Re: Am I alone?

[Robert W Obrien <rwo@u.arizona.edu>]

On Fri, 5 Sep 1997, David Kavanagh staff wrote:

> 
> Does anyone else see either of these problems?
> 
> I'd like to call Audi of USA and have some ammunition...
> 
> 
> 1.  The door molding/impact beam corrosion problem. The molding seems to
>     get warped, and the impact beam inside corrodes. Eventually the beam
>     doesn't want to hold the threads, and the molding comes off on one
>     end. It happened to my passenger side a week and a half ago, and
>     last night it happened to my drivers side molding! Clair can give me
>     the molding for $100 and the beam for $100, so that is $400 to fix
>     the problem. I just donated to the gods by replacing my leaky water
>     pump...
The molding on my pass side door, 5kt, is doing the same thing. Now that I
know that it costs $200 to fix this, I have another reason to make an
offer on that rear-ended 5ks down the street... it also has all new hyd
system parts. But luckily, here in the desert, nothing corrodes much.
Haven't noticed the beam below deforming/rusting.
 
> 2.  Leaky heater core. I had another 5KT which had this problem about 5
>     years ago. You smell coolant when the heat first comes on. It does not
>     leak enough to give the smell all of the time, but I'm sure the fumes
>     are not healthy! It has gotten a little worse every year. I know VW
>     had a recall of the heater cores for the models ~85-87. If the same
>     supplier was used, what is the chance of a wide spread problem in the
>     Audi cores as well?
I've never experienced anything of this sort. The closest I can come is
that under hard cornering and braking, the AC fan roars in the dash. The
only explanation of this I can think of is that the bearings are bad
enough to let the inertia move it about. Still blows cold though.
 
> I'd really appreciate any feedback on these issues. I've lived through
> other woes, and still love the car, but some of these failures are ridicilous.
> (I've replace 3 wheel bearings, 2 steering racks, 3 hyd. pumps, 2 e-brake
> cables, 1 coolant pump, 1 water pump, 1 alternator, 1 transverse link).
> Whine, whine.......

Nothing in my car is that chronic. Well, except that it's eating CV boots-
but I think that's due to the use of pattern parts. The factory boot has
held for months. I was replacing them on a monthly basis for a while. 
Aside from the inane design of the hyd system (if the green gold's so
great, how come everyone else uses PS fluid and vacuum brake assist?)
I'm still smiling too. 
> Still smiling! :-)
> 
> 
> 	David
>