Most likely about to buy an S8 D3

A8 All/ S8 All
#1

Hi everybody,

My name is Max, located in France, might very soon become an owner of a 2007 S8.
I am going to fly 2.200km (1.300 miles) to check it in person. Then I’ll have to drive it back home, so quite a journey ahead.
We have audi forums in Europe and France, but there isn’t quite as many people as there is here. Or it feels so at least.

Here’s what I know on the car :

  • from May 2007, around 152.000 km on the clock (95.000 miles)
  • oil changed once a year (more or less every 10.000 km or 6.500 miles with 5W40)
  • the car is quite nicely spec-ed : double glazing, heated/ventilated/massaging front and rear seats , 4 zones climate control, B&O, ceramamic, sunroof (that doesn’t open, the owner told me right away), auxiliary heating, electric blinds…
  • battery is 2 years old
  • at 141.000 km (88.000 miles) were done/replaced : ceramic brake pads front and rear, radiator, AC compressor (engine out job if I’m correct) and radiator, front air suspension bags, steering axles (gimbles I think they are called), all round oil changes (engine, gearbox, differentials), sparkplugs, oil filter o-ring and rocker cover gaskets, right throttle body.

So I am here for advices, because some of you obviously know these cars better than I do like @justincredible , @CountVohn , @v8a6… What should I check or pay attention to ?
Also, I am quite new to VCDS, how to get O2 sensors values when driving the car and what are the normal/admissible values ? (don’t want to buy the car if the sensors are dead, unless substantial discount)
What I know that has NOT be replaced : coils, intake manifold, MAF sensors, low pressure and high pressure fuel pumps.

Thank you in advance,
Max

#2

hey Max,

Although I was deeply involved in the S6 development a couple years ago, I havent kept track of it recently. So, Justin and CV may have more recent things to add.

I recently added a post to my build thread that summed up what I believe EVERY used S6 needs, and a list of all the things to check. I routinely tell people that any S6 will generally require $10-15k CAD to get it running right, at a bare minimum. I dont know how things are in France, but in North America, these cars keep getting passed around without ever being truly fixed. And that has lead to a large price drop in the pre-owned market.

In any case, check out my last couple posts in my project thread. The full list is there on what you will need to replace, and what you need to check, and MIGHT need to replace. Link below

Good Luck!
Michael

#3

Michael,

I have read your post last week and it was enlightening ! So much good sense, actual talk was written down for people to feed on it. Thank you for sharing the knowledge and going a way that not a lot (if any) people chose to go.
I have been looking for an S8 for over a year now and would be very disappointed in myself if the car I have ends up being absolute garbage…
The car is second hand only, stayed in its country of origin. The current owner seems to really (he doesn’t do anything himself) look after the car.

Oh and I forgot to mention that it got carbon cleaned once a year for the last five years at least. Last month was an O2 sensor replaced (1.400 CAD).

Thanks again for the input :+1:

#4

When you see the car a few things you can use as leverage in the price.

Look at the front of the motor. Take off the plastic pieces. See if you can see sludge down the front of the motor. oil sludge. This means that the oil filter O rings need to be replaced. And if there is oil by the valve covers that means that the gaskets there need to be replaced.

It’s kinda hard to think the owner will let you pull off the Y pipe to inspect the intake flaps but I would shoot for that as the intake manifold is a 2000$ piece.

VCDS or vag com wise. Just check for codes apon arrival. then check to see if the readyness monitors have run. If some of the readyness monitors have not run that means that either a system is bad or that they cleared codes recently.

02 wise generally the car will show you codes for bad 02s so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

#5

Thank you for the heads-up justincredible.

What is the Y pipe you a referring to ? Did not know there was a “fast” way in order to know if the intake flaps are broken or not (I understand that you are talking about the flaps that are located on the extreme left and right of the intake, not the flaps doing the change over from long to short runner position).

As I said, I am new to VCDS. What’s the “way” of checking that ? Also, codes were cleared by end of December as it is when one O2 sensor was replaced, it had been sending errors so the check engine was popping on the dash.