engine stalled and won't start: '88 80Q

[Tony Hoffman]

To second what LA said, I'd be there to help out as well. Yes, LA,
unfortunately, she's in Bellvue, WA IIRC.

THere is a frown because it's an interference engine. That means, more than
likely the pistons and valves have hit, but this can usually be determined
with a good borescope by looking at the tops of the pistons. If this is in
fact the case, the head has to come off, and bent valves replaced. This is
not an inexpensive job at a shop, generally. However, if you love the car,
no reason not to fix it. You dont' have to look at market value or anything
of the sort if you don't want to, just decide if the car is what you want
and worth whatever it ends up costing to repair.

My car is far from a garage queen, in fact it's pretty similar to your car.
Noisy lifters, clunking RF strut, non-runctioning AC, clutch toward the end
of it's life, cracked rear taillight, etc. However, it's what I enjoy
driving, and puts a smile on my face every time I do drive it. Which, since
it's my daily driver, is every day. I've put about 20K on it since January,
so it gets driven for sure. BTW, mine is an '86 4000Q, the predecessor to
your car.

If you decide you don't want to tackle the belt (once you have determined
that is in fact, teh issue) I'd recommend just leaving it together and
taking it to your local mechanic. There isn't much you can do in terms of
time savings, as these belts are fairly simple, but the meat of it is in
removing the crankshaft pulley, changing the water pump, idler, and front
seals.

HTH,
Tony

On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 1:31 PM, Tess McMillan <tessmcm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sorry, my cheap ISP is having email sending problems. Hope you don't
> mind my using an alternate email address.
>
> Why is there a frowny/sad face next to the topic of a broken timing
> belt? Is this some kind of catastrophic event if all I was doing was
> sliding out of the garage? Is it catastrophic because I've tried to
> start the car several times afterwards?
>
> I realize that the car isn't worth a whole lot but I really like it. I
> don't mind that the headliner sags and the foam in the door panels has
> lots its oomph so the panels are floppy. (I figured I'd fix that at
> some point.) I don't mind that I have to stick a
> kleenex under the stem for the lights to keep the headlights on. I
> just ignore the flashing indicator for overheating because the
> aftermarket water reservoir doesn't hold the same amount of coolant --
> maybe it even leaks -- I just keep an eye on the engine temperature.
> And the power steering fluid seems to be leaking as well, so I just
> keep topping that up. My horn got disconnected and, while I can hear
> the connector rattling around inside my Momo steering wheel, I've been
> too busy to get to all these little things. And my trunk light needs
> to be replaced. Some girl at school sideswiped me so the left front
> quarter panel is a little smooshed and the turn signal plastic got
> broken. But everything still works.
>
> I recently discovered I have Asperger's so maybe I hold on to my car
> because of that. But does it really matter? I really like the way it
> handles. I like all that 80s stuff -- if I could just find parts...
>
> I have over 200,000 miles on the engine and have never heard about the
> timing belt before....
>
> I googled and found a procedure to replace a timing belt but some of
> the meatier steps I would not be comfortable doing. I could do the
> steps at the beginning, getting past the radiator though.
>
> I was thinking my car would need to be flatbedded to my mechanic, and
> trying to puzzle out whether I should start pulling stuff off the
> front of the car -- if it turns out to be the timing belt. I want to
> go out and try Louis-Alain's procedure but I am a little worried about
> the car sticking further out into the street if it rolls. It's right
> at the end of my driveway right now. I wonder if I put blocks behind
> the rear wheels whether I could prevent the car from rolling too far.
>
> Cars towed to my mechanic are just left out in the lot overnight and I
> wonder if it would be more attractive for a thief to see a car already
> taken partially apart vs. looking all locked up.
>
> I know you guys are the type to do the procedure yourselves, but given
> that I probably wouldn't be up to that, what would you suggest I do?
>
> And, are your Quattros your daily drivers these days are are they your
> collector cars?
>
> Sorry for the long email!
>
> Been trying to think of a way to get the car up hill and back into the
> garage....
>
> Tess
>
> --
> Det beror inte på vem du är; det beror bara på vad du gör
>