Re: Audi 200 problems...

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

Robert;

    The symptoms sound like a bad blower motor. The brushes wear out and the
shunt (the wire connecting the brush to the field coils) gets hung up on the
bottom of the slot in the brush holder, lifting the brush off the
commutator.
    You can check this out by removing the plastic plenum cover (it covers
the area between the bottom of the windshield and the firewall) so you can
access the heater box. There is a right-angled rubber cooling hose
connecting the top of the motor to the heater box. Remove the cooling hose
and you can look into the motor at the top brush. The shunt should be well
up in the slot in the brush holder - if it is at the bottom of the slot, the
brushes are worn out. You can sometimes get a temporary fix by pushing down
on the brush with a screwdriver - this re-establishes contact with the
commutator.
    The brushes in a blower motor will typically last 7-9 years.

    The motors can be had for a reasonable price. The replacement is not
technically difficult, but it is tedious and usually involves some
surreptitious chanting of four letter Anglo-Saxon words. Kind of a
rite-of-passage for DIY Audi owners.

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  266k km (new blower last fall)

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Dunne <robert.f.dunne@mci.com>
To: 'quattro@coimbra.ans.net' <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 11:49 AM
Subject: Audi 200 problems...


>Hi,
>
>I've been off the list now for a while but would really appreciate some
help:
>
>I have a '90 200 turbo with an intermittent heat problem. Sometimes the
blower will work and
>everything is fine. Then for no apparent reason it stops. Any mode or
temperature will not
>make a difference. It seems when I stop the car and then start again or
wait a while it works
>again. The dealer says it's the blower motor ($635 !!). I'm more suspiciuos
of the climate
>control based on past postings. Isn't that the more likely cause ? Many
thanks...
>
>Bob Dunne
>robert.f.dunne@mci.com
>