85 URQ Joins

[Sepp]

Some updates:





I did discover that I have no brake lights which is a little disconcerting. They are on the same fuse as the horn interestingly but that works. Bulbs are fine too seemingly. Any known issues with these?

You can pull the quick disconnects on the rear lights.
I've seen two problems with these.

A bad ground, and overheating due to a poor connection.

both are caused normally by the tongues (on the light housing side) being corroded, and not making a good connection.
On my car it seems the right side was always troublesome, until I cleaned up the contacts really good, and used some conductive grease.

[team illuminata]

You can pull the quick disconnects on the rear lights.
I've seen two problems with these.

A bad ground, and overheating due to a poor connection.

both are caused normally by the tongues (on the light housing side) being corroded, and not making a good connection.
On my car it seems the right side was always troublesome, until I cleaned up the contacts really good, and used some conductive grease.

Thanks Sepp. I had this problem with a turn signal last week too and on landscape lighting when I used to be involved with that. Actually what happened to the turn lamp and what used to happen on landscape lights was thet the nub contact on the lamp base would flatten over time from heat and no longer make good contact. I'll have to check these.

[team illuminata]

Thanks Sepp. I had this problem with a turn signal last week too and on landscape lighting when I used to be involved with that. Actually what happened to the turn lamp and what used to happen on landscape lights was thet the nub contact on the lamp base would flatten over time from heat and no longer make good contact. I'll have to check these.

Just had a fiddles with it and got them to come on. Seems to be the wire going into the bottom of the driver's side bulb housing. if I tug on it they come on again. They are working right now but obvioulsy I'm going to have to get in there and rectify this properly. Can't have people rearending the car.

[Sepp]

Yep, the quick disconnects....

It's easy to remove the lamp housings, while leaving the lens on the car... they are held in place by a squeeze clip.

The lamp housing side is male, and the plug end is female.

Once I cleaned the males up real good with a wire brush, a little grease on the female side..no problems in 9 years.

I'll post s pic in a few minuets.

[team illuminata]

Am I missing something, literally?

I noticed my front grill was a bit loose along the bottom so had a fiddle with it. All the top clips are in place but I'm not sure what is supossed to hold it in place along the bottom. It seems like it might latch behind the bumper via some tabs but they don't reach high enough. There is evidence of one potential securing device roughly in the center but it may be broken. Can't believe that's athe only means of securing the grill so how do the 85 grills attach, anyone know or care to probe theres?

Some pictures to illustrate:

[team illuminata]

I've been driving the car quite a bit recently, mostly aolng Woodward Avenue, the venue for the upcoming Dream Cruise. For those of you who are not familiar with this crazy event check out this web site. Basically, Woodward, which is a mile from my house, hosts the biggest car event on the planet next week and has been building up to this climax for the last couple of months. The street is the ultimate car guys hangout during the summer months. I spend way too much time here but the car is a big hit and it can't hurt business. I will skip the actual cruise itself as I'll be at a RallyCross but by then it is so far out of controll as to be not worth it. The preceeding week is the best IMHO with every conceivable type of car on display driving right by you. Here it is taking on two modern iterations of the theme:



So as a result of all this hanging out on Woodward a few issues came to light. First of the car cut out as I was leaving a prime Woodward vantage spot last Friady. I popped the hood/bonnet and fiddled with the ignition equipment looking for anything obvious. The only thing I found out of place was the connector on the side of the distributor which had come loose. The screw holding it on would not thread back into the distrubutor body so I zip tied it in place in proper rally fashion. Car started right up and has been fine since.




I got it into the shop the next day but could not get the screw to tighten up. It seems as if the threads have stripped so we are sticking with the zip tie for now. I broke the bracket in the process too I have no idea what this connector is for or if it could have caused the engine to cut out like it did but it seems to run fine now.

I did notice the rotor arm seemed a little worse for wear when I looked at it so I cleaned it up with a bit of sand paper for now and ordered a new one for next week.






