In case you don't have enough useless E-mail already...

["Theodore R. Harlan" <trharlan@one.net>]

I drove the 5k home this weekend to work on it with pop. He's a smart 
one...
Anyway. I am happy to announce that with the exception of the coolant 
temp sender, I have fixed everything (except the body, too) on the 
beaut. Had an interesting time trying to repair the A/C programmer. Took 
it apart, (lost the bolts for the glovebox-- searched for 90 mins until 
I checked inside the box itself) tested the solenoids, even removed them 
to be sure that the diodes between them weren't throwing anything off, 
checked the vacuum hoses, checked power supply, etc. Couldn't find 
anything broken. After much swearing, reassembled the thing, put it back 
in--- worked great. My guess is that the bearing had seated itself 
inside one of the solenoids and the uprooting and rotating of the thing 
loosened it up enough. I will accept other hypotheses as this one has me 
baffled.

Also fixed the sunroof. Just had to install new (used) update parts-- 
you know, those two potmetal guides that attach to the sunroof--- but 
the parts I used had a hairline crack (I epoxied). Anyone know what 
those cost new?

Lastly, I took the speedo to a speedo shop for a calibration. They said 
that the hair spring was messed up (they were right, though I think that 
they may have broken the damn thing). The question here is: Must I go to 
VDO for a new hair spring? Will they install the hair spring and 
calibrate? Anyone dealt with VDO at all?

Anyone know when Audi changed the font to a blocky style on the deck 
emblems of the 5k?

One more thing, there is another hair spring on the odo which looks like 
it closes a circuit-- the red and brown wires--- is this the miles 
elapsed OXS odometer that I see in the wiring diagrams?

And, yeah, one more thing-- my rear defrost light is intermittent, 
though it seems that the defrost works all the time when the switch is 
in the on position. This can't be normal. Can it?

Finally, on the car itself I have spent around $2000 on repairs to get 
it working (nearly shipshape). The guy I bought it from was a real 
Jacka** that knew NOTHING about Audi repair or auto repair in general. 
It feels SO GOOD to have her knocking on perfection's door. 

I've said it before, but, it feels great to drive a nicer car than one's 
parents. Especially when that "one" is an unemployed recent graduate.


I salute you, Audi gods. And please pick on someone else for awhile.
--Ted Harlan