Do all S3s have yellow paint under the bonnet?

[PaulNixx]

I've looked at two used S3s in the last couple of days and both had yellow paint type blobs under the bonnet on the large allen key bolts that sit above the headlight mountings. Is this normal or would it confirm my suspicions that these cars have been damage repaired?

Cheers

Paul

[pete]

Hmmm, our non-crashed December 2001 S3 doesn't have any yellow blobs of paint. The bolts holding the outer wings on are body coloured (red!), and the ones at the front above the headlamps are either black painted, or authentically-aged galvanised. It was a grey import however.

Hope it helps,
Pete

[Andrew Richmond]

I am afraid that I don't know the specific answer here but with Maseratis' they sometimes put blobs of paint on certain screws/bolts etc to confirm that recall/'campaign' work has been done. Perhaps worth asking.

[phillvr6]

Couldn't just be protective wax thats not been cleaned off could it?

Phill

[plotloss]

Could be some sort of thread fixing agent if they are the headlight adjusters.

[djmotorsport]

Mine had the yellow paint line on the large allen bolt that secures the headlamp - Car was noggy blue. Bought it new and never pranged. Std


DJ

[B19 JAE]

I think this is normal on some vehicle I have had when its bin to certain garages for a service they have a coloured paint they put in screws n on bolts they adjusted then if you take it elswere they know its bin tampered with since they did it, eg BMW garages when they done service so you cany tek it to Mr Bodgit up the road it has to go back to them to keep the warranty valid etc.
Belive me if the cars had bin crash repaired the guyd doin it would not have left such obvious clues like yellow paint under the bonnet, an the fact that you seen 2 the same I rekon its a recall mark or service marking, good luk on the hunt for the new baby