I also had some issues with the driver's window. It wouldn't go back up a few times. I had had this happen once before but disproved it later when it slid up nice and smooth but this time it definately needed some assistance. I've since figured out that it only does this if it's raining or I've jsut washed the car. Seems as if the guides are a little loose so the window can wobble in them and if it's wet stick. Are the guides adjustable or do you have to replace them? I did try to have a look in the door but failed at the first hurdle: I couldn't get the door handle off the door card! Oh, the screws came out OK but I couldn't figure out how to disconnect the wires from the power mirror switch in the handle. I couldn't even create enough slack to rotate and release the top mount so I could see the connector so was doing it blind. Any trcks here or can anyone tell me how it comes apart?


I also need to replace a breather shown below as it it perishing and looks about to fail. Of course it is no longer available new and the generic pipe I had in the shop was too small.






Why do I have two heated window switches? Neither of which seem to do anything anyway. The top one even feels broken as it does not flip on or off positively. Why two and what do they do? Are they readily available and easy to replace?





I found this relay on the floor under the driver's seat.



Anyone have any idea what it's for?

See you on Woodward this week?

[team illuminata]

Thanks to some tips from some helpful Audi owners I got into the door again yesterday. The switch does just pry out of the handle and is easy to unplug with the help of a screwdriver:





Then it was easy to get the door card off and find out what is causing my window to stick.



Here's one obvious issue. Two of the isolator studs that hold the motor to the door have sheared so the motor flops around under load. Can't be ideal.





Fortunately there was a threaded hole in the motor that lined up with the big hole that I assume was for a hand crank on lesser models. I used a big washer and secured it in place. I couldn't locate it where it wanted to be as it wouldn't clear the big aftermarker speaker that a previous owner added. maybe this is the cause of the shearing.



Hopefully that helps though the window still felt loose in its guides. To help I shoved some large cable ties behid the guides to push them out a bit and take up some of the slack. It work somewhat.





I tried to replace my rotor arm but was supplied with the wrong part. Hole is too small.



I did mange to find a self tapping screw to hold my hall sensor in place though. no more cable ties. Looks almost OE.



I had a go at my over-abundance of heated rear window switches too. I loosened the bezel but it wouldn't come off without removing the steering wheel and indicator stalks. Fortunately I still had enough room to pry out the switches and blank and this is what I found taped up:





Looks like someone nearly had a fire. This might explain the two HRW switches and why one was iffy. The undamaged one wasn't connected to anything nor were there any extra wires back there so I suspect a prevoius owner bought a new switch to try to fix a non-funtioning HRW and just left them both in place when he found the melted mess. Im not sure if I'm going to deal with this one either.



I am wondering if there is a short in the HRW wiring somewhere. I had a quick look in the under-hood fuse box but didn't find a relay for it.





Maybe one day when the dash is apart I'll splice in a new HRW connector for that newer switch.

[Quattro Krant]

I've never had any of the switches out of my Ur, but, on my 4kq, ALL the plugs look like your melted one-SUPER common issue. The headlight ones do it SUPER bad, especially as the wiring gets older. I was lucky enough to find a PERFECT harness, have it soldered in place, and got a good switch. I want to have it relayed to reduce the draw. You can touch the switches and feel them get warm, actually hot, when they are all messed up. Glad to hear that you got the panel and handle off.

[team illuminata]

So a couple of weeks ago now (I've been on vacation) I took the car to a RallyCross. before you get too excited, no, I didn't run the car, just took it out there to see the new Detroit Region course and hang with my RallyCross buddies most of whom haven't seen the car yet. Parked it right in the middle of the paddock for maximum exposure but was soon joined by another red Audi:



On the way there I tried the cruise control as I was on a freeway for about 30 minutes. I was very impressed that it still worked but even more impressed how it held the speed rock steady over hill and dale. Awesome.



No. that's km/h not mph. I beleive this represents exactly 70mph

The last 15 minutes to the event was on the smoothest dirt road I have ever seen. The car thought it was at Rally Finland!



I booked it out of there before a big storm rolled through but had a great time doing ride alongs with some of the competitors. Glad I took my helmet. I was quite pleased with how the car drove and that it didn't, for once, break any parts or show any previously hidden issues; or so I thought. This is what I discovered the other day:



Yep, broken exhaust hanger. Anyone know where to get one of these? Car is still serviceable thanks to the wonders of cable ties.



No wonder they call these a rally icon. There's more cable ties on this than my rally car now!

I'm still struggling to find the correct distributor rotor for the car. The first had the same electrode as the current one but was too small to fit over the shaft. The latest (#3) fits but the electrode is smaller. Can I use this one?



