Audi A3 Head Gasket failure again?!!

[louellison]

Hi All,

Bought a 1998 1.6 A3 in October 2004.

Feb 2005 and seemingly without warning, it failed to start one day, total loss of power (flat battery) jump started and drove home only to experience a loud bang and white smoke. Disaster. Car goes into garage and turns out the it needs new head gasket. Also, spark plugs buggered, had been cross-thredded and need to be drilled out by specialist. Bill for £800 thank you very much Mr Mechanic.

Car seemed to be running fine apart from a noisy exhaust and snapped suspension spring on fron nearside which I replaced this year prior to MOT (another £600).

June 2006 and car started loosing coolant. Slowly at first, required refill every couple of weeks. Checked forums and concerned about gasket again, but checked for all the warning signs none of which were apparent.

However, problem getting worse. Refilling ever other day or so no. I'm inclined to think that it's a problem with water pump and/or radiator rather than the gasket for a second time? Surely not (she hopes!)

Out of interest, when the garage replaced the gasket, should they have investigated why it went wrong in the first place or is it common for them to just fix the problem. I'm concerned that this could have been avoided.

Looked under the bonnet yesterday and noticed that the oil hose is split. So should really get that fixed quick smart, and perhaps ask for an investigation into loss of coolant? Any ideas how much an investigation should cost? I'm getting a company car and hope to sell the A3 asap so really don't want to fork out £££'s on it.

Please help me.

[onzarob]

It could be something as simple as a hose connection leaking a little, If there is no oil in the water or vice versa. and the car is running well. the head gasket should be the last thing on the check list. Did the garage get the head skimmed when they refitted the the new gasket. not a nesscity but should have been checked to see if it had warpped. (common cause of gasket failure)

If you are not a DIYer then get a garage to pressure test the cooling system and go from there.

Rob