[urq] Scary night update, culprit found

[AUDIJIM at aol.com]

First, I want to thank everyone who chimed in with their suggestions.

As preventative maintenance, I purchased two new CV axles, mostly because the 
driver side outer boot was split and they have never been replaced before (at 
least since I've owned the car) I installed them this afternoon. The driver 
side boot was split, but still very lubricated. The passenger side CV axle 
looked fine. The boots on that axle were good and everything seemed OK. Before I 
returned the axles cores, I removed the CV boots to inspect. The driver side 
axle CV was OK, even thought the boot was split. The passenger side CV looked OK 
until I cleaned it. The cage or retainer that holds the CV joint ball bearing 
was cracked. While I was driving, it must have been separating under torque 
and misaligned the ball bearing within the CV joint. That in turn gave me the 
out of balance sensation that I was experiencing. It felt as if the passenger 
front wheel was trying to rip itself from the front of the car and engage the 
"auto-lane-change" feature. As soon as I let up off the accelerator, the 
cage/retainer would contract back to it's original configuration, align the ball 
bearings and seem to then operate normal.

My new A/C compressor should arrive on Monday. I'll switch to 134A at that 
time. I'll use Ester (sp?) oil after I flush the system and then charge with 
70-80% of what it calls for with R-12. The good thing about using Ester oil, is 
that it is compatible with both R-12 and R-134A. So If my new HVAC system does 
not cool well, I can switch back to R-12.


Cheers,

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