Head gasket....

[KRIMZON]

hi there guys, well I need abit of advice as i'm in a bit of a.....well...shit at the moment, not to do with a classic but still an Audi.

To the point: 2 months ago the missus Audi a4 (b5) started to show serious temprature problems on the dash and yet the water in the coolant tank was cold??..thought at first combination of sensor and thermorstat....after a few more days loads of white smoke out the exhaust and really rough idling....so, took it to my local garage for a second opinion (bloke I known for years)....he told me head gasket was on it's way out...FFS, so I though sod it, done the job plenty of times before for other people so why not do for my loved one (don't laugh). I was a little suspicious as I though it would show other signs....but what the hell!

The work: engine oil and coolant flush, head off, check for warping..check for wear on the gasket...checked both surfaces (and cleaned for a good hour!!!) and it all check out ok bar a slight depression on one side of the gasket.....least all this work wasn't for nothing....

At this point I didn't feel at the time skimming the head would be neccessary as both head and block surfaces seemed perfectly sound with no scratches or scours.

went to local audi specialist and got all genuine parts....well worth the money as it all fits ...

Bought and fitted/replaced: all new gaskets, new head bolts, new oil deflector (my son jumped on it when I brought it in to clean...the little fvgfbgfnjnmjj**mfnmv) bosch spark plugs, oil filter, air filter, cam belt and tensioner, aux belt, new crank sprocket (now thats another story), gastrol gtx high mileage oil, genuine anti freeze, new thermorstat, new temprature sensor (just to make sure) and other bits and bobs.....ooooh and some temprature resistant red paint for the rocker cover

END RESULT!!!!

ok...fired up...a little bit of white smoke to start with then.....perfect, ran like an absalute dream....responsive, better mpg, idles perfect and soooo quiet it was lovely again.

UHHH OHHHHHH!!!!!!:

ok, 2 day's ago really irratic idling and then......F**K loads of white smoke..AAAARRRGGGHHHH, losing water...crap....so....checked oil cap (NO don't do it)....white scum...F*******K.

It runs normal until it reaches normal temp and then all hell breaks loose with idling and white smoke (is it foggy out there)...

Today I re-torqued the head bolts thinking it was that and it seemed that may of been the problem (did 2000miles since I first did head so thought it may have been a task that needed to have been done)
It seemed to help all day, then.....more white smoke but no irratic idling.

What to do now?:

So...there being lot's of clever..clever people on here, I was hoping you guys could give me some advice. I'm really sorry for all the rambling, and hope someone may know what step I should take next, I thought maybe the head does need skimming after all....or...i should sell the bloody the thing

Any help would be fantastic!

Cheers

[missfire]

cracked water gallery blowing into combustion chamber/crank case...?

any 'steam cleaned' plugs/plug....narrow it down to one cylinder...?

..skim head...? is it worth it..? price a replacement engne..??

dont know .....

after you did all that work, how long did it run for until the smoke started again..?

[KRIMZON]

Originally Posted by missfire

cracked water gallery blowing into combustion chamber/crank case...?

any 'steam cleaned' plugs/plug....narrow it down to one cylinder...?

water pressure playing a role there once its up to temp..

skim head...? is it worth it..? price a replacement engne..??

dont know .....

cheers bud, Well I know it's easter today but as soon as it gets light i'll see if I can narrow it down cylinder wise....this car is becoming a right pain in the ass ah well never mind.

[KRIMZON]

it's done roughly 2500 miles since it started to happen 2 days ago(had to do quite a few long trips as a family)....early january was when I did it if I remember right.

[missfire]

Originally Posted by KRIMZONQUATTRO

it's done roughly 2500 miles since it started to happen 2 days ago(had to do quite a few long trips as a family)....early january was when I did it if I remember right.

....hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm....

see what the folks say in the morning........

ill have dreams of stretch bolts and alloy heads now.....

[KRIMZON]

, dreams for you...nightmare for me

[pimpdriver]

did you change the water pump?

Coolant in tank cold, sensor = hot.

Water not getting circulated.......

Just a thought.......

When my B2 80 alternator belt snapped (also drives the water pump on this ancient engine), it overheated and steamed a lot.

A mate of mine on his A3 with the 1.8 20 valve non turbo (presume this is the engine you're on about???) got his cambelt changed, and DIDN'T change his waterpump (against my advice as he wanted to save £30), and a few weeks later that went, which meant he had to change the cambelt again........

[KRIMZON]

Originally Posted by pimpdriver

did you change the water pump?

Coolant in tank cold, sensor = hot.

Water not getting circulated.......

Just a thought.......

When my B2 80 alternator belt snapped (also drives the water pump on this ancient engine), it overheated and steamed a lot.

A mate of mine on his A3 with the 1.8 20 valve non turbo (presume this is the engine you're on about???) got his cambelt changed, and DIDN'T change his waterpump (against my advice as he wanted to save £30), and a few weeks later that went, which meant he had to change the cambelt again........

water pump is good, since i did the job temprature and circulation has been spot on. forgot to say, i did a test on the old thermostat when i took it out and that was knackered and wouldn't open at temp, once fitted water circulated fine but temp still went irratic, so at that point decided to replace the temp sensor and then all was ok. So the combination of gasket, thermostat and sensor seemed to be the problem.......2500mile or so later, its now a irratic idling fog machine at perfect temp. Water circulates good, temprature accurate.....so i do not know, i'll nip outside and update this a in jiffy to let pepz know the state of the sparkys.

[AAN 5pot]

Did you change the oil aswell when you did the headgasket???

[KRIMZON]

Originally Posted by AAN 5pot

Did you change the oil aswell when you did the headgasket???

Yes, flushed complete oil system first and used castrol gtx. I also flushed the water system aswell.