Silly_me

Thanks for the replies folks, two more questions and some follow-ups to Mike;

-In the 'tiny design issues' thread someone made mention of sensors that couldn't be gotten to without dropping the engine What sensors would these be? And what other hidden 'gems' are in store for a shade tree mechanic.

-Where is the oil filter located?

How can I tell if an 05-06 car has this (picture shopping)

Is this an easy DIY?


Do these cause as many issues as Jag's electric one?

Mike_k

Technically the engine needs to be dropped to get to the oxygen sensors. I don't believe that's the case with the 4.2 and even with the W12, the techs have a workaround for it. They'll still charge you book time for the job though.

On the passenger side of the engine with top access. You remove the air box from the air pump, unscrew the air box, remove it, bend back a heat shield and wala... oil filter. It's not really harder to do; it's just different.

The dead give away is chrome strips at the top of the exterior door handles and an ignition button to the right of the shifter.

I haven't done one so someone else would need to chime in there. I've heard it's tedious but not difficult.

I have no experience with the Jaguar system so I can't say. I haven't seen many posts about it here though.

mishar

That would be me. Just as Mike said. So if you have to pay for it you only care what's in the book.

If you go for FSI engine (2007 and on) they finally find out the way to put it at the right place - on the top of the engine.

Little button on top of all handles.

Yes it is. It is just a little test how smart DYI'er you are.


Not if you follow instructions when changing rear pads.

pmdeaver

"Are you in the states? I wonder if that's the difference because truly almost all of the cars here have the ventilated seats and they're not coupled with the massage seats either. My '04 had ventilated seats without massage. I just looked at the first 10 D3 A8's that popped up in a generic auto trader search and every car that showed a picture of the climate control had the vented seats."

Yes, I'm in the US, North Carolina to be exact. I searched for 2007 A8's all over the country. I used Auto Trader, Craigslist, Auto Tempest, Manheim, and just about any other medium that could be used. I would say 7 cars out of 10 didn't include ventilated seats. Not sure which year, but at some point the massage feature became included with the ventilated option. I think Mercedes S550's ventilated seat is better, as is Cadillac's, but it's still functional in my car, and I never show up to a meeting with a sweaty back. The massage feature is way better than the one offered by Benz or BMW. To qualify these remarks, remember I'm referring to a 2007. I can't speak for earlier models or improvements that were made.

Silly_me

[QUOTE=Mike_k;24348995]Technically the engine needs to be dropped to get to the oxygen sensors.

How do you get to them, or 'what is the workaround'?

Mike_k

Yeah I wonder if that was something they changed in the later years. When I was shopping I was looking at '04 - '06 cars.

Not sure... They just do. The way techs are paid is by book time. Audi quotes a certain amount of hours for a specific job and the tech gets paid for that many hours regardless of how long it takes them to complete the specific job. So if an o2 sensor change calls for 3 hours of labor and the tech can do it in 1 hour, he'll get paid for 3 hours still.

They've found ways to make a lot of jobs faster because of this. For instance, when we did the timing belt on my car we didn't remove the nose of the car. We did the whole service with the front bumper on.

aTOMic

PMDeaver, you should track down Jakematic's car he traded in in NC about four months ago! Well-loved if not above-average maintained!

Good luck in any case!
-Tom

pmdeaver

Oh, I bought an 07 A8 exactly 1 month ago from Audi of North Atlanta. Superb buying experience and I absolutely stole the car! I beat them relentlessly for a couple of weeks before getting them to my target price. Despite all that, they treated me like I was buying brand new, paying full price! Couldn't believe how well they treated me. First class group of folks!

aTOMic

Glad to hear it! I know my experience hunting down a good example of one of these cars was like my own personal "Moby Dick" sometimes!

Now, pics or else! And fill in your profile (location) like me! Moronville, FTW!
A little story about Moronville:
I had a guy from England (on a UK A8 forum) ask me if Moronville was a real town in the US! After rolling my (virtual) eyes at his apparent stupidity, I thought I better google "Moronville" just in case and - guess what - there IS a Moronville, France! (figures, right?)