Sooooo....How hard is it to replace a head gasket?

[sjmelling]

Well, I just got my S4 back from the mechanics on Saturday. I have had it as a completed stg 3 for 5 days. On my way home from work last night, one of my head gaskets let go. I believe its the head gasket since the turbos only have about 170 miles on them...though they are RP's. I will be doing a compression check this weekend and running Vag-Comm to find out anything I can.

If it is the HG, how DIY-able is it and what should I look for in terms of other things while the heads are off?

Hopefully, it isn't the turbos.

[s2the4]

fyi you should look into the RP k04 consolidation thread to see that some enthusiasts have had issues with the RP Turbo leaking coolant. IE a bad washer that comes with the turbo from RP also some enthusiasts have had the seals go rather quickly (less than 1000 miles). RP is currently revising the seals and also the washer that allows the coolant leak. Check the turbos before doing all that work on the heads :)

[pipe7284]

first start by doing a compression test.
if the compession is good across all cylinders.....your RP turbos may be your culprit.

[SilverS4kg]

i got 5 bucks on the RP's being the coolant leak

[gmann]

To the OP.

Step 1: Compression check
Step 2: remove motor
Step 3a: replace turbos

-OR-

Step 3b: replace head gaskets


What made you think that the headgaskets were shot anyway?

[sjmelling]

What made you think that the headgaskets were shot anyway?

007 James Bond smoke screen

I believe its the head gasket since the turbos only have about 170 miles on them...though they are RP's. I will be doing a compression check this weekend and running Vag-Comm to find out anything I can.

If it is the HG, how DIY-able is it and what should I look for in terms of other things while the heads are off?

Hopefully, it isn't the turbos.

I have read about the RP coolant leak, and will be checking things out more this weekend. The turbos aren't making any noise whatsoever. I am looking into both as possibilities before I do any work. I just want to make sure I have all my bases covered.

[drkenan]

007 James Bond smoke screen



I have read about the RP coolant leak, and will be checking things out more this weekend. The turbos aren't making any noise whatsoever. I am looking into both as possibilities before I do any work. I just want to make sure I have all my bases covered.

When did you buy the RP's? The most recent batch had some problems with the seals which could definitely be causing your smoke screen. Sucks man. You never know, but I'd say that's the much more likely cause than your HG.

[gmann]

Ohhhh. My car had an ominous 007 smokescreen one day after I got out and the turbo timer was running. I was like "WTF M8 did my turbos just eat shit, or a headgasket blow?!" and I had to drive home from where I was after letting it sit for a while. I babied it all the way home and it seemed to run fine, didn't loose any huge amount of coolant or oil and the coolant was clean as oil. To make a long story short, that was about 2.5-3 years ago and I've not done anything to the car since then other than oil changes and a t-belt/water pump.

*knocks on wood*

[wdbdy2000s4]

Not one piece of solid advice yet... Is it consistently smoking out of the exhaust or under the hood? If it's the exhaust it's probly the turbos. If it's the bay it's probly your HG.

Pull the intercooler hoses, if there is a shit ton of oil it's your turbo seals for sure.

Check the oil If there's coolant in it then it will look like coffee.

Taking off the head is easy. Rip off the valve cover gaskets and undo the head bolts. You'll need a bunch of gaskets if you do this though(head gaskets, valve covers, might as well do cam plugs).

[gmann]

Taking off the head is easy.

You can't be serious.

[wdbdy2000s4]

It's a few bolts....where's the challenge in that?

[sjmelling]

Definately out of the exhaust, oil is clean, coolant is full. I will pull the intercooler hoses in the daylight and get back to you. Thanks for the help.

[Fourplay]

You can't be serious.

Takes a long ass time, but easy.

[julex]

If your previous turbos blew a seal then you have tons of old oil in your exhaust that will take a while to burn off. It took me about 1 week of driving to get rid of that and first 2h or so it was a solid wall of smoke coming out...

Compression test first. If you get large variation (over 20psi) between cylinders, it is most likely headgasket. It is very uncommon in our cars though so I would still hope that this is old oil in the exhaust and not the turbos.

[gmann]

It doesn't seem worth the hassle to try to fanagel (yes, I said FANAGEL lol) out the manifold/turbo to remove the head with it in the car... Just drain coolant, remove clams at downpipe-midpipe, remove the upper strut bolts and zip out all of the subframe bolts and lower the drivetrain from body. That's how it's done at most shops, and we even have a special roll around table at the dealer for that method. I understand it's not as easy on jacks and jack stands but it's still easier than busting knuckles repeatedly while working in such a small area trying to pull one of the heads.

[sjmelling]

If your previous turbos blew a seal then you have tons of old oil in your exhaust that will take a while to burn off. It took me about 1 week of driving to get rid of that and first 2h or so it was a solid wall of smoke coming out...

I would love it if this was the case, but I drove the car over 150 miles before the first little puff of smoke...then a sudden smoke screen. So I doubt it is the old oil. It looks like either way I will be pulling the motor though.

[Scotty@Advanced]

Blown head gaskets either leak exhaust gasses into the coolant or leak coolant into the oil or both. Both instances are very easy to test, however I would suspect the turbos as it's rather odd to have a blown head gasket right after a turbo install.

[supremedk]

I would do a leak down test as well as a compression test to test those HG'S. Head gasket failures on the 2.7 are pretty few and far between, I just did a leak down on a 130k S4 and came back with a beautiful 2% -3% across the board.

[julex]

I would love it if this was the case, but I drove the car over 150 miles before the first little puff of smoke...then a sudden smoke screen. So I doubt it is the old oil. It looks like either way I will be pulling the motor though.

Ahhh, misread that detail. In that case I am pretty sure it is turbo. Broken head gaskets usually results is mixing oil-water and exhaust gas in coolant which would result in it coming out of overflow tank.

Buy yourself testing kit for blown head gasket. You can get it at parts store.

[wdbdy2000s4]

Broken head gaskets usually results is mixing oil-water and exhaust gas in coolant which would result in it coming out of overflow tank.

You'll also notice the oil is milky. I would definately look at the easy thing like oil, coolant, IC hoses, etc. before doing the compression test. It's much less work.

[sjmelling]

Oil is clean, coolant is full and just coolant. I am leaning more towards turbo issues at this point...

[wdbdy2000s4]

If it's a head gasket the oil and coolant would mix. or you'd have smoking from the bay.

$10 on turbos. I'd pull the motor for either job anyway so it's not much of a difference in labor. I'm sure there's plenty of kids in VA/MD/DC that would be willing to lend a hand.

[sjmelling]

After my previous 4 month ordeal, I will be much more weary of who I get to work on my car.