[urq] Scary night update

[Jim Haseltine]

I'd suspect worn dampers and/or one or more soft springs. Years ago I had a 
car where the steering would suddenly go light in corners, not every corner, 
just rare enough to catch me out. Eventually tracked it down to the wrong 
springs fitted on the back axle.
My Ur-q has developed a vibration at approx 80mph, noticable since I had the 
wheel rebalanced a few weeks ago and suffers like hell when the wind is side 
on - almost certainly down to worn dampers, had a set for ages, just haven't 
got around to fitting them.

Regards,

Jim Haseltine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <AUDIJIM at aol.com>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>; <urq at audifans.com>; <acna_pcc at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 2:03 AM
Subject: [urq] Scary night update


> OK, I spent some time under the car this evening. It looks like the A/C
> compressor seized and when it did, the entire front of the magnetic clutch 
> was
> broken off and hanging on the shaft. I drove about 45 miles like that. 
> This sucks
> because it was working great and the system was very tight (leak free). 
> But
> I'm sure it was the original A/C compressor and it has (just like many 
> other
> parts on the car) over 282,000 miles on it now. I have never charged the 
> system
> since I owned the car. Removed belt. I will deal with that later.
>
> As per one lister suggested, I inspected the tires and found nothing wrong
> with them. Tire pressure is where I inflated them to about a week ago. No 
> signs
> of broke internal belts or side wall bubbles. The tires are Toyo Proxes 
> TPT
> fitted on Fuchs. They are only a few months old with only highway miles on 
> them.
> I know that means nothing, but I thought I would mention it. I will rotate
> the tires (wheels) front to rear and test drive. It seems like this car 
> does
> goofy things in the wet. Since it is dry now, I'm sure it will drive like 
> it did
> before I drove it home from DC yesterday.
>
> The lower control arm assembles are fine. No excessive movement when 
> prying
> on them with a pry bar with the car off the ground. I have a torn CV boot 
> on
> the left outer joint. With the car in the air, and holding the wheel at 3 
> an 9,
> I tried moving the wheel to check play, I do not get any play from the 
> ball
> joints or the tie rod ends. Holding the wheel at 12 and 6, same outcome. 
> The
> sway bar mounts at the front of the sub frame and at the control arms are 
> OK.
>
> So at this point, I need to find a good A/C compressor with mag clutch and 
> I
> think I will splurge on some new axles just because I don't remember ever
> changing them.
>
> Let me also note that yesterday, when the car was shaking and acting like 
> the
> wheel was going to fall off, the car was hard to keep in the lane (this is
> where the pucker factor was at full force) as if the alignment changed 
> when I
> was on the gas. Also, there was no change in the condition when I locked 
> the
> center or rear diffs. But in an instant, everything was fine, like nothing
> happened. It just started to happen more often and for longer periods of 
> time as the
> trip progressed. The worst was when I was driving with everything going 
> good,
> and a tractor trailer passed me, and then my steering would act up and the
> car wanted to swerve until I let off the gas.
>
> Jim Furdyn
> 1983 UrQuattro #170
> 1987 4000cs Q
> 1987 Euro 200/5000cs TQ 282,000 miles
> 1996 A6 Quattro Avant
> 1987 Mercedes Benz Truck model 1219
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