Quattro rear calipers

[John Cook <cook@plains.NoDak.edu>]

Greetings,

I'm new to the quattro mailing list. I own a '83 Quattro Coupe in 
excellent shape with about 77K miles. I have had a tough winter with 
the car as a cold-starting problem led to a series of service problems
I wouldn't want any car owner to go thru. The Audi service Tech started
out checking for vacuum leaks, then using the Introductory Service 
Manual for the '83 Quattro determined the Fuel/Timing Computer was 
the problem(approx cost $2000). This worried me so having seen an ad in
a Euro Car magazing for Intended Acceleration I figured Ned Ritchie 
would know a thing or 2 about the Computer and called him. He said
it was more than likely the fuel distributor and not the computer. I
relayed that information and the Audi Tech who flatly told me the 
fuel distributor was not the problem and he was sure the computer 
was the problem. The new computer was ordered and did not fix 
the problem. (I should mention the Audi Tech was following the 
troubleshooting diagrams in the introductory quattro service manual
and even the new computer failed the test.... discrediting the manual)
After some prodding Audi took the computer back and the Audi tech
continued on looking for the problem.

Every sensor was replaced and tested. The fuel accumulator was replaced.
The intake manifold was removed and the carbon was cleaned off the 
valves. Still terrible cold starting. This went on for roughly 4 
weeks solid with 1 week occupying 2 technicians. Finally after all
this, the Tech had been to a Audi school and found a Tech with similar
experiences who confirmed the fuel distributor solution. For about $700
and 3 hours of labor my problem was fixed. 

To make this experience worse than just the cold start problem, I 
checked the car out of the dealership on a weekend of week 4 and 
as soon as I drove away, I noticed a noise in the drivetrain. This 
noise eventually cost about $4200 to replace the majority of bearings
in the center/front differential and the transmission. (1000 of this 
was to replace the clutch as long as everything was apart) This 
service was done in Minneapolis at a dealership that services about
10 Quattro cpes regularily and knew of the fuel distributor problem
as well. 

In any case, it's been a long and frustrating winter. My problem now
is the rear brake caliper is sticking. The Audi part is 500+. Would 
anyone know of a cheaper non-Audi substitute which may be available.
I would appreciate any help. I wish I would have known about this 
quattro mailing list a few months ago as I'm sure it could have 
saved me a great deal of trouble. 

Finally, for those of you that own an early model Quattro Cpe, what 
service manual do you use?

Thanks much and apologies for the long mail,

John Cook		cook@plains.NoDak.edu