cardinalfan

I've got an A8L D3 with 106k miles. My coolant bottle bubbles and a get touch of white smoke that smells - off. I know everyone will say if you can afford a tear down for a head gasket then you shouldn't be . . . . Wondering if any one has had success with Blue Devil on a car of this complexity.

Jack88

No idea, give it a shot if you want, but I always worry about that kind of stuff causing more problems. Strange, I have never heard of a head gasket failure on these cars but your symptoms do match. I did have a Jeep once that was sucking in outside air due to a failed seal on the water pump, it was the weirdest thing.

Sci-fi_Wasabi

I've used this stuff on 2 simpler engines. The last one was a 6 cyl acura, with same symptoms, bubbling into the coolant. Sorry to say, it did not do anything either time... but maybe I used to too late, i.e. the head gasket tear was too large. Redid the head gasket on the toyota, sold the 20 year old acura legend (japanese cars were of amazing build quality then) for $700 to someone who wanted to fix it...
Anyway, I think Blue Devil has a money back guarantee... so, at least you will get those $10 back if it does not work . let us know if you go through with it and how it works. Won't judge you for using it, I know the trade in value of the older D3's is now into the few thousands, and there maybe 20 other things wrong with the car, so it's a more complicated judgment call on how much to spend on a repair.

cardinalfan

I guess I will give it a try. I have no idea how much it would cost for installing a new head gasket, but I will do some further research. If it's an engine out procedure then I will give the blue devil a try. :-)

03_AR_CO

From the manual, ,check item #2:

Jack88

In all fairness, most Audi service manual procedures begin with "Step 1; remove engine."

03_AR_CO

Quite true :-) (change spark plugs: step 1 remove engine), but in this instance I cannot see getting the heads off with out removing the engine though. As far as I can tell on most 4.2's and up, there is no way to get at all of the exhaust manifold bolts, never mind clearing the studs to pull out a head with the kind of clearance you'd have or to move the manifold aside far enough for clearance. I'd be glad to be mistaken on that though.

jaymay0422

I am a mechanic and have been working on all makes and models since 1994, recently (past couple of years) started working on mostly audi/VW and Mercedes Benz vehicles preferably. I have had success using Blue & Devil on a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 4.7l V8. The engine cannot have oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil or this product will not work. My Jeep was barely able to run for more than 5 to 10 minutes without overheating. After I started to add blue devil, I could see and hear the engine begin to run smoother. It got hot and I had to shut it off one time at the beginning of the process, let it cool a little and started it back up. The process takes about an hour of running the engine at idle which was almost impossible in the condition the engine was in. I followed the instructions and It was running perfectly with no more steam coming out of the exhaust. I definitely think it's worth a try if you are not willing to fix it the traditional way. I would use it again. Now I have a possible head gasket issue with my 05 allroad 2.7t and I am ready to give it a shot to see if will come through for me another time. Anybody else have any I put as to why I should Not try it on my 2.7t? I'm not willing to tear it down and fix it because it's approaching 200k and I don't think it's worth my time.

audijim113

There is a worse "step one" than 'remove engine"

Example: Take it to a dealer, then step two is "bend over"

CFLQTRO

I agree 100%. There is no way that a bottle of "goop" is going to fix a blown head gasket. Waste of time at best, worse it could foul internal engine parts and create a bigger problem.

I learned this with So Leak and a leaky radiator in a '65 Mustang I had back in the 70's. Didn't do a bamn thing but stop up the cooling passages in the radiator. It kept leaking.

I would not want to be driving down the Interstate waiting for the "goop" to fail if it ever worked.

Only real fix is to replace the gasket and check the heads for trueness.