AMB 1.8T Issues.

[BubbaFrey]

Just bought a 02 A4, AMB engine code. I'm having cold start misfires, some white smoke for longer period of times then disappears, and random Misfires even when warm. I was told the car needed coolant system bled when I got it. Didnt have to drive far home so never noticed or seen it. But, went to bleed using the Haines manual, can't get the car to bleed...I added a lot of coolant, and kept trying. Car has all new timing components and water pump. (Gates kit with standard gates black belt and metal water pump). Headgasket was also done. Finding traces of Bars Leak in old coolant. Oil seems watery, car will idle at temp, soon as you drive it spikes, top rad hose is hot, bottom is warm, top heater core hose cold, bottom hose hot. Tried flushing heater core, flows smoothly. I can completely pull top heater core hose off. If I rev the car while parked, it will flow but overheat. Seems to use coolant. Chances of a cracked head doing this? Reason I ask is I was getting bottom end noise from the cylinder misfiring but comes and goes. Thinking it's leaking into the cylinder, misfiring and washing the oil off the rod bearing and making noise, then gets lined and disappears. I just want some advice. I'm really leaning towards cracked head as most of the other parts are new for a fact.

[BubbaFrey]

Also, I can take top heater core hose off and watch the fluid trying to come up. Definitely lost on this one.

[customa4]

Was the head inspected when the head gasket was done? It's possible the head is warped and needs to be decked.

[BubbaFrey]

I'm really not sure. It was all done rigut before I got the car. Hoping a compression test is gking to give me an idea.

[Seerlah]

Additives to this cooling system will ruin it. Flush your system really good with water and then try again.

This is how I bleed my system. I basically let gravity do all the work. Fill reservoir to max line. After a couple minutes it will empty. Keep topping off to the max line after the reservoir empties till the fluid no longer disappears. Give it a good 10 minutes at this point to make sure that the level won't drop anymore. Now with the cap off, start the car and let it idle. When the t-stat opens up, just watch the return line to see if coolant is returning. If so, you should be good. Let it run for a couple more minutes like this with the cap off. Go for a drive to test. After the drive, the level should have slightly dropped some more. Top it off and system should be ok.

[Militant-Grunt]

AMB cylinder heads are notorious for cracking, especially on cylinder two. Just happened to my ultrasport @ 147k.