Wiring harness meltdown

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

>   My 89 200TQ suffered a wiring harness meltdown after a apparent =
>seize up of the cooling fan motor. Retrofitting the fusible link=20
>to the motor was on my list of to do's in the near future but =
>unfortunately it never happened. My mechanic, located in Amityville, NY
>gave me a preliminary quote of "about $1500 to replace it with the one =
>and only wiring harness available in the country!"


1) The only one in the country? I severely doubt it. For $1,500, it sounds
like a trip to a u-pull-it is in order - even if it is a hundred miles
away. Let your fingers do the walking to locate a harness - I'm sure there
are listers with TQ parts cars, or who know where they are - and there's
also a good chance that the parts of the harness you need are the same as
the non-TQ cars, and there's a BUNCH of them in junkyards, cheap! When
someone tells you ya gotta jump NOW - you can bet he's thinking of HIS
wallet, not yours.

2) Do you have a Bentley with the wiring diagrams? You very likely don't
need the entire harness, just some parts of it - and it isn't such a huge
deal to make your own "sub-harness" - just tedious. (And this one will have
a fuse in it, right? - Ouch - that sounded unkind, but wasn't meant to be.)

3) There's a guy here in Daytona Beach who bought an 88 TQ (cheap!) with
the same problem (that's why) - he said it took him about six hours to fix
- $1,500 divided by six is $250 per hour. (Yeah, I know I didn't deduct the
price of the harness . . . )

4) I think I'd talk to an auto-electric shop that knows something about
German cars - Mr. $1,500 sounds like he's guessing, and you can bet the
final bill will be MUCH higher.


>    Any BTDT's on this type of repair would be greatly appreciated. I'm =
>thinking that even after the repair, it just will never be=20
>the same car. 

Matter of fact, it will be better - it will have the fuse!




It all seems so unfair; you maintain your car in the =
>proper manner, are rewarded with a superior vehicle that feels
>like it's good for another 200,000 miles and then, well, away it =
>goes.....
>    I'll be getting the final word tomorrow on exactly what's needed to =
>complete the repairs. Just a thought; being that Audi upgraded
>their design in 1990 models, maybe I can get them to provide =
>compensation for the repair.


As Phil would say - not bloody likely! My own feeling is that you are
feeling bad enough right now without calling Audi and getting insulted,
too. Agreed, this is a major PITA, but it IS fixable, and for WAY less than
$1,500!!!!!!!!

If you were here in Daytona, we could do this in a weekend for less than
$100 - including a used fan motor AND the fuse!

Best Regards,

Mike Arman



=20
>                               =20
>      Andrew Micali
>      89 200TQ