A6 2.8 V6 head gasket gone or cylinder block cracked!!! What are my options?

[helium4amc]

Hi,

I have a 1996 P reg A6 2.8 30V (engine code ACK) Quattro. Driving down the M5 last night, the oil and water temperature gauges went through the roof, so I pulled off the motor way and opened up the bonnet only to find that the water tank was emptying itself through the cap (an over-pressure failsafe i presume!). I called the AA out and he did a cobustion leak test with some blue liquid in the water, which promptly turned green, showing that combustion gases were getting into the water.

This, I am told, means either the head gasket is gone of the cylinder block is cracked, neither of which is a terribly good thing!

This leads me to two questions:

1) I am now stuck in Cheddar and have to get down to Plymouth (where I live) so that I can get back to work and sort it out in slower time. Is there an additive or somethign i can add to the water to give me a temporary seal that will allow me to drive the 100-odd miles back to Plymouth?

2) How easy is it to change the head gasket (assuming it is this) myself? I have done a bit of work on engines before and have changed an early 80s polo head gasket before with no trouble. Obviously, this is a rather bigger job! If it is going to be an absolute nightmare, does anybody have any idea of the cost I'm looking at to have a garage do it?

Thanks in advance for any help anybody can offer!

Cheers,

Andrew

[Peter D]

http://www.indexlink.com/garages-and-mechanics/in/somerset/
It's a big job and it would take two days without a skim, you need a lot of gear and cam locking tools and the like. Regards Peter

[helium4amc]

Cheers Peter! sounds like it might be easier to get a gagre to do it! Still waiting on a call back from Plymuth Audi (called them this morning) to tell me how much they would charge. Not hopeful, but at least it gives me a higher end price!!!

I found a little car parts shop in Cheddar who were incredibly firnedly and helpful and managed to get a bottle of Kalimex K-seal in about 2 hours, which is supposed to provide a permanent (although I read that as temporary!) seal for things like head gaskets!

Suffice it to say it didn't fix the problem, but I managed to limp back to plymouth with only a couple of stops to water the engine (or power plant? Hmmm, no, terrible pun!) which it is emptying out of the water reservoir, it seems.

Not sure if the water reservoir might be damaged what with the large volume of apparently super-heated steam coming out of both the lid and somewhere underneath as well!

If i wanted to try and undertake it myself, can anyone suggest a suitable guide? The A6 Haynes manual doesn't cover the V6 (or the Quattro! B***ards!!)

Cheers again Peter,

Andrew