I am looking at buying a 1997 A8 Quattro. During the test drive i noticed that although the engine temp warmed up to normal operating temp, the heat didnt work at all. The car came from southern california and the dealer told me it is probably because the heat function on the car had probably never even used due to the average temp being 80 degrees so the valve is stuck or bad that lets the hot coolant into the heater core... Can anyone help me diagnos this problem before i buy the car... Other than that the car is in fantastic shape with only 100k miles. thanks

Brian

 

First thing i would do is check the heater hoses. Make sure they are both getting hot. If they are you may have some sort of electrical problem with the system. Otherwise there is a cooling system issue.