audisaster of the week

["Edgar Allen Joe" <jab86@cornell.edu>]

actually, two systems have gone on the fritz completely independently of
each other this week.  i think my 1990 80q is finally growing up.  here are
the problems:

1. when i turn the blower on, it starts to whine.  i am pretty sure this
means that the bearings in the blower motor are bad, any arguments with
that?

2. earlier this week, i changed my oil, a pretty routine thing, and all was
going well.  all was going well until i parked my car on a hill (nose
pointing downhill) and left it running while i ran inside to go get
somebody.  as i approached the house, i heard a scraping sound coming from
under the hood.  i flew back to the car, whipped out my flashlight and tried
to see what part was rubbing where.  the sound was coming from the area of
the back of the block.
    i shut the car off and rolled down hill at which point i figured that if
my engine was fried, the damage was already done, so i turned it back on.
no problems at all.  the engine sounded smooth, felt smooth, idled where it
should, etc.  i drove it home, wondering what the problem could be.  the car
has run beautifully all week, but after the incident, there was a burnt oil
smell which regenerated for a few days (even washed the car to get rid of
the smell, also drove in a downpour).  now the car is fine.  the oil level
is where it should be and all systems check out.  anyone want to take a stab
at this one?

thanks in advance.

joe brown

1990 80q - 142k mi