Leaking head gasket 2.0 B6 Audi

[stuart313]

Hi everybody, first time needing help so her goes. My friend has a 2003 Audi A4 2.0 petrol and it keeps overheating' I've not had a chance to look at it yet but are the head gaskets on them prone to leaking, it is using coolant and he says its very brown in colour.

I have messed with loads of cars in the past doing engine swaps etc but not for a few years, most recent job was a clutch/flywheel on a MK3 Mondeo TDCI about 6 years ago. I have never done much on Audis, if the most cost effective fix is an engine of Ebay does the box have to come out with it or can you get to the bell housing bolts and leave it in situ? It looks very tight under the bonnet.

Hope somebody is clued up on the above as money is tight for him at the minute and he is crying he has to get the bus everywhere.

Cheers, Stuart.

[stuart313]

I know no-one has replied yet and it is Christmas. I had a quick look before at it, after replacing the knackered battery it started fine and idled ok, no smoke, no signs of water in oil or oil in water, no pressurisation of water etc. It got to 90+ deg and stayed there for about an hour.

However the top radiator hose got quite hot but the bottom was stone cold and although the heater got warm it was a bit hit and miss. My friend now says it only overheats when he goes above 40, I now suspect the water pump, does anyone agree?

[Oilchange]

Mmm, my Alfa would only overheat if I revved it above 3k or so, I thought it must be the water pump impellers not being able to push enough water round when a big demand was made but managed ok when only a light demand was required. As it turned out, when I replaced it with a metal impeller one, I was right.

[E30M3SE]

Yes, I'd say water pump from your description, probably lost the impeller, pump is driven by the timing belt which means front end of the car off.

[mikeyrobbo]

If it comes to engine coming out the full front end comes off and engine slides out with box attached.

As for waterpump, same situation really take front end off completely, takes about 30 mins and is a piece of piss with front end off.

[stuart313]

Thanks, I will be bored by boxing day so will probably have a look at it then. It is on 80 odd thousand now so will need a new belt when I look at the pump. The only snag is he will have spent every penny he has on booze by then.

[stuart313]

As suspected.







Fancy making a part out of plastic that is this hard to get to, I would imagine you can do it with the correct tools without removing the front but it looked very tight down there.Are the Circoli pumps OK, they get good reviews on the net, although its the cheapest one at Europarts, the others are HEPU or Airtex.

Also with the white paint being on the timing sprockets do you think its had a belt in the recent past? it is a genuine VW/Audi one.

[E30M3SE]

Previous owner skimping on maintenace, if the pump had been done when the belt was previously changed you wouldn't be doing this now.