update #4 on A200QA poor running/smoke etc - car much improved!

[David Michael]

Some of you may remember that since December/January I had been working to
solve what started out to be a slight driveability problem that progressed
into barely running and then hugely smoking.

Well, I diagnosed the smoking to be the Turbo (vs blown HG). After the
installation of  1 used turbo, 1 new cat and 1 new O2 sensor, the car ran
better (well, ran), but still would bog down (not miss) upon acceleration -
I can only describe as feeling like it skipped a tooth on the timing belt,
and then skipped back. So I called the mechanic who installed the Turbo (
NOT the yahoos who spent 20 hours finding nothing), and he said two things:
drive the piss out of it and PUT IN NEW GAS.

So 30 seconds after filling it with Shell premium, it was a new car. Full
boost (up to a point), no bogging. SO - LESSON LEARNED - CHECK THE EASY
THINGS FIRST!

Only issues were a load "pshhhhhh"  that occurred at anything over 1.3 bar
and the fact that I only get A/C from the dash vent when decelerating.

I traced the  Pshhhhhh sound to  a crack in the lower "Michelin man" hose
connecting the turbo outlet to the silencer (well OK, it's the 1st place I
looked). The part is of course NLA, but I think I will be able to make a
Silicon "adapter hose" work. I suspect the vent issue is a bunged up check
valve cause by coil contamination (the turbo was also leaking oil into the
inlet). Any other suggestions?

But here's the  thing that riles me. I paid so called "experts" (one who
drives a Audi 20V and the other who owns a URQ) to spend 20 hours
"diagnosing" my car, and then conclude that there was a "crack in the
diaphragm in the fuel distributor"  when in fact all that was wrong was BAD
GAS  and cracked turbo hose. OK, shame on me for not figureing it out
myself, but sheesh....

Lessons learned....

Thanks to all for your suggestion over the last 5 months.

Dave