the saga continues(pretty pictures, even)

[Bernie Benz]

Brett, ever heard the expression, "Too many cooks in the kitchen"?  Or "Too
much bandwith allotted to cooks"?  Anything can be disassembled, if you wish
to do so.

Bernie

> From: Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net>
> Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 21:06:25 -0500
> To: 200q20v at audifans.com
> Cc: quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: the saga continues(pretty pictures, even)
>
> So I get off the T this afternoon and Eli's waiting("To the shop,
> Jeeves!"), and along the way he dispenses the good news/bad news.
> Good news is the t-belt is done, engine's happy.
>
> Bad news: the master cylinder is truly shot.  Big time.  So there
> goes my plan to drive the car home- pedal's on the floor and not
> coming back, which it apparently did when they went to bleed the
> front brakes to make sure it wasn't just air.
>
> This created a problem- mainly, no car, home = 30 minutes away.
> Kudos to the SRS guys(www.srsvw.com)- Eli offered right off the bat
> to drive me home, a good 30 minutes out of -his- way.  Friday night,
> had plans with his girlfriend; -that- is customer care, my friends.
>
> So back to the t-belt.
>
> Word to the wise- be CAREFUL with the crank pulley if yours gets
> stuck on.  It is a special order, $40+ part(!), and if your last
> mechanic was stupid enough to slather locktite all over the thing(my
> ex mechanic was; note the use of the word "ex"; as I said to the
> guys, "What the HELL did he do that for?  It's keyed.  It's trapped
> in place by the -other- pulley.  Was it -going- somewhere?
> Noooooo!"), it WILL break if you try and get it off.
>
> Hope you're all payin' attention, because this is known as "the money shot":
>
> http://frank.mercea.net/~brett/pics/car/audi/tbelt/crank_gear.jpg
>
> That's -after- it was heavily bead-blasted, which is why you can't
> see green goo all over the inside.  You can still see remnants of the
> loctite on the inside surface; the area hidden to the camera is even
> worse.
>
>
> Best title I can think of for this one is "Livin' on the Edge":
>
> http://frank.mercea.net/~brett/pics/car/audi/tbelt/idler.jpg
>
> And this, kids, is why you DO NOT USE Green Crap Coolant in your Audi:
>
> http://frank.mercea.net/~brett/pics/car/audi/tbelt/waterpump.jpg
>
> Note the extensive rusting(yes, apparently the dealer/whoever did the
> 60k service used a cheap waterpump) and seal degradation(there's an
> o-ring in there, somewhere.)
>
> The saga may continue, but at least it has an end in sight.  I was
> right- I do have a toasted MC, and when they tried to bleed it,
> apparently, the pedal dropped to the floor- and never returned.  They
> pulled it off, and sure enough, corrosion all over the place(I'll
> have a picture monday.)  Car's getting flatbedded home(AAA saves the
> day?) where I'll do the MC change myself- I can get the parts
> cheaper, the labor's free, and it's an easy job.
>
> Nothing escapes Mr. Shine, and he discovered a curious setup;
> apparently, one of my previous mechanics(no, not the t-belt mechanic,
> yes, a supposed "Quattro God") decided when he "adjusted" my
> proportioning valve that it also needed a US-style hose clamp(!)
> somehow attached(he couldn't describe it, but the profanity indicated
> it was something truly Special.  The clamp is also enormous.)  Dick
> couldn't make heads or tails of it, so he ripped it off the car,
> discovered the valve was seized, and soaked it with some penatrating
> oil; we'll see on monday how it looks, if it's moving freely again or
> not.  Anyone know if they can be disassembled?
>
> Brett