PHATA8L

Hello A8/S8 folks. I just signed up tonight, however, I am a longtime Audi owner with four A8's in my garage. A 2000 A8L, a 2001 A8L, a 2006 A8L and now a 2008 A8L. I was the first one in my area to order a new A8L when Audi first offered the long wheelbase for 2000. I ordered my 2001 A8L in the summer of 2001, put only a few miles on it, then put it away in the garage where it still sits today. I still drive the 2000 which has over 155k now and still looks/runs as new. I feel the A8 is one of the finest luxury sedans in the world. Great forum here. I have viewed it for a long time. OK, on with my questions, I hope I can get some help here as I really need it. I just picked up a 2008 A8L that had a fight with Sandy and lost. The water went up several feet around the car and flooded the interior up about several inches below the bottom of the dash. Water is inside the engine as well. I am going to remove the interior and see what I can dry. I will need to change all the fluids at least several times. I will not try and start the car until I am sure it's safe. If you connect the battery, nothing happens, no dash lights, interior lights, nothing. Several questions.. Where and what items would have gone under the water? I would guess there is alot of wiring, ect under the carpets? What about the trunk? The water was up to the top of the battery. The car is also sitting low to the ground. Is this only because it has not been run since the storm last month or is there some lines under the car that water got into? I am not sure if the D3 has air/hydro ride or not. I would think it does. I know my D2 A8's do not. They can sit for months without ever dropping to the ground. In short, I am not sure what I can fix myself and what would be a real issue. I have worked on other flooded cars and saved them. However, none were quite as high tech as a late model A8. I got the car for a low price so I know it can be parted out. I would much rather try and save it for my own project. Flood cars do not scare me which is why I bought it. I see it as a mission. Thank you for reading this. Maybe there is an A8 owner here who had to deal with a water issue too.

Brozee

An audi is the last thing I would have ever bought with water damage. Sorry that I cannot help much but just about every single thing in the car will have to be replaced. As every single electronic is below that water level you stated. The only thing worth anything is the body itself IMO.

JohnnyJ A6Q

as you may already know, there are modules all over these vehicles, and if you add power you will most definitely short them out if they are still good, been there done that, you sound like you done this before so just take your time and carefully pull it apart and dry it out, the water did not make it the cluster so that's good, but do take your time and take pics for reference going back,I did many flood cars years back along with fire jobs, and I know the feeling { let's see if we can get this one fired up } back in the young and impatience years.
I look forward to your progress, post plenty of pics...

Johnny J J

BASARAB

I bought a bunch of cars from salvage auctions, but I would hate buying flooded German luxury sedan. Seriously save yourself a headache and just get rid of it. Just thinking about all the A8 electronics and how high the water went,all that work and parts, infinite search for the possible problem, makes me anxious

05SilverA8

You are looking at $5-$7K worth of electronics and re-coding under the rugs that goes bad when wet. I guess you could go through them one at a time but it sounds like an expensive proposition.

JohnnyJ A6Q

Guys, it all depends on what he paid for it, if acquired at the right price, a price that would allow the purchase of a exterior totaled A8, then one would swap out the interior like it's been done for years, if not, then you pull it all out and you clean and dry and save what you can, and enjoy yourself while doing the work, as it sound like this is for him and not to fix and resale, if it is for resale and you are not in the business, then I would have to say to dump it and move on as it could come back to bite you, but if it is for you to keep as you did the 2001, then go for it !!!
believe it or not, many thing can be saved as long as someone does not send power and constantly tries operating same, I have seen the A6's with the cowl leak that sat with no power and the insides of the modules were clean, wet, but clean, then I have seen what happens when the used car dealer who sold me my son's A6 constantly tries to start and drive same and burns the inside of the modules up, the were actually glowing inside, I was surprised it did not catch fire.

Mcoupefan

brave, brave man. Good luck!

Bangerla

Most of the modules are somewhat sealed, but the connectors will start to corrode. There are modules under the front carpet on both sides. There are also modules under the battery in the back, and the motor for the trunk latch. Best is to take everything out, and air out all the connectors and modules.

volvopentaman

Brave man!

The engine control units in front of the windshield are at least sealed, as are their connectors, but an short circuit could have damaged them. Tough, the lambda sensors for the engine are 99,99% sure damaged, all of them (W12 has 8pc, other engines i think only have 4, half are so called wideband lambdas in front of the cat.converters, and the other halves are normal planar ones after the cats).

Most sensors are probably OK, the electronic throttle plate is a question is it ruined (two on the W12), as are the air mass meters (one on V6,V8, two on S8, W12).

There are some modules inside the car, they are probably all gone that have had water contact, due to corrosion and short circuits, all electric seats have a control module under them, also the rearseats if they are ajustable. There's a control module under both front carpets, and a phone control module under the driver's seat.

In the trunk there is the battery control module, that's damaged if water has been up to the battery's top, also rear lid control module, and comfort control module behind the battery at right. On the left there's the amplifier and radio "k-box" and the dvd drive for the navigation, and the parking distance control on the rear of the left strut tower if it's a pre-facelift model. 2007-> the module is a bit lower on the left, under the DVD station.

The modules that have probably survived are the door control modules in each door, that are in conjunction with the window motors, air suspension control module behind the dash, beside it the MMI screen control module, and CAN control module (behind the glovebox).

Under the rear seat there's the tyrepressure control module, that's probably gone, if the water's been up to the battery, and there's a module to control something with the rearseats (if equipped with lumbar adjustment ***** on the seat sides... normally A8L-models), and an airbag sensor.

Also if the car has adaptive radar cruise control, the module that is in the middle of the low frontbumper is gone.

snapdragon

A big problem will be black wires. The water wicks along the strands of copper inside the insulation and never comes out. The wires turn to black mush over time and all sorts of things go kaput defekt.