RE: Bucking broncos--Coupe GT

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

I had a bucking and snortin' and spittin' bronco too.  It was my Coupe
GT and it would backfire like a cannon during it's antics.  Finally gave
up and took it to Central Audi in Dallas (hadn't heard of Lord of the
Rings yet).  They found the problem quite by mistake.  They were
removing a panel to get to the ECU and the car stalled.  

What they found was the main wiring harness which drops down into the
cockpit thru the firewall from the engine compartment _right behind the
battery_ had collected a healthy dose of leaking battery acid which was
happily munching away at the wiring harness.  Why did this happen?  Well
it seems the battery had a broken post.  I had been noticing a lot of
corrosion over the past, er, uh, several ... months... and it was
leaking right down into the wiring harness.  The broken post lead to a
new battery even before my wiring troubles became evident.  What a mess.


Some diligent soul at Central Audi apparently layed on his/her back for
several hours to cut and splice damaged wiring.  Everything has worked
flawlessly in the 4+ years since fortunately.  The tab was $400.  And
they replaced all my dash lights in the process.  Oh boy!  An expensive
lesson about paying attention to signs of needed maintenance.  And quite
a positive anecdote for a dealer, even though it might be quite a
singular fluke.

Ed