Ah crap...headgasket is gone
07-15-2008, 02:06 PM
#1
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,746
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ah crap...headgasket is gone
<center><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn137/type44quattro/0715081350.jpg"></center><p>Well, it turns out the 90 CQ has a internally blown headgasket. When my wife was following me to get the overtightened drain plug pulled out by the shop, she calls and says "the car has a lot of white vapor coming out of the tailpipe". Crap.
Took the car to Reisu Motorsports here in Houston and they confirm the headgasket is toast. The car did not overheat on the drive home, but I did find a receipt for the replacement of a 'temperature sensor' when I was going through the glove box, so the PO must have overheated it prior to my purchasing the car. Reisu is having the head rebuilt by a very reliable shop that they always use, and when I stopped by today to look at the car, the cylinder bores look very good and have virtually no ridge at the top of the bores - even with 200k miles...that's the only bit of good news thus far. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic but I forgot the digital camera.
Since it gets hot hot hot here in south Texas and we need all the cooling we can get, the OE auxiliary radiator (which had a substantial number of fins missing) will be replaced at the same time. I will be replacing the main radiator with an all metal unit, is AZ Autohaus the best source for all metal radiators? The current radiator has plastic tanks and I like the all metal ones much better.Also, does anyone know if the brand is a Modine or Nissens if they have bought one from AZ? Any BTDT would be appreciated, thanks.
Took the car to Reisu Motorsports here in Houston and they confirm the headgasket is toast. The car did not overheat on the drive home, but I did find a receipt for the replacement of a 'temperature sensor' when I was going through the glove box, so the PO must have overheated it prior to my purchasing the car. Reisu is having the head rebuilt by a very reliable shop that they always use, and when I stopped by today to look at the car, the cylinder bores look very good and have virtually no ridge at the top of the bores - even with 200k miles...that's the only bit of good news thus far. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic but I forgot the digital camera.
Since it gets hot hot hot here in south Texas and we need all the cooling we can get, the OE auxiliary radiator (which had a substantial number of fins missing) will be replaced at the same time. I will be replacing the main radiator with an all metal unit, is AZ Autohaus the best source for all metal radiators? The current radiator has plastic tanks and I like the all metal ones much better.Also, does anyone know if the brand is a Modine or Nissens if they have bought one from AZ? Any BTDT would be appreciated, thanks.
07-15-2008, 03:57 PM
#2
AudiWorld Super User
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 5,825
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It must have overheated in the past like you said.
The 7A/NG's don't usually blow headgaskets unless they're overheated. The 12v has a lot more problems with this.
The temp sensor isn't really an indication of an overheat though. There's two main coolant temp gauges on these cars. One is the MFTS used for the instrument cluster gauge and A/C (maybe ECU too/20v.org makes mention of this). The ECT sensor is used by the engine to determine how much fuel to add. Either can go bad. However, the MFTS's mostly fail before the ECT's do. Neither have anything to do with an overheat.
You can bypass the aux. rad as I and others have. However, depending on where you live (HOT south?)you may want to replace it. I'm planning on turbing my 7A soon so that'll go on the list (20vt's need a lot of cooling).
DO you know when the water pump and roller was replaced? I'd think of doing those while you're in there.
The temp sensor isn't really an indication of an overheat though. There's two main coolant temp gauges on these cars. One is the MFTS used for the instrument cluster gauge and A/C (maybe ECU too/20v.org makes mention of this). The ECT sensor is used by the engine to determine how much fuel to add. Either can go bad. However, the MFTS's mostly fail before the ECT's do. Neither have anything to do with an overheat.
You can bypass the aux. rad as I and others have. However, depending on where you live (HOT south?)you may want to replace it. I'm planning on turbing my 7A soon so that'll go on the list (20vt's need a lot of cooling).
DO you know when the water pump and roller was replaced? I'd think of doing those while you're in there.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Shop gets a bad grade for not attending to smaller details. Makes you wonder about the big details..
velosouljah
A4 (B5 Platform) Discussion
10
05-06-2008 01:38 PM
LiTTespeed
TT (Mk1) Discussion
10
07-29-2005 04:32 AM
Bluto
TT (Mk1) Discussion
4
08-08-2002 02:15 PM
BTCC A4
A4 (B5 Platform) Discussion
2
12-01-2001 07:01 AM