Re: '91 200TQ Electrical Gremlins

[rjandrew@post.cis.smu.edu (R Justin Andrews)]

> 
> Mr. Jerry Beer writes about weird dash problems on his 200 TQ. 
> When you turn the lights on, the turn signal indicators light up,
> the center of the dash goes dark, and the hi-beam indicator
> glows.  Unbelievable, my aunt's '91 200TQW that I've been
> driving for the past couple of weeks does the exact same thing. 
> Here is where I'm at:  I looked at Bentley, and all of the above
> circuits share the same return in the wire harness, outside the
> instrument cluster.  This return goes to the defroster switch bulb
> return, after which it finally goes to chassis.  I figured it's either a
> bad ground in the harness, or a bad ground in the instrument
> cluster.  I took the instrument cluster out, opened the connector,
> and added a ground wire to the harness, straight to chassis. 
> Plugged everything back together, and no change.  I haven't
> opened up the instrument cluster to check out the PC board, but
> my guess is its a bad ground trace.  I called our local dealer
> (Stammler in Boulder. CO) and asked if there was any chance of
> getting Audi to pay for it.  I'll let you know the outcome, but it will
> be a few weeks, as my aunt has her car back and is out of town.
My dad has the same exact problem with his 200 but is determined it is his
dash bulbs.
Later,
Rich Andrews