Car serviced by Audi last week now I have a suspected Head gasket failure! PLEASE HELP

[MrShed]

There is no way I can prove this is there......

 

Dont worry. Riget(with respect!! ) I dont think knows the nature of head gasket faults. I unfortunately do from personal experience(cost me a fortune!). There is no requirement IMO to show that the head gasket was checked or at fault at that time.

[S.O.L]

I'd say get it taken back to the audi garage by the rac, don't drive it.

 

that's another problem. I live in London but had to drive all the way to Stafford to have this done because they had the best reviews and were over 300 quid cheaper than other quotes!!!

 

RAC will only Tow me 10 miles free of charge!

[riget]

why go to another garage?

it's a 4 year old audi with 16k and just had a full audi service, take it back to them.

or your nearest audi garage then.

[S.O.L]

Dont worry. Riget(with respect!! ) I dont think knows the nature of head gasket faults. I unfortunately do from personal experience(cost me a fortune!). There is no requirement IMO to show that the head gasket was checked or at fault at that time.

 

So you think I have a chance of getting Warranty Company (Tesco) to cough up rather than pursing Audi who will by default try and dodge the bullets?

[riget]

I'd say you've got zero chance for the warranty to pay.

[S.O.L]

Dont worry. Riget(with respect!! ) I dont think knows the nature of head gasket faults. I unfortunately do from personal experience(cost me a fortune!). There is no requirement IMO to show that the head gasket was checked or at fault at that time.

 

Just to pick up on this...terms and conditions on warranty do say that it does not cover any problems that THEY believe could have reasonably existed prior to me taking out the Warranty.....that is what scares me!!!!

[S.O.L]

I'd say you've got zero chance for the warranty to pay.

 

Well that is my worry!

[riget]

Have you been in touch with the audi garage who serviced it?

Give them a ring and see what they say.

[S.O.L]

Have you been in touch with the audi garage who serviced it?

Give them a ring and see what they say.

 

Not yet but I will do this afternoon and report back. Trying to get as much advice as possible before making that call.

[MrShed]

This is getting a bit muddied.

 

To clarify.

 

IMO the warranty should be your first port of call. That term is fully enforceable, but the onus would be on them to show that it was a pre-existing fault. I feel they may struggle with this, especially as a full service was performed not 100 miles before.

 

Failing that, you may well have a claim against the garage.

 

But in any event, you can go no further without an independent inspection report. Personally, I would hold off even contacting the original garage prior to getting this.

[S.O.L]

This is getting a bit muddied.

 

To clarify.

 

IMO the warranty should be your first port of call. That term is fully enforceable, but the onus would be on them to show that it was a pre-existing fault. I feel they may struggle with this, especially as a full service was performed not 100 miles before.

 

Failing that, you may well have a claim against the garage.

 

But in any event, you can go no further without an independent inspection report. Personally, I would hold off even contacting the original garage prior to getting this.

 

How much would it cost to have an independent inspection? Not too familiar with them.

[patdavies]

Number 5 above is key.

 

I think you might mean number 6

 

I cannot, by any stretch of the imagination see a screen washer fault relating in any way to a head gasket failure.....

[patdavies]

In addition, have you had the head gasket confirmed? Although it does sound like head gasket failure, the only way to confirm is by a hydrocarbon test through the coolant system.

 

Whipping the plugs out might be quicker. Finding coolant in a cylinder is a bit of a giveaway...

[patdavies]

My concern is that the anti-freeze change was done incorrectly!....can't think of how else this could have happened as I hardly drive the car and am a fairly careful driver who doesn't like nasty surprises!

 

Hang on a minute. |antifreeze change is not on the list that you gave us earlier in the thread.

 

Are you sure this was done (separately?)?

 

That is key, because if the system was drained and then refilled incorrectly, an airlock could have formed leading directly to overheating and head gasket failure.

[Bookworm]

I think you might mean number 6

 

I cannot, by any stretch of the imagination see a screen washer fault relating in any way to a head gasket failure.....

Thank you, I have been scratching my head over that one too.

 

Call me cynical, but if it exonerates them from any wrongdoing, I would have thought the Audi garage would only be too happy to confirm to the warranty people that the fault could not have been detected when they did the servicing and therefore it couldn't possibly have been something that was pre-existing the taking of the insurance...

[raydetinu]

I would take it back to the dealer that sold it to you and get him to sort it out with the warranty company if necessary; obviously something faulty somewhere, should be covered under SOGA?

[S.O.L]

Hang on a minute. |antifreeze change is not on the list that you gave us earlier in the thread.

 

Are you sure this was done (separately?)?

 

That is key, because if the system was drained and then refilled incorrectly, an airlock could have formed leading directly to overheating and head gasket failure.

 

it says they changed Antifreeze on the receipt and I checked all levels before leaving the Dealership to make sure. But I am worried that it might not have been changed correctly hence my problem. Head gaskets don't tend to just fail on cars like this.....there is usually a reason!

[callumsgran]

Thank you, I have been scratching my head over that one too.

