Success...and a few dirty fingernails

[Andre Gutsch]

First of all, thank you for your quick responses to my temperature dilemmaa. 
I decided to go ahead and replace the thermostat on my '93CS100 anyways, 
giving me a chance to inspect the timing belt (amongst other things). Also, 
I had bought the thermostat several weeks ago in response to reading a 
generic Audi service bulletin. At about 4 am last night I found a site 
called Alldata, which for a $20, gave me all the info I needed to take the 
big plunge.

An exciting day, all in all. Two things however really threw me. The first 
was when I finally got to the thermostat casing, I could not pry it back 
enough to remove the thermostat (even having loosened the timing belt 
tensioner). I read that it can be done, but I tried and tried, and just 
couldn't do it. So in a decision which very well could have ended in 
disaster, I remove the timing belt from the left gear...
Whap. Whap. <---That was the sound of the cam shafts coming 'off center' and 
slipping from their original notches. I thought I was doomed... Luckily I 
had marked the belt/pulley alignment up, and after changing the thermostat, 
and installing some special rigging (a socket and wrench to hold the cams in 
their original place) I managed to replace the belt! You can imagine what I 
felt on first start up...

Well all ended well. The problem seems to have gone away. I get a steady 
100C with no drop. Physical engine temperature (to the touch)seems much much 
better now. I took the old thermostat inside and did the boil test on it, 
and it worked! Which leaves me to think it may really have been belt 
slippage after all. (The timing belt did feel a little loose on first 
inspection). I'll monitor the temperature gauge closely over the next little 
while, for that multi sensor still may be a factor in all of this.

Well, thanks again, and I hope you all had a great holiday.

Andre
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