Head Failure?

S4_dan

S4_dan

Fire up the Quattro!
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Guys,

Not good news, the wife was driving the car and last week it was noticed the Derv Shed was leaking oil. I checked it and it was coming from the rocker cover gasket. so nipped it up a little to make do until I had time to remove and reseal with gasket sealer and a new gasket.

A few days later my wife went to pick the kids up and she said a red light with a thermometer came on so she parked the car up at home. I went and had a look two days later and coolant tank was empty. I filled it up and checked 10 mins later and topped up a bit more.

Drove to my mates farm about 2 miles away. When I came to reverse out I noticed a wet patch on the floor. I opened the bonnet and looked for the water leak, it was coming from the header tank. I removed the cap (with engine running) and water gushed out. So i put the cap back on and held onto the top radiator hose, I could feel this pipe pressuring!

So I drove the car straight home and parked it up feeling really miffed.

I'm guessing as this pipe was pressuring hard that the head or headgasket has failed?
or in a dream land, maybe i didn't bleed to system properly as I never removed the hose with the small hole in to bleed fully? (That just won't be my luck though!)

any ideas? I'll have another look tomorrow morning and see if I can find anything else out.
 
Opening the cap with a hot engine will cause a loss of pressure and the water will instantly boil hence it gushing out.

It may be a leak, it might be an airlock thats finally cleared, the only way to find out is to fill it up properly, bleed it properly and see what happens.

When you say it was leaking from the header tank, was it leaking from a crack, or was it leaking from the overflow fitting on the bottom?

If its leaking from the overflow fitting its worth changing the cap for a known good one, as the pressure release valve in the caps can sometimes become weak.
 
The engine wasn't hot as it had c
Only done 2 miles then cooled for an hour and half.

It was dripping from the bottom below the cap, the overflow thingy.

I do have a spare cap I can try too. I'll have a go at fully bleeding the coolant again. I still need to change the thermostat too. Might do that today if I can find where I put my new stat.

Cheers.
 
audi upgrades
Update....

I removed the cap and filled the coolant up and bleed with heater hose hole exposed. Once filled I started the car and felt the top rad hose, no pressuring as yet. After idling for 5 mins I went back and top hose was hard and water dripping from overflow vent under the expansion tank cap. I removed the cap slowly and out gushed a load of water. I left the engine running and cap off to see if any air bubbles were coming through and nothing.

Hot air coming out of the vents ok. The water level didn't move since the cap was off for another 5 mins.

My spare cap is in my B6 Audi along with the stat for the Derv Shed. So it looks like maybe it is the cap after all?

I'm gonna get my bike out and go for a ride, hitting a few green lanes relieving some stress before meeting up with the wife and getting the bits out of the B6.

Dan
 
Well the replacement doesn't make a difference. Both top and bottom radiator hoses go very hard after 5 mins of idling.

Any other ideas before I resort to whipping the head off again?

Dan
 
if its pressurising the system within 5 mins of idling from cold, then i dont think it could be thermostat related. Water pump maybe if its not circulating water and creating hot spots? I think it does sound like a problem with the gasket. Maybe worth a sniff test first?
 
Whipped thermostat out this morning. Seized shut it was. The replacement I had bought was incorrect one. Have been back in touch with seller, keeping this one and sending the right one out today.

So fitted the pipe back on without a stat. Still pressurised the system.

So I whipped the head off. Found the culprit! The flat surface had corrosion on it between piston and water jacket. Obviously allowing exhaust gases to seep through and pressurise the system.

So back to my original head (which was skimmed 2 years ago) and I pulled the cam shaft out then the tappets. 3 tappets were squashed from when the belt snapped. So I took all 8 from the corroded head and fitted then into the new head in the same places. Valves are straight which is good news!

So just waiting for a new gasket and head bolts to arrive along with the 'stat so I can finally put it all back together.
 
No, not the passat head. But the original head was skimmed about 2 years ago just before It was parked up. The surface is still very very clean and smooth. Took no effort at all to clean the small carbon build up off it.
 
Headgasket has arrived, just waiting the head bolts now. Why are some people so slow at shipping despite paying more for a premium delivery service!!
 
one of my pet hates...
I ordered stuff from Glasgow and paid extra for quick postage as they said I couldn't collect
then ordered stuff from down south the following day and never paid extra for quick postage as was in no hurry for it and the stuff from down south arrived first!!
 
YAY! The headbolts arrived today.


BBBOOOOOOOOOOOO! He's sent me the wrong ones! M11 032103384A instead of M12 068103384A.

AND he sent them 2nd class the toe rag! Some people really make my pee boil!!!
 
Boiling pee!ha you must be very angry with him!can you get him to send them express this time considering he lied about the last shipment and the extra cost?try to nail him for the cost of postage both ways.
 
Yeah i was bit pee'd off yesterday. Waited a week when it should of been 3 days.

I've contacted the seller, he doesn't have anymore with the part number I need. Only the wrong part number. eBay have given me a label to print for free return postage and the guy has offered to refund me in full including the delivery cost. Yay.

Got some bolts this morning from eurocarparts. Not genuine ones like the eBay guy but they are Elring which is same brand as my head gasket.

So I will hopefully get round to fitting the head tomorrow whilst juggling with father's day.
 
audi upgrades
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