[V8] issues with the V8q

[Mike Arman]

> doubldz at aol.com To: v8 at audifans.com, quattro at audifans.com Subject: [V8] issues with the V8q
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> Hello all:
>
> The temperature light has come on for the second time since owning this car. It also happened
> just a few weeks ago. The last time, I checked the coolant, it was a little low so I topped it
> off and went on my merry way. Today, I was late for work so I took "other" transportation. I
> haven't yet put a 1000 miles on this car so I'm wondering if there is something else I should be
> looking at.
>
> I've noticed that the little "information center" in the middle of the dash board goes wacky
> every now and then. Sometimes it flashes "E" when I have plenty of gas and sometimes it doesn't
> display the miles per gallon number and just remains blank (which is a blessing these days).
>
> Suggestions, help would be appreciated.
>
> Dee 1990 V8q pearl Bella


This kind of electronic flakiness is often caused by cold solder joints in the PC boards behind the 
speedometer.

When they made the boards, the soldering was done by a "wave solderer" which solders all 147 
bazillion connections in one pass. Problem is that if the device is turned up hot enough to properly 
solder the large interconnect pins, the other components melt. If it is turned down enough so the 
tiny components don't melt, the interconnect pins won't be done right.


Cure - remove dash pad, remove speedometer, remove PC boards, using a small soldering pencil, 
carefully solder each and every interconnect pin (some will be visibly loose), re-assemble.

No cost for parts, takes about three hours the first time - and it is pretty specialized labor (you 
can ruin the PC boards with excessive heat, so don't "learn to solder" on this job!), your dealer 
CANNOT do this, they would change the whole unit under warranty - and the new ones were often no 
better than the old ones.


What I'd suggest is this - the V8Q list should find two or three sets of speedometer PC boards and 
send them to me - I'll resolder them and when someone needs a set, I'll ship them out exchange. 
Alternatively, I could just do your boards and return them, if out-of-service isn't a problem.

R&R would have to be done at the car (duh), but I can fix the PC boards here.

Cost would be two way postage plus some nominal amount for the resoldering - I don't drink beer, so 
we'd have to find some other way, small, unmarked bills in a briefcase, PayPal, nothing major, this 
is about an hour's work. $40 plus postage and bulbs? I think this is also a good time to check and 
replace the various dash lights - we are there anyway, and it will never be any easier. I'd need a 
source of the dash lights, I wonder if we can make some LED replacements and never worry about this 
again?

Best Regards,

Mike Arman
90 V8Q