[200q20v] dubious distinction?

[Phil Rose]

>well... I think I may have got you beaten. My car was one of the earlier
>build 20v's as well starting out on the west coast. I purchased the car end
>of October '01, and finally changed the timing belt 200 miles later at 71k
>miles on 1/10/2. when the timing belt came off however, it was still in
>fairly good condition.


Yes, perhaps so, but ...? My car is a 7/90 build, and the belt was
replaced on 12/19/01. So, I guess it comes down to respective build
dates. I'll happily defer to you if your car's build date is 7/90 or
earlier.  :-)

As to belt condition, I guess that tends to be somewhat variable as
well as a subjective thing--mine wasn't frayed and had no deep cracks
going fully across the belt--but it was glazed,  significantly
stiffer  (more brittle) than new--and with many fine cracks. I
suspect it could have gone another few thousand miles--but the
alternative--we all agree (Bernie?)--wasn't worth the risk. A
close-up photo of a typical section of that belt is shown here:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pjrose/t_belt_at_11yrs.jpg

Phil
(OK, OK, how about: "oldest living belt on '91 200q with _fewest_ miles"? :-))




>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Phil Rose" <pjrose at frontiernet.net>
>To: "200q20V mailing list" <200q20v at audifans.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 4:58 PM
>Subject: [200q20v] dubious distinction?
>
>
>>  Last  November, I parked our new  red '91 200 in our  garage and made
>>  an appointment with a distant (170 miles) shop for t-belt service.
>>  But a lister ("Wolff") urged me to consider getting the  t-belt
>>  replaced before ever again starting up the engine. You see--although
>>  it had a mere 57 Kmiles on the odo--it was still running with the
>>  original t-belt!!! After taking a peek under the cover, I spotted
>>  numerous cracks in the belt and decided that instead of driving (or
>>  flat-bedding) to a repair shop, I would do the t-belt service myself.
>>  No problems encountered; the t-belt indeed had many, many cracks as
>>  well as having lost quite a bit of flexibility, as might be expected
>>  from an 11 yr-old piece of rubber.
>>
>>  Wolff ventured a guess that my car might qualify for a dubious
>>  distinction--something like "Oldest Living '91 200q T-belt". The car
>>  has a fairly early build date, and the PO took delivery in Sept.
>>  1990. The belt was replaced by me in December 2001, having been in
>>  service for 11 yrs and 2 months. Anyone know of a "worse case" for a
>>  '91 200q?
>>
>>  Phil
>  > (still counting my blessings)

--

Phil Rose				Rochester, NY
'91 200q	(130 Kmiles, Lago blue)
'91 200q   (57 Kmiles, Tornado red)
	mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net