Expectations. Was re: Denver free inspection

[frankbauer@thevine.net]

>  For example, take an Audi with a CIS equiped engine and a
>small vacuum leak somewhere in the intake plumbing into your favorite
>shop. At the end of the day you will pick up a car with the CO adjusted
>to compensate for the leak and a poorer starting engine. You may also
>get a few random new parts. And we've all heard the refrain
>"Could not duplicate the problem." which often means "Could not
>find the problem within 20 minutes." For even more fun and potential
>expense, try dropping off one of these cars with a complaint of
>"poor starting." Again, IMHO, this is simply the nature of the repair
>business, automotive or otherwise.

the last time i had my tqw in a shop for a repair (this was pre-qlist),
was because i couldn't start it.  they replaced:
- OXS (which was new)
- plug wires (yeah right!)
- plugs (also brand new)
probably $150-200 in parts and less than an hour in labor (certainly
less time than they charged me for) - an easy $150 or so in profit.
and they didn't really fix it.  (but at least i could start it!)
(this was an independent shop "specializing" in vw/audi & other german
cars btw)

upon driving home with it i found it would not exceed 4K rpm.
the 4K rpm problem they should have found by pulling codes (like i did.)
it was a loose connection in the knock sensor signal wiring.

later, after doing my own work on it, i found that the starting problem was
in adapting the OXS to my non standard wiring.  when i installed my new OXS
and again when they installed theirs, they tapped into the shielding
instead of the signal wire.   hence, it was reading 0.0V all the time and
running very rich.  (i found this when i later installed a fuel/air ratio
meter.)  this eventually melted the cat.  fixing the OXS connection and
installing a new cat increased the performance substantially!

i have not since and will never again let someone loose on my audi - it
is wasted money!

frank

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