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For Sale and Wanted - Cars For the sale of whole cars, Audi or not, working or not. No cross links to other peoples cars please - Use Spotted online instead

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  #51  
Old 5th August 2018, 03:57 PM
paulrstaylor paulrstaylor is offline
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Isn’t it normal to vacuum evacuate the system and see if it holds!? It does sound like they were lacking clue, but hopefully a second cheap fix for you too
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  #52  
Old 7th August 2018, 09:31 AM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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Yes that would be normal procedure but garages were closed on Sunday and Halfords shops only do filling from a DIY kind of kit from a small bottle.



Anyway dropped car 8am Monday morning at local garage and collected Tuesday morning 8am. They checked all lines, joints and parts that are accessible for signs of UV dye leak, did not find any so either no leaks in any visible places or no dye has been added in previous fill ups. Then did extended time nitrogen pressure test, then vacuum test and after finding no leaks finally charged it up also adding UV dye to make easier to find any leaks in future. Wallet is £64.80 lighter but S4 now has fully working AC. I know I could have had it re-charged cheaper especially with Groupon coupons but these days I have no time to mess a around, wait for booking and drive the distance so for the £30 or so quid I could have saved I chose to save my time.




Saturday night when wife and kids returned from holiday she said she was not impressed with my purchase and said I have wasted money for old 'junk', calmed down a bit when I explained that I got it at reasonable price with a look at selling it at higher price and enjoying car in process for a while and have already fixed biggest flaw - the non working roof. Somehow Sunday she could not wait to get behind wheel and later to go round friend houses to show off. She was also disappointed Monday morning that I have taken car to garage and she could not drive it to work. She took it to work this morning and was picking up colleague who's car had starter motor broken down so I suggested she should seize the opportunity plug it for sale. The answer was : "Sell A6, I want to keep this!". She's becoming addicted to the sound of Mliltek.
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  #53  
Old 7th August 2018, 10:00 AM
paulrstaylor paulrstaylor is offline
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Second cheap fix The noise is addictive for sure, I am glad that it is growing on her
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  #54  
Old 31st August 2018, 09:13 PM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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I was going to start a new thread about it but for the sake of continuity I think I will just continue here.

Not so sure about the second cheap fix; I have not tested pressures but it seems like AC already is not as cool as it was after recharging. A least garage put UV dye in so if it is leaking it should be easier to find a leaks if there are any.

The trim bit with sliding cover was hard to find with any breakers either not responding, saying that they do not have it or that they have sold complete interior or it being wrong colour, i finally got it for £40, not cheap but better than £86 from dealer.

Also replaced adjustable height roof compartment in boot as it was broken beyond repair. Got replacement for £30+5.99P&P which was a great price considering dealer price is £450+ but it was not without it's problems. In the end I made one out of 2 and a bit of glue that actually works , looks the part and does not rattle.

Attacked deteriorated headlight covers sanding them down and re-coating with UV protective lacquer. Looks a million bucks better.

Also spent a lot of time on roof. It was not looking bad , just not black enough but it had some moss/lichen in it. I washed it with cleaner, sponge and brush first, looked a lot better first while wet but a lot worse when dried out as mildly soiled areas cleaned up well but others stood out more. Next step pressure whasher, that got rid of most of green stuff, then copper sulphide solution to kill any remaining moss lichen and the a coat of Fabsil water repellent. 2 weeks later any remaining discoloured bits have one and water just rolls off.

Started cleaning leather seats. They did not look too bad to start with but leather were hard and was getting got worse as I was cleaning it. Rears where not too bad but fronts seems to be possibly covered with some kind of sealant in the past which has soaked up lot of dirt. Rears cleaned up fine with Woolite but for the fronts Woolite was removing some stuff but not other so they became more patchy and worse looking. Next step much more intense citrus+alkaline cleaner which did decent job but made already dry and hard leather even dryer and harder. Several coats of conditioner + red dye they are coming up pretty good but just keep up soaking conditioner so will need couple of more goes.

Also replaced battery cove( did I mention Paul put in new battery in the morning I collected? ) , this is cheap from dealer @ ~£8.50 but I just bought one online for £12.50 with delivery to save time and fuel going to dealers.

