Yet another trip to Canada - the Q has developed an attitude problem!

[Igor Kessel <e6941tb@ix.netcom.com>]

Hello, virtual club!

I haven't been posting for a while: first it was a trip to Canada, then a business trip etc.
Upon arrival I discovered a ton of messages, which I am finally done reading.

Firstly, my apologies to all the listers, who were looking for me, I will answer all questions in a few days.
Honestly, I did not feel like posting all over the Universe that I'll be outta town for 2 wks. I remember when somebody posted one of these 
messages to the whole list, another lister replied in a  very clever albeit sarcastic manner that he *had a burger, coke and fries for 
lunch*...

Al, I did receive your message on my answering machine, when returned from Montreal. However, I learned that your question about the airbag 
connector jack had already been answered in a reply to your subsequent post to the whole list, so I decided not to call you back, coz it was 
too late anyhow.

Scott M., the TSB info is coming up.
Another Scott M., the 16" wheels info on an '89 200 is coming up.
Jon M., the hydro brake/steering sys rebuild info is coming up.
Bob R. the info on my Viton seals is coming up.

All in all I have over 70 messages to answer =8) Please give me some slack here.

On to the subject.

In the very first day on the Canadian trip my faithful Prestige-200 alarm started falsing. At a risk of being unmodest I'd say that my alarms 
*never* false either on me or on my customers. Hmmm... That was news to me.
I hardwired the alarm in a very_elaborate_fashion, with quadrouple redundancy (when triggered, it messes up not only the starting circuit, 
which they all do from the factory, but also cuts out the fuel delivery, spark delivery and, as the icing on the cake, it also convinces the 
ignition control unit that the car is not being started at all).

Naturally I did not intend to troubleshhot it in the field without a multimeter, so i just killed the alarm for the time being.

On the second day in Montreal my whole torpedo went. At first the main computer diagnostic screen showd me some cryptic garbage and chirped on 
me, then the whole dash went blank along with the cockpit lights, seats, telephone etc.

Now, that explains why the alarm had goofed up the day before. Most of the alarms, all Prestiges including, when disconnected from the battery 
and then reconnected again, think that a thiev has just cut the battery cable, trying to disable them and would blast you with some 120db.

Evidently, I had some kind of an intermittent short under the dash. Oh-oh, thinks me, feeling the chills down my spine recalling Audi in-dash 
fires horror stories.

A quick rush to the fuse box revealed that fuse #4 (15a) was blown. Thank Audi gods.
Since the troubled circuit has been isolated by the blown fuse and I still had all the important gauges working (the speedo, the tach and the 
oil pressure), we merrily continued on our journey. Not for long....

On the third day in Montreal we teamed up with another couple from Philly. They parked their car and 4 of us went out for dinner in ours. Old 
town has the road pavement, that rivals downtown New York or Moscow. In a few minutes with four adults in the car, riding on the Montreal 
cobble stones, we started hearing a *bang-clunk-slam* coming from the rear susp.
Sh*t, I shudaf changed those monster bushings in the rear control arms and install the new shocks *before* the trip! Especially given the fact 
that all of the parts were allready on the bench, ready to go in.

Just as a cheap insurance I pulled off the RR wheel right in front of the hotel. As expected, the bushes were history, but nothing major, or 
life threatening.

Then again the car was built in May of 88 and still had an all original suspension. Even the bullit-proof 200TQ's do break down sooner or 
later:)

A full report on suspension is to follow. David T., I will answer your questions about various Boge applications in detail, if it is still 
relevant.

So long for now,

Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ,
no longer limping on the rear legs.