creets

Hey Audi peeps.

Looking for a little advice on some car troubles and would appreciate any insights you have on my situation.

I have a 2002 B5 S4. I have about 113k miles on my car and other than some recent engine troubles, the car is in great shape (for a 10 year old vehicle).

I recently started having a coolant disappearing, with no visible wet spots under the car or other noticeable leak points. The car also became a bit hard to start, taking a couple extra tries to get it to turn over and would run rough for about 30 seconds. I also noticed white smoke coming out the exhaust for the first few minutes once I started driving the car. Once it warmed up and burnt through whatever it needed to burn through (I'm guessing the coolant) it drove fine. I also started getting a cylinder 3 misfire warning back in November but the coolant leak didn't start until Jan or Feb of this year. No oil leaks or other major engine issues.

I took it into a mechanic and they confirmed that coolant was leaking into the 3rd cylinder and said I needed a new engine. They recommended I sell my car because a new engine would be too big of a risk given how old my car is. I've talked to a couple other mechanics (haven't taken the car in, just described my situation over the phone) and they said I may only need to replace the head gasket.

I really really really love this car and would like to get another year or two out of it. I know that a head gasket replacement isn't cheap because of the labor but would consider doing that if it breathes another year or two of life into the vehicle. I've also seen head gasket sealer online and it looks like there are mixed reviews on whether that stuff really works or not.

So, my question to you Audi experts out there...

1. Given the symptoms above, any diagnostic thoughts on what the issue likely is? If it's the head gasket, does anyone have a recommendation for a place in Seattle to get the work done at a reasonable rate (I called the audi dealership and they quoted me $4k for just the labor). Do you think I really do need a new engine?

2. Do the over the counter head gasket sealers like Bar's really work or are they just selling snake oil? That's obviously way cheaper but sometimes you get what you pay for and I'm not looking to have to deal with this again in a month or two.

3. If I were to sell it, any rec's on where to post it? Was thinking Craigslist and likely here.

My first choice would be to find a reasonable solution to get it running again. I really do love the car.

Any thoughts / recommendations / suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Peter Badore

Bars leak is bad. I would not use it at all.