to TDC on compression stroke before removing the cover. That step is mentioned in passing near the bottom of the page, easy to miss if you're skimming.
Pitfalls and What the Manual Gets Wrong
The electrical section uses the old Audi wiring diagram color code. The manual explains the codes, but it doesn't cross-reference them to the actual harness connectors you'll see under the dash. I spent about forty minutes trying to trace a fuel pump relay circuit before realizing the diagram labels a connector as "K47" when the actual label on the harness is "C213." Audi changed connector naming conventions between model years and the manual doesn't always account for that. Keep a current wiring diagram handy alongside the manual if you're doing real electrical work. Another issue is the fuel system pressure specs. The 2001 S4 uses a high-pressure fuel rail with a returnless design. The manual lists idle fuel pressure as 3.5 bar, but that's only accurate when the engine is warm and the return line is properly routed. Cold starts can read higher, and if your test setup doesn't match the factory procedure, you'll get readings that look wrong. I found that running the car for ten minutes in neutral with the hazard lights on — which loads the electrical system the way the factory test does — brought the pressure reading into spec.
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How Much Time Does This Save You
If you're doing routine maintenance like oil changes, brake pads, or a timing belt replacement on the non-FSI version, the manual cuts search time from maybe two hours of Googling and forum browsing down to about fifteen minutes of flipping pages. For more complex jobs like a water pump replacement or clutch removal, it saves you the embarrassment of calling a tech support line to ask how many bolts hold the bellhousing on. The suspension section is where the manual really pays for itself. The S4 has adaptive damping and a different control arm geometry compared to the standard A4. The toe and camber specs are different too. Without the manual, you'd be guessing at alignment values or sending the car to a shop that treats it like a regular A4. I had a shop misalign a friend's B6 S4 once because they used A4 specs. The car pulled to the left at highway speed and the inside front tire wore down in two thousand miles. Fixing that alignment cost about eighty dollars and took twenty minutes.
When the Manual Isn't Enough
The Bentley manual is a general reference. It won't cover every known failure mode for the B6 S4. The oil pan gasket is a known weak point — the manual shows you how to replace it, but it doesn't mention that the engine mount on the passenger side needs to be supported with a jack while you're dropping the subframe bolts, or you'll strip the threads in the aluminum subframe mounts. I learned that the hard way. One stripped thread cost me a new subframe rail and about six hours of work instead of the four the manual estimates. For electrical diagnostics, you'll want a proper scan tool in addition to the manual. The OBD-II codes the Bentley book lists are generic. You'll need something like an Audi VAS 505x or a quality aftermarket unit to read the manufacturer-specific codes for the DSG gearbox, the stabilometry system, and the CAN bus faults that show up when a control module loses communication. The manual tells you what the warning lights mean, not what the module memory actually says.
Who Should Buy This Manual
If you own a 2001 Audi S4 and plan to work on it yourself, it's worth the purchase price. If you're a professional mechanic, it's useful as a reference but you probably already have access to the official Audi service documentation through your shop subscription. The Bentley manual is aimed at the DIYer who wants something more thorough than a Haynes and less expensive than a full dealer service subscription. The digital version is better than the print version for quick lookups. I keep the PDF open on a tablet in the garage next to the car. It searches. You can type in "fuel pump relay" and it takes you to the exact page in three seconds. The print version requires you to flip through the index, which is slower and occasionally points you to the wrong section due to pagination errors in early printings. Make sure you get the latest edition if you buy used. The 2001 Audi Bentley Manual for the S4 isn't perfect. It has gaps in the electrical section and a few spec inconsistencies. But for the price, it's the most complete single-source reference available for this car. Audi's own service documentation is scattered across multiple systems and requires a login. The Bentley manual stays on your shelf and works without an internet connection, which matters when you're three hours into a job and the garage WiFi drops.
