Changing air filter?

[MXHOWES at aol.com]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Audi and magnificent German engineering.  
The air filter ..... it 'should' be a simple task of removing four clips and  
presto!, you install a new one ... but NOT. 
If your car is a 20v, it may be different, but for my '88 80Q 10v here's  
what I did...
Pop loose the 4 clips holding the lower box.
Remove the two large hose clamps attaching the CIS unit to the TB
Remove air ducting from headlight area to Air filter.
(At this point I can't remember if I had to remove the headlight but on my  
4000Q, removing the headlight makes the job much easier)
Push, pull, pry, squeeze on the old filter to get it out ...(get another  
6-pack)
Push, push, pry & squeeze the new filter in.
Now the bad news. Since this is such a mother of a job you may decide to  get 
larger filter to extend the service interval but this makes the job even  
harder to do.
I would never trust this job to anybody else, I have seen many filters  that 
were installed by 'professionals' on flat rate, that were crammed  in hastily 
and not seated properly.
 
If you think this job is bad, just hope and pray that your heater core  
doesn't start to leak.
 
I have sold my '88 80Q and picked up a 98 A4 2.8. Although still difficult,  
the air filter was 10 times easier to change than on the 80Q or 4KQ..... I was 
 relieved, then I wanted to change my thermostat and unfortunately on this V6 
you  must remove the front end of the car (or put it in to 'service' 
position)  and do an entire timing belt job to get at the thermostat. This is a $1100 
job  from the dealer .....back to "the wonderful world of Audi and magnificent 
 German engineering"
 
Jim
85 4KQ
98 A4 Avant



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