Re: Shade tree mechanics

[rdh@sli.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   Okay, so I changed the earl & earl filter on my '88 80Q this weekend - 
   FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!  (And I've actually gotta confess that I did it 
   myself because I was too embarrassed to have anyone else see what my oil 
   looks like.)   So, since I discovered it requires taking off an 

Tsk tsk . . .

   entire body panel and finding the little rubber hex nuts way the hell 
   up in the wheel wells, does that qualify me as an Official Shade Tree 
   Mechanic?

Well, you've passed the midterm, anyways!

   The second question is:  am I being stupid?  Do you usually let someone 
   else do it for you?  The screws were all stripped, so it seemed whoever 
   has done it before has not been very patient about getting the panel off...

It never ceases to amaze me how a car company like Audi, who proudly
tout their "Technology" leadership, and who build engines that easily
run for 200,000 miles without a whimper (assuming you change their
oil!), with car bodies that are quintuply-mega-galvanized-to-never-
rust, will hide frequent maintenance items like oil filters behind
underbody trays ("panels") held in place by cheapshit easily-rusted
guaranteed-to-strip-by-the-fifth-cycle sheetmetal screws and kindred.

Considering their obvious jealousy of JapaneseGizmoitis in the race to
see who can clutter up their cars with more little odds'n'ends, why
can't they place the oil filter (and the *#*&@&^$#%ing air filter!!!!)
where it can be serviced?

Grumble...

					-RDH