Today I bought
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,326
Likes: 1
From: Ulaanbaatar
Update:
Herewith the costs for the recent service and repairs:
MOT fee £40.00
Service items - oil, filters, brake pads £138.00 (there's almost 9 litres of fully synthetic in the 4.2)
New (remanufactured) OSF brake calliper £115.00
Two new (genuine Audi) front lower suspension arms and bolts £142.00
Labour for service and fitting of the parts £190.00
TOTAL £625.00
Over the last 12 months, the A8 has cost (excluding fuel) a total of £1,430.09. A couple of hundred quid was for a stolen side trim and front grille, as well as some not absolutely necessary NOS rear floor mats. In addition, these costs included both a precautionary gearbox oil and filter change, together with engine oil and filter change.
Who knows what the car is worth now, but with only 73K miles and reviewing the asking prices for other A8s of a similar vintage, £2,500 - £3,000 would seem a reasonable guesstimate.
Running a 310 bhp, all-wheel-drive, 5-seat luxo-barge will never be as inexpensive as a run-of-the-mill car, but all-in I consider - thus far - the A8 to be very good value.
Herewith the costs for the recent service and repairs:
MOT fee £40.00
Service items - oil, filters, brake pads £138.00 (there's almost 9 litres of fully synthetic in the 4.2)
New (remanufactured) OSF brake calliper £115.00
Two new (genuine Audi) front lower suspension arms and bolts £142.00
Labour for service and fitting of the parts £190.00
TOTAL £625.00
Over the last 12 months, the A8 has cost (excluding fuel) a total of £1,430.09. A couple of hundred quid was for a stolen side trim and front grille, as well as some not absolutely necessary NOS rear floor mats. In addition, these costs included both a precautionary gearbox oil and filter change, together with engine oil and filter change.
Who knows what the car is worth now, but with only 73K miles and reviewing the asking prices for other A8s of a similar vintage, £2,500 - £3,000 would seem a reasonable guesstimate.
Running a 310 bhp, all-wheel-drive, 5-seat luxo-barge will never be as inexpensive as a run-of-the-mill car, but all-in I consider - thus far - the A8 to be very good value.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,326
Likes: 1
From: Ulaanbaatar
Where does the time go...
It's been four months since my last update on the A8 and it hasn't been entirely uneventful.
After an enthusiastic drive in snow, which had the ESP and ABS lights flashing madly, the OSF brake calliper stuck on. This was replaced, together with the front brake pads as the existing, newish ones, were cooked.
In some subsequent snow, further enthusiastic driving saw the ABS and ESP malfunction lights illuminate and some binding of the OSF and NSR brakes became evident.
Hmmm...
There was little information online or on the excellent A8 Forum to identify the problem, but my suspicion was that as the car had such a relatively low mileage when I purchased it - and the babying the original owner subjected it to - my guess was a sticking ABS pump/modulator. Whilst they're relatively easy and inexpensive to acquire, they are a PITA to fit, so I tried another route to sort the problem; 5-6 full throttle takeoffs on snow, followed by equally aggressive stops.
Hey-presto! The ABS and ESP warning lights were extinguished and 800 miles later, the problem has not reappeared.
I suspect neither the ABS or ESP was ever activated by the previous owner's driving style. Further support of the axiom, use it or lose it.
Last week the central locking stopped working. The remote key would arm and disarm the immobiliser and alarm but the pneumatic central locking would not operate.
A quick look at the A8 Forum and the symptoms of my car were common; the impeller in the pneumatic pump in the central locking module had failed.
£330 plus VAT for the unit from Audi, plus fitting, and £60 -£70 plus VAT for the coding of the unit to the car's respective ECU.
My solution cost £44 and 45 minutes of my time. The Audi's boot trim was stripped, the central locking module removed, opened, the pump and its motor removed and the new one soldered into position. The most difficult part of the task was refitting the boot trim.
The Audi is now back to 99%; the only outstanding jobs are the fitting of a new G2 ECT sensor and a replacement stepper motor for the HVAC. These are both common issues with the D2 A8. There's about £60 worth of parts and an hour of time.
Despite these occasional niggles, the A8 continues to gain my respect. It's über-comfortable, quick and oh-so discreet.
And it is popular with the younger generation too; when I took it for a valet to local car cleaning shed managed by 20-something-year-olds, all sporting reverse baseball caps and track suits, and presumably the owners of the slammed Hondas in the car park, there was much approval for the car and its rumbling exhaust note.
And the idiom of 'Never judge a book by its cover' held very true; a nicer, polite, well-spoken and considerate bunch of guys I have yet to meet and the cleaning standard of the car for £15 was fantastic.
It's been four months since my last update on the A8 and it hasn't been entirely uneventful.
After an enthusiastic drive in snow, which had the ESP and ABS lights flashing madly, the OSF brake calliper stuck on. This was replaced, together with the front brake pads as the existing, newish ones, were cooked.
In some subsequent snow, further enthusiastic driving saw the ABS and ESP malfunction lights illuminate and some binding of the OSF and NSR brakes became evident.
Hmmm...
There was little information online or on the excellent A8 Forum to identify the problem, but my suspicion was that as the car had such a relatively low mileage when I purchased it - and the babying the original owner subjected it to - my guess was a sticking ABS pump/modulator. Whilst they're relatively easy and inexpensive to acquire, they are a PITA to fit, so I tried another route to sort the problem; 5-6 full throttle takeoffs on snow, followed by equally aggressive stops.
