Loads of 88 90Q questions

[Huw Powell]

> Bought this car last November, it made it all the way through winter as a
> very reliable daily driver.

cool...

> Now that winters over and the summer car is out, its time to look after all
> the neglect the winter car has received.
> 
> 1. Temp gauge reads low, never makes it out of the bottom 1/5th of the gauge
> or so.  Read up on MFTS.  Am running 3 pin sensor.  Harness plug has been
> replaced, wiring brittle/ugly.  Connected pin 1/T of harness connector to
> GND, temperature gauge goes up to 2nd highest mark, but not the max on the
> gauge.. 

then either something is interfering in the circuit that powers the 
gauge (if your fuel gauge works properly, then the regulator works fine) 
or there is excess resistance in the harness/connector.  You might try 
taking your instrument cluster apart and putting it back together, just 
for fun, to see if it improves any contacts.

It could also be the gauge.

> Anyone have any
> idea where to measure wire resistance on this segment of harness, and what
> the proper value is ?

if you can find the appropriate terminal on the connector to the back of 
the inst cluster (you know, while you have it out...), it should read 
approximately zero ohms to the appropriate terminal in the MFTS connector.

> 2. Power steering expels all pentosin via reservoir overflow.  System has
> been empty/dead for months.  Note that reservoir ends of power steering
> hoses are wet.  

Oooh, sounds disgusting.  Sounds like you're going to need to do some 
dismantling anyway, so why not just try cleaning the various bits as you 
remove them (hoses, pump, reservoir) and see how they pass fluid?

Otherwise, I have have no blinding insights for you here.

> 3. a/c compressor totally soaked in caked on oil/grime.  
> 
> 3a: Where does this come from typically ?

Spilled oil on filling, cam and crank seals that leak or leaked, cam 
cover gasket leaks or leaked...

> 4. 1st and 3rd gear feel almost identical when shifting.  Have to push to
> the left _Very_ hard to get gear lever to select 1st.  1st to 2nd motion
> seems to have a slight (10 degree towards passenger side) diagonal motion
> (vs. centerline of the car.)
> 
> 4a: is it possible to adjust the shifter location such that 1st is on a
> reasonable spot ?
> 4b: can the off-axis component of motion be removed ?  Can you reposition
> the shift lever/rotate it to remove this ?

Yes, basically.  In all likelihood you will need a new part or two in 
there first, but you can fine tune where the "center" of the shifter 
position is.  Your car has a rod that connects the shifter to the 
transmission, about $80 or so I think, that is not too too hard to 
replace.  I can't remember if there is also a pivot ball thing in the 
shift lever housing too, but if there is (I think there is), those can 
go bad too.

> 5. car came with aftermarket head unit and 10 disc changer, in addition to a
> delta radio from a 100
> 
> 5a: easiest way to run changer cable to trunk ?

Down one side near the doors.  Under the carpet you will find plastic 
protectors for the cars own wiring, run it through there.  On the pass 
side there is only a forward protector, since there are few or no wires 
rear of that, stock.  I added one to cover some wires for my stereo.

There are pictures of what I mean here:

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/stereo-90.htm

> 5c: is there anyway to "blend" the front and rear antennas to work with a
> single-antenna input aftermarket radio ?  How do the front and rear antennas
> differ ?

5c-i - if you find out, please let us know.  Aftermarket diversity 
system, perhaps?

5c-ii - the rear antenna, in my experience, does not work as well when 
the defroster is turned on.  They seem about equal otherwise, maybe a 
slight edge to the rear one.  They are both amplified (separately).

> 6. Purchased the Bentley B3 Repair manuals on CD.  Are there any wiring
> schematics at all in this entire mess ?  

There should be, but I got so worn out just using it to print one or two 
diagrams I never bothered to install in on my next computer.

The paper manuals are more fun, anyway - they get greasy and messy over 
the years, you can "bookmark" them with post-it notes, and you can 
add/subtract/correct things as the years go by.  Heck, you could even 
tuck printouts from the list into them.

> 7. Trunk Lid Sucks.  When I have hit the open button a trunk, I expect it to
> move.  Opening the trunk on this car is awful.  Is this the expected
> behavior with stock trunk shocks ?  Are there any uprated trunk shocks that
> give the trunk lid a "boost" to let you know its opened ?  Anyone
> retrofitted springs to accomplish same function ?

Well, your expectation is not what that trunk does.  You press the 
button, it *unlatches*.  Then you have to lift, and the struts take up a 
lot of the weight, and of course hold it open.

I checked mine, which has fairly decent struts, and it felt like about 
10-15 pounds of lift was required to get things going.  Hmm, just went 
outside with my UPS scale, pushing up on the spoiler with it actually 
read around 30-35 pounds for the first few inches.

Those might be partly worn struts, though, they're just the best ones I 
had out of two or three sets.  Anyway, what's a 35 pound forearm curl 
for a big strapping young guy like yourself?  New struts, by the way, 
aren't too expensive, and are pretty easy to install.

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/

http://www.airamericaradio.com/