For those of you that might remember...My wife drove our 97 A8 to staples for supplies. When she returned to the car, it would not start. It cranked like crazy, but would not turn over. I tried checking the fuses, the fuel pump relay, the ECU and even threw in a new set of plugs. I finally had to give in and take it to the Dealer.

I just received a call from them today. It was the fuel pump. The Dealer quoted me $830 for the repairs. Here was the break down:

Fuel Pump =$575
Installation 2.5 hours =$159.38
Troubleshooting 1.5 hours =$95.62

Getting My A8 back on the road........Priceless

I should have it back by Wednesday. I'll let everyone know if there are any surprises. Thanks for all the help.

... did the car have? Was the pump running loud? Normally you can hear a pumps cry before it's death, when as sudden as you noted. Do you have a relationship with the dealer that is doing the work? I'm just very curious about this.

Glad it is going to be running again! How bitter sweet.

65$ an hour?? you are lucky. My dealer charges 95$ +tax. :(

It wasn't worth paying to flatbed it to another mechanic. Car has 89,000 miles. It's better than having to replace the ECU. I checked the book and found the install hours to be correct. I can't argue with the price. I'll see if there are any additional charges on the final bill.

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I am just suprised that a pump for the A8 is that much. heh.

The job as a whole is cheap. No question about it.

Also the labor charge is a GREAT price. I would not do it for that, and I do not mind getting dirty working on a car.

I was just concerned it was the fuel pump to begin with. With only 89k, did you happen to hear anything loud while walking around the car at all before it puked? I know pumps can go at any time.. but often they tell you first. Why not ask them for the old pump. If they ask, just tell them some ass from NY would like to take a peek :O haha

My dealer called me on Friday saying that the were not able to read any code since the dash was dead. I will know more tomorrow. Whatever it is, I hope my warrantee covers it.

And no wonder, with the Daley's running things. I caught an item about the latest trucking company political-kickbacks-for-contracts schemes in the last couple of days.

Not that much more than here in ATL. I think the local dealer here is $95.

That's a good idea about asking for the old pump. I'll do that.

How is the visibility at night? I'm getting my windows done this weekend and still haven't decided how dark to go. Thanks.

I have personally never seen a fuel pump go while parked, as well as not in use. It is a simple rotating assembly that when begining to fail, usually shows signs of louder than normal operation, sometimes even a slight vibration to the tank that you can feel when filling up. If anyone is interested in how a bad bearing/bushing in a fuel pump sounds, I can take a sound file of a camry a friend has that the fuel pump will be going soon :) Just email me.

Also, if the pump siezed, it would be likely to blow the fuse when the current trying to spin that little puppy jumps up like crazy. So get that pump and lets check it out.


I have done work on cars that the fuel pump died during operation, like a car that stalls and then will not start again. For that to just fail out of the blue sounds strange to me. Anything CAN happen though. Broken wire, failure of a connector on the pump ( supra ones are rivited on and I have seen them corrode), fuse, relay, or connection before the pump. I know you checked some locations, and you did good. That is the first place I would have looked as well. Fuse, Relay, then I would have grabbed my volt/ohm/meter to check the relay, and its connections, and move my way backwards.

When you checked the relay, what was your test procedure? Just curious.

For anyone else out there with a relay controlled problem area there is a simple way to check a relay. Don't just feel for it "clicking" since that does not mean it is making a pure contact. Swap the "problem area" one out with a matching unit from a working part. I am honestly not sure which relay matches a pump relay in the A8 (yet), but lets say a matching one was controlling the headlights. Take headlight one out, put the fuel pump in its place, try headlights. No headlights, Put the fuel pump one in the headlights place and start your car. Go home and order a new relay. Headlights working? And the fuel pump fuses are good? Then you have norrowed it down to either between the fuse and the relay ( check relay with Volt/Ohm/Meter, or at least a test light), or between the relay and back all the way to the pump.

Does the A8 Have a fuel pump replacement panel under the rear seat? If so the wiring going to the tank could be there as well, or directly under it. So that is an easy place to check the voltage to the pump ( least in many of the japanese cars I have worked in).

Just thinking outloud. Maybe it can help the next person that does a search for a relay problem at least. Maybe not.

I pulled the relay and tested it with a Volt/Ohm/Meter. It tested OK. I'm not sure if I had enough information/knowledge to take it any further than I did. I will definitely get the old pump and try to have it independently tested.

When I say that there was no hint of trouble before the car stopped working, I'm going off of what my wife told me when asked. She is the primary driver. I drove it 2 days prior and had no problems.

You have me very curious. I can't wait to get my A8 and the old pump back in my hands. Thanks for the info and help. I'll follow this up when I get the car back.

As I remember it was driving along on a very cold day and it finally died. It died a day or two before, but just when I tried starting it....turned it over a bunch of times and then it started.

But once it died, it was gone.

I figured it was the brushes on the commutator....it was something like 5 degrees out too. It was the first time I brought my car to somebody else for the repair.

I would suspect it open circuited. If you need somebody to do a root cause analysis...send it my way! :-)