I found a 2000 S4 a few hours from me that i am considering picking up. It has high mileage(199k) with the timing belt, clutch and water pump done at 181k. The issue now is that the p/o was driving it and it started to overheat. He shut it off and let it cool off and proceeded to limp it home. We have been negotiating price however he says it has a flashing CEL which is a big concern. He said he thinks it did that when he started it back up after overheating. According to him its not missing or knocking, just leaking coolant as soon as it's running and stops when the car is stopped.

I'm not sure what the flashing CEL's usually mean on these cars but should i suspect engine damage here? I would think a flashing cel would come with a pretty significant miss? Thanks for any advice you can give, i'd really like to get some opinions on here before i drive all the way to check it out!

Rob

 

sounds like the axillary water pump. scan it with vag-com before you go any further.

 

if it flashes definately a misfire and should not be driven