ETKA... huh?

[Greg Amy]

> selecting 'A4', I'm presented with a choice of two numbers, which
> purport to be VIN ranges.  Neither one looks like a VIN however:
>
>             >>8D-W-007 799*  and
>             8D-W-007 800*>>
>
> How do I interpret these?

That is the VIN. The letter (in this case, W) is the year code, the 10th
digit in the VIN. 1980 was "A" and they are sequential from there, skipping
the letters "I" and "O" because they are too similar to "1" and "0". In this
case, "W" corresponds to (quick math) 1998? No, I have no clue what the plan
is after 2002...

The numbers above after the year code are the last 6 digits of the VIN. In
this case above there was a significant change in some parts for production
for that year (and that is usually referred to in the outside world as the
"1/2" year, as in "I have a 1999-1/2 A4 Avant.")

If you're curious as to what all the other digits in your VIN mean (and they
all mean something, only the last six are sequential) look in the front of
your Factory Service Manual, or I'm sure there's a web site somewhere with
that info. For instance, the first three digits of the VIN in your car are
likely "WAU". The first digit is the country in which it was assembled ("W"
for Germany, as in the old "West Germany", "1" for US, "J" for Japan, etc),
"AU" for Audi ("VW" for Volkswagen, "N1" for Nissan, etc...)

> ...moving on, once you select a drawing, how to you back up a
> page?  The back arrow take you all the way out to the splash
> screen.

Consider that this software was developed for use long before Explorer and
Netscape (really, before widespread use of the Internet), and was originally
designed to access a database on a mainframe. You don't navigate it the same
as you do a browser. There's no "back" as we know it that I'm aware of.

On the upper right, the arrow to the far right will take you back to the
list of models in the same make; the arrow pointing to a line will take you
back to the opening screen to select a different make.

The easiest way to navigate, once you're on a page, is to select the pull
downs from the upper left corner. By highlighting and typing in data, you
can jump directly to what you want. For instance, let's say you're working
with an A4Q and you want the fiche for the A4. Highlight A4Q and type in A4.
It will take you to the same place as if you had selected the arrow,
selected Audi, then picked the A4.

If you want to remain on the same car, but look at different parts, then you
can select a different Main Group "MG" or subgroup "SG" by grabbing the
desired pull down. If, however, you happen to know the correct Illustration
number (and you get to know them after a while) you can simply type in the
illustration number in the edit box and it will take you directly to it.

There are other buttons in the header that you can play with, such as
scrolling through various illustrations, which is extremely helpful in the
interior and body sections (sometimes there's no rhyme or reason as to how
these are laid out).

Enjoy! Just don't be offended when your parts guys views your knowledge with
a jaundiced eye and re-looks up the part numbers 'cause he doesn't trust you
(and doesn't want to hear you bitch when he gets the wrong part for
you)...<grin>

Greg Amy
ex-VW/Porsche/Audi Parts Manager
http://www.bira.org