Morning all...
My father was browsing CL Friday night and came across an '04 A8L in a neighboring town. The listing said there were a few issues here and there, and so Saturday morning we went to see it. I brought it home Sunday...

The biggest issue is with the engine. It currently runs reasonably well, but there is a "slapping" sound that is seemingly due to the chain tensioners? I'll get the VAG-COM on it later today to see what's what. 145,000 on the engine right now, and the prior owner (a service tech at a garage) just did a timing belt/tstat job on it.

I'll post a vid up of the engine later tonight after work.

Otherwise it drives incredibly smooth and the transmission shifts effortlessly. No vibrations and highway speeds, feels planted and not nearly as much of a boat as I expected. All power options work -- ventilated seats, massage front seats, heated front/rear, alcantara option, sunroof, etc. The original sticker was still in the car -- 78K! I'm sure she'll clean up well after a through detail. Engine RPM's at 80mph are about 2200. That sound normal?

The biggest interior flaws are:
1. Driver's floormat needs to be replaced. It's soiled beyond hope from dirt/grease.
2. Mystery spot on rear bench that didn't wipe off with a quick leather wipe.
3. Electronic Parking Brake switch broken. Brake still works, but the front half of the switch (the metal part) is snapped off.

Biggest Exterior Flaw:
1. Curb Rashed all rims and flaking chrome (I think, or polished alum.) finish.
2. Half-Dollar sized dent on hood right above pass. headlight.

The car is in great mechanical condition with no obnoxious body wear and tear. The biggest cosmetic flaw is on the rims. Between curb rash and flaking finish, they look quite poor.



I gave it a quick was yesterday, and I'll follow up with a claybar and polish today if I've got the time.

It'll make a nice daily driver, I think. I'm sort of sick of commuting to work in the STI. Loud exhaust and harsh suspension/transmission when I'm leaving home at 6am aren't as fun as they used to be... it's a love/hate thing.


Question regarding the interior: Why does it have different colored wood trim? Is that how they came from the factory, or was the car hit and somebody sourced different doors? But even so, the rear doors have a lighter colored wood, as well as the wood surrounding the shifter assembly. The wood across the dash and along the front doors is darker colored.

Cell phone pics!

























Thanks for looking!

 

Congratulation on the new ride!! I too just recently bought an A8L. Need to uplaod better pictures soon.

As to the different color trim, I do not believe that is normal by any means. To me it looks like the center console was replaced thus the different color wood.

 

Thanks for the response! Seems like lots of sun exposure really took a beating on the wood in the 04's and 05's. My car is from West Palm Beach, FL, so that could explain some of it.

It looked like another user had a similar issue with mis-matched wood, and stripped and dyed it all.

Painting Interior Wood Trim (in progress....) - AudiWorld Forums

I might give that a try...

 

I don't know, looks to be just the center console that was affected. One would think that the trim on the dash might also show the same wear. If it would be from the sun you would think at least the top part of the console, by the temperature control *****, would be the same color as the rest of the trim in the car that is still dark.

 

My 2005 wood trim looked exactly like that and was all original.

Rumor is it was due to finish materials Audi used at the time.
Having been in the furniture industry I know for a fact that any lighter woods will darken over time from solar exposure precisely the same way.

 

Well that's reassuring. I just got scared for a second that the car was "pieced" together.

Here's what the engine sounds like now...

<-- YouTube vid.

So far, the previous owner:
1. Dropped the engine pan and cleaned the pickup tube.
2. Replaced the driver's side chain tensioner with a brand new unit.
3. He tried thicker oil.
4. Checked oil pressure and said that it was at normal levels...


All that's left for me to do is replace the passenger side chain tensioner. Do I have to pull the engine for that? If so, I'll just replace the damn engine for the piece of mind.


Thanks!

 

So, the timeline is such...

Previous owner tried to fix the ticking noise.

He replaced the driver's side cam chain tensioner, and then after some time, came back to do a timing belt job. The noise "got better, but never went away".

I finally pulled the timing belt covers off of the car, and this is what the "new timing belt job" looks like:


Belt is super loose, and the timing belt tensioner is putting almost NO PRESSURE on the belt. He must have re-used the existing tensioner :/

I'll pull the front off tomorrow so I can get a good look in there... to be continued