Hey-presto! The ABS and ESP warning lights were extinguished and 800 miles later, the problem has not reappeared.
I suspect neither the ABS or ESP was ever activated by the previous owner's driving style. Further support of the axiom, use it or lose it.
Last week the central locking stopped working. The remote key would arm and disarm the immobiliser and alarm but the pneumatic central locking would not operate.
A quick look at the A8 Forum and the symptoms of my car were common; the impeller in the pneumatic pump in the central locking module had failed.
£330 plus VAT for the unit from Audi, plus fitting, and £60 -£70 plus VAT for the coding of the unit to the car's respective ECU.
My solution cost £44 and 45 minutes of my time. The Audi's boot trim was stripped, the central locking module removed, opened, the pump and its motor removed and the new one soldered into position. The most difficult part of the task was refitting the boot trim.
The Audi is now back to 99%; the only outstanding jobs are the fitting of a new G2 ECT sensor and a replacement stepper motor for the HVAC. These are both common issues with the D2 A8. There's about £60 worth of parts and an hour of time.
Despite these occasional niggles, the A8 continues to gain my respect. It's über-comfortable, quick and oh-so discreet.
And it is popular with the younger generation too; when I took it for a valet to local car cleaning shed managed by 20-something-year-olds, all sporting reverse baseball caps and track suits, and presumably the owners of the slammed Hondas in the car park, there was much approval for the car and its rumbling exhaust note.
And the idiom of 'Never judge a book by its cover' held very true; a nicer, polite, well-spoken and considerate bunch of guys I have yet to meet and the cleaning standard of the car for £15 was fantastic.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,326
Likes: 1
From: Ulaanbaatar
A further cost in March has been £35.
The car developed a misfire, with the CEL light illuminating, so it was out with the Netbook and VCDS; the misfire was identified in cylinder number 4. A quick call to Eurocarparts and a new coil pack and plug were soon in my hands.
With the assistance of a neighbour who had the necessary peculiar sized plug socket, the bits were changed and the car is running sweetly again.
As accessing the coil pack required removal of the engine vanity plastics and induction pipe, the ECT sensor was replaced too, so the erratic temperature gauge is now sorted.
The relatively inexpensive repair to rectify the misfire would've been considerably more costly had a visit to a dealer or specialist been necessary to diagnose the problem; running one of these old luxo-barges requires the right tools to ensure they remain economic to repair. The £130 netbook (bought previously for another unrelated role) and £50 for both the VCDS software and OBD interface has been money very well spent.
The car developed a misfire, with the CEL light illuminating, so it was out with the Netbook and VCDS; the misfire was identified in cylinder number 4. A quick call to Eurocarparts and a new coil pack and plug were soon in my hands.
With the assistance of a neighbour who had the necessary peculiar sized plug socket, the bits were changed and the car is running sweetly again.
As accessing the coil pack required removal of the engine vanity plastics and induction pipe, the ECT sensor was replaced too, so the erratic temperature gauge is now sorted.
The relatively inexpensive repair to rectify the misfire would've been considerably more costly had a visit to a dealer or specialist been necessary to diagnose the problem; running one of these old luxo-barges requires the right tools to ensure they remain economic to repair. The £130 netbook (bought previously for another unrelated role) and £50 for both the VCDS software and OBD interface has been money very well spent.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,326
Likes: 1
From: Ulaanbaatar
These costs are quite acceptable.
The only issue is the potential inconvenience, but given that I work from home, this is not a major consideration for me. If I required the car to travel to work everyday, it would be much more of an issue. Then again, if I were required to commute any distance, I wouldn't be using a 4.2 litre petrol A8!
The only issue is the potential inconvenience, but given that I work from home, this is not a major consideration for me. If I required the car to travel to work everyday, it would be much more of an issue. Then again, if I were required to commute any distance, I wouldn't be using a 4.2 litre petrol A8!
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 3,152
Likes: 281
From: In the land of pies and pasties
I was mentioning this kind of thing elsewhere on another Honda forum, where some home repair I had done saved considerable cash at the garage. Shot down in flames springs to mind, from a particularly dickish resident clanky. He alledged that "internet mechanics" don't know what they are doing, when this is not always the case. A mechanic learns his trade from nothing but practice after schooling, and in the old days you had several attempts to fix something right (i.e you could be bodging until you understand how to do a task better), and in those days there was no "google" or the such like. Time pressure for garages, not just skills. All I was doing, was removing the manifold from a 530d - then cleaning it, removing the Vaccuum actuator rod and blanking the swirl flap ports, to prevent flap ingestion. Actually dead easy. Whilst I was there, removal of EGR valve, thorough clean and replaced all the gunked vac hoses. I sold the car with 181,000 miles on it - same turbo, same 'box, same engine a few years later (2002 E39).
If you have good, careful hands, patience and a sense of humour - get mucky and get fixing. Just be careful when it comes to fiddling with the brakes
Keep up the good work on the A8
If you have good, careful hands, patience and a sense of humour - get mucky and get fixing. Just be careful when it comes to fiddling with the brakes
Keep up the good work on the A8
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 29,526
Likes: 4
From: ...by a lake...somewhere
Ultimately repair is bolting things together after unbolting. It's well within the realms of most if you have the correct kit. If nott could drag himself away from primary school for long enough he'd be better at mechin
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 3,152
Likes: 281
From: In the land of pies and pasties
Not so sure he'd want to fiddle too much with that M3 other than general consumables. When I downloaded INPA and bought the cables to start messing with my E90, it scared the crap out of me. THAT side of tinkering is for experienced only.