 

Call me cynical, but if it exonerates them from any wrongdoing, I would have thought the Audi garage would only be too happy to confirm to the warranty people that the fault could not have been detected when they did the servicing and therefore it couldn't possibly have been something that was pre-existing the taking of the insurance...

My son is a mechanic and he said there is no advance warning signs when a head gasket goes, it just goes!!!

The milkiness only shows once its gone, so there should be no problem claiming on the warranty as it could not have been predicted

[MrShed]

CG - dead correct. The issue is however that there is almost always an underlying cause of the blown gasket. This underlying cause COULD have been prevented, depending what it was. Indeed, this cause may have even been caused by the garage.

 

My thought is that it is unlikely to have been caused by the garage, even if the coolant was changed, as if this were the case I would have thought that the head gasket would have gone much sooner than 100 miles.

 

Mine(albeit was a Citroen, which are the worst offenders with head gaskets) blew within 5 miles of driving with the underlying fault.

[patdavies]

CG - dead correct. The issue is however that there is almost always an underlying cause of the blown gasket. This underlying cause COULD have been prevented, depending what it was. Indeed, this cause may have even been caused by the garage.

 

My thought is that it is unlikely to have been caused by the garage, even if the coolant was changed, as if this were the case I would have thought that the head gasket would have gone much sooner than 100 miles.

 

Mine(albeit was a Citroen, which are the worst offenders with head gaskets) blew within 5 miles of driving with the underlying fault.

 

Whilst not disputing what happened in your case, a minor gasket 'blow' into one cylinder could have taken that distance to consume the water - even if it 'blew' in the first few minutes do to an airlock in the cooling system and got steadily worse. It may not even have been down on power (as water injection was once a technique for increasing power output). Audis have a pretty large coolant reservoir as I recall.

 

BTW, I don't think Citroen are the worst offenders. Austin-Rover K-series engines (as used in MGF) used to blow head gaskets regularly, even if looked at the wrong way!

[patdavies]

It took the RAC guy that turned up less than 5 minutes to diagnose head gasket failure. The first thing he said to me was "have you got 3 grand":confused:

 

 

RAC guy is talking nonsense. This doesn't need a new engine. Head off, clean up, check and maybe skim head, replace with new gasket. Even as Audi labour rates, it shouldn't cost anything like £3K. However, the longer it is left with water(vapour) in the bores, the more likely there will be damage to the cylinder walls via rusting

[MrShed]

True - rover enginers are at least on a par with Citroen

[S.O.L]

Update:

 

Spoke to Audi Dealer in Stafford that serviced my car and explained what they guy from the RAc said. The guy I spoke to in the Service department advised me that the car would need to have a pressure test to diagnose if it is indeed the head gasket as suspected. Given that I am in London and they are in Stafford, he is going to speak to his manager and see if they can get this done at a dealership closer to me.

 

I am waiting for them to call me back but am not at all optimistic about what they can do for me!

[jungle vip]

Hi there, just reading your posts, firstly just a quick explanation what the headgasket does, in the top of the engine there are various holes which carry water and oil, these have to be kept apart from the high pressure from the cylinders when the engine fires, so a large seal with holes is placed between the top and middle of the engine, as your car has just done 16k it unlikely to have failed with age, nor does it fail with running low on coolant, it fails due to overheating or badly built engine which the head (top of the engine ) is slightly warped or has not been tightened down correctly. This has nothing to do with Audi servicing the car as it cannot be checked in a service, the only time they might be responsable is, if it overheated with them on a test drive, secondly the process replacing it is easy and nothing like the 5k you were quoted, the process is, removal of the cylinder head, strip the cylinder head down enough to get it re-skimmed, ( re-surfaced so the base is flat ) re assembled with new headgasket, This can be done by any reputable garage not neccesarly a audi dealer as their labour charges can be much higher, estemate £500 tops, ask around for quotes, remember to include oil and coolant. Regards.

[riget]

Hi there, just reading your posts, firstly just a quick explanation what the headgasket does, in the top of the engine there are various holes which carry water and oil, these have to be kept apart from the high pressure from the cylinders when the engine fires, so a large seal with holes is placed between the top and middle of the engine, as your car has just done 16k it unlikely to have failed with age, nor does it fail with running low on coolant, it fails due to overheating or badly built engine which the head (top of the engine ) is slightly warped or has not been tightened down correctly. This has nothing to do with Audi servicing the car as it cannot be checked in a service, the only time they might be responsable is, if it overheated with them on a test drive, secondly the process replacing it is easy and nothing like the 5k you were quoted, the process is, removal of the cylinder head, strip the cylinder head down enough to get it re-skimmed, ( re-surfaced so the base is flat ) re assembled with new headgasket, This can be done by any reputable garage not neccesarly a audi dealer as their labour charges can be much higher, estemate £500 tops, ask around for quotes, remember to include oil and coolant. Regards.

 

The head gasket most certainly can go by running low on coolant.

£500 tops, is a bit light, we don't even know what engine this has, could be a v6, and I can't see anybody rebuilding the top end for £500.

 

S.O.L. what engine is it?