Bear's bangers: gathering thoughts and trying to plan... C-Class, RX-7 and Audi

[yes oui si]

That's a beautiful bus. Very similar to one my uncle had back in the day. 

[Bear]

So, the 24 hours test (nearly 48 hours) report for the Audi 100:

Today, I appear to have no rev counter.

However, I have been poking wires, and reconnecting the weirdly-joined-together oil pressure switch wires. The oil pressure switches are new, the blue (upper) one is for idle, the white one is for 2K-up RPM. However, the white one appears to be a black switch instead, so I've ordered the 1.8-bar white one that belongs there.

It has started every time I want it to.

It has not scared me or made weird noises, but it beeps a lot because of the Autocheck system. The autocheck system has been neutralised with force...

The coolant is low, I do remember these being an absolute pig to bleed, but the fan's working and the temperature gauge does wake up sometimes. I suspect thermostat may be absent. Not like it's hard to work on.

I have found some rusty bits near the rear valence, like a reinforcing bracket. Very tempted to get this fixed properly if I don't find anything else worrying.

The seats are comfy, and the seatbelts do seatbelt things including adjustable height which is why my dad should have got one of these and not a Passat.

The sunroof opens and closes easily, and would be perfect if give a new seal that stays stuck on the edge - and the energy-efficient windows are excellent, working even with ignition off  The central locking works and is a proper blast of nostalgia watching all the pneumatic lock pins drop.

The tailgate is very heavy when you want to put shopping in and can't manage the BRIGHT YELLOW STICK OF DOOM to prop it up. I have two new gas struts on the way.

The engine bay seems to clean up quite well and it only tried to close the bonnet on me once. New struts in basket, but not ordered yet. Weirdly, I keep finding rust flakes/pieces that appear to be totally unrelated to any part of the car - like, it's been driven through some rust and it's all piled up, but you can sweep it off the inner wing or chassis leg and find a perfectly good painted panel there.

It has a secondhand electric mirror on the way from Lithuania and a new (pattern) mirror glass on the way in case the shape of a LHD passenger mirror is different to a RHD driver mirror.
The non-torch key seems too worn to turn the ignition.

I keep leaving the lights on.

Next things on the list:

Secondhand dashboard acquired to see if I can repair the warning light system (this one has been physically abused ) and find out what the beeping alerts are for. Current candidates are:

• Low brake pads. It definitely seems to complain with beeps after braking.
• Low coolant. It was low.
• Low oil pressure. There are two new sensors on the engine. The wires were joined together rather than to a connector, which just makes no sense. However, when I reconnected the sensors, the rev counter stopped working - now it just jumps to 1150rpm and stays there even when the engine is running.
• Low temperature. It hasn't warmed up until parked in traffic.
• Y2K error. I mean, it's possible.

It's getting a new throttle pedal because I saw one listed for the wrong year (C2) but with the C3 part number, new old stock, and the pedal on it has had a bolt put through for Reasons Unknown.

The headlight reflectors are tired, but I don't know if I can justify £120 on new reflectors just yet. I suspect visibility will be improved simply by putting the headlight reflector load adjuster back in the unladen position...

A pair of sunvisor clips, because they're pennies.

Something to route the ignition leads. They seem to be way too long and just draped over the throttle pedal/gearbox linkages. I can't believe Audi would do this quite this way so I think there must be a bracket or guide that's gone AWOL.
 

[Bear]

20 hours ago, gadgetgricey said:

Would love to see some shots of the interior when you get the chance

Just went out for some hydraulic fluid and degreaser, so...

Enjoy the expansive basic-ness of a 1989 Audi...

If it hadn't gone all sticky with the strange soft-touch coating failure on that centre strip, the dashboard would be really nice.

Radio needs a new m/a switch, pen holder is disgustingly sticky AND I broke the remaining tab trying to clip the front edge down. Ugh.

Seats have aged well...

Centre lap belt for maximum sibling fight potential. HUGE amount of legroom!

And the sunroof is nice for people in the back too, even if it is small and metal.

I like sunroofs.

What a seagull sees before flying in and stealing your kids' chips then shitting on the handbrake.

One possible warning beep eliminated - the power steering fluid was low. I am sure it went somewhere and I'll find out where soon enough.

