yikes!!cough,hack wheeze

[Mike Mulholland <meyeke@netinc.ca>]

well after 50,000 km of virtually trouble free audi ownership (on this one
that is) the 5kcdtq did a bad thing. here i was in 90deg high humidity
niagara weather...a/c humming....fan on tornado mode....engine idling
smoothly sitting at a light. uh oh...idle drops and stumbles...i tap the gas
pedal...it's slow to respond for the first time. i tap the pedal again and
think....did i hear something above the roar of the a/c and cooling fan? at
that moment the light changes to green...there's a lineup behind me so i
move into the intersection looking out for a turn-off or parking spot to
check things out a bit more closely. in the middle of the intersection i see
blue smoke billowing out from under the hood...i glance behind ..blue there
too. now people are pointing and drivers are blowing their horns (do they
really think that i hadn't noticed?). no warning lights come on so i cross
the intersection and pull over. i pop the hood, swallow hard and open
it...aha the hydraulic pump belt is lying like a wet worm and still
smouldering. the pump itself is almost glowing. 
        not much to do here. i'm about 2 hours from home. so i close the
hood fire her up and try steering....yup takes some energy to do that. put
her in first move forward and try the brakes....wow need to reprogramme my
light on the pedal training. on a quiet side street i go to 20 mph and brake
hard...hmm thats non so bad as i expected...i increase speed to 30mph and
try a panic stop. i bring on tire squeal. well thats not bad at all so i
drove home...was cut-off by a truck..stopped with car lengths to spare. now
my wife appreciates all of my bicycle racing training.strong legs are good!
the steering was only a problem when parking. once rolling i kind of liked
it. so i visit the wreckers tomorrow.

mike mulholland

86 5kcdtq