Valve cover gaskets were delayed in post from Germany but finally got them yesterday and hopefully will replace them tomorrow which should eliminate oil from leaking on exhaust manifolds and causing dreadful stench.

After that it should be pretty much sorted apart from rust on front wings and shone chips. I have put a sale price in window of £4395 to attract potential buyers but have not advertised it anywhere as I want to sort the leather and valve cover gaskets first.

So far I have had 2 interested persons to bu it but no serious bites.

The way it is now I have advertised it for £4395, this will include both front wing rub down, rust repair, repaint and do the front bumper at the same time as well as it's got a lot of stone chip damage. Or £4k as is or £4.8k with new wings + bumper repainting.

I guess Ian is releaved I won it and saved him a lot of graft.

If anybody from forum is interested I am open do discussion but would not deviate much from my £4k/£4.4K/£4.8k price points mentioned earlier
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Last edited by ainarssems; 1st September 2018 at 10:43 AM.
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  #55  
Old 31st August 2018, 09:33 PM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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Other than that car has been absolute blast. I guess season is over now and I will not sell it cheaply so will probably enjoy it till spring when convertible market picks up. While it is almost 200kg heavier than saloon equivalent do to extra steel they have put it floor the centre of gravity is much lower so it corner very well and flat.
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  #56  
Old 31st August 2018, 09:58 PM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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If I do keep it till spring I am worried I will kill tyres by then and will need to fit another set, they already are showing wear on edges which was not there when I picked it up.

As far as fuel consumption goes it did 28.9mpg on DIS on the run home from Manchester mostly in slow traffic 40-50mph without muchh start /stops. But the local blast brought it down to 12 mpg, while not as good as S8 with 14-16mpg but lot more fun going flat around corners.
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  #57  
Old 1st September 2018, 09:22 PM
paulrstaylor paulrstaylor is offline
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Sounds like a lot of work, but also sounds very good! I wish I had the time!!!

If you are scrubbing the tyres then I am guessing you are enjoying it

Maybe I will buy it back next year, with new tyres on
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  #58  
Old 2nd September 2018, 02:21 PM
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IT IT is offline
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Well, as one of the interested parties I'd have to say at that money I'd be looking elsewhere....

On an open auction it fetched a whisker over 3k, and it was a really great advert. The only item on the advert that has been fixed is the roof, but now it seems the AC may turn into something more costly, negating most of the increase in value from the roof fix.

It's also got another owner on the log book and more crucially you've not had it long which means the handfull of folks looking for an S4, and are willing to buy a high miler will run away presuming it's got hidden engine issues.

In short, I think you should hang on to it. The seasons actually don't make much difference to convertible sales in my experience.
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  #59  
Old 22nd September 2018, 04:58 PM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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I appreciate IT's comment but my prices were for everything else sorted including AC, just leaving 3 choices on front wing rust.

As far as I ca see convertible market has slowed down and prices gone down so I will probably keep it until spring.

Had another chat witht garage about AC, they suggested 3 options, put a sealant in the system as they could not see any leaks, fill it with hydrocarbon replacement gas instead of R134a which should slow down leaks they are bigger molecules or they could investigate leaks at evaporator as they cannot see any leaks elsewhere. That's 30+ hrs of labour @£40+Vat just to have a look @ evaporator.

I have had some more fun with the car and it goes beautifully around the corner with the extra weight down low and in the middle of car for floor strengthening. Much better in corners , flatter and less understeer than 3.0 TDI regular A4.

I never had convertible before and it was something I always wanted to try consided MX5, TT and A4 TDI before but I have to say that convertibles are not for me. Too much sun at low spoed and too much wind at high speed, I mean I should have known considering I don't like windows or sunroof open on regular cars when driving, I don't like glass sunroofs and absolutely hate panoramic sunroofs. I understand that I don't exactly help to sell this car here but I am being honest and I do not see myself buying another convertible any time soon. But I do enjoy low centre of gravity and less of front weight bias on the S4 Cab.
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1997 S8, reached end of life with gearbox failure

Last edited by ainarssems; 22nd September 2018 at 05:14 PM.
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  #60  
Old 22nd September 2018, 05:27 PM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ainarssems View Post
30+ hrs of labour @£40+Vat just to have a look @ evaporator.
Is that a typo or is there something extraordinarily complicated about the cabrio?
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