Still need a new gas cap too.

Cars and Coffee at Kart 2 Kart tomorrow.

Later

[Sepp]

You can actually get new hangers, with a chain inside of them, to help deal with the very heavy Quattro exhaust.
I'd have to search for some sellers, but they are the same size as the VW's of the same era have.

I'm pretty sure I'm running a rotor arm like the narrow one....no running issues.

[team illuminata]

You can actually get new hangers, with a chain inside of them, to help deal with the very heavy Quattro exhaust.
I'd have to search for some sellers, but they are the same size as the VW's of the same era have.

I'm pretty sure I'm running a rotor arm like the narrow one....no running issues.

Thanks Sepp,

I picked up a hanger from Francois over the weekend. OE rubber same as the original. Should work for a while. I'll try my rotor arm and see if it blows up.

[Sepp]

Thanks Sepp,

I picked up a hanger from Francois over the weekend. OE rubber same as the original. Should work for a while. .

Should last another 26 years!!!

[Sepp]

..and some folks use a heated window switch for the use of turning on/off (added in) front fog lights, or driving lights as it's easier to find a WH switch than a fog light switch.

[team illuminata]

Time for an update. Been doing a bit of driving and a bit of maintenance. Car has been behaving itself lately too. Took it on a 3 hour round trip to Northern Ohio a few weeks ago:



Though it was daylight I ran it with the headlights on both ways as a test. Someone, perhaps on here, had mentioned how the headlight switch can get really warm and sometimes can melt the connector behind the switch. I thought, with Fall approaching, it might be an idea to see if they would survive and indeed they did but, I must say, the switch did get alarmingly warm. In fact I would go as far as to describe it as "hot"! So when I got back I put it on my list to investigate the wiring with a view to maybe adding some relays.

It was during this process that I decided my main beams weren't working as I couldn't get the inner-most set of lights to come on. Later, with the car in the shop I could clearly see the main beams change from low beam so was a little puzzled. Once I got the lights off the car I realized that it has dual filamet H4s or something and they are wired up and work but the innermost high beams are not wired up wihch is why I didn't see them come on and why I thought they weren't working. In the daylight I couldn't see the H4s change to main beam. This must all be a consequence of the Euro headlight conversion the car underwent sometime in its past. So, I am going to rewire the headlights and all main beams to function using the headlight switches to control relays powered directly from the battery. I think I can create a harness for this that will just plug into the existing wiring without doing any cutting or splicing too. We will see.

I did discover that the headlight adjusters are missing too. Apparantly these were automatic motorized jobbies on the Euro cars but manual ones can be used too. Anyone shed any light on this?



I also discovered a bit of rust behind the right side headlight. I'll have to get a bit of stop-rust on that later.



While I had the lights out I thought it a good idea to have a look at the air filter as it seems impossible to get at it from above. Look:



I manged to pry the lid off enough, but just enough, to ease the filter out.



It was really tight and the clips were hard to reach. In fact it looks like the previous owner managed to pinch one of the pleats between the lid and housing last time it was replaced. Probably wasn;t sealing too well I bet:



Turns out it has a washable K&N filter so I washed it, oiled it and put it back



After checking the filter I thought it might be a good idea to check the spark plugs especially as they are so easy to get at. hey were all in pretty good shape but were of the triple electrode type from Bosch. I thought these were a bit hokey so went in pursuit of some replacements only to be told that these are the correct ones the car came with. Is ths right?





I tried the new narrow contact rotor arm on the run to Ohio. The car ran fine but didn't feel as powerful so I have swapped back the wider one. Feels better again. I have found a Porsche part number for the wide rotor arm and endeavoring to acquire one through our local Porsche dealer. The pld w one is not in bad shape but a new one can't hurt.

My brand new gas cap came in too and proved successful during the Ohio trip. I can now run a full tank withought is pouring down the side of the car.

On the way back through Canada last week I swung by the previous previous owners shop for a visit. I had hoped to be in the quattro but those plans fell through but still, it was good to visit with Rob and share stories of the car. I snagged a few original parts to such as the quad lights and ac parts. perhaps I'll put them on one day.Thanks Rob.





