kishoreh

Just wanted to say hello and had a few questions, I have been checking out the site the last few weeks and the information on here was very valuable in my search and purchase of a 2004 A8L with 122,000 miles on the clock. The price was right for my budget including the maintenance I will be doing over the next few months.

Light Silver exterior / Black interior , clean title and had a few extras like the solar sunroof not sure if this is a bonus or a long term issue.

The maintenance records are unknown but I had an independent Audi tech take a look at it and told me what was needed and it also helped in my negotiations.

One of my friends pulled a auto check for me on the car and it came back with no accidents not sure how accurate the auto check is.

I will be purchasing the Bentley Manual and the Ross-tech Scanning tool (unless there is a better alternative)

Questions:

1) Anyway to find out if the timing belt was replaced at the recommended interval or not without taking everything apart?

2) Wanted to know how difficult of a job the timing belt really is for DIY, I know there are a few specialty tools. I have a Audi mechanic that lives in my building with about 4 years of experience so I may see if he wants to make some extra money and assist me just so I have a little assurance.

3) Where can I go to pull a service history on these vehicles?

I needed to buy a few small things at the Audi dealer and they gave me the song and dance about how the timing belt should only be replaced by a dealer as they gave me a price to the tune of $1600 for labor plus parts.

I will be using all Audi original parts as I found that there are several online dealers with some deep discounts on parts but when I spoke to one of them they said the warranty on the parts are only valid if an Audi certified mechanic installs the part which I did not understand.

Any help is appreciated and I look forward to contributing back in the near future.

Mister Bally

See several threads on here regarding the timing belt. Search for mine using advanced search with my handle/ID. I say only use genuine parts from a dealer. I did my belt twice now DIY. Search the forum will explain why twice within three years.

Remove one camshaft cover (two Torx head bolts) Slowly rotate the crankshaft and inspect the belt. You can tell if the belt is original by fade and brown rubber dust lingering around. Look for a date code on the belt bythe part number. Is there an Audi logo on the belt? If not, you know the original has been changed. Also look on the water pump for a date code. OEM Reman Audi pumps have the Audi logo and a date code stamp on the face. At least you will have some clues with what you find.

mishar

Welcome to the board and congratulations! Now fill you profile so people willing to help would know the year of your car and where you live.

No legal alternative to the Bentley Manual and the Ross-tech Scanning tool

1) No way even if you take everything apart. You may visually check your belt bu taking off top right part of the belt cover but that won't tell you much.

2) It is serious job. It involves removal of the front end, few special tools and strict following instructions. Nothing that can't be done but serious. Check this tread.

3) I am not aware of that possibility.

kishoreh

Thanks Mister Bally,

I will definitely only use Audi dealer parts and appreciate the insight on verifying if the belt has been changed.

Do I need to remove the serpentine belt to get the crankshaft cover off?

I will also look for your threads on this topic.

kishoreh

Thanks mishar,

Took a quick look at your write up appreciate your experience.

Will purchase the Bentley manual and Ross-tech tool , I am sure it will come in handy moving forward.

Mister Bally

Crankshaft sprocket covers come off with serpentine belt installed.

Look at my posts for an example of a timing belt starting to fail. Only 73,000 miles on it. Not an OEM belt. Never again.

kishoreh

Having the A8 for the past 3 months the comfort and engine performance is nice and smooth but I feel all the interior plastics are of poor quality as most of them are very brittle and I am having to replace several pieces.

Most of the switches are rubbing off and the climate control buttons as well so I am replacing this unit with a used one.

I am ok with this as I only paid less than 10% of the original value, but feel after 122K miles / 10 years that some of this should have held up better.

I hope to enjoy another 100K on this car and expect probably 10K in maintenance / repair costs over the next five years is fine and reasonable to me.

MP4.2+6.0

Yes, finishes will rub off, and will often rub off or get nicked by 100K. My reaction to your post is that I would have said kind of the opposite--by 122K and 10 years, this is often to be expected. If anything, Audis are known for having complex electronics and glitches, but relatively long lasting interiors and body quality.

This is also the nature of soft touch stuff. Things like sharp fingernails and grease and chemicals on hands can make it worse. Parts cost a small fraction of any newer car. I did mine at about 100K for about $4-500 in various bit parts and assemblies one touches a lot and am very happy with the results/look back to "new." If you want to see it in hard plastics the same way, feel free to see my ex-Toyota apppliance. Same result, cheaper to manufacture plastics, yet same kind of pricing at the parts counter. Looked at it specifically for the malfunctioning Homelink that required whole upper console assembly. it also faded to about 20 different random shades if you tried to buy used, often still with worn buttons. Instead, it became the $20 throw away universal clicker from the H/W store in that case.

Mister Bally

Let us know which car with a similar, high-end interior lasts longer. Rolls-Royce & Bentley don't count as they are in another league.

kishoreh

Mister Bally , MP4:

My comment was not a comparison to other vehicles in the same category but an observation of this specific vehicle usually you will get wear on the drivers side considerably more than others but I noticed all the buttons and most plastics were worn and much of the soft touch plastics were peeling which prompted my comment.

It could very well have been the poor upkeep of the previous owner(s) or the way the car was stored

At the end of the day to me Audi, BMW and Mercedes are great buy's when they are 10 + years old have between 90K - 125K and are less than 15% of their original value. Add another 10 -15% of the original value over 5 years to maintain and repair the vehicle with the trade off of getting 70%+ of the vehicles original feel and possibly getting an additional 100K out of the car.

I bought my 1993 BMW 850CI for $2500 it has been fun so far to drive and I will restore the car over the next 5 years for less than 25% of the original value, will have the ability to fully customize the interior to my liking ,keep the exterior lines original, to me this is a win / win and a cost effective way to own these Luxury automobiles.