Re: Shade tree mechanics

["Anthony K.B. Chan" <chan@seattleu.edu>]

I agreed with you. I hate changing the air filter in my 85' 5000s. I always
had a hard time closing those clips on the airbox. I had very little strengh
in my fingers. Those clips are so @#$%ing hard to close. After the second 
air filter I ended up letting my mechanic change it for me. I got very 
small hand, I can reach around the back of the airbox to get to the clip but
I do not have enough strength in my fingers to close the clip up. Another
thing I hate about the 5000s is the OXS light on the dash. It's surely a 
chore to reset the thing. I don't mind changing OXS sensor, it always come
off very easily with a 22mm open end box wrench but I really hate resetting 
light on the dash (last time after I put the dash back together I realized 
the something was not working correctly then I found out one of big ribbon
connector was not connected, so I ended up taking the whole thing apart
again! :( )

I haven't change the air filter in my 100 V6 yet but it actually looks a
lot easier than the 5000s. By the way I found out it had two 3 wires
OXS sensor! That's going to be expensive and the way it look I am going to
need to get a real OXS socket/tool to change it since my old trusty 22mm
open end box wrench is not going to fit :(

I always wonder too why Audi can design such an unclutter engine layout i.e.
not like a zillions hoses and tubes like all the mainstream Japanese cars
like Honda, Toyota and Mazda but then Audi will locate some of regular
maintanence items in such oddball places, especially the engine bay in
5000s and 100 have so much room in it.

Anthony Chan
chan@seattleu.edu
85' 5000s forsale
92' 100 V6

On Mon, 4 Dec 1995, Robert D. Houk wrote:

> 
>    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
> 
>