Jardo's 'Journey to quattro' - My Story...

Soooo.

I have been getting a small coolant loss, 1 litre every 1000 miles or so. The low level light has never come on, the heaters are up to temp and the climate works, never gone above 90*.

Today on the way home I had a slightly weird experience, with gently pulling away in first the car went like **** then I backed off, I never asked it to go like that but it just took off.

After this the car felt slow, and I was convinced I had a boost leak and the car had over boosted. I popped the bonnet and it was hot as **** and the coolant tank was bubbling and had nothing in it. I gently let off the cap and all hell broke lose, the car threw about three litres of boiling coolant out.

Very strange.

I refilled and started the car and heard a chattering from the bottom end, immediately I suspected the water pump had sheered. But then I remembered it is a metal one :/

There is no flow in the header tank, the water is just stagnant.

There is a little mayo in the filler cap for the oil.

I took the car for a short drive and it feels down on power until you give it full beans, then it is fine. Doesn't over heat at all, blowers on or off.

So, any suggestions?
 
I'd go with instinct and check Jardo if it was me
 
Metal impeller pumps have a tendency to leak through the shaft... after not many miles either... every metal impeller pump I have seen has done this... not sure on the coolant problem other than maybe a cracked head... about the only time I have seen the coolant system over pressurise... head gaskets don't normally fail on 20vt's

<tuffty/>
 
<tuffty/> said:
Metal impeller pumps have a tendency to leak through the shaft... after not many miles either... every metal impeller pump I have seen has done this... not sure on the coolant problem other than maybe a cracked head... about the only time I have seen the coolant system over pressurise... head gaskets don't normally fail on 20vt's

<tuffty/>
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Not knowing as much as tuffty about engines obviously but i cracked a head on a 1.2 clio (after buying one trying to be economical which lasted me a couple of months as it was depressing me too much to drive) and it drove as normalish for a few months but used a little bit more water as your using a month but not much more.

Hope its not a cracked head really for you though.
 
Had the exploding expansion tank a few weeks ago on my ibiza, that was the head gasket :( Hopefully your heads alright though:) I have two spare if you do need one mate, kleptomaniac lol
 
Your an A3 so not 100% on that,no ETKA here :(
 
I just feel so gutted, this thing has been so perfectly reliable for four years. Never let me down once :(

And within the space of two months the clutch has gone, the gearbox, every possible mount, now the waterpump and cambelt will need to be prematurely done, potential cracked head and certainly a head gasket.

Jesus hates me.
 
Jesus doesn't hate you, besides now may be a good time to find solace in religion...preferably buddism or something that teaches inner peace.
Be positive, after 4 years of trouble free motoring and abuse its expected to have a few things to deal with. Needn't cost the earth and thewhole car will be nearly new again :)
 
slowcoach3 said:
Jesus doesn't hate you, besides now may be a good time to find solace in religion...preferably buddism or something that teaches inner peace.
Be positive, after 4 years of trouble free motoring and abuse its expected to have a few things to deal with. Needn't cost the earth and thewhole car will be nearly new again :)
Click to expand...

Very true, ive tried to explain, if it is the HG its no biggy, and will cost parts, and poss red bull and a few fags :)
come on, you boys need to keep me busy, otherwise id do something silly like get Rach up the duff or such like lol
 
ahh your past few months reminds me of my entire experience of mk2 golf ownership, bought it for £350, spent 2k on it, sold it for £300 a year later still not running properly after everything possible went wrong about 3 months after i brought the damn thing.
dont worry phil i'll be popping out to tavi soon, summer is comming and mine needs to be running tiptop!
 
Got some coilovers that need fitting so drive to Bedford please... Don't do a silly thing like have a child lol.
 
16Klappe said:
I just feel so gutted, this thing has been so perfectly reliable for four years. Never let me down once :(

And within the space of two months the clutch has gone, the gearbox, every possible mount, now the waterpump and cambelt will need to be prematurely done, potential cracked head and certainly a head gasket.

Jesus hates me.
Click to expand...
I dont think this flat shifting/Launch control business is kind to the engine, it is soon going to show a weakness

Apart from that Jesus may hate you....:p
 
phil miller said:
Very true, ive tried to explain, if it is the HG its no biggy, and will cost parts, and poss red bull and a few fags :)
come on, you boys need to keep me busy, otherwise id do something silly like get Rach up the duff or such like lol
Click to expand...

Don't joke, I need mani, fmic, lg porthead and turbo doing.....plus Jards workload, Rach is safe for a while :)
 
16Klappe said:
I just feel so gutted, this thing has been so perfectly reliable for four years. Never let me down once :(
Click to expand...

