Re: 200TQ Auto Check Computer

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

-----Original Message-----
From: four.rings@MCIONE.com <four.rings@MCIONE.com>
To: Q-list <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Thursday, April 09, 1998 12:28 AM
Subject: 200TQ Auto Check Computer


Russ wrote:

My brother in laws 200 TQW Auto Check Computer seems to have gone flaky
and was wondering if anyone has one for sale.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Igor wrote:

A coupla weeks ago I wrote with a great fanfare that I found the remedy
for the dreaded Auto Check Computer, which had been showing messages in
hieroglyphs for years now, especially when it was cold outside. Turns
out that I was full of $hit, it has started to send me cryptic messages
again and it's not even cold outside any longer (was around 18° today).
Back to the drawing board. Damn!

--
Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ -- 18psi (TAP)
'98 A4TQ -- nothing to declare
Philadelphia, PA
USA

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    Igor, I had this problem several years ago on my '91 200q. The autocheck
display would occaisionally generate random lines on startup instead of "OK"
and when a warning did appear, sometimes you couldn't tell what it was. My
problem ocurred in summer rather than winter and grew to include the high
beam indicator flashing when the signal was on, the signal indicators coming
on when high beams were engaged, the loss of half the dash lights, etc. All
problems were intermittent. Since a good thump on the dash restored
everything to proper working condition, I suspected a bad connection and so
many problems made me suspect a bad ground.
    I pulled the instrument cluster and spent several "enjoyable" hours
tracing circuits and bench testing the board. I finally found that the
contacts inside one of the "jumper block" type ground connections had
relaxed and were only making intermittent contact. I built up the pins with
solder and haven't had any autocheck or other instrument panel problems for
two years.

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  248k km