RE: Time to pay the Audi gods?

[Porsray@aol.com]

A couple of ideas based on 109,000 miles on my Coupe Quattro:

1)
I need some input on the following symptoms.  I have a 1991
Audi 90 quattro 20v, with about 63K miles.  It has developed
a rhythmic shimmy at the front end, matching tire rotation,
evidenced by a 1/4 inch wobble in the steering wheel at low
speeds and a vibration at higher speeds.  It also has a
corresponding squeak also timed to tire rotation.  The wobble
could have been a bad tire, but the squeak seems out of
place. 

Shimmy is likely a bad belt in the tire; would sugggest rotating the tires
front-to-back and see if it goes away.

Squeak might be a rock or debris stuck between the rotor/hub and the 
sheet steel brake splash shield.  This has happened to me several times.
Also, have noticed the paint was peeling off the splash shield.  Removing
the shields,  stripping the paint with Naval Jelly and a wire brush, then 
repainting them seemed to eliminate the propensity for having rocks jam
betthe shield and rotor.

2)
Also, the car will no longer reach operating temperature
underway.  In traffic the temperature is fine.  On the road, it
remains pegged at the lowest level.  Bad radiator
thermostat?

Does this happen all the tiime, or only sporatically?  I have noticed
a bad connector in a multi-pin connection unit located just behind
the power steering pump; pushing in on the individual wires restored
the temperature gauge to functional (mine was sporatically reading
zero at highway speeds, then returning to normal after stopping or 
turning a sharp bend).

Good luck!

Ray Calvo (porsray@aol.com)
1990 Coupe Quattro