[s-cars] Handholding for an S8 purchase

[Gísli Óttarsson]

I've made a tentative offer for a European spec 2001 S8.  The car has a
couple of problems which I thought I´d run by the list:

The engine service-light is illuminated (as it has been on all 4 S8 of this
vintage which I have test-driven in the past year).  A friendly mechanic
hooked it up to a computer and the codes indicated that there had been an
engine misfire.  As the car had sat on the used-car lot for a while, I
didn't think too much of it and the mechanic reset the light.  Exactly 24
hours later, the light returned.  Any experience on the list about what this
might mean?  Any suggestions about the *worst* thing it could mean.

The radio has a funny problem.  When first turned on, it will play for 10-15
seconds (good fidelity, strong signal) but then go into a channel scan mode,
followed a perpetual periodic beep (approx. once per second).  It also
switches to this beep mode when playing a CD, except the CD will play first
for about 30 seconds).  What might this be about?  Could it have something
to do with it having recently arrived in this country (Iceland) and the
radio somehow needing to be localized?

Apart from these quirks it is a nice car with 60k miles on the clock.  There
is no record of a timing belt replacement, but the aforementioned mechanic
and I looked at the belt and it looked very fresh with none of the lettering
rubbed off.

Its transmission was recently rebuilt by a reputable mechanic (allegedly the
bill for this was $10000!).  But what is the story with these S8
transmissions?  All the 4 S8s I have driven had suspicious sounding
transmissions (mileage range from 60k to 120k).  Are S8 transmissions very
fragile or very high maintenance?   Is the transmission flaw an indication
of very poor maintenance (there are no records) or is it just the luck of
the draw.

Any general suggestions or warnings?

  Gisli