q-list income

["Haley, Doug" <HaleyD@yankelovich.com>]

I made the mistake of mentioning, within hearing of my S4 that it was time 
for the 60,000 mile service.  Figured I should do the timing belt and water 
pump at the same time.  So, just to make it exciting (things come in 
bunches), the little god that lives in the S4 decided to go wild:  the power 
steering pump started leaking, the Bose crapped out in a cloud of negrous 
smoke, and the drivers seat switches stopped functioning (oh, too bad dear, 
I guess *I'm* the only one who can drive the S4 this week ;-)

This graduated the whole process from "I'll do it myself this weekend" to 
"time to take it to a *real* mechanic."  But, because I do most of my own 
work, I don't know any!

Quattro list to the rescue <Thanks, Dan!>  Actually, I called around to get 
some estimates.  Pray Audi (dealer) in Greenwich,CT=$1800 plus maybe $1500 
for the replacement PS pump.  Fairfield Audi (dealer) $1400, etc. etc. 
 Based upon Dan Simoes recommendation, I took the poor beast to Greg Haymann 
at Autofirme.  Nice clean shop, well organized.  He fixed all but the Bose, 
which I'll ditch if I can--big PITA :-(   He called around for best price on 
a PS pump and then ended up getting a seal kit and rebuilding it for me 
(which is what I would have done myself).  All of this done for a mere total 
of $817.  So I figure, 20 minutes/day of reading posts times maybe 240 
days/year I get around to it = perhaps 80 hours.  If I saved $2500 vs. Pray, 
the list is paying me $31.25 per hour for reading it!
*****************************************************
Doug Haley (haleyd@yankelovich.com)
"There is no fundamental difference between a sufficiently advanced 
technology and magic" (A.C.Clarke)
'92 S4 (mine)
'95 Saab Turbo Conv (hers)
'91 Sentra SE-R (theirs)
'61 Alfa Giulietta Spider Veloce (ours)
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