Fixed a clonk when opening the bonnet by moving the fuel filter across and away from the bonnet strut.

Grubby, but not rusty. I'm cleaning these places then applying loads of waxoyl as I go along.

I reckon some of the rust flakes I found are from that steering arm.

Dashboard light small ones because I can't make them go away after uploading them in this post to use in the one before!

   

[gadgetgricey]

That is a thing of beauty.
Apologies if missed in the above, but any ideas why the drill hole through the main dials?

(Aware I did that on a Xantia years ago to fix a rev counter, but was a much smaller hole and hidden )

[Bear]

Just now, gadgetgricey said:

That is a thing of beauty.
Apologies if missed in the above, but any ideas why the drill hole through the main dials?

(Aware I did that on a Xantia years ago to fix a rev counter, but was a much smaller hole and hidden )

I suspect a very persistent warning light and an attempt to kill it in frustration, since it is quite distracting. It's why I've bought a whole secondhand instrument cluster to try and repair it, rather than just replacing the display on the autocheck and going over the board for bad components/solder issues.

[yes oui si]

My 80 would suffer from a flaky rev counter... A smack on the dash top resumed normal operation for a couple of months. 

[MrBig]

That is a lovely lovely thing. I have wanted a 100 Avant since the 80's when I first saw one at my local VAG dealer (where my folks were buying a brand new polo with no brake servo!) but the planets have never aligned for me, and now they are like rocking horse shit.

Will be following the progress on this one.

[HMC]

1 hour ago, MrBig said:

That is a lovely lovely thing. I have wanted a 100 Avant since the 80's when I first saw one at my local VAG dealer (where my folks were buying a brand new polo with no brake servo!) but the planets have never aligned for me, and now they are like rocking horse shit.

Will be following the progress on this one.

This! although for me since the late 90s. I remember  thinking whenever I saw an early one on a Y suffix, how modern it looked to have an old type plate.

[Bear]

Some late evening cleaning and waxoyling.

Childhood Audi and Passats mean I am comforted by those braided fuel lines, in an odd way. They always felt like a sign of quality and reliability.

Even if these can be fun as they age...

I will be happy to fit a white sensor here tomorrow and put that wire back.

Bulkhead cleaned up nicely, not too aggressive, just enough to see some colour...

I do like this thing a lot.

(The grey bit is a welded-on repair section, a piece cut from a pattern wing and joined behind the trim, which @Rocket88 had done rather than replacing the whole wing or filling/bodging a scabby crusty patch - I approve very much and would have done the same!).

[N Dentressangle]

Very nice. An ageless shape, somehow.

[HMC]

A neighbour had 2 identical ones, iirc the drag factor was displayed in a sticker in the rear side window. I may have made this up but theres a hazy memory from 1985

[N Dentressangle]

1 minute ago, HMC said:

A neighbour had 2 identical ones, iirc the drag factor was displayed in a sticker in the rear side window. I may have made this up but theres a hazy memory from 1985

You're right.

But it was still higher than my 1974 Saab 96. 😉

[Wibble]

7 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

You're right.

But it was still higher than my 1974 Saab 96. 😉

I think it was then beaten by the Mk3 Carlton but may be wrong.

[Schaefft]

Back when a premium car meant quality engineering and excellent fit & finish instead of a boatload of features. I still crave a C4 100 that replaced this, still very much designed and built with the same mindset. And they do last forever with a little bit of care, maybe more so than the W124, just with less rust! I wish they were better equipped more regularly though, closer to the US market cars. Especially in Germany these could often be seen as bare bones models with next to no options. Especially the 80 is still a fairly common spot though.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Wibble said:

I think it was then beaten by the Mk3 Carlton but may be wrong.

I think the Audi claimed to have won in the CoD stakes (Co-efficient of Drag, IIRC - or CoE, where E = Efficiency)

[Wibble]

41 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I think the Audi claimed to have won in the CoD stakes (Co-efficient of Drag, IIRC - or CoE, where E = Efficiency)

Yep, Audi won by 0.2.

[Bear]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

A neighbour had 2 identical ones, iirc the drag factor was displayed in a sticker in the rear side window. I may have made this up but theres a hazy memory from 1985

My first one - swapped for a Tandon 286 PC with a local dealer - had Cd 0.30 logos on the rear side glass...