I'm trying to drive the car as much as possible rather than working on it as winter is approaching but I still have a few things I want to do sooner rather than later such as the headlight relays, rotor arm, breather hose and radio though I must say I am enjoying my 80s Duran Duran albums lately.

[StormChaser]

Maybe I'm confused, I thought 84.5+ didn't have the quad headlights?

[team illuminata]

Maybe I'm confused, I thought 84.5+ didn't have the quad headlights?

I don't know but this car certainly had them.

[Sepp]

All of the North American cars had the Quads..

The only thing with the '85 cars..and the single '86 car was the "sloped" front end.
The grille matched that of the 4000/CGT, and the headlight surrounds were redesigned for that year only. They are sloped as well, to match the slanted grille profile.

I'm not sure why they didn't go with the 1 piece 4000/CGT lights the final year....left over parts?

Regardless, the sloped headlight surrounds are mondo rare, and quite expensive to find.

[Sepp]

After checking the filter I thought it might be a good idea to check the spark plugs especially as they are so easy to get at. hey were all in pretty good shape but were of the triple electrode type from Bosch. I thought these were a bit hokey so went in pursuit of some replacements only to be told that these are the correct ones the car came with. Is ths right?

Originally, back in '85, the car came with Bosch WR 5 DS

According to the owners manual, these can be alternates.
Beru RS 39
Champion N 6 Y

Nowadays, the guy/gal behind the parts counter will give you more choices, with the new advances in technology.

The electrode gap should be 0.028 + 0.004 inch

[team illuminata]

Originally, back in '85, the car came with Bosch WR 5 DS

According to the owners manual, these can be alternates.
Beru RS 39
Champion N 6 Y

Nowadays, the guy/gal behind the parts counter will give you more choices, with the new advances in technology.

The electrode gap should be 0.028 + 0.004 inch

So this one then?



I'm a bit confussed as someone on another forum had said mine were the correct plugs. I guess the ultimate question to as is which are the best plugs for my engine?

[Sepp]

I've actually run both.
The tri-electrode do work great...maybe better than the originals?

Not sure.

The car didn't seem to have any gains/losses with either.
My 5cyl S4 LOVED the tri electrodes....

I'm currently running the original single electrode. (the pic above)

[team illuminata]

OK, good to know. I'm leaving my tri-electrodes in for now then.

[team illuminata]

Not much URQ action lately, mostly because we bought this:



Which means having to fix up this :



so we can sell it

I did find an almost new radio on eBay though



to replace the bling thing that's in it now:



I may have an opportunity to drive the car this week as a friend of mine wants to barter a drywall job for a drive in the car! Not a bad deal hey?

[Sepp]

An original stereo! Nice!

I've never had mine "on" even once in 10 years!...but I'm glad it's there, and original nonetheless.

[team illuminata]

Took the UR quattro out for one last blast today before I put it away for the winter. Strange concept for me this. Not used to it at all. Car performed flawlessly again and was a joy to drive I took it to say "Au revoir" to Francois' URQ which is off to Maryland then home to say "Bonjour" to our new A3. Not much family resemblance here IMHO.










After this little rendevous I filled it with gas, added a bottle of Stabil, took it back to the shop and gave it a good wash. Tomorrow I will wax it and put it away As it will be down for a fair few months I intend to do some serious work on it. Stay tuned for developments

[Sepp]

They are a total blast in the snow, but yours is so nice, I wouldn't drive it in the wither either!!

[team illuminata]

How about trailered to an ice race in an enclosed trailer? Safe?

[Sepp]

Ohh yeah, I'd do that.

I would just stay off the streets because (as you well enough know)
Salt
Other drivers

Salt did a number on my poor car. Luckily it's all weld-able.

[team illuminata]

I tried putting the new-old radio in before I put the car away but got flummoxed by the unusual (to me) mini DIN speaker sockets on the back of the unit (top left)




Apparantly the plugs that go into them look like these:








But of course, mine are long gone, replaced by some fatter, after market speaker wire. I did get the thing to power up and make noise by touching bare wires to the terminals so that's a good sign.


We had a bit of fun before we put the car away, test fitted an 18" BRAID Winrace A off a customers A3. I think it looks, er, interesting. Offset is all wrong and the tire is an inch to tall but it looks kind of cool IMHO






HEY, WHERES IT GONE !!




