re: Subject: '91 200TQ test drive

[C1J1Miller@aol.com]

Phil & Judy: here's my thoughts.

you wrote:
<<<(1) After about 20 miles of spirited (well, spirited for _me_) driving,
the

engine coolant temp gauge was barely at the 1/4 mark (i.e. about at the

last of the three closely spaced (leftside) tick marks. Then, after sitting

at idle for 5 or so minutes, the temp never moved up. The radiator fan was

running (during idle). Does the 20V I5 (91,000 miles) engine normally tend

to run so cool? Outside temp was about 60F.>>>>

The engine cools pretty good when driving at highway speeds; but it typically
would go up to about 1/3 in traffic on a hotter day.  Sounds ok to me.



<<<

(2) After running (as above) and the few minutes of idle, I shut down the

ignition. There was no sound of any after-run pump/fan going--even after a

4 or 5 minute wait. Is this normal for the 20V? If not, is it possibly

connected to the low indicated engine temperature? Dealer said engine was

just not driven enough to warm it sufficiently. I'm skeptical.>>>

Dealer is lying to you, or just wrong.  Likely a bad multi function temp
switch on the engine below the head, drivers side of engine, with I think 3
connections.  Right in front of it in a coolant line is the afterrun coolant
pump; it's very quiet, but you should be able to feel it run.  But watch out
for that fan coming on suddenly.

Where are you located?  There are quite a few '91 200q owners on the list; if
you are nearby, I bet one of us would give you a hand on spotting potential
problems.  For example, I'm in Windham *(southern)* New Hampshire.

Don't know much about the tires; with 75% tread, they're probably fine.  Does
the car have the UFO internal caliper brakes? Look at the front wheels, if
you see what looks like a basket inside the rims, that's them, and if it
looks similar to the rear brakes, they've been retrofitted to normal 200q
brakes.

Also:  boost should run to 1.8; although many never see that on their stock
guage.  I've never topped 1.7 myself, although I have a marginal wastegate
frequency valve.  I would recommend bringing the car to a shop that knows
(repeat..knows) turbo audis, and that may not be the local audi dealer.
 Spend $50 to $100 having the car thoroughly checked out; look at suspension
bushings, engine/tranny/rear diff mounts, look for leaks, look for accident
damage, etc.  Also get them to dump any fault codes; there's an easy
procedure in the archives (or email me) using just a test light and a jumper
wire that you can do yourself.  You may have other things that need checking
stored as faults.

Hope this helps.  Chris Miller, c1j1miller@aol.com, '91 200q
you can also check out my web site, I've put up some stuff on the '91 200q
http://members.aol.com/c1j1miller/index.html