91 200qw... First Contact: Audi of Greenville (long)

[Ed Kellock <EKELLOCK@ecs-inc.com>]

Well I made my first pilgrimage to the local Audi dealer.
I took in the wagon to have the fault codes dumped since the check
engine light has been on since I put a bulb in it.  :-o

I had made an appointment at 9am and told them I wanted to wait.
I arrived 5 minutes early.  Was on my way to McD's in time for breakfast.
Aside from notating my car as a black 91 100, and being universally
ignored by all salespeople, I was pleasantly un-displeased, if you know
what I mean...  Charged me for 1 hour = $50.  That's a fairly respectable
dealer shop rate isn't it?  The LaCrosse dealer was a couple bucks more.

Just before 10am the mechanic was waiting at the service desk to take
the time to speak with me personally.  ;-)
Couldn't find anything specific.  Reset the light.  Said there was a code
relating to a low voltage condition.  Asked if I'd had any battery trouble
lately.  No.  The light has stayed off since reset.  He said to drive it for a
while and see if it re-lights.  Noted: possible control module.  

I suppose the fault code could have been stored since last winter when I
drove the car 45 miles with no alt ( & no climate control in 24 degree
mid-west winter temps) to the LaCrosse dealer and the batt voltage
dropped to barely below 12 by the time I got there.  Of course, I would
have had no clue of this since there was no bulb in the check engine light
bulb socket.    :-o
(Forgot to mention this to aforementioned mechanic.)

Anyway I asked the service advisor (cute blonde, btw) about their Audi
business, since the dealer is Brockman Auto Group (ie. Audi, VW, Mitsu,
Kia 8-], Subaru, Suzuki, Hyundai, etc, etc, etc... ad nauseum >-[

The Audi franchise was previously owned by Snyder Mercedes and the
mechanics, (heart and soul of any Audi dealer that wants to make any
real money, I suppose, since the sales staff there sucked) well the
mechanics all stayed thru the ownership change, thereby securing their
service clientele base.   

BTW, mechanic said I have no greasable drive train components.  The
drive shaft has CV's at each end and the center carrier bearing is what
usually causes vibration.  Said they've seen several V8Q's in for trouble
with this but not other models.  I didn't tell him my car is modded, hence
extra torque on the drive train components.  I'm still going to crawl under
there and look for one last time.

Does anyone out there disagree with the mechanic and still claim that a
91 200qw has a greasable drive shaft component somewhere???

Yes he said V8Q's.  Rather matter of fact about it too.  I inquired further
and there are about 6 in the area they work on, some from up in NC.

Still have a low boost condition when it's hot out and the car is shut down
and then driven again within an hour or two.  Poked and prodded and no
vacuum hoses broke off in my fingers :-( (it should be so easy).  There is
one big/little funky hose connected to the crankcase that's pretty soft and
somewhat collapsed.  Guess I'll replace it first.

Unfortunately, no 1.8tq A4's, no 30v's.  Just one FWD A8 which was
obviously being driven by some higher up as a demo, cause it's never
there.  Did I intimate that there sales department is somewhat lacking?

Audi Away!

Ed Kellock ............ Greenville, SC
91 200qw (blue not black)  ................... 87 Coupe GT