I think the key thing you're forgetting here mate, is that it hasn't been your car for the pst 4 years, it's been Lous.

It's had an easy life, a simple st1 remap, and it's trundled around town for a few years and done the odd long trip.

In the 4 months that you've owned it, you've added a front mount, an exhaust, a st2 map with launch control. You've hugely increased it's output, and you hammer it about everywhere, so I think it's fair to say it's had more abuse since you got it in october than it has in the last 4 years :(

Sad, but most definitely true.
 
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As ever, Prawn is the voice of reason. The reason I gave the car up was because it was coming to a point where it needed money spent on it and I had neither inclination nor funds to throw at a 10 year old car (yes I know it's a great 10 year old car, but that was my decision). I knew as soon as I drove it the other day there was something not right, and absolutely it's not a surprise that now the car has been pushed further power-wise that other things were going to fail. I hadn't spent any money on it for a year and had done nothing more than pootle from one side of the city to the other 5 days a week. Poor thing. Never did it justice and then I gave it to this hooligan!
 
Loupigs said:
As ever, Prawn is the voice of reason. The reason I gave the car up was because it was coming to a point where it needed money spent on it and I had neither inclination nor funds to throw at a 10 year old car (yes I know it's a great 10 year old car, but that was my decision). I knew as soon as I drove it the other day there was something not right, and absolutely it's not a surprise that now the car has been pushed further power-wise that other things were going to fail. I hadn't spent any money on it for a year and had done nothing more than pootle from one side of the city to the other 5 days a week. Poor thing. Never did it justice and then I gave it to this hooligan!
Click to expand...

Lou, you can live with the Knowledge that you treated it well in all the time your had it. Jardo, what can i say, i have to agree with your good lady, your just a hooligan, lmao. :)
 
Its gonna be ok, a day or to on life support and it will be fine, the A3 is in good hands, promise Lou

But im sure Ron is its twin, ive got to A3s outside on life support :(
 
:( It'll be ok, and it'll come back stronger than ever. I'm not giving up on the baby like Lou did, I knew **** was going to go wrong but I just hadn't counted on it going wrong this quickly and all at once.

I've got Phil Miller, and as Prawn said earlier nothing is a problem when you've got Phil on your side :)

New water pump, cambelt and compression test, fingers crossed that'll sort it. Total worst case we'll have to do the head, not the end of the world.

And if it looks this good broken, imagine how awesome it is working -

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:)
 
^^^ made me 'well up' thank you dude, and as bad as it sounds im only doing my job, i dont see that as anything amazing, both A3s will be fine, may take a few hours hard work but it will be A OK when all done :)
 
Wow this thread is getting emotional... Who would know Philler is such a softie! Sorry to hear about Ron mate.xxx
 
On a cheerier side note, hows the tiger sealed mounts doing mate?
 
Tiger sealed mounts are awesome, get it done. :)

The plan was to do the rest of my polybushes yesterday but obviously with my over heating issue it didn't happen. I can't wait to get everything done and get it back on the road.

Going to work in the 500 this morning and then Lou is taking me to Russ's to pick up a head tonight.
 
Gutted to hear you've had issues. As Nick says I suppose it's just one of those things when you start getting much more than standard power from an old car. Good luck with getting it fixed, I'm sure Phil will do a good job of it. Look on the bright side, whatever bits need replacing, it'll be a few more parts that you know are fresh and good. 'Better the devil you know' and all that. Even if they're not up-rated it's still added piece of mind for the future knowing they're sound.

Occasionally I wish I had shiny paint I could pamper, your car does look damn good all polished up. (Then I remember I'd probably just neglect it anyway while I was playing with the oily bits.)
 
Sorry to hear about the issues. But remember, with great power comes great responsibility!

Im starting to fit the S2K filter this weekend. Did you have any joy fitting a heatshield? Would the S3 Dave one not fit?
i may buy some sheet metal and attempt to fab one up. But I'd only have a drill and tin snips to try. Drilling a 70mm hole for the maf would be a nightmare!
 
Prawn said:
I don't know why everyone bothers with the heat-shield personally.....
Click to expand...

with only 185 ponies I don't want to run the risk of any running away. Into lasagne.

Its more sonething to support the maf with. And bolt the ignition amp to.
 
I think the fact it hold the MAF steady and looks pretty negates the fact you might lose 1 G/S.
 
demons uk said:
I think the fact it hold the MAF steady and looks pretty negates the fact you might lose 1 G/S.
Click to expand...

If you knew how many heat shields I have you'd understand that g/s is everything. :p

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And I've got another two in the shed...
 
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