NMYoung83

I have an 08 Q7 and about 2 weeks ago I got a indicator light telling me coolant was low, I added more coolant at the time. Light went off and did not come back on. About a week later, I noticed the temperature gauge was rising higher than normal. I called an independent Audi shop and made an appointment. On the way to the shop I was driving on the freeway and car got really hot and I pulled over and it shut off. I had it towed to the shop and they told me that I have blown head gasket and that I must have went without coolant for awhile. I asked them did they perform a leak test, they said "no they work on cars all day and know when its a blown head gasket". They told me I will need a new engine costing 10k, I'm confused and unsure of what to do and if I should believe them or go get a second opinion. Could it be anything else?

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

If the head gasket is blown, water will be in your engine, check the engine oil to see some white residue on the oil (they don't mix). Engine over heating can cause by thermostat stuck close.
Why all these questions after taken it to the shop? You don't trust them?

There are only 2 things that an engine needs to live long are coolant and oil. It may be your expensive lesson.

Cheers,

Louis

pchansen

I'm really sorry to hear about your problems. If it is a head gasket, I wonder why it blew in the first place? If the engine "got really hot", that's the water temp gauge right?? So you still had some coolant left in the engine. Is it seized? Did you get any other warnings? When they scanned the car (they did scan the car, didn't they?), what codes did it throw? I'm not sure you're getting the full story. I may be a bit old school, but if the engine still turns, it may be worth getting a second opinion and having one of the heads removed to inspect for damage. VCDS should be able to tell the tech which head is having problems. A new head gasket and maybe a head re-surface (if thats even possible) might work. $10K is a lot of money to consider the engine disposable and not fixable. Again, I may be a bit old school but stories like these make me want to rip out the Audi engine and throw a good 'ole American V8 in there. It would pass anything but a gas station but at least you can find parts at Walmart for it!!
Good luck!

NMYoung83

Thanks for your response and I totally agree with you about the second opinion, I have scheduled for it to be looked at somewhere else for another opinion. They did not tell me about what codes were being read and only told me that it was leaking oil. But we have a ton of snow where I live right now and I did not have a drip of oil in my driveway. Yes there was still coolant left in my engine, so again that was something else that made me second guess what they were saying and to throw out a price as large as $10K and think I'm going to hand it over that quickly they have some major issues. I did not get any other warnings the only warning I got was the temp sign when it was actually running hot. I would think when I got my oil changed the week prior they would have noticed a change in the oil to let me know that. They are saying the Audi engine is really sensitive and they don't recommend replacing the head, it will only damage the engine further. I think if that is really whats wrong with it, they just don't want to do the work, they might feel its easier to replace the engine than do the head. I'm not sure because I honestly don't know what changing a head entails but I'm assuming doing any engine work is time consuming.

NMYoung83

Louis,

I don't trust them because to tell me I need to replace the entire engine for a defective part on the engine seems a little far fetched. I received no warning that I needed coolant so it all came by surprise and the tech who called me and said there must have been low coolant for awhile in this car but that was not true because a couple of days prior coolant was added. They also aren't giving much information. I asked them did they do a leak test and they said no and many other questions and they haven't done any real tests. But keep telling me to replace the engine. I will check the oil but I just got an oil change last week before taking it to the shop and they mentioned nothing about the oil being any different.


[QUOTE=ltooz_a6_a8_q7;24520902]If the head gasket is blown, water will be in your engine, check the engine oil to see some white residue on the oil (they don't mix). Engine over heating can cause by thermostat stuck close.
Why all these questions after taken it to the shop? You don't trust them?

There are only 2 things that an engine needs to live long are coolant and oil. It may be your expensive lesson.

Cheers,

Louis[/QUOTE

NMYoung83

Thanks for your response and I totally agree with you about the second opinion, I have scheduled for it to be looked at somewhere else for another opinion. They did not tell me about what codes were being read and only told me that it was leaking oil. But we have a ton of snow where I live right now and I did not have a drip of oil in my driveway. Yes there was still coolant left in my engine, so again that was something else that made me second guess what they were saying and to throw out a price as large as $10K and think I'm going to hand it over that quickly they have some major issues. I did not get any other warnings the only warning I got was the temp sign when it was actually running hot. I would think when I got my oil changed the week prior they would have noticed a change in the oil to let me know that. They are saying the Audi engine is really sensitive and they don't recommend replacing the head, it will only damage the engine further. I think if that is really whats wrong with it, they just don't want to do the work, they might feel its easier to replace the engine than do the head. I'm not sure because I honestly don't know what changing a head entails but I'm assuming doing any engine work is time consuming.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

My low coolant light did come on last year when I went skiing, it does work, the sensor may be bad on your car. Did you check the engine oil to see if water is in it?

NMYoung83

I did not check the engine oil to see if there is water in it. I will do that

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Overheating or high temperature can be stuck closed thermostat, air in the system. Check these before jumping to head gasket stuff. If water is not in the oil, it's fine.

Cheers,

Louis