A8 - hole in cylinder head(!). Advice sought
Discussion
Hello chaps,
I've got an Audi A8 3.0TDI. 2007 plate, 120K Miles.
I'm the 2nd owner having had the car for a little over 12 months. Car has always been serviced in the Audi dealer network.
I dropped it into my local, recommended Indy, for a major service.
I got a phone call 10 minutes later telling me that the car has a hole in the cylinder head.
Mechanic says he has never seen this before - and has no idea what would have caused it. Car runs fine - and there are no warning lights on the dash.
Next step seems to be stripping the engine to find out what's happened - this apparently is an engine out job and he isn't keen to do it and is suggesting I take it to Audi.
So some questions:
1) What the hell is likely to have caused a hole in the cylinder head in the first place? What is the potential bills for what they might find
2) How much of a job is it to remove the engine - I see this being very very expensive if I get Audi to do it?
This is bad timing - I got a £3.5K tax bill last week - and it very much looks like the Mrs has gone into labour a month ahead of schedule
Any advice/guidance/ideas gladly recieved.
Oh and if anyone can recommend a reputable Audi Indy around the Northants area that might be very helpful..
I've got an Audi A8 3.0TDI. 2007 plate, 120K Miles.
I'm the 2nd owner having had the car for a little over 12 months. Car has always been serviced in the Audi dealer network.
I dropped it into my local, recommended Indy, for a major service.
I got a phone call 10 minutes later telling me that the car has a hole in the cylinder head.
Mechanic says he has never seen this before - and has no idea what would have caused it. Car runs fine - and there are no warning lights on the dash.
Next step seems to be stripping the engine to find out what's happened - this apparently is an engine out job and he isn't keen to do it and is suggesting I take it to Audi.
So some questions:
1) What the hell is likely to have caused a hole in the cylinder head in the first place? What is the potential bills for what they might find
2) How much of a job is it to remove the engine - I see this being very very expensive if I get Audi to do it?
This is bad timing - I got a £3.5K tax bill last week - and it very much looks like the Mrs has gone into labour a month ahead of schedule
Any advice/guidance/ideas gladly recieved.
Oh and if anyone can recommend a reputable Audi Indy around the Northants area that might be very helpful..
Modern Diesels are a mystery to me - but apparently the hole is near the manifold.
I'm a bit stuck as to what to do to be honest. I imagine that it be seeing all sorts of fault codes if it was causing problems - but have no idea when the problem ocurred as it could have happened on the drive down to drop it off.
I really don't want to have to take it to Audi as it's going to be hugely expensive.
I'm a bit stuck as to what to do to be honest. I imagine that it be seeing all sorts of fault codes if it was causing problems - but have no idea when the problem ocurred as it could have happened on the drive down to drop it off.
I really don't want to have to take it to Audi as it's going to be hugely expensive.
Just spoken with my mechanic..
Hole near manifold - about the size of a fingernail.
Diagnositics plugged in - showing nothing untoward.
He reckons that it's probably a knackered exhaust value which has then caused a burn through.
He believes that they can repair the cylinder head - and that I'm looking at a bill of 2-2.5K for the total job - but they won't know more until they can get the engine out and stripped down.
Frankly as much as a routine sevice costing me 2.5K more than anticipated pisses me off I'll live with that. Audi would charge me £2k for a new cylinder head alone - and that's before they charge me 20 odd hours labour for the engine in and out at an extortionate rate plus whatever they find wrong with it...
Hole near manifold - about the size of a fingernail.
Diagnositics plugged in - showing nothing untoward.
He reckons that it's probably a knackered exhaust value which has then caused a burn through.
He believes that they can repair the cylinder head - and that I'm looking at a bill of 2-2.5K for the total job - but they won't know more until they can get the engine out and stripped down.
Frankly as much as a routine sevice costing me 2.5K more than anticipated pisses me off I'll live with that. Audi would charge me £2k for a new cylinder head alone - and that's before they charge me 20 odd hours labour for the engine in and out at an extortionate rate plus whatever they find wrong with it...
He is aiming to have the cylinder head repaired.
I'm being told that because the cam chain is at the rear of the engine it's an engine out job to diagnose the issue which has caused the hole in the cylinder head in the first place.
Engine out then back in is 20 hours labour according to him - at 55PH that's already a grand.
This guy comes recommended to me - and he seems to be honest and trying to limit the costs as far as possible.
I have no reason to disbelieve him - unless someone better informed on here can tell me that they don't need to take the engine out to take the head off and diagnose the problem.
I'm being told that because the cam chain is at the rear of the engine it's an engine out job to diagnose the issue which has caused the hole in the cylinder head in the first place.
Engine out then back in is 20 hours labour according to him - at 55PH that's already a grand.
This guy comes recommended to me - and he seems to be honest and trying to limit the costs as far as possible.
I have no reason to disbelieve him - unless someone better informed on here can tell me that they don't need to take the engine out to take the head off and diagnose the problem.
Tame Technician said:
Just be certain he knows what he is doing before you go ahead.
There are machined holes in the head that vent combustion gasses if an injector leaks, engine makes a chuff chuff sound like a steam train. You get a tell tail black oily sooting residue at the hole.
Sorry forgot to update this.There are machined holes in the head that vent combustion gasses if an injector leaks, engine makes a chuff chuff sound like a steam train. You get a tell tail black oily sooting residue at the hole.
But yes, exactly as you describe - the mechanic identified exactly this due a knackered injector gasket which is getting replaced.
Sorry - I should have updated this.
As Tame Tech above suggest there is a blow by hole engineered into the cylinder head which is there to deal with any leaking injector units.
This, as it transpired was the issue with mine - an injector gasket had failed and it was leaking - there was a lot of sooty, scummy residue around the hole which made it look like it had been burned through.
My was dealt with by an Indy who removed and cleaned up the head and fitted a new injector gasket.
The engine still needed to come out - and it cost be a grand to have the whole lot done - but at Audi it would have been twice that in labour plus 2K for a new cylinder head.
As Tame Tech above suggest there is a blow by hole engineered into the cylinder head which is there to deal with any leaking injector units.
This, as it transpired was the issue with mine - an injector gasket had failed and it was leaking - there was a lot of sooty, scummy residue around the hole which made it look like it had been burned through.
My was dealt with by an Indy who removed and cleaned up the head and fitted a new injector gasket.
The engine still needed to come out - and it cost be a grand to have the whole lot done - but at Audi it would have been twice that in labour plus 2K for a new cylinder head.
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