54 a3 tdi 140 coolant lose/cracked cylinder head check?

aterro

aterro

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My sister had the car at 84k fsh audi.
Just worried about the head going now

Short while after she was low on coolant eg light kept coming on now n then
Then her last mot garage man told her she had a crack in water pipe.

Mileage now on 95k nd ive got it.
Not sure if head been changed?
Nd water pipe not been changed.
It's a pretty slow leak. Nd engine been fine for 8k at least.
No probs par for a noisy cold start up eg tractor lol

Cheers lads.
Ps if I rang Audi could they tell me??
 
Last edited:
Theres a thread on here somewhere, you need to look at the Part number on the block, if it ends with A nearly all the heads cracked, if it ends with B only a few went and C none went, there was a poll. Might be in the FAQ's? I wouldnt worry if its a slow leak, I have a slow leak occasionally which is from the radiatior I can only assume when it gets hot and expands causing the leak, it's on my to do list.

HTH mate,
Joe
 
I've read it
2003-2005 all heads cracked?
Im 54. Therefore should be cracked or going to crack? Can I blame this on Audi Nd get money back to fix?
Or will I be 2k out of pocket??

Recommendations?? Was going to put some kseal and hope it cures the leak from rad pipe Nd if not check all pipes then if there fine. Get worried lol
 
K-Seal can only help. Put some in my 05 plate (06 MY ) 9 months ago and no sign of coolant level dropping.

My head had suffix 'B'

You can blame it on Audi but I doubt you'll get any financial assistance even if it is the head.

Devonmikeyboy on here has BKD heads for sale if you need one.
 
Have you changed the cracked water pipe yet or not? just because the head is an early version doesn`t mean it will crack. If the car has done 84K without it cracking i would have thought it more likely a pipe or radiator leak as the heads usually cracked fairly early on. If it does turn out to be cracked a new head is about £800 + labour but as mike foster kindly pointed out i have several heads plus a full reconditioned 1000 mile engine at the moment.
 
Mickey mileage didnt always become an indicator. Mine had over 110k on and it cracked! Just a thought.
 
I haven't changed the waterpipe nope. Garage man said it's the one above rocker cover??
Mikey how much would u charge for a second hand head? How much is labour ish?? On average.

How much did u pay for yours Sarah??

When it has cracked what problems do you receive???
 
There is a pipe above the rocker cover but that is a air breather pipe nothing to do with water or running the engine. When the head cracks water coolant is lost for no apparent reason. Power can seen ok and no fault code will appear. The crack will usually slowly get worse until starting the engine becomes a problem as water has seeped into the cylinders plus other problems can start to happen. Mine cracked but within a week the head totally failed causing the engine to hydro lock which isn`t a good thing at xxx mph. Secondhand head with valves,cams etc so just injectors and rocker arm to swap over are about £200. To do the swap over you will need a new head gasket,rocker bolts,head bolts,injector bolts which come to about £100 plus 2-3 hours labour depending if the person knows what they are doing and things go OK. Hope this helps.
 
aterro said:
How much did u pay for yours Sarah??

When it has cracked what problems do you receive???
Click to expand...

Mine cost approx £2k but that was at Audi! They contributed half to parts only. So we ended up paying about £1.5k in the end. Learnt a big lesson there as it was in bits at the dealership and they wanted an arm and a leg to put it back together if I wanted to take it elsewhere.

I was topping up the coolent too often, think it had been like this for a while before I bought the car. Always had issues starting too, progressively getting worse.

Knowing what I do now, do it your self or get a garage you know to do it.
 
audi upgrades
Ok thanks for that. Mikey how much would a second hand head of u cost??

But the car has had a slight water leak for 8k surely it carnt be the head?? Was that a brand new head. ? With warranty?
 
I think i need a new cylinder head as well, had my car a week, checked oil cap, exhaust smoke and stuff when i bought it, but now ive had it a week and ive had to top up the coolant, i put it up to max and now is siting in between min and max, is that substantial enough to need the head changed?

Please help
 
Presumably you have checked the radiator and hoses? The bottom near side of the radiator in Golf Mk5 and Audi A3 are prone to rust through. My 2005 reg 2.0 TDi sport had to have a new one one week after I bought it ( under warranty ). If you bought from a dealer take it back ( as I did ) and get them to sort it.

Are you getting exhaust smoke and if so what colour because if the head is cracked the smoke is likely to be white-ish rather than black.
 
Think I have a cracked head too but I just keep spare coolant in the boot ATM. Going to try some k seal where can I buy some. Also how much is that reconditioned engine you have for sale? Does that include all running gear?
 
K-Seal can be obtained at any motor shop. Halfords, Motorsave ebay etc.

No more than a tenner for a full treatment.
 
Russo2k5 said:
Think I have a cracked head too but I just keep spare coolant in the boot ATM. Going to try some k seal where can I buy some. Also how much is that reconditioned engine you have for sale? Does that include all running gear?
Click to expand...
Link to the engine. As new PD140 BKD engine - SEAT Cupra.net - SEAT Forum
The price does not include running gear but i have a complete running gear from a 2006 PD140 A3 se at the moment if you need any suspension,wishbone,hubs etc
 
Would K-Seal be worth it or should i just get a new head?
 
Depends whether you think £9.99 or less is worth a try before you spend a grand !

Certainly won't do any harm.

And have you checked the radiator ? You will see rust stains if there is a leak
 
Best way i find to test for external leaks is to park the car on some clean dry concrete over night or stick some clean dry cardboard under the car. In the morning drive forward and check the concrete/cardboard for water stains. No harm in trying K seal i guess but cannot ever see it working as if the head crack is leaking water into the cylinder head if the K seal does seal when the car is switched off the very high cylinder pressures used in diesel cars to ignite the diesel will soon blow the K seal back out.
 
Worth doing a block test. Use a testing kit to check the co2 on the coolant. This will confirm if head is cracked.
The ones I have seen, crack in the exhaust port.

I charge £1200 to replace the head with a new gen Audi. Fully built up with new cams, valves, head gasket, head bolts etc.
 
OK so do i go for full blown K-seal or do I just get the holts radseal plus from halfords? the difference is i have to order k-seal i can just go get the holts stuff
 
PW - maybe so but it works (or it did for me )!!

K-seal is available at Motorsave and Halfords. One of the benefits of K-seal over radweld is that you just pour K-seal into the expansion bottle. Radweld has to be mixed first (I think ! )
 
I thought I had this issue just after buying mine, turns out it was just the radiator, bit of a nightmare to change though.

If it were my problem I would be inclined to just keep topping up on a weekly basis until the fault became intolerable, you can purchase a complete BKD motor for about a grand if worst came to the absolute worst.
 
I have just gone from max coolant to having the light on and now have mayo on the oil cap.... just ordered some K seal for a temp fix (fingers crossed) for now then ill do my cylinder head in early December I think, also if any one has any cylinder heads for sale please get them to pm me
 
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