completely agree with cheeeeEEEEsssseee.. i cant believe theyre trying to sell the car with a known problem with no effort to clear it.. sounds very shady. But in general to run codes its like 50 bucks... 100 to clear them. at least thats the rate at my dealer. which is dumb cause it takes like 5 minutes.. Where are you located..ask around for someone with a vag and run it yourself.

 

well luckily my friend is an Audi mechanic at the Jack Daniel's Audi service center in NJ so he said i can bring the car to him on Saturday. The dealers said the light just went on yesterday. (maybe because when i turned the car on, it jerked back cuz it was in gear and i was ultra slow about that whole push down and then go into reverse thing) could something so small put the light on? at some point on the phone they tried to blamed it on the heat and vapor bubbles, i dunno if they think i'm a retard or not, i let them know that i did my research and on top of it i'm trading in my 240sx for it so how can they think i dont know that a check engine light means something lol

i dont get this becuase this is a legitimate car dealer, they got srt-8 300cs in the parking lot and everything, i dont understand why they wont help me at all, i mean i drove the car is feels good but how can i get them to tell me whats wrong with it arent they supposed to by law or can they just be "buy it or we'll find someone else"

240sx's are amazing cars, unfortunately my insurance doesnt think so any more

 

go in there.. tell them what you want them to do.. if they can do it and it sounds right..you want to buy..if not youre walking out.. its up to them to MAKE the sale.....

Thats how i approach it.. i had similar experience with a dealer.. he tried to treat me like a kid like i didnt know what was going on.. or didnt know anything about them when fact of the matter was i knew way more about them then he did. Then eventually with dealing with his retarded *** long enough i finally lost it and yelled at him and told him how LITTLE he knew and he backpedaled very quickly.

 

that's what i'm talking about. don't even take it to your friend. tell them it's a no sale until the problem is remedied.

SHADDY SALESMAN: "well you know, that light just came on yesterday."

YOU: "i don't care when it came on, i'm not buying it until YOU have it fixed."

and whatever they do get done, ask to see it. sounds like they would have to go to audi, so if it's more than a reset, you need to see what was or was not fixed. good luck on this one man, even though it's a used car the dealership should want to send of at least a decent product.

 

Have it checked out! When I purchased my S4, the dam CEL came on as I was leaving the dealer! That was Friday, on Monday I went into the Audi dealer to have it checked out. Ended up costing me $1000!!

Just keep some extra $$ on hand to get it fixed. Even if it's "only" 02's there $300 a piece + install.

Have fun with it! Once you start to mod it you will not be able to stop!

About the sales man, I have yet to meet any of them that have a CLUE about cars, they are just there to make the sale, don't listen to any repair advice from them!

 

Personally I'd pass. Sounds like too shady of a deal. For that price you could probably find something better, without a CEL and from someone that was willing to give you a little history on it too. I think I saw some cars on Audizine for approximately the same price that the owners were being a little more upfront about the car's history.

 

Would you have the VIN handy? I can't get a Carfax report but I might be able to pull up the service history on it, if it helps.

 

A month ago i walked from a deal like this thanks to the advise from this forum. It was a 2000 with 96k for $11.7 but it was going to cost me $3-4k to fix things and I was going to DIY most of the work. It would have taken me a couple of months to get it right.

That clunky shifting you mentioned could be a bad transmission or differential mount or more. The fault codes could be simple stuff or some very pricey stuff. Then there is the control arm issues that is possibly a problem on these cars.

The bottom line is, if you are going to spend $14k for this car, buy a Carfax report and spend $125 for a proper pre purchase inspection at your friends dealer. Then take the list with costs to the Jeep dealer and tell them for $14K they need to fix the items or deduct the amounts from the price. If they won't work with you, walk!

I took my time and found a very nice 2002 with 40k miles. Sure I paid more, but in the long run it will be worth it. I know your addrenaline is pumping and you want this (or any) S4, trust me I know the feeling, but IMHO patience will reward you. There are good deals out there.

Good Luck,
Andrew

 

OK...I had a similar problem buying my S4....the airbag sensor light was on...but even this smalltime dealer wanted to make the sale and do right by me...so he paid for the Audi certification checkup...Audi found $3k worth of stuff that needed fixing...this small time..and I mean small time dealer of only german imports shelled out the $3k for repairs from his pocket just so I would buy the car...and he did a damn good job too. I brought it home a week later and haven't had any problems since...this was 1.5 yrs ago...SOOO you have the power right now, tell them to fix the **** and you'll buy...period...if not, you could always buy mine