I just bought an 01' S4 on ebay with 100k. I'm supposed to pick it up on Tuesday. I paid 12k for it and from the photos it appears to be in excellent condition. Vehicle history checks out spotless. I don't have the service records (i know i'm an idiot for buying this car without them). My question is this: I'm scared as hell that this car will need all kinds of work done to it since its at 100k. I've only paid a grand so far and will have a cashiers check for the rest. Is there anything you all reccomend me looking for or doing before giving the rest over or am I just S.O.L?

Also, are there any great repair manuals, videos, how to websites etc. that could help me learn how to make repairs myself?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

everyone on here is a great resource for repair advice.

make sure the timing belt has been changed, that's certainly your main concern at this point.

 

Yep, the timing belt will be your main concern. It should be changed *relatively* soon (or should have already been changed) If you need to get it changed, make sure you get the water pump done too, as that's usually what people do to have some piece of mind.

For repairing stuff yourself, check this out:
http://www.audidiy.com/b5s4.html

They have a good amount of things that you can do yourself (there are instructions with pictures about how to do the timing belt yourself, but it's a somewhat big job)

 

Umm take a look at TB like they said and look for stress cracks in it. Youll be able to tell if it looks all old and toasted.
But yea you prolly arent gonna find much out until its Vag-ed and you drive it.
100k miles youll also be looking at Cam seals, tie rod ends, control arms, CV boots, colant temp, just buncha little things liek that, that can really add up quickly (trust me im doing them right now)
Good luck tho. ide say for $12,000 if everything checks out fine and you do need to do CA, TB, and TRE's i still think you got a decent deal on the car cause that will balance out to being like. $14-15k