RODeviL

Hello to everyone. First of all, nice to finally find a FORUM ( so tired of those lame fb groups ) were D3's are being discussed. Considering many of you are not from Europe as I have seen, let me start by saying I own a Audi A8 4.2 V8 TDI. Oh yeah, the lucifer, diesel poweeeer ( and torque ). Thank god, I have a good example and while scanning the car with VCDS I only have 2 errors : something for rear footwell resistor....rear climate works fine anyways and one error for Bang & Olufsen amp which was fixed but error still appears, it works so not an issue for me. Considering all the gadgets in this car, i was expecting much much worse.
Now the real issues are, that the keyless entry system doesn`t unlock the car when I place my fingers under the door handles; it unlocks it only if I pull the door handles once ( 2nd time actually opening the door ) . The locking procedure from the small button on the door handles works fine on all 4 doors. The 2nd issue, the automatic boot lid, needs a bit of a help at the beginning of the procedure. Basically, after pushing the button, i need to manually lift the boot door for 2-3 cm then it goes up by itself. Closing down has no issues. I have changed the rear struts with genuine Audi ones but no luck. Even guys at the dealer said, my car being a facelift version I should have the grey motor ( and I do ) which is "bulletproof" . Any suggestions welcomed .

Thanks a lot

MainelyA8

How's the battery in your car? I recently replaced my battery a few days ago. When the old one got especially low, I had similar issues as you plus a few more electrical problems.

RODeviL

Battery was replaced when I bought the car, at the dealership, coded , it shows 100% on MMI and even after I parked the car for 3 weeks, I had power for everything I needed.

aTOMic

Welcome from Tennessee, USA. I think the A8Ls would be appropriately powered by the compress-ignite system (diesel) because everything under the car looks like it belongs on a truck!

Can't help with the keyless issue, but your boot lid problem is most likely a little spring that is in charge of the initial 'pop'. I think there's a thread titled "..literally (x)-minute fix" where myself and several other veterans here contributed... Ah, hell, I'll find it for ya...


Here's a link to a good resource on your side of the pond; this "tech Dump" has many hours of reading you'll enjoy. Plus they're a specialist 'breaker' of Audis, in case you need parts, and their forum is great as well.

Good luck!
-Tom

RODeviL

Thanks a lot for the info. I will check that spring with the boot lid. My soft close works, it "pulls" the lid when it's down. I`m not a fan on diesel car and this is my first of many other cars. I went for a test drive with a 4.2 V8 FSI , I must admit the sound and smoothness has no match compared to my engine but thats where the good bits ended. I choose the V8 TDI ( stage 1 also ) because it has that crazy amount of torque at very low rev's. So sad you cannot experience this powertrain overthere, it's a diesel in it's own league.

aTOMic

If I'm not mistaken, the D3 A8/S8s were available with a real manual transmission. THAT is my dream powertrain for these cars! I'd love to try the diesel's torque, but in the end I think the sound alone of the "petrol" engine would be my preference.

Also, another thread about the trunk pop. Be sure the bumpers' little springy centers are free to work... Great info from my good friend Awdinut, and straight from Audi Germany!
Edit: If the gas springs which hold the trunk lid up are tired, that can cause additional strain on the opening motor; I've seen companies in the UK that recharge them at one's location for a nominal fee. Pretty sure your problem is the initial inch or so, and that's caused by the little spring as detailed in the "Literally" thread, above.

dvs_dave

I don’t have keyless entry on mine, but is the door handle button for not both lock and unlock? I.e. there is no touch sensor under the door handle like on newer version VAG vehicles. So it’s either push the button or pull the handle twice to unlock and open.

Regards the boot open motor, sounds like yours is worn out. Generally the metal body ones are ok, but it’s not unheard of for them to fail. There’s various Heath Robinson fixes, but none last. Shortcut a whole load of faff and go straight to the only true fix, which is to replace the motor with the “H” version (I think) or later. Tons of info here on that.

MainelyA8

The door handle button is just to lock. To unlock, hand must go under the handle and key be in close proximity to the vehicle. I've never had to pull the door handle to unlock the car

RODeviL

@atomic - those are called "puffers" here and I had them factory fitted. They make no difference in how the boot lid works for me. Actually, with them "opened" the soft close doesn`t catch the boot lid and I even though the boot lid it's closed, it's not locked.
@dvs_dave - i do have the version of the motor with H, sadly it was ruined by previous owner somehow because everybody claims the H version is more solid . I figured out the issue with the door handle, on the rear it works just by placing fingers under the door handle, on front doors I have antennas broken, I ordered new door handles, 100e each at dealership. Boot motor is 1.000 euro sadly so...plan B, i will open this one up and see what's what inside

dvs_dave

You can usually find H motors on eBay. That’s where I got mine. Been good ever since.

Its the electromagnetic clutch inside that wears out. Trying to fix is futile. We’ve all tried various methods, with it documented over numerous threads over the years. None last. Take the hive mind knowledge and just buy a replacement.