TSHong

Blue puff is usually oil burning while white puff is usually coolant.

PaulW

Just happens when you do the cold start up and shut it down immediately and then restart later. It's no big deal, it just does it during those conditions.

Jkay

Cold start, short runtime, stop .... restart and PUFF: instant embarrassment.

greenbird

especially if you live in a cold, wet climate.

'01 S4 Kid

head gasket went awhile ago, that was the "smoke." it wasn't really smoking alot, just that you could see the exhaust a little when you normally shouldn't be able to. it had also been misfiring when cold, so it was an issue we needed to address. dealer diagnosed as bad head gasket, the car had literally 50,0xx miles on it (warranty JUST up) so they actually split the cost with my dad. that fixed it, issue never came up again.

about a month ago, the water pump just randomly failed. my dad called me telling me the car was overheating, the gauge was at H, so he parked the car and waited to take it to a shop (independent this time, no more dealer). turned out the water pump wasn't doing its job. plastic impeller or something broke, it was nearly 6 years old after all.
we didn't need to do the whole t-belt maintenance obviously, but with the thought of selling the car privately, we thought it prudent to get it all done while the bumper was off. not much additional labor to do the entire service at that point (as you know i'm sure).

i can personally attest that this is a fine example of an S8. my dad is actually having a hard time letting it go, because it just does everything so well and there are none on the road. funny story, today my mom was driving behind my dad and called him just to say "god that car is really beautiful." not bad for a 6 year old car, it still turns heads.

i just wanted to put in my 2 cents to clarify

blazej01

I liked talking to your dad, seams like a nice guy. I wish he would let go of this car go :-(

blazej01

now I have to look for another car because of your mom :'(