Farwell to the 80t

[Peter Sperry]

About a month ago, I took my 90Q20V into my local mechanic who's done some
AC work for me in the past to look at my AC system in anticipation of
converting it to 134.  Anyway, while it was in, he mentioned to me that I've
got a fuel line leak, and that I was lucky that I'd not started the car on
fire.  He said that the 80/90 series fuel lines are routed really poorly as
they come into the engine compartment from below.  Basically, he said,
there's a couple spots along the line that never dry out, and consequently
rust through very frequently because of how they're routed.  I had him
replace the lines and re-route them in a way to alleviate this in the
future.  Maybe something like this caused your mishap?

Peter

'87 5KTQ
'90 90Q20v
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexander van Gerbig" <Audi_80 at email.msn.com>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 12:53 AM
Subject: Farwell to the 80t


>     Well after a great day at MtW the worst possible ending happened.
While
> driving back following Dan Simoes my car burst into flames.  While pushing
> 100mph behind Dan I started to smell gasoline and the turbo started
sounding
> like a vacuum cleaner.  I turned the radio off and listened carefully,
noise
> got worse, turbo sounded very wizzy.  I flashed Dan to pull off at the
next
> exit.  When I pulled next to him I put the window down and smelled lots of
> gas, plus the engine sounded like it had no exhaust.  I pulled up to a
> little median and immediately shut the engine off.  The second I shut the
> engine down the passenger's side of the hood blew up and black smoke
> starting billowing out of everywhere.  I grabbed whatever I could and
threw
> it out of the car onto the median.  Dan grabbed his little fire
extinguisher
> and dowsed some flames, but to no avail, it got hotter.  Flames started
come
> out from the hood and the paint started turning black.  Luckily a nice
man,
> retired fireman probably, ran out of his pickup with a huge extinguisher
and
> killed the fire after I popped the hood for him.
>
>     Everything rubber in the engine bay melted, absolutely the worst smell
> ever.  Two of the four fuel lines were broken at the metering head, where
> the hard line meets the braided line.  When the problems started all
gauges
> read normally, high oil pressure, low oil temp, low coolant temp, high
> boost, and 100mph on the speedo.  Thanks to the man with the big
> extinguisher the rest if the car was saved, brakes, rims, times,
suspension,
> and probably the engine itself, just nothing rubber around it.  I'm glad
I'm
> alive first off, secondly I'm glad Dan was there to help, thank you!
>
>     I had the car towed back to Double Z motors in NY and left a note on
it,
> $350 tow job and my mum couldn't find the entrance to the shop, so I
waited
> for 2 hours in my burnt out 80, very sad.  I figure I'll salvage
everything
> possible, new pistons, rebuilt head, turbo, and all that if possible.  I
> think this time around I'll be getting a quattro, but my frantic mother
> insisted I get a new car and not touch it, blaming me for the fire, what
are
> mothers for?  I may have parts for sale or not, but I hope to pick up a
> 90q20v and slap on my bits, not the turbo though...
>
>     If anyone has a clue as to why this happened please explain.  The fuel
> lines I used were the stock lines and I had the metal pipes bent up
slightly
> to clear the intake tract, but never bent or molested the part where the
> hard line meets the braided line.  Plus why would the turbo sound very
wizzy
> if a gas leak occurred?  My A/F gauge read that the mixture was fine?  I
> wonder if the turbo seized, but the oil temps where 80C when this happened
> and oil pressure at 5bar.  I'll be doing an autopsy as soon as possible,
if
> the turbo seized then I have some serious beef with guys who rebuilt it,
but
> I can't see how that would cause a fire unless the turbo got so hot it
> started to burn things, but I'd figure the oil temps to be mighty high if
> that happened.  What a horrid night...
>
> Alexander van Gerbig -- '88 80t (crispy engine and stinky interior)  :-(
>
> The Audi  80 Pages-----------------
> http://surf.to/the80pages.com
>
> North Ferrisburg, VT 05473
>
>