Plastic Distributor Gear

[christopher locke]

I have two 20V 3b's and have replaced the plastic gear with a metal one on both 
cars.  I know they're out there, although I can't remember where I got the 
gears, may have been from Jim Blau, I can't recall.  Anyway, it's an easy cheap 
fix for a broken plastic gear.  A whole lot cheaper than another distributor.  
FWIR, when the gear breaks, all at once, it goes, into pieces, and the car 
doesn't run at all.  The plastic gets hot, becomes brittle, and then one day 
snaps.  Fortunately, one broke in my driveway cranking to start the car, the 
other I pulled before it broke and replaced it.  


HTH

Chris
'91 2C20VTQ
'91 2C20VTQW


Message: 1
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:22:05 -0500
From: "gbs" <gschesel at comcast.net>
Subject: plastic distributor gear?
To: "'200q20V mailing list'" <200q20v at audifans.com>
Cc: gschesel at q.com
Message-ID: <20100723122406.116F7182F9708 at audifans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"


I have my 200 in the shop due to severe misfire above 2500 RPM.  This
started happening on Friday a week ago, driving home from work after long
engine cranking period.  I had to kind of limp home, just 12 miles, using
highest gear and lowest RPMs.  Vehicle has "only" 123k miles; acquired in
late 2002 with 97,000, so you can see I keep it in the garage a lot and
drive mostly during summers as an alternate vehicle.  And it has been
experiencing very uncharacteristic extended cranking times this season.

My non-audi techs have not been able to find the problem, don't know what to
look for, plus they do not have a way of pulling codes without an OBDI
diagnostic meter.  So far they have not removed the distributor to examine
the gear condition.  I'm thinking they don't want to end up billing me for
extensive diagnostic time due to uncertainty on what to look for.  They are
being considerate knowing they have not worked on anything like a 200 20V
with CIS. 

Should I assume a bad distributor and tell them to proceed with sourcing one
at the prevailing part cost, probably close to $300?  (I see there is/was
one in marketplace for half that).  I'm not concerned about the part cost.
Just want to get at the correct solution.

Thanks
Gordy Schesel
St Paul
200 20V Avant, Pearl, 123k miles
'91 100 10V Quattro sedan, 273k miles
'05 allroad, 2.7T, 77.5k miles
'96 Ford Conversion Van, 145k miles