4kq and issues

[Colin Weir]

I am very pleased to report that I purchased a 1985 4kq this weekend.
Its my first audi, my first car, and I am very happy with it. It
drives extremely well and runs smoothly. 197k miles have gone
smoothly with this car. The leather interior cleaned up nicely, and
after taking my dad for a ride, he would not believe the car was
pre-1991.

Of course, some issues came with the car, and I was hoping for some
advice on how to go about fixing them. I've never owned a car before,
and never worked on one either, but I'm ready to put some effort into
this. The biggest (or rather noisiest) issue with the car is the
exhaust. The rear muffler has no holes, but clearly needs to be
replaced. I have found the part online from Blau, and will be
ordering it shortly.

Also loud, but without any apparent problem, is the fuel pump. It
makes a fairly loud buzzing sound. My friend advised me to turn up
the radio and not worry about it.

Team Rotary light switch has struck again, leaving me with sort of a
stumper. When I turn on the switch to position 1, the parking and
rear tail lights come on as well as some of the interior display
(window switches, oil temp, battery, diff locks, heater controls).
When I turn the switch to the second position, the headlights come
on, and the parking/tails/interior go back off. I have found that by
roatating the switch backwards half a turn (now past 1, but not all
the way to 2) the parking/tails/displays come back on with the
headlamps. I can live with that little quirk, but with all of that,
the dash lights never come on. Its ok during the day, but driving at
night is a bit tedious without a clear view of the speedometer and
the tach. I recently read a post noting that the dash lights going
out could be related to rear taillights and directional failure. As
noted above, all those work. Is the dash light likely a problem with
the switch, or is a problem with the light itself. Having read a
number of posts about this, I may settle for trying to rig some sort
of alternative dash light...any BTDT?

Rear windows are totally shot. they don't even pretend to move. I
guess I'd like them to work, but I don't know if thats a huge project
either.

Sunroof is barely functional. Very slow. I've been advised to just
leave it closed and forget that its there.

The center heat vents don't seem to blow any heat, although I am sure
the heater is fine. The side vents all blow hot, as does the
defroster and the floor vents. My first guess was that it was somehow
disconnected, but then I realized that increasing the fan speed,
increased the air coming out...its just cold. I usually prefer feet
vents, so I would be content with just shutting off the center vents,
except that it seems like there is constantly a bit of airflow intake
that occurs while driving. I tried shutting the vents, which mostly
alleviates the problem, but the seal around the closing piece has
come loose, so it leaks air around the side. Is there an easy way to
remove the plastic cover so I can reafix the seal?

Thanks in advance for any advice or help!

Colin Weir
'85 4kq