Re: 4000 Quattro Question

[Mikes Garage <gml2@Ra.MsState.Edu>]

On Sun, 13 Nov 1994, Bruce Bell wrote:
> >
> >I have two questions that I am hoping other Quattro owners may be able to
> >address.  First, a few years back while I was in Germany a friend of mine
> >who owned a Quattro coupe, would routinely lock the center differential
> >when driving at moderately high speeds (approx. 120-140 km/h) on a WET
> >autobahn.  This, he claimed, settled the car down and improved braking at
> >higher speeds in the wet.  Is doing the same thing a good idea on an '84
> >4000 Quattro (I am a relatively new owner, still waiting for the first
> >snowfall to try out the 4wd advantage). 
> 
> The car has 4 wheel brakes whether or not the center differential is locked.
> 4 Wheel drive, Audi's nor anyone elses, does not help braking. 
I believe you need to do some research on this, 4 wheel drive does help 
braking, in road test the car stops shorter with the diff locked than 
without.  (also not concerning abs) It improves stability when braking, 
if you have a quattro try it and see for yourself. > 
> We just had a thread on this. I paid a shop in Colo. Springs about $60 for
> the fix. It is a small gear that either breaks or gets mis-aligned as some
> have reported. Conventional wisdom has the gear breaking when reseting the
> trip odometer while the car is moving and/or the mechanism which operates
> the oxygen sensor warning light causes it to break.  Fairly common problem.
> a cheap plastic gear breaks and they will not sell you the 2 or 3 
dollar gear to fix it.  It has happened on 5 audis we have owned, only if 
someone would make a metal gear it might not ever break.  Its a problem 
with all VDO gauges.> > 
> 
> Bruce
> 
> bbell@csn.org (Bruce Bell)
> 
>