the saga continues(pretty pictures, even)

[Brett Dikeman]

So I get off the T this afternoon and Eli's waiting("To the shop,
Jeeves!"), and along the way he dispenses the good news/bad news.
Good news is the t-belt is done, engine's happy.

Bad news: the master cylinder is truly shot.  Big time.  So there
goes my plan to drive the car home- pedal's on the floor and not
coming back, which it apparently did when they went to bleed the
front brakes to make sure it wasn't just air.

This created a problem- mainly, no car, home = 30 minutes away.
Kudos to the SRS guys(www.srsvw.com)- Eli offered right off the bat
to drive me home, a good 30 minutes out of -his- way.  Friday night,
had plans with his girlfriend; -that- is customer care, my friends.

So back to the t-belt.

Word to the wise- be CAREFUL with the crank pulley if yours gets
stuck on.  It is a special order, $40+ part(!), and if your last
mechanic was stupid enough to slather locktite all over the thing(my
ex mechanic was; note the use of the word "ex"; as I said to the
guys, "What the HELL did he do that for?  It's keyed.  It's trapped
in place by the -other- pulley.  Was it -going- somewhere?
Noooooo!"), it WILL break if you try and get it off.

Hope you're all payin' attention, because this is known as "the money shot":

http://frank.mercea.net/~brett/pics/car/audi/tbelt/crank_gear.jpg

That's -after- it was heavily bead-blasted, which is why you can't
see green goo all over the inside.  You can still see remnants of the
loctite on the inside surface; the area hidden to the camera is even
worse.


Best title I can think of for this one is "Livin' on the Edge":

http://frank.mercea.net/~brett/pics/car/audi/tbelt/idler.jpg

And this, kids, is why you DO NOT USE Green Crap Coolant in your Audi:

http://frank.mercea.net/~brett/pics/car/audi/tbelt/waterpump.jpg

Note the extensive rusting(yes, apparently the dealer/whoever did the
60k service used a cheap waterpump) and seal degradation(there's an
o-ring in there, somewhere.)

The saga may continue, but at least it has an end in sight.  I was
right- I do have a toasted MC, and when they tried to bleed it,
apparently, the pedal dropped to the floor- and never returned.  They
pulled it off, and sure enough, corrosion all over the place(I'll
have a picture monday.)  Car's getting flatbedded home(AAA saves the
day?) where I'll do the MC change myself- I can get the parts
cheaper, the labor's free, and it's an easy job.

Nothing escapes Mr. Shine, and he discovered a curious setup;
apparently, one of my previous mechanics(no, not the t-belt mechanic,
yes, a supposed "Quattro God") decided when he "adjusted" my
proportioning valve that it also needed a US-style hose clamp(!)
somehow attached(he couldn't describe it, but the profanity indicated
it was something truly Special.  The clamp is also enormous.)  Dick
couldn't make heads or tails of it, so he ripped it off the car,
discovered the valve was seized, and soaked it with some penatrating
oil; we'll see on monday how it looks, if it's moving freely again or
not.  Anyone know if they can be disassembled?

Brett
--
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"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/