RE: Another wonderful(not) Audi defect

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

>      This is a common failure mode. I wrote about it a few weeks ago.
> Exactly the same problem. I think Igor's 200 did the same thing. The
> little plastic bit washer shaped piece breaks after a certain number of
> years. 
> 
>      P.S. For those owners who haven't experienced this yet, perhaps you
> can save yourself the aggrevation by checking the prop rod plastic
> washer type ring. If it is cracked, perhaps some adhesive/glue will save
> it? 
> 
... Steve posted the P/N I got from the A8 fiche for a replacement plastic
piece that is much cheaper than the whole rod so I won't repeat it here ...

The other thing that I did on my car was to reorient the CC servo so that if
the bushing breaks the rod will be less likely to fall out of the slot.  The
servo is held in place by a single fastener into the bracket.  If it weren't
for the hose attachment you could rotate the servo to any position, but what
I did was to rotate the servo so that the slot that the bushing is in opened
as close to vertical as possible (toward the hood).  Thinking about it again
right now it would also be very easy to fashion a keeper that would close
off the gap at the end of the slot.  Perhaps some safety wire or one of
those spring clips that are used to attach those cardboard air ducts to the
sheet metal could be made to work.  

While I'm talking about this area let me pass along another little trick.
Not long after I bought the '88 5kCSQA we were driving along and the
throttle cable broke ... with the point of failure being right at the point
where the cable hits the crank on the throttle body.  What I did was to
attach the stub of the cable to the ball joint end of the C/C rod using a
small hose clamp.  With this fix I managed to get the car home ...

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

Mr. Robinson may believe in Plastics ... I believe in Hose Clamps ...