N2AK

Hi, My dealer-maintained 2005 (mileage at 151,000) started to consume about 1/2 cup of coolant about every 500 miles. And you guessed correctly, it has a warped head which the dealership would like $5500 to repair. Weird thing (to me) is that the Service Advisor, w/ whom I've had a good relationship, doesn't think it's worth repairing. Also, it has never overheated.
I have always spent the extra dollar to take care of my favorite car ever. Any thoughts?

mishar

What other symptoms you have? Any coolant at the ground?

MP4.2+6.0

Seems way too early to conclude that head is the issue. If coolant is being lost that way, it is either going to ground, into oil or out the exhaust. If into oil, it will be milky if you open oil cap. If out exhaust, it should be a quasi steam cloud on a cool/cold morning. If out to ground, you should find the evidence of it ultimately.

I would look critically at other possible issues. For starters, pull belly pan and look for signs of leaks, both on belly pan and components above. Look at radiator too, especially near edges and at hose connections. Look at oil cooler area (oil to water heat exchanger). Look especially for any cotton candy like pinkish stuff, or pink dried streaks. That is what coolant looks like when it burns/evaporates off.

If it is head, you can either resurface and rebuild, or get a junkyard one and do the same for way less. I bought a head for my 2000 A6 4.2 for $175 plus shipping some years ago, and could R&R the head in < 8 hours just in my home garage environment with the car up on ramps.

If you pull the head, of course at 151K miles you are virtually at exactly the second timing belt change interval, so you would do that at the same time, and thermostat, water pump and such. If that wasn't in the quote, it should be too. Pulling a head necessitates removing the timing belt anyway, so combining the jobs takes out a bunch of labor compared to either separately.

N2AK

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. I realize your replies take time but now I have a starting point. And it doesn't leak on the ground. And oil is not sudsy. Time for Plan B- my friend the mechanic. Thanks again.

volvopentaman

Does not sound like a head gasket leak for such small consumption of coolant. Usually like 1qt/500mls or more. And usually the head isn't warped, only needs new gasket (and timing belts etc at the same as mentioned). Very seldom that a V6, V8, I4 cylhead is warped, especially if engine hasn't overheated.

I'd suggest to examine every coolant hose connection carefully with engine running at idle, and car up on lift. You can as said see the leak from white/pink goo around the leak.

And usually a leaking headgasket/head makes a HUGE white cloud when the engine is idling, either hot or cold, AND also makes pressure and airbubbles in the coolant circulation, and can be noted from bubbling air in the expansion tank.

So first examine at idle, maybe take a compression test (won't necessarily show anything from a headgasket coolant leak).

I've swapped a few blown headgaskets, especially multilayer metal gaskets (ones i suppose these use too), because the gaskets just started leaking.

One on a 1996 VW Vento 1,8 8v, another on a Golf mk3 1997 with same engine (heard that this is "normal" on these), a third on a 2006 Kia Cerato 2,0i. All of these had NOT been overheating, and had under 100tmls on the clock.

Also replaced a couple Fiat Punto gaskets, and a Golf2 1,3 gaskets, but these have been normal "mass" gaskets, not the MLS gaskets we have.

Mister Bally

You are mixing the coolant with water at about a 50/50 ratio; correct? pure water or pure coolant can boil, leak slowly out of the relief valve in the expansion tank cap and evaporate .

For me anyway, a 1/2 cup every 500 miles isn't much. It wouldn't be on my radar. When I fill my tank to the top of the operating range "cool" indicator, After a month, I'd say the coolant level (when cold) is about 1 cm or 1/2" below the minimum line. I might add or just wait. It does seem to level off and not drop below that level. I never even get a low coolant warning.

volvopentaman

Yes, a cup on 500mls isnt that much.

I have owned my Volvo S90 Royal -98 for 9years and 200tkm, and it has consumed around a few cups per year over the last 9 years. Very small leaks from the radiator (i can see white residue above the radiator in under the hood) and from the expansion tank "air" hose (that one was clearly leaking for a good while, before i thought about replacing the retaining clip), and a slightly bigger leak from rotten hoses at the heat exchanger for the cabin heating (chopped away a few centimeters from those, and ok for 2 years noe).

But anyway, i add like one cup every few thousand kilometers, and it hasn't changed almost anything over the years.

All the cars i've swapped head gaskets on have consumed like a few quarts, when you drive around the city for half an hour, so it's been a huge consumption. None have needed replacement of cylheads or anything else than cleaning and a new gasket.

So I wouldn't bee too worried if I were you. Just keep an eye on the consumption, and put it in a logbook at which dates and mileages you add how much coolant. I do that for all liquids in my car (gas, oil, coolant, power-steering fluid, brake fluid swap, etc).