Test drove an A4 2.8 quattro

[quk@sievers.com (Phil Payne)]

In message <9612041440.ZM1296@platypus> Jason Benderly writes:

> There is one thing that concerns me about the Audi.  The engine is
> soooo shoe-horned in there.  How does anybody do work on it.  Could
> not even see the alternator.  How the hek do you get to the oxygen sensors.
> What about them spark plugs.  I realize that this is supposed to be a low
> maintenance engine,  nevertheless,  all cars need maintenance.  Do Audi
> mechanics know something I don't.  Or do they have real thin hands.
> Any comments on this.

Well, the joke says:  "A true Audi nut takes his front right headlight out more 
often that he takes his wife out."
 
That's how you change the air filter on an ur-quattro - you take out the right
headlight.  I have to change my clutch master cylinder at the weekend, and the 
microfiche says I have to remove the steering column and all the other pedals.

Audi mechanics don't have thin hands, but they _do_ have (at least in Germany) 
a bewildering array of service tools.  Audi assumes that maintenance shops are 
_fully_ equipped - not just two wrenches and a hammer.  They always use the 
ideal fastener for the job.  On complex jobs you find yourself using hex 
keys, cross-head screwdrivers, shallow and deep sockets, open-ended wrenches, 
spline drive bits, etc., each for just one fastener before you move to the next.

--
 Phil Payne
 phil@sievers.com
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club