Bought Audi #2 today

[Brett Dikeman]

At 12:27 AM -0500 1/28/01, Tomsaudi at aol.com wrote:

>She is a '91, last year made. Has 91,000 miles, is a gorgeous dark blue with
>grey leather interior.

Ah, yes.  The deep blue is very nice :-)  Pinnacle paintwork cleaner, 
when used sparingly on a very clean car, will remove any swirls and 
garner "oooos" at the next Audi event.


>Everything worked just fine, although I did
>detect a little brake shudder on hard braking, and I was assured this would
>be corrected before I take delivery of the car late this week.

Get that in writing.  They'll find it's an expensive job if the car 
is still equipped with UFOs, and they'll try to back out of it. 
Whenever the seller says something, -GET IT IN WRITING-.  This is the 
number one mistake people make when noticing a problem with the car, 
either during a test drive or when accepting delivery.  "What's that 
dent?"  "Oh, just go see Bob in service on monday, he'll take care of 
you."  Monday morning, Bob has no idea what you're talking about and 
the salesman won't answer your calls.  Oops.


>Any 200 20V Quattro owners out there, please e-mail me and let me know about
>your experiences, and things I need to be wary of so I can take good care of
>her. I would appreciate any responses.

Sign up for the 200 list(www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v), 
but here's some stuff that just rolled off the top of my head.

-turbos aren't NA cars.  You have to be gentle to them until they're 
warmed up(ideally, oil and water temps off the peg before you go 
zipping around big time) and let them cool down a little if you've 
been running strong; don't go charging up the road to work, park and 
shut it off...let it run for a little to even out and cool off...but 
the best advice is to drive it gently as you near your destination, 
that's much more effective.  This is also a -big-, -heavy-, 
-powerful-  car compared to your 90, and if it's not equipped with 
UFO brakes, it's underbraked.  220 hp can get you in trouble right 
quick, and get used to the weight(the plus being that your 90 will 
feel like a feather after driving the 200q20v :-)

-get the Bently manual set(you might want to wait for the electronic 
version, due out in 2-3 weeks.)  This car is sensitive to all sorts 
of things and troubleshooting problems can be a royal PITA.  There 
are also a LOT of things that are different between this car and the 
10v engines.

-clean the wheels and get them waxed; this seems to be the only way 
to combat dust buildup, and yes, those wheels are a royal PITA to 
clean :-)

-there are a bunch of things you should check out immediately; I'd 
recommend taking the car to an Audi specialist; problem is, you 
really have to hunt for one that knows 20vt's well.  In any case, 
does the car get full boost(1.7 to 1.8 bar?)  If it's 1.3-1.4, 
there's something wrong.  What does the boost display read when the 
ignition is on but car not started?  If it isn't 1.0, then the car is 
chipped and you've probably got more like 265+ hp.  Does it feel like 
power is "building up from the beginning" after each shift?  There's 
a valve that opens during shifts to keep the turbo somewhat spooled 
up and to prevent a rebound of pressure when the throttle snaps shut. 
The hose to that valve is famous for burning out(it runs through some 
loops underneath the long black metal charge air pipe, up close to 
the exhaust.)  If it looks old, replace it.  Chances are it will 
break as you remove it and sections will be as brittle as candy cane. 
Also check the valve; it should open under vacuum and close fully and 
strongly without leaks. See when the O2 sensor was replaced.  More 
than 60k ago?  Replace it.  You've got two catalytic converters under 
there(yes, two :-)  Check for smoke on startup; this car should 
-never- smoke on startup(again, this is not a 10v! :-)

-get ready for some different parts; some aren't bad, some are a real 
doozy for the wallet, or just different from the 10v cars.  Like 
$10-12 spark plugs.  Or rear calipers that are shared with the V8q, 
not the 5000's.  Be no mistake.  When it comes to parts, this ain't 
no 5000.    The radiator is different because there's an auxiliary 
unit in the bumper so it has fittings for that.  Intercooler is 
single-pass instead of double-pass; intake layout is completely 
different as is the head(10vt's have intake and exhaust on the same 
side.) Again, lots of different things here :-)

-make ABSOLUTELY sure that is the real mileage.  That is -very- 
(roughly 60k! below the "average" in the bluebooks.  I would be 
-highly- suspect of a rollback.  The problem is if they only rolled 
it back a bit, and the t-belt hasn't been done yet...get any+all 
repair records and run a VIN number check on carfax.  THIS IS AN 
INTERFERENCE ENGINE!  It's also an expensive and hard to find engine 
for replacements. Make sure the water pump was done with the t-belt, 
too.  Check the blue book value, and see what you ended up paying. 
How bad was pitting on the headlights and on the hood's leading edge, 
trim strips, the Audi rings, etc? There's also a seal on the 
speedo/instrument cluster; you can check to see if they're intact, 
but sometimes it's opened  to repair dash problems which are common 
on this kind of dash unit, so it's not a clear indicator.

I don't intend to be mean or get you depressed, I'm just playing 
devil's advocate on a few points here for you and providing some 
overly cautious advice.  Have fun with the car :-)

Brett
'91 200q20v
200q20v listmaster

-- 
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Brett Dikeman				Systems Engineer
ProAct Technologies Corporation		914-872-8043
(formerly CFN[formerly iClick, Inc])		914-872-8100(fax)
120 Bloomingdale Rd.			http://www.proacttechnologies.com
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