Viewing an S8 Tonight - Help!!
 

Hi all,

I'm going to take a look at a D3 S8 later today. I've been out of the loop too long and I can't remember anything I'll need to check!

The car's got a higher mileage than I'd like - 93k but it looks in good condition with quality tyres (always a telltale sign for me).

What should I look for? Weak points?

I'm taking my VCDS device with me. I'll do a fault code reading, but is there anything I should look for in the measuring blocks?

Any telltale signs of abuse/impending failure?

I know there are a dozen or more threads about this, but I'm leaving straight after work, so I have no time to search.


I'd appreciate any help you could give me. :o

apart from the obvious general car damage, tyres, service history etc I would specifically look for -
any sign of rear caliper / electronic handbrake issues,
power steering noises on turning the wheel,
functionality of any electronics,
ABS pump issues or sensor issues,
ensure it starts smoothly,
check the battery management /battery level,
check for air suspension function and make sure it all raises and lowers properly
door handle sensors and soft close often fail
fingerprint recognition often stops working
condition of rear lights / any LEDs out or leaks / moisture in lamps
generally check for moisture in the boot and under the carpets inside

Also condensation in the back window, could be a window out job to fix
Check for readiness codes with vcds to make sure the mil light has not been reset prior to you arriving.

Car needs to successful driving cycles to set them

http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/tour/readiness.html

Once you have checked the readiness you can then go ahead and clear any faults that are in the system before a drive and rescan to see if there are indeed issue with the car.

Thanks for the replies guys,

Both of you have suggested a couple of checks with VCDS. I've only ever done an auto-scan with mine. Could you please talk me through the steps to check:

The battery level
The readiness check?

Reading the ross-tech article about the readiness check, it sounds like I won't be able to do a full check because it needs a couple of days worth of driving, so am I just checking if the MIL check passes?

I'm really sorry, I'm sure these are really silly questions but I didn't expect to find this car, nor go to see it so quickly, so I'm caught off-guard.

Is there anyone near by the new car that might come with you to plug it in. You might find they'll not be too willing to let you drill in to far if you're not confident. Good luck buddy, hope it turns out to be the car you've been looking for +++

Assuming the cars not had the fault codes erased before you arrive then the readiness flags should be ok the reason I said check them is to see if they fault codes have been erased by a dealer trying to hide something

Do the scan AFTER you take it for a test drive, that way any faults that may have been erased should pop back up

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I've just been to see the car and, after getting stuck in traffic for 1h30m, I got there and it was absolutely chucking down with rain, so exterior checks were pretty minimal.

My VCDS refused to play ball and simply wouldn't connect to my phone, so I wasn't able to run any checks.

The mileage is warrantied though and the stamps and MOTs back it up.

The bad bits were that the car was on the wrong size tyres: 275/35 instead of 265/35. Also, I'm pretty sure they were the wrong load rating. They were, however, very good tyres - Goodyear Eagle F1s. The alloys had been refurbed and they did a great job, but they were a slightly darker silver than I would have liked.

Also, the rear screen was letting in water on both sides at the top and slightly into the boot but the carpets were dry except a couple of fresh drops (that I may have caused opening the boot).

The only other thing was a couple of LEDs were out in one of the rear lights.

The test drive was good, although I think the Miltek exhaust would be a little too loud for me (although it did sound epic!). There were no knocks from the suspension but the steering felt vague. As its my first drive in one of these beasts, I don't know if that's normal.

The suspension rose properly on all corners.

The interior electrics all seemed to work fine, although I completely forgot to test the ACC while on the road.

We negotiated a price and I told the seller I'd take the weekend to think about it. It would come with a fresh MOT and a 12 months so-so warranty.

The appeal of this car is that I think it used to be an Audi demonstrator (Reg started with OE) so it had the perfect spec - light colour extended leather, ACC, B&O, blind spot warning, heated steering wheel.

I'm a little concerned that the mileage may be a little high because the Miltek suggests it has been driven hard.

I took a pic of the sticker with the spec on it from the service book, which I'll upload when I get home. Hopefully, someone can decode it for me.

Hmm... Time to put my thinking cap on...

When you say driven hard do you mean that there is carbon buildup on the tailpipes?

If that's the case then I would say don't worry about it, every S8 I have seen has it after a few months of not cleaning.

Ha! No, nothing like that, the pipes looked reasonably clean. I just assumed the car had been driven hard because it was fitted with a Miltek exhaust!

Oh, I forgot to mention, the battery warning came on when I was sitting in it with the ignition on. Also, the timing chain and tensioners were changed at the last service at a cost of £2300 or therabouts. Should I be concerned that they needed changing, or pleased that they have been changed?

So, apart from the wheels and exhaust, which are fine just not to my taste, the negatives are:

Possible battery problem
Wrong tyres
Two LEDs out of one tail light
Leaking rear screen

Positives:
Felt solid on test drive
Interior felt almost new, all doors soft-close worked fine
Spec, spec, spec!
Decent price for the car.