Ah, there it is. I think this is called "hibernating"




I also been doing a bit of "aquisition" on the parts front. Snagged this huge workshop manual and lug bolt covers from eBay UK.







Did these cars come with lug nut covers? Lug nut heads are certainly ugly affairs. Still need a removal tool though.


My sister made me this lovely canvas of the car for Christmas




and then I bought myself this to get me through the long, dark winter nights

[team illuminata]

Not much URQ action lately though, with the current weather conditions I am tempted to sneak it out for a play. Just have to move too much dead car out of the way to get to it or I believe I would. I did take the dust cover of for a little wheel test fit photo shoot last week though:
















They look kind of OE don't they? What do you think? Tires are a re a little tall. These are BRAID Winrace A 17x8 with +45 offset. I used some 20mm spacers on here to make them effectively +25, almost stock. They have winter tires on as they are my wife's A3 winter setup. Hope you don't feel too lead astray by the heading for this post now LOL. Before I played with them on the URQ we had them on a friends S4 for a week as he and another friend were kindly tearing around northern Michigan last week spectating at the Sno*Drift rally with their cars resplendent in BRAID wheels and decals. Maybe you saw them.




We also had a four car team and provided one of the lead cars as well as displaying at all the service areas.:










Here's the wheels in their final resting place. They are quite dizzy by now.




I also received some more inspiration in the mail from ebay. Not quite the right color but way closer than my black one. Anyone want to buy that BTW?





I also bought all Francois's spare parts after he sold both his URQs earlier this year.



I'll have to go through them and see what I can use. Getting excited about getting the car on the hoist to rebuild the front and rear suspension but first I have to work on our Jeep, Sprinter and race car. PHEW!

[WAUOla]

lucky sod for finding that original stereo. I want something aswell, but at the same time PO installed aftermarket 6x9s...

Never seen a typ 85 with lugnot covers, sorry. Not urq, sport or rallye cars - only the centercap from Ronal.

[Sepp]

Never seen a typ 85 with lugnot covers, sorry. Not urq, sport or rallye cars - only the centercap from Ronal.

Same here! I've only seen lug nut covers on 5000/100's and only with Fuchs wheels.

[team illuminata]

Same here! I've only seen lug nut covers on 5000/100's and only with Fuchs wheels.

Really? I'm surprised. The lug bolts seem to be the same ugly black one's Audi currently use and I've always seen covers on the more contemporary cars. Now I'm in two minds.

[Sepp]

Really? I'm surprised. The lug bolts seem to be the same ugly black one's Audi currently use and I've always seen covers on the more contemporary cars. Now I'm in two minds.

I'll try to find a pic of an original car (brochure)
They could exist, I've just never seen them!
(and I don't know everything!)

[team illuminata]

And so it begins, pre-season refurb. Just a few items to take care of before spring gets going (even more):

*Detail
*heat stuck on
*Ps fluid-replace
*Relay head lights & Main beams
*Ignition rotor arm
*Perished breather hose
*Check timing
*Radio reception
*Radio replace
*Upper strut mounts front & rear
*Rear brake lines
*Replace coolant
*Replce ball joints
*Lower control arm bushings
*Dampers
*Timing belt cover reinstall
*Washer aim/function
*Aim lights-adjusters
*Gear box play, mounts?
*Wipers slow
*Cold starting
*exhaust leak
*oil Leaks

Perhaps I should have gotten started sooner.




First task, finish putting an original radio in. I found some old style speaker connectors on eBay and spliced them into the aftermarket speaker wires, Works too even with the tape adapter playing from my Iphone but only 80s music comes out. Rear speakers appear to be blown. No bass but front work fine.



Next I turned my attention to rebuilding the suspension. Soaked all the fasteners with PB Blaster. Started by removing the front anti-roll bar.




Maybe I didn't allow enough time for the PB Blaster to work as I broke one of the end links. Where can I get a new one?



I felt this was enough progress for the first evening especially as I am now fully committed to replacing the suspension components rather than driving the car round in its compromised condition. More to follow..........

[team illuminata]

Slammed it:




Everything in the front suspension is loose and ready to come off:




Except this:



Non of my pullers or presses could get a purchase on it. I tried heat and hammers to no avail. Need more tools.