Thinking about getting a Mechanicaly-challened '88 90Q. Need diagnosis and parts advice.

[Tyson Varosyan]

The slave cylinder is INSIDE the clutch bell housing on this car?! What were
they thinking?! Man, I think that just scrapped my plans of buying this
thing. I was talking to a local member here in Seattle that works for a used
Audi parts shop and he was telling me about engine/tranny removal on these
cars. Made my skin crawl! I pulled the block on my 3000GT 3 times now, once
on my dad's Subaru Legacy. All came out the top with the tranny. Done 3
clutch jobs, 3000GT, Ford Escort and Toyota Camry. All were done without
pulling the motor. From what this guy tells me, the tranny and motor must
come out together and furthermore must come out the BOTTOM! I cant even
phantom how I am going to get the car high enough (and stable so it doesn't
fall on me) to do that.

Far as the car goes, yea the PO is an idiot. I have no way of testing the
tranny, but everything in the car seems to be in mint condition. When
pushing on the car, the suspension bounced a bit more than I liked, so maybe
shocks are needed... Other than that, the car is mint inside and out. There
is slight wear on the driver seat "blister" and a small scratch in the
leather on the passenger seat. It has a trunk mounted CD changer and a bike
rack. Tires are brand new looking. Like they were installed 100 miles ago or
something. Engine sounded fine, but without load it would have to be really
messed up to sound bad. Body is great, no problems, brakes looked OK. I was
really excited about the car when I first saw it but by the looks of it,
there is a reason why he was not able to sell it for 3 months now.

Ohh yea, the car is Red, my fav Audi color :(

Tyson Varosyan
Technical Manager, Uptime Technical Solutions LLC.
tyson at up-times.com
www.up-times.com
206-715-TECH (8324)

UpTime/OnTime/AnyTime

-----Original Message-----
From: Huw Powell [mailto:audi at humanspeakers.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 1:33 AM
To: tyson at up-times.com
Cc: Quattro at Audifans. Com (E-mail)
Subject: Re: Thinking about getting a Mechanicaly-challened '88 90Q.
Need diagnosis and parts advice.


> Long story short, guy has a 90Q for sale with 148K on it. I think he will
> let it go for $1200

> Symptom #1: Car does not shift. Clutch pedal is limp and sits about 3/4 of
> the way down. Pedal can be moved up by hand and makes a squeaking sound
> under the hood when that is done.
>
> My Diagnosis: Bad master cylinder? Clutch Fluid low? I could not locate
> ether under the hood.

Well, you know where they are, now.

This is usually a sign that the clutch slave is kaput.  This means
yanking the tranny and doing the whole clutch job while you're in there.

It is *possible* that the brake/clutch fluid reservoir was allowed to
run low and a good healthy bleeding (leeches?) will cure it.  But don't
count on it.

I bought my '89 90Q with 180k miles for $300.  Other than typical
niggling age issues, the reason it was cheap?  Shot clutch.

> Symptom #2: When owner went to start the car, the car was in gear. He
didn't
> realize this and cranked it a few times. Although with considerable
> resistance, the car did crank without moving.

So the PO is also an "idiot."

> Diagnosis: There is no way in hell that with a properly engaged clutch
disk
> the engine could turn without the car moving. Obviously the disk is worn
to
> heck or is not fully engaged.

You'll be replacing it anyway if you buy the car...

> Symptom #3: When I did get the car running (by putting it in neutral), it
> was a bit rough but then sounded OK. One thing that I could hear was a
> high-pitch squeal coming from the power steering pump. I checked the fluid
> and it was way low.
>
> Diagnosis: I'm thinking the pump may be getting ready to fail. This is not
> mission-critical, but as I found out later, it is a hella expensive part.

Buy a used one, say, from Chris at Force 5 (see vendor list for contact
info).  Shouldn't be too bad.

> Symptom #4: Radiator on the top cover where the hose goes into it has a
> crack and leaks pretty heavy.
>
> Diagnosis: I still have a 4000CSQ as a parts car. The radiator looked
> identical to me.

Not quite - the 90Q should have an auxiliary radiator, which means the
radiator has an extra hose tap.  I ditched mine for a 4kq radiator, and
used a 4kq lower hose (cut off a bit because the 90Q thermostat housing
sticks out further).  No big deal unless you are A. in Death Valley or
B. will run it hard while using A/C.

> Questions: First off, other diagnosis are wanted! Second, a good parts
> source would be nice too. I went to NAPA and these are the prices I got
from
> them: Clutch kit:$350

Sounds fair.  But might as well buy those parts from Chris as well...

> Also, instructions or a good source oh how to pull the tranny for the
clutch
> change would be nice.

Haha.  undo everything, pull tranny, replace parts (including rear main
seal and tranny input seal while you're in there), replace tranny, do
everything back up.  The Bentley manual has a really cute ten step
description of this.

> Further things to check for on this car would be good to know.

Electrics, and all "options".

At $1200, the car had better be 1. cherry body condition and 2. very
free of bugs otherwise.  It's really only worth about $3-500 otherwise.
  It's a parts car, unless someone wants to invest in that clutch job.

What color is it?

--
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/