4kq got towed without dollies ... advice?

[Mihnea Cotet]

Bob,

A non-torsen car (yours obviously) cannot have any damage at all if towed
with the center diff unlocked for less than 50 miles at a speed lower than
50 mph of memory serves.

So don't worry, it has more than probably no damage at all!

HTH,

Mihnea



At 13:39 16/01/2003 -0800, Bob H. wrote:
>My '85 4000 quattro died on me today in a parking lot and would not start
>back up.  This just a couple days after replacing plugs, wires,
>distributor cap, and rotor (and having it run better for those couple days
>than it has since I bought it).
>
>Anyway, to my point.  I called a towing company and specifically said that
>the car was AWD, and needed to be towed with a flatbed.  I was told it
>would take probably 2 hours to get a flatbed out, so I left the keys in it
>and asked that it be towed to my house in my absence (it's 19 degrees out
>and snowing heavily ... I didn't feel like standing around waiting).
>
>The car showed up at my house being TOWED by a flatbed.  That's right,
>rear wheels in the air, fronts rolling ... behind a perfectly good (but
>empty) flatbed.  The driver said he didn't think it was AWD (although it
>seems odd that they would send a flatbed for a non-AWD car).  He "saw the
>driveshaft and figured it was RWD".  According to my owner's manual, the
>car MUST be towed with all 4 wheels off the ground.
>
>I've already called the company and was told "when [I] get it started,
>call [them] if [I] am having any problems".  This brings me to my
>question.  Should I expect to immediately have symptoms from this?  How
>should I proceed?  I feel like they must have significantly shortened the
>life of my center diff, whether it fails tomorrow or next year.  Anyone
>have this experience and do something about it?
>
>Thanks in advance for any advice.  I used google.com and didn't find
>anything particularly applicable.
>
>-Bob Hodgeman
>  '85 4ksq
>
>=====
>Racing makes heroin addiction seem like a vague wish for something salty.
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
>http://mailplus.yahoo.com