[200q20v] closer...almost a cigar

[Phil Rose]

This afternoon I bought a set of Channelock snap-ring pliers at Home Depot
(model #907). This is a "two-way" tool (for both internal or external
circlips) with a nice assortment of tips, and it's much better than what
I'd been using. With the new tool I could get the circlip off the lock
cylinder easily. With help from my wife--holding the flashlight--I verrrry
carefuly re-aligned the tiny "rack and pinion" so that the two half-teeth
matched up. But now I encountered a new crisis, which was that upon
re-installing the circlip retainer I found it had evidently become
"sprung-out" (stretched), and would not adequately grip the lock cylinder's
groove. It's barely holding on and would soon fall off with any real-world
use. So I may try re-bending the circlip to its original diameter diameter
and hope it doesn't just fatigue and break. But I'd much  prefer use a
fresh one, so tomorrow I'll try to locate up a spare (or two) locally.

Well, what about the gear-teeth alignment--did I finally get that right?  I
was able test it even though the door is apart. I used a block of wood to
hold the door-jamb switch closed. A successful test of the alarm system
activation is to hear that brief "beep" when the key is turned clockwise.
However my testing appears to have uncovered yet another problem. What I
found was that the lock only *sometimes* is able to properly arm the alarm,
but most of the time it didn't work. Hmm, so my careful alignment failed,
right?  But wait....!  Why had it become intermittant?

When I looked more closely at the plastic switch-housing (it contains the
little gear/microswitch assembly) I noticed that its white plastic cover
was very loose-- loose enough for the cover and its attached gear to wobble
when the key is turned. But if I pushed the white cover/gear firmly into
place with my finger while doing the beep "test"--it worked
fine--consistently, over and over again! Whenever I allowed the white cover
to lapse back into its "loose" position, the alarm activation (i.e. "beep")
would fail after a just couple of lock/unlock cycles.

My solution was to snugly wrap the little switch-case with some duct tape
and then with a length of thin stainless steel wire. This holds the
gear/cover tightly in place, and I think it should affect a long-term
"cure". Has anyone else experienced such looseness in that gear cover? It's
a pretty delicate  little bit of plastic and it's no wonder that as it ages
and loosens it can throw off the alignment and  screw up the switch
activation. Now, it's just a matter of getting a "fresh" circlip installed,
and I should be done. Phew!

Phil


At 10:46 AM -0400 10/11/00, Phil Rose wrote:
>I was planning to "upgrade" my snapring tool today. I'll check for that
>part number, but I reckon that any good brand ought to be of much better
>quality than the $4.99 special I'm now using.
>
>Glad to hear that removal _shouldn't_ be a problem, though.
>
>Phil
>
>
>At 10:34 AM -0400 10/11/00, Forhan, Thomas wrote:
>>Do you have the snapring tool listed by part number on Chris' pages?
>>With that, I was able to pull, install, pull, install, etc with ease as I
>>made
>>every bonehead error possible on the reassembly.
>>
>>(This was on my '90 two years ago)
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Phil Rose [mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 10:29 AM
>>> To: Forhan, Thomas
>>> Cc: 200q20v list
>>> Subject: [200q20v] close...but no cigar
>>>
>>>
>>> At 12:47 PM -0400 10/10/2000, Forhan, Thomas wrote:
>>>
>>> >I also had the drivers door lock fail awhile back, I  had
>>> this happen on my
>>> >old 1990 200 so I knew the moment the key went to the right without
>>> >resistance what was going on.  I bought the fix kit and then
>>> opened up the
>>> >door on Saturday. Whoa-it already had the stamped steel arm,
>>> instead of pot
>>> >metal, but the little nylon clip that goes into the arm had
>>> failed, allowing
>>> >the rod to drop out. Local dealer b.o'd on the clip, so I
>>> ordered one ($1.65
>>> >-cheapest Audi fix yet) and meanwhile jury-rigged an
>>> attachment with some
>>> >stainless steel seizing wire.
>>>
>>> I did my very first door dismantling yesterday. Yep,  I had
>>> the classic,
>>> broken lock-lever syndrome (driver's door), except in my case
>>> it was the
>>> real thing--no $1.65 reprieve such as Thomas got. Things seemed to go
>>> pretty much according to the various instructions. I removed
>>> the old parts,
>>> dismantled the old lock cylinder and installed the tumblers,
>>> etc in the new
>>> one. I even got that damn circular spring reinstalled without too much
>>> agony. So far, so good.
>>>
>>> Next, I took care to align the matching half-teeth between the alarm
>>> (timing) gear and the new lock lever gear. When all seemed to
>>> be in proper
>>> position, I fumbled for a while with my circlip pliers but I
>>> finally had
>>> the circlip (retainer) snap into place, and the job was done.
>>> Well, or so
>>> it seemed...
>>>
>>> The problem is that although the key now works to lock/unlock
>>> all doors, it
>>> fails to activate the alarm system (i.e. no "beep"). This is because I
>>> evidently failed to get the gear teeth into proper alignment.
>>>  (BTW, the
>>> passenger door lock will activate the alarm system properly,
>>> so I know my
>>> problem is definitely incorrect gear alignment in the
>>> driver's lock. Ugh!)
>>>
>>> I want to take things apart (again) to reposition the
>>> alarm-timing gear,
>>> but now a major obstacle is that I'm finding it extremely difficult
>>> (impossible?) to _remove_ that recently installed circlip. My
>>> cheap circlip
>>> tool (snap-ring?) was adequate for installing the circlip,
>>> but it doesn't
>>> seem up to the job of  _removing_ it. Sadly, the old-style
>>> retainer was
>>> quite easy to remove with just a screwdriver, but the
>>> new-style snap-ring
>>> seems tough to remove. Any advice (other than "just leave it be")?
>>>
>>>
>>> Phil Rose				Rochester, NY
>>> '91 200q				mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>> 200q20v at audifans.com
>>> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v
>>>
>
>
>
>Phil Rose
>Rochester, NY
>mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>200q20v mailing list
>200q20v at audifans.com
>http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v


*********************************
*  Phil & Judy Rose           Rochester, NY  *
*        mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net       *
*********************************