91 200q FS Questions

[John Cooper <jacques.noir@worldnet.att.net>]

>The Audi gods are being cruel in plopping a pearl 91 200q in my back yard for
sale! After waiting a few weeks for "price tempering" I have gone and
done an
intial inspection and test drive of this car. I have a few questions
now...first my impressions:

>Cosmetic condition: The overall exterior cosmetic condition is okay. The
Pearl White matches on all panels and there are no signs of body work.
Paint
is okay...not great, 3 minor parking lot pressure dings. BBS 15x? wheels
are
in good shape. Interior is where the cosmetics fall off...the seats are
the
sports type, driver's side has a small tear and major wear from the
person
getting in and out of the car (why so much wear with so low miles
doesn't
make sense to me), passenger's side front seat is pretty good. The
steering
wheel has damage on the top which is wrapped with electrical tape (gag)
and I
have yet to look to see if repairable...if just stitching, I can
probably fix
it. The Gearshift knob needs to be replaced. The trim for the parking
brake
is trashed and should be replaced. There are major soil marks on the
head
liner around the sunroof switch area. The driver's door speaker grill is
cracked from being kicked or some such thing. There is a very strong
campfire
type odor to the whole interior which is strange but I think can be
detailed
out.

>Mechanical condition: This car has 119k miles. According to a mechanic's
inpection done for an out of town buyer (a Seatle woman whose 91 200q
was
recently totaled..are you a lister????) the car needs rotors, has had
the
timing belt done recently, and has no other "problems". I have not seen
this
report...I am skeptical. No major rack leaks (yet), ditto for the PS
pump.
There is a pentosin leak around the resevoir though...
>There is also oil on the front of the oil pan which may indicate a main seal leak or something in
the motor.
Mike, check VERY CAREFULLY under the PS pump.  I mistook the same oil
leak for engine oil, but test it with your finger.  If it smells like
crankcase oil (very distintive smell) then it is an engine oil leak, but
in my case it was the PS pump.  Much easier to repair than the front
seal.

>The brakes are not UFO's and I thought the rotors didn't look all
that worn, but perhaps they have been turned before. Bomb test okay. 
>I noticed a barb fitting on the wastegate which had no (vacuum line size) hose
connected...don't know if this is correct-any comments?

Nothing is supposed to be connected here on 200s.  ECU takes care of
waste gate control.

>I saw no other
obvious mechanical issues...Suposedly the car has all maintenace
records...I
have yet to see them though. My opinion is that documented maintenance
history (with good practices of course) adds to the value, lack of
records
will be a deduction in my opinion as well.

>Driving impression: First off...in a word WOW! I forgot what a big body tq
drives like since it has now been 3 1/2 years since I lost the '87
5ktqwagon
to the ex. This car is very tight and right...no strange noises,
excellent
handling in spite of dough boy MXV4 all season tahrs. Brakes worked
excellently...no vibrations from warped rotors, excellent pedal feel.
The
motor...ahhh, that 20 valve turbo sang a tune that said "buy me" over
and
over again. Started from cold perfectly, ran perfectly. Boost (2'nd and
3'rd
gears, full throttle) was 1.8 bar on the dash gauge. Not having owned a
20V
turbo I don't know if this is stock or not...seemed high to me and the
power
is intoxicating. Any of our resident experts know if this sounds
"modded" or
not? I know 1.3 is about it for the 10v un-modded but I don't know this
motor
well enough to say myself. 

I get 1.6 or so here at 6300' in the Denver CO area.  With TAP chip I
get 1.8.  You are at or near sea level, so the boost sounds about
right.  Plus, the boost gauge is notoriously inaccurate.


>Since I was time limited, I didn't test every
single switch (I intend to before making an offer though) but every one
I did
test worked fine. There was a comment from the mechanic's inpestion of a
turbo boost warning light...I could not get this to come on though. 
>I did notice that the water temp gauge never came off of cold...this will need
attention.

That attention will be a new electronic multifunction Thermoswitch @
approx $100 a copy.  They all fail.

>Overall impression and price: The "car lot" which has this car clearly
doesn't really know what they have. They think it is just another 91
Audi...at least at the sales level. KBB.com says this car should be ~14k
retail, and ~8500.00 trade-in for my area with the miles it has. The
asking
price is 10.9k. I think this car should sell for 9-10k at the most
because of
the cosmetic issues listed above which will cost a fortune to make
right.
Since I am looking at this car because my family of 5 is growing out of
our
4kq (and because the Audi gods are tempting me <g>) I'm not as concerned
about the cosmetic stuff as some might be since my kids will be hard on
it
anyway. So, 91 200q experts (I know the rest of you have hit delete by
now
:)...) talk to me...what other things should I check? What should the
boost
be? Anybody have a used gray driver's speaker grill, used wheel, and
shift
knob? What should I offer? If I pass, is anybody interested in this fine
(but
slightly tarnished) machine? BTW, the car is in Santa Cruz, CA. TIA for
all
help the list can offer!

>Mike Veglia
>4ksq (might be growing soon)

Coop, 91 200 TQW