Anybody have a head gasket fail on a 3.0T ?

[S4'ed]

Has anyone needed to replace a head gasket on a 3.0T ?

[BoostEasy]

I've never heard of one. The only time I've really heard of modern cars built in the last 15 years blowing HGs is because of serious overheating- running out of engine or coolant. You'd have to work at it pretty hard.

It's not hard to check for a blown HG if you're not sure. You should see the cooling system barf all over the place as it is overpressurized and overheated, and/or coolant will get in the oil and make a "milkshake". Both real obvious and no need for special tools.

If it's a really mild HG issue, you'll just see bubbles coming into the cooling system overflow tank regularly (mild overpressure).

[Intrepid One]

Another tell tale is "spiking" in engine temps and an unusual amount of coolant/vapour in the exhaust..

[jygesq]

pretty common on BMW e39 six cylinder cars from 1997-2003. Overheat one of these and it happens quickly w/o warning and you toast the engine, blow the head.that is one reason I sold mine last week at 87K miles 15 years old and bought a new 2105 s4

[PitchS4]

Oil analysis is your best bet if you suspect a failure (and it isn't obvious via what people said above).

[Sales@DriveAuto]

We haven't seen one yet. If you're having problems, feel free to bring it by and we can look it over.

[S4'ed]

I suspect the root cause of this is a head gasket failure :
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...nd-behind-dash

I will try to bleed the system, but if this comes back.....it might be head gasket time......

[schirm]

Why do you think that would be the cause of head gasket failure? I have been hearing that noise for 40,000 miles randomly.

[S4'ed]

A bad head gasket could allow cylinder compression to force air into the coolant passages, and those are the bubbles you hear in the heater-core, behind the dash. As the engine heats up, the gasket seals better, and the air leakage stops.

I had this exact same thing happen on a 2005 Passat 1.8T, around 85000 miles.. The first sign of the head gasket failure was the heater-core bubble noises, which subsided as the engine warmed-up. At first, I tried to bleed the air out of the coolant system, but the bubble-noise problem returned the next day. This engine had never overheated, and I owned the car since new. Eventually, the coolant would leak into one of the cylinders, seeping in, when the hot engine was shut off, and sat overnight to cool. When it was cold restarted, it then had a misfire in that cylinder until the coolant was cleared out. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...t=awm+misfires

I suspect the 3.0T has a bad head gasket design, as my car only has 15000 miles on it, and other S4 owners seem to also report this bubble noise as "normal", even at low miles.

[S4'ed]

We haven't seen one yet. If you're having problems, feel free to bring it by and we can look it over.

What would be ballpark labor $ to replace both head gaskets on a 3.0T ?

[schirm]

A bad head gasket could allow cylinder compression to force air into the coolant passages, and those are the bubbles you hear in the heater-core, behind the dash. As the engine heats up, the gasket seals better, and the air leakage stops.

I had this exact same thing happen on a 2005 Passat 1.8T, around 85000 miles.. The first sign of the head gasket failure was the heater-core bubble noises, which subsided as the engine warmed-up. At first, I tried to bleed the air out of the coolant system, but the bubble-noise problem returned the next day. This engine had never overheated, and I owned the car since new. Eventually, the coolant would leak into one of the cylinders, seeping in, when the hot engine was shut off, and sat overnight to cool. When it was cold restarted, it then had a misfire in that cylinder until the coolant was cleared out. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...t=awm+misfires

I suspect the 3.0T has a bad head gasket design, as my car only has 15000 miles on it, and other S4 owners seem to also report this bubble noise as "normal", even at low miles.

I think its perfectly normal. No one has had any problems with their head gaskets.

[Sales@DriveAuto]

What would be ballpark labor $ to replace both head gaskets on a 3.0T ?

Please give us a call at the shop and we'll be happy to give you a quote!

[BoostEasy]

It's highly unlikely to be a head gasket problem. If you had your thermostat worked on I'd say it's a ton more likely that you just have air trapped in the system.

I'm not a cooling system expert but it sounds like the shop that did the work needs to bleed the air with one of these tools: http://www.amazon.com/Radiator-Cooli...BT9YKEHQNW780V

Usually dealerships are pretty good but maybe the thermostat drained so much coolant the tech needed to bleed it more than one time and just did it once and said ok.

[S4'ed]

I am the 2nd owner of the car, and have driven it for about 2 months, about 3500 miles. No air bubble noises until about a week ago. I have all the Audi service records, and the original owner had the waterpump and thermostat replaced in 2010.

Why would I suddenly, now, get air in the cooling system?

[Zman84]

My 2011 had a blown head gasket from thermostat failure/overheating. Dealer didn't catch it initially and replaced the thermostat and released the car to me. Over the next few days I noticed the water sounds from the dash, as well as the fans staying on extra long like they did as the thermostat failed. Returned the car to the dealer to have them discover a blown head gasket and cylinder wall damage. Ended up replacing the entire long block under warranty! Everyone was quite surprised, as my original concern was engine health after the thermostat failure/overheating. My SA initially said that the worst case scenario of a head gasket failure would be a relatively simple and limited repair, and that the water noises was air in the cooling system which was also normal.....turned out to be far from it. Car has been running great since the new motor, fans function normally and no water flow noises.

[BoostEasy]

I am the 2nd owner of the car, and have driven it for about 2 months, about 3500 miles. No air bubble noises until about a week ago. I have all the Audi service records, and the original owner had the waterpump and thermostat replaced in 2010.

Why would I suddenly, now, get air in the cooling system?

I don't think anyone can tell you for sure what it is because we're only going off of the information you provide.

If you really think it's a blown HG, the symptoms will be as stated above- bubbles in the coolant overflow tank, water in the oil etc. Check the overflow tank for bubbles and/or buy the dipstick for your car and check the oil for emulsions. If you don't have either, it's highly unlikely to be HG problem. If you do have bubbles regularly popping up in your overflow or the overflow barfs coolant into the engine bay etc, immediately take the car to the dealer before you do any permanent damage to the engine.

[Wilbur]

White exhaust is another telltale as coolant gets burned.

[S4'ed]

Ordered a vacuum coolant filler tool. Will replace the coolant and see if this "normal" gurgling noise goes away.....