Audi A3 off the road :(

[Pops848]

So there I was driving to dinner last night... when my car lost power and it started to steam out of the bonnet!! Popped it open to find the CTS had dislodged itself and spat it's coolant everywhere! Didn't think too much of it as replaced the CTS and it ran ok....but not for long.

Idle was all over the place, the car would stall if you dipped the clutch and wouldn't tick over, ran some VCDS and it pulled up the MAF and other air flow sensors. On way home today, bought some coolant, water, new CTS clips and O-Rings as well as a thermostat to put into the car tonight.

Drove the car to my friends garage to get it into the light and on some ramps, first test was an exhaust gas test from the coolant tank. The lovely blue coloured liquid went greeny / yellow straight away Head gasket had gone... I'm suspecting when the CTS flew out of it's housing it managed to get coolant into the cone filter and into the engine. What a ******!!

So next month is new head gasket time, I'm going to buy a head gasket set and get to work taking the head off etc, get it skimmed and all back together asap. While I'm at it, I really want to fit an oil catch tank, the Forge TIP I have in my garage and clean the engine up a bit. Get ready to fit a FMIC. Anyone got any other ideas what else to fiddle with under the bonnet whilst the car is off the road? Also, what gaskets do people recommend? Stealers or aftermarket? I'm planning on going stage 2 so I was thinking I want something a bit stronger, I'm currently running 200BHP, but with that in mind and my MAF playing up (disconnected it and it ran muc better) should I look at trading mine in and getting one from a standard S3 as they are 225BHP standard? Would the remap take better to my car with the different MAF?

 

[camscockle20vT]

Hi dude, bad luck with the HG, standard gasket is fine, as itl need to correspond to your engine code. As for bhp, how much you planning on spending at what bhp have you in mind(two good things to work from) put your engine code up (agu,aum,apy, ect....) as this helps to determin what is possible without changing the turbo. Also try checking out the stickys at the top the a3 8l thread list, it will answer all your questions tbf.

 

[Customboy]

Well firstly ads sorry to hear about your car woes hope u get it sorted soon, IMO the standard Audi gaskets are great and more then capable of a stage 2 which I'm running now just get a set from tps mate, I did change my maf for a new one from audi cost me £120 and had to give them my old one, but the car felt so great afterwards and much more responsive and this was done due to the fact nick at rtech advised me to do so once learning it was the original one with the car 12 years old lol , I'm not sure if the maf ur looking At would make any difference but I'm running 221bhp and stage 2 set up will be going back to rtech on thursday morning to up the boost as I'm running just under 1 bar so I would just replace the gaskets get a new maf and get the car running sweet and good then add on what u like but whatever u decide mate good luck with it

 

[Pops848]

Hi dude, bad luck with the HG, standard gasket is fine, as itl need to correspond to your engine code. As for bhp, how much you planning on spending at what bhp have you in mind(two good things to work from) put your engine code up (agu,aum,apy, ect....) as this helps to determin what is possible without changing the turbo. Also try checking out the stickys at the top the a3 8l thread list, it will answer all your questions tbf.

Sorry, forgot engine code! It's an AUM, so KO3s turbo on there. I'm looking at REVO stage 2, I have a full manifold back Milltech system, cone filter (which I will putting back into a standard airbox after this fiasco!). I have a forge tip waiting to be fitted, but want an oil catch tank before I do. Was looking at this one...
Awesome - 42 Draft Stealth Oil Catch Can - Golf Mk2/Mk3/Mk4
It looks fairly OEM and seems good quality much like the one from the group buy thread. I've read a lot of the stickies, mainly on the "welly cooler" and other FMIC. I really want to keep the fogs so am looking at trying to fit in a welly in and keep the fogs but I don't really this as possible? Changing the turbo is going to cost about £650 for a hybrid, and that's probably a little far for me as I think stage 2 will be where I want it, about the 220BHP mark.

Well firstly ads sorry to hear about your car woes hope u get it sorted soon, IMO the standard Audi gaskets are great and more then capable of a stage 2 which I'm running now just get a set from tps mate, I did change my maf for a new one from audi cost me £120 and had to give them my old one, but the car felt so great afterwards and much more responsive and this was done due to the fact nick at rtech advised me to do so once learning it was the original one with the car 12 years old lol , I'm not sure if the maf ur looking At would make any difference but I'm running 221bhp and stage 2 set up will be going back to rtech on thursday morning to up the boost as I'm running just under 1 bar so I would just replace the gaskets get a new maf and get the car running sweet and good then add on what u like but whatever u decide mate good luck with it

Seems like I'll be going standard Audi, was looking at going after market but guess it's just not worth it? By the sounds of it I'll go for the new MAF, the one that's on there is currently over 5 years old so probably due a change and the coolant exploding over it probably didn't help. Nice work on 221, mine was 200 and boost guage read about 1.3 bar but I don't fully believe that, so hopefully the stage 2 will bring in some nice gains and a bit better driveability.

Suppose it might be worth my while doing a build thread when I get all this gear on it! :icon_thumright:

 

[Customboy]

I'm just waiting to get my car sorted on Thursday and may also start a build thread on my car but trust me a new maf will make a big diffence

 

[s3dave]

unlucky mate, there could be more damage if the car hydrolocked, i would get the rods checked. or ideally while the heads off get the forged ones in....

 

[Pops848]

I'm just waiting to get my car sorted on Thursday and may also start a build thread on my car but trust me a new maf will make a big diffence

New MAF it is then, you recommend genuine Audi exchange? or are the ones from the likes of GSF as good? Build threads are good to read, apart from when there is already 20 pages....

unlucky mate, there could be more damage if the car hydrolocked, i would get the rods checked. or ideally while the heads off get the forged ones in....

The engine still starts and runs, I think head gasket has very minimally gone as no white gunk on the oil cap and I've not noticed any black oil in the coolant, it's a bit greasey but not oily. Forged rods are not a bad shout, but are they really worth it on a A3 AUM that's probably only going to see about 220BHP?

I know that's a bit of a stupid question, but I'm just of the opinion that these engines can take a lot of power as they are built so well (my last A3, 1998 A3 1.8T AGU got to 249K on the clock....then I sold it, it was bog standard though)

 

[s3dave]

Ah sorry i thought you were going hybrid i read it wrong, but it would be future proof if you got bored?

 

[Pops848]

Ah sorry i thought you were going hybrid i read it wrong, but it would be future proof if you got bored?

Don't tempt me! I am terrible in terms of getting led into more power.... I'll probably stick with stage 2 on this car. Ideally I'd like to get a track car too, so would be worth buying a blown up A3 and just rebuilding it ground up... but that won't be just yet!

 

[Pops848]

What does everyone think about replacing cam belt and water pump? They were only done 10k ago. I'm in the mind of replace can belt due to tension etc, but water pump is probably just worth leaving?
Ill probably pull the sump off and give that a massive clean as I'll need to drop the oil anyway?

 

[s3dave]

Dont re use a fitted cam belt its just not worth the risk,

 

[Pops848]

Yeah mate, I'm going to do cam belt, but probably leave water pump as it was done less than 10k ago.