[Bear]

And... you know when you see American cars shed a hubcap on a drive?

NSR now:

OSR...

😭

I think a really bad set of rippled road in Teversal is to blame, not that the car got jolted or anything - I now need two of these, because I noticed the OSF one is just a generic trim 😂

[brownnova]

This looks like the perfect family car/classic. It is really appealing!

It’s just so good to look at. 

[AxleHorsepower]

What a fantastic car!

[Bear]

Now I need a saloon model - I bought this to stand in for the 100 I had in the '90s and it's had to be promoted to "current cars" position on the shelf!

[Bear]

16 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Especially in Germany these could often be seen as bare bones models with next to no options. Especially the 80 is still a fairly common spot though.

I have keep fit windows, steel wheels with (some) trims, a heater, and locks I have to use a key in. Though I am fairly sure that was the best you got if you didn't get a fancy aftermarket alarm until Renault and PSA started handing out infrared plips... no steering wheel adjustment, and no trip computer...

But in the '90s I had a Mercedes 200T - same age - amazingly basic.

[Zelandeth]

Back when Audi actually knew how to make a car and hadn't totally lost their way.  Now they just take a VW, bump the boost up a bit to get a higher headline power figure, add a few more pointless buttons, and stiffen up the already rock hard suspension to shave 0.00001 seconds of a potential 'Ring lap time and render the thing almost undriveable on real world roads.  

I honestly can't remember an Audi we've had here through the company car scheme that we've liked.  The Q5 was the worst though, not least because it *repeatedly* tried to kill us and other road users as there was something far wrong with the active safety systems in it that the dealer was completely disinterested in admitting there was any fault with.  We were so, so glad to see the back of that bloody thing.

[Bear]

So, all this Avant action, and no money shot?

Too risky. I could lose my head.

But this isn't very "beating the Germans to the beach Vorsprung, durch or technik"

Frankberg struts for £18.99? Why not.

So enjoy some filth...

I need this bit of trim at the end of the cover rail... I even found the clip and broken plastic from it going missing!

[Bear]

Thankyou for all the nice comments on this one, btw. I like it a lot, it's giving me the same sort of vibe as the Volvo Highlander I had, so this time I do plan on sticking with it and spending (when I can) on those sensible, running improvements like getting it four new premium tyres, rebuilding the brakes and so forth.

Is there a festival of unexceptional this year? I would feel this was appropriate to go in!

Final silly distraction of the day - you know the grabby claw games?

Fishing cigarette butts out of the gear selector 😂

Oil switch swapped, wires wiggled for foglight, Autocheck unit went dark and stayed schtum! Also the lights-on buzzer has woken up. I didn't even know Audis had those...

[Bear]

This was offensive:

So I bought a secondhand dashboard...

Resisted the temptation to "do a quentin"

Swapped over the Autocheck display module by dismantling everything very carefully...

If needed, I could potentially swap the LCD itself, but I figured the PCBs would be compatible, they had the same chipset.

Poor thing!

Building up...

Loosely assembled and test - I remember this part of Audi ownership better than Hugh Grant remembers "modern" cars have brake lights that work without ignition on 😂

How's it going?

But Goldie, your engine is not running!

See!

Started up and let it idle, revved a few times, it stayed off. Pressed brakes, stayed off. Lights on... no warnings.

But still no rev counter so trying the other module first.

[N Dentressangle]

Nice work - well sorted!

That would have irritated me too. Good to see it fixed.

I've tried to get Mrs D interested in having one of these rather than an antediluvian Volvo 240 estate, but no dice.

[Bear]

The next fix:

New old stock!

And I went over the bulbs...

Wonderful...

The oil pressure warning does pop up still - and the rev counter is still sitting af a fixed 1150 or so position. I suspect wiring, but will try an analogue oil pressure gauge to be certain.

[N Dentressangle]

11 hours ago, Bear said:

The next fix:

 

Who does stuff like this? 🙄

[ruffgeezer]

2 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Who does stuff like this? 🙄

It depends on their approach or perhaps background - I've mentioned before that my father in law was formerly an engineer on ferries, he will think nothing of spending half a day making a repair to something that instead of a replacement part being ordered and fitted a day later.

I must say using his approach sometimes has helped me with some jobs, but other time it really isn't worth the effort.