Blown Heat Gasket - who knows or knows where to fix

[drewbee]

Hi guys,

the dreaded thing happened and my head gaskets gone!

has anyone had theres replaced or know where to get it done? also what price am i looking at?

such a shame, car's only done 55k and has FSH and just got the timing belt replaced with water pump and thermostat!!

 

[simon.m]

sorry to here that mate where abouts are you

 

[drewbee]

London mate.

going to get a few quotes tomorrow. hopefully it wont cost me too much!! might consider geting rid off it but dont fink it will sell with the blown gasket!!

 

[simon.m]

it should not be to much for what it is if the head is ok that is

 

[drewbee]

have any idea roughly how much?

btw, i take it the S4 grills have now sold?

 

[simon.m]

i dont mate i can find out if we are cheaper down here being your in london maybe woth a try
s4 grills ? not me mate

 

[drewbee]

oh sorry, wrong guy LOL.

dont thin i can get my car down to you, it overheats due to the blown gasket

 

[simon.m]

you not with aa or some one

 

[drewbee]

yeah but it doesnt cover home break downs!! LOL

 

[chrisash32]

yeah but it doesnt cover home break downs!! LOL

wont it run long enough to get you a mile away from home?

 

[J7USS]

wont it run long enough to get you a mile away from home?

x2

 

[simon.m]

thats what i thought or get a friend to tow it rather than make it worse thats if its cheaper down here that is lol

 

[drewbee]

nah, drove it last night and it over heated quick, had a full tank of anti freeze in it and now its all gone.

the cars been sat on the driveway for a week and a half now, cant get through to my mechanic - going to be a while before i can drive it again!!

 

[coyote]

I thought my head gasket had blown last month and got prices of £400 and £600 if its just the gasket. £1000 if the head was screwed.

The water pump failed and the car overheated. I got that sorted at the dealers then a week later the coolant was going down and the oil was rising! I was told it was either the oil cooler or the head gasket. I changed the cooler myself for arount £60 and so far the oil level has not risen since. Im still slowly loosing coolant though.....

 

[drewbee]

Cheers Coyote.

any idea how to find out if the heads screwed or not? without stripping it?

i have been quoted £200 just to strip it down and see the damage. that sound reasonable?

 

[simon.m]

i no you can have a test done on the warter mate they dont charge for that but im not sure if car needs to be running or not
i had this the othere day with some one on here and was told it did need to be running but woth asking.

 

[coyote]

Its called a sniffer test.

Good luck bro

 

[drewbee]

I thought my head gasket had blown last month and got prices of £400 and £600 if its just the gasket. £1000 if the head was screwed.

The water pump failed and the car overheated. I got that sorted at the dealers then a week later the coolant was going down and the oil was rising! I was told it was either the oil cooler or the head gasket. I changed the cooler myself for arount £60 and so far the oil level has not risen since. Im still slowly loosing coolant though.....

you might want to consider changing the coolant bottle (whatever they are called) as before i confiemd the head gasket was gone, i found that the bottle was leaking -

basically after a drive, popped open the bonnet, and relased the cap for the bottle - slowly of cause as it was hot and pressuerised - and purff - a whole load of steam came out of the bottom of the bottle!!

got a new one fitted on tuesday - cost £15 from the dealers - worth changing and good luck!!

 

[paul20v]

Its called a sniffer test.

Good luck bro

This tests for hydro carbon in the water will tell you if cylinder pressure is getting into the water but wont tell you if its getting into the oil etc, also this will only tell that a head gasket is gone not if the head itself is cracked as the head can only be pressure tested once its been removed
good luck with your diagnosis
paul

 

[coyote]

you might want to consider changing the coolant bottle ....
got a new one fitted on tuesday - cost £15 from the dealers - worth changing and good luck!!

£15! amazing price from the dealers. I was looking on ebay at these the other day to get a approximate price and they are around £30 second hand. Ill pop to Audi this weekend to grab a new one and if it makes no difference I should make my money back plus more on my 7 year old one

Have you got the part number?

 

[drewbee]

i have the part number at home, i get it for you when i finish work, but mines for 3.0's might not be for yours. i'll let you know

 

[coyote]

I should get off my *** and go take a look under my bonnet - its probably printed on the top

Edit... Ordered a new tank and cap from Audi £20.23 inc.

 

[niftyandy]

Hi
I notice you have the 3.0 - so you have 2 heads and 2 head gaskets as its a 'V'6
If they've both gone then the rebuild will be in the region of £1500-£1750 range.
Its the 20hrs of labour thats the killer not the gaskets! - 10 each for taking it apart and rebuilding!
And that doesn't include skimming the heads...if they need doing then add another £300 maybe.
The thing is if you dont have the heads pressure tested then they may blow again in a few months
as they weren't skimmed, then you'll have to do it again with potentially another £1500 bill!!
You might be lucky and it might only be the one head gasket.
A good way to test if a gasket has gone is to buy a combustion leak tester...it'll see if you have
exhaust gases in your coolant! If it has then the head gasket has gone.
Good luck.

 

[niftyandy]

The £300 for pressure testing and skimming is due to the fact that you're driving a
quad-cam 24valve V6 and the heads have to be taken apart before pressure testing..
they would be skimmed for about £60 so again its the labour thats the killer.

 

[drewbee]

surely cracked head is an extreme senario right? hopefully its only one side. fingers crossed!

 

[niftyandy]

Depends how long and far you've driven it with no coolant!
It doesn't take a lot of driving, with it overheating, to crack heads, as as everything's aluminium!