Hey guys, I am looking at an 05 A8 SWB. The car has 73k miles and has been very well maintained. I would be purchasing without warranty due to even the 1 year warranty costing (no markup) $3k. The car is a 2 owner, always sold at same dealer, and CPO for the last owner. I have a few questions:

1. Am I retarded?

2. The valve covers have a few spots of peeling finish. Seems like I read that peeling on top meant peeling on inside, which means junk in your oil. Is this true?

3. Are there any signifigant TSBs on this car? On the A4 there is the oil sludge TSB where they will fix sludge as long as you have proof of 10k oil change intervals since you bought the car.

Thanks!

 

Oh PS this car is a later production model, after Nov '04 and before like feb '05 if that makes any difference.

 

Not that I am an expert but that sounds like the exact vehicle I purchased for my wife a few months ago. 05 A8 with 80K SWB. Mine was from a wholesaler and not a dealer so I had the dealer check it out and besides a few minor problems everything checked out fine. Unless the tire pressure sensors have been recently changed you will probably need to do that really soon or just deal with the dead sensors. I still have to get my cruise control radar re-aligned, local dealer tried to no luck, other than that mine is in perfect shape.

Also you mentioned it was after Nov. 04 but before Feb. 04. I assume you ment Feb. 05. Also, if you don't mind me asking, what do they want for the A8 $$$. I paid $17,500 for mine but again it was from a wholesaler out of Chicago.

 

I did mean that, thanks for catching it. They are asking about $22500.

I cant find anything on the valve covers here, but the S4 guys have that issue. They say there is a redesign with valve covers that are plastic instead so they dont have a coating that flakes off. I guess that is what I will need to do. One guy there said AOA replaced his out of warranty.

 

1 - You are not retarded, unless someone else had to write this for you

2 - Plastic valve covers on some Audi's was the source of a peeling chipping paint problem (because it was plastic and didn't hold the paint). D2's all have cast aluminum covers, which are not painted. D3's ? ...I'm not sure about material or the paint or powder coat (if any)...never seen a problem with it on any forum (if it exists on A8's?)...esp not internally.

3 - Never heard of a sludge problem on any A8 at any mileage...mainly on 1.8T B5's and some 2.8 V6 B5's (personal experience with that one...cleaned it myself...easy fix on the V6).

P.S. $22,500 is a little high...a private owner would probably sell for a few thousand less. Dealer wants a commission.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-AU...item25619954e5

 

Thanks for the input. Check out this thread about b6/b7 S4s with the 4.2 and peeling valve covers: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ve-Cover-Paint

The covers on this car are def bubbling on the outside, which leads me to believe they may be on the inside. I have the dealer checking to see if AOA will replace them, hopefully it will help that the car aged out of CPO just last month.

Good to know about the oil.

Ive seen that car on ebay. I love how it says it has all options, but it clearly doesnt. The one im considering almost does. That car doesnt have, but mine does: full leather, massage seats, vent seats, wood wheel, bluetooth, dual pane, solar, 4 zone climate, rear lumbar, and probably more. I also like that it is at an audi dealer, has only ever been sold by them, and they are giving me a discount. I do like the northern blue pearl on beige as well.

Some good news I got was a TB job quote of $800 labor. I can get the entire parts kit for $489. Sounds pretty cheap to me!

 

Good idea to solicit a few opinions before dropping the coin. Best to be informed.

1) The price is market driven so it might be acceptable. There is obviously a difference between what a private party and a dealer are going to ask for the same car. Just make sure the price is in line with your market.

2) That is waaaaaay too much money for a one year warranty. I won't go into great detail because there are already a lot of posts on the topic, but if you are going to get one, you should shoot for an average of 1K per year of warranty. Give or take...

3) Don't opt out on the warranty if you aren't mechanically inclined. If you are mechanically inclined, you will find a lot of support on these forums. You'll also find a wide variety of opinions on whether one should get a warranty. That's actually a good thing. It's a good indicator of the wide variety of owners that haunt these forums.

4) I haven't read about any issues with the sludge or the valve covers on the forums I frequent. It might well be a problem, but I just haven't crossed that thread yet.

Keep up the research and make an informed choice. Good luck!

 

thanks man

That warranty is through fidelity, and i dont know who else i would want to trust for one. I have a friend who got screwed when his warranty company went out of business. The highest one they had was a 4 year 48k and cost was like 10k with a suggested retail of 18k. Luckily I am mechanically inclined, and I have been keeping the A4 running since cpo ran out a couple of years ago, and i now have 140k on it. I know there are a lot more potential issues with the a8, but the a4 has not been too bad, and honestly even if it was double the issues of the A4 I would be fine with it.

 

Well, research and learn. D2's like mine (thru 2003) did not have painted valve covers, just bare cast aluminum...because they have plastic decorative covers hiding them.

D3's (starting '04) have painted cast aluminum valve covers, since Audi did away with the plastic deco covers on the heads....much better look in my opinion (showing the coils)...if they'd just thought to polish first and use heat-proof powder coat instead...maybe newer ones do(?).

Don't have personal knowledge if the underside is painted too on D3's(apparently so on some models?). If they did, it ranks in the top 5 stupidest things ever done by Audi. Uncoated cast alum on the cam side has never caused any issue that I've ever heard of.

 

So I had the A8 inspected by the Audi dealer in our group and everything was good. Bought the car yesterday. Thanks for the assistance guys! I did end up getting a gold Audi plan for like $2600 for 2 years/ 24k. It covers pretty much all the stuff I am concerned with breaking.

Oh, and both dealers' shop foremen say that the A8 valve covers are not painted on the inside. They are still going to fix them for me at no cost. The best part about that is fresh gaskets!