Flooded S4 B8...To buy or not to buy?!?

[mihaity]

Hi guys,
I have the opportunity to buy a flooded S4 B8 Avant 7sp auto for dirt cheap...cheaper than I paid for a set of good tyres for my A4. The owner said the flood water did not get inside the car and I checked the seats,under the seats, carpets,boot,etc. ...and nothing was wet/damp and the car didn't have that damp/wet smell inside. Engine bay is pretty clean also, and not suspiciously clean... It's low mileage and has been taken care of really well, that's until the unfortunate flood happened...
So my question is if I buy it, what should I be expecting to replace on it?(parts wise) What parts are usually affected by a flood incident? I just want to get this car as a weekend toy, as I already have a DD and a family car...
Thank you very much

[Alan02]

Curious, if no carpets wet, which bit was flooded? Does it start and run? Drive? Stop?? There are ecu's everywhere these days, so beware.

[mihaity]

The owner said the car was under water up to the upper side of the front wheels, and a bit lower on the back side, cause it was parked on a ramp like/inclined spot ... So the engine bay was flooded by my logic. The car starts and does not have any errors appear on the dash, but he never moved it from the spot the platform trailer guys left it when they brought it back to his driveway ... I will be meeting with him next week for further discussions and more info ....
Thank you Alan for your reply.

[spartacus 68]

It's definitely worth investigating if it's as cheap as you say, but do some pretty crucial checks first.

The car is likely to be a Cat C or Cat D write off, so I'm assuming seller has declared this? That said this will always remain with the vehicle including if you sell it on and when you try to insure it.

Check out their claim that water didn't enter the car. The car has a lot of sound insulation under the car, so I'd want to access under the carpets, which means removing the lower door rubbers, plastic trim and sill plates to see. I suspect there's the usual wiring junction on the passenger footwell and wiring that runs under the carpets to both front seats for airbags, etc. Also check the spare wheel recess in the boot.

You want to get the car connected to VCDS and run a scan too. That'll throw up any error codes.

Engine wise, then assuming it wasn't driven after being partially flooded, open up the air filter housing. If it's wet I'd walk away. the trouble with water and wiring, is that months from now any exposed wiring will corrode. That in itself is a nightmare to check, as it's corroding from inside, and not always visible, which means numerous electrical issues and fault finding.

[mihaity]

Thank you Spartacus for the heads up. The car is indeed a cat.D write off, but I didn't think that will be a problem when insuring it, or not a problem but a higher price for that matter. I'm kind of one-foot-out-the-door after reading your post and I thank you again for that. I will be meeting with him again next week, I'll check up where you said and after that I will make my decision.
Thank you again for your info, have a lovely sunday mate!

[zollaf]

i would rip his arm off. drop the engine oil and gearbox oil and rear diff oil. wheel bearings and cv's may have been flooded, but bear in mind a car is built to be a bit waterproof or they would fall to bits after every puddle. personally i would just run it and fix things as and when they fail, like the wheel bearings etc.. although they might never fail. if a lot does go wrong, you will make money by breaking it.

[mihaity]

Hi all,
Bad news (FOR ME) ....
I met with the guy today, but he said he already sold the car to somebody that offered him 3500 cash for it, without even checking anything.
So there goes my dream of having an S4...for now :)
Thank you all for the advice and replies.
Cheers