post holiday/pre holiday excitement....

["Erie Patsellis" <eriep@stewstras.net>]

First off, all of you who have 5kt/200 with over 120k on the clock ( you
know who you are!)
and have not changed your secondary coolant pump...follow the general list
wisdom and.
DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( see following diatribe for why)

first off, a belated Merry Xmas to all and a happy and prosperous New Year.

second, due to recent nuptuals and holidays, I am behind on shipping Quattro
decals, so please, be patient, all ordered will be delivered within the next
2 weeks...

now, onward with my post Xmas/pre New Years tale of sorrow, and
misfortune...

Having recently been blessed with a few inches of snow I have been a bit
more right foot happy in the 200Q of late. Yesterday morning, driving to
work (45 miles each way) in sub zero temps...-5 or thereabouts at some point
my sec. coolant pump decided to hand grenade losing nearly all of my
coolant. Temp guage did not read hot at all, quite the contrary rather
normal. First stop sign from the house...22 miles, and all of a sudden, a
cumulus cloud erupts from the hood....roll over to the side, and open the
hood (who among us hasn't seen this???), and lo, my pump has suddenly become
a rather expensive paperweight, the impellor housing having disintegrated,
much as the radiator in my '85 did, (crumbled in my hand...) Plugged the
hose ends with the only thing I had, a spare fuel pump noise dampener, and
of course the spare jug of water was present, albeit in solid form..so,
travel on, with one eye on temp gauge and other on road...FWIW temp dropped
down and oil temp skyrocketed, at one point well over 130 C. thank God for
mobil1! Get to work and open coolant resevoir and the dreaded fuel in the
coolant smell.....oh, well.... added 1 1/2 gals of coolant, pure etg and
onward home, no overheating, only small coolant loss, circa 1 qt or less. a
couple of observations before I start my weekend emergency head gasket
replacement....

1.) cold leakdown numbers are pretty bad, circa 20%, yet hot are only 9%
(consistent with leakdown done before purchase) Ever the optimist, I am
going to
do a quick unbolt the head, slide out old, slide in new, at least to get my
only transportation to work running....

2.) Having to decide between getting new head/valve cover gaskets or sec.
coolant pump, just gonna have to let the beast cool down with a few mins. of
idle time. at least till next month.

3.) IF YOU HAVEN'T CHECKED YOUR PUMP LATELY, TAKE THE DAMN THING OUT AND
CHECK IT!!!!! Mine looked fine externally, (beating head against wall
repeatedly) I should know better, I've wrenched these things for 15
years....

4.) of course we have a foot of snow due this weekend and I can't go out and
play...  :(


so, if anyone is in the neighborhood this weekend, free beer and lunch for
an extra pair of hands.....(of course, in lovely rural Shelbyville, IL, (pop
4200) an AUDI is an exotic car) btw, I have seen only one other audi in
town, A list lurker perhaps??? if so, email me.....


erie patsellis
(217)774-3179....