Does this seem right?

[henkjooste]

I have a 2006 2.0 ALT a4, and had the engine rebuilt after a very bad cambelt failure.
The car was going ok after the rebuild, but seemed very sluggish at times, and struggled to start, and smoked quite a bit after startup, so I had a compression test done which came up with 10.1 bar per cylinder, which checked out ok.

Fast forward a week, and suddenly I notice a severe coolant loss, but could not find any visible leaks, so I started to fear for head gasket. I was trying to get hold of the shop that did the rebuild, but the owner refused to take my calls.

On Thursday, the engine refused to turn over, so i removed all the coils and plugs, and turned the engine over, and about 100ml of coolant got pushed out of cylinder no.2.

I got hold of the shop (eventually) and they said, bring it in, they will fix it, so with a sigh of relief I took it in. They called me today to say that the head is cracked between cylinder no.1 and no.2, and they will not fix it under the work guarantee (I have to fork up the cash for the repairs) and the cause:

Thermostat housing is cracked, which caused the thermostat to get stuck, and that overheated the head, and caused the crack.

Now my question is:

Does this seem possible? The temp gauge NEVER went over 90.

Thanks for any replies

[miA4]

I have a 2006 2.0 ALT a4, and had the engine rebuilt after a very bad cambelt failure.
The car was going ok after the rebuild, but seemed very sluggish at times, and struggled to start, and smoked quite a bit after startup, so I had a compression test done which came up with 10.1 bar per cylinder, which checked out ok.

Fast forward a week, and suddenly I notice a severe coolant loss, but could not find any visible leaks, so I started to fear for head gasket. I was trying to get hold of the shop that did the rebuild, but the owner refused to take my calls.



On Thursday, the engine refused to turn over, so i removed all the coils and plugs, and turned the engine over, and about 100ml of coolant got pushed out of cylinder no.2.

I got hold of the shop (eventually) and they said, bring it in, they will fix it, so with a sigh of relief I took it in. They called me today to say that the head is cracked between cylinder no.1 and no.2, and they will not fix it under the work guarantee (I have to fork up the cash for the repairs) and the cause:

Thermostat housing is cracked, which caused the thermostat to get stuck, and that overheated the head, and caused the crack.

Now my question is:

Does this seem possible? The temp gauge NEVER went over 90.

Thanks for any replies

I believe there is another user here that had the same issue with his head. I don't remember his car overheating. This may be something that engines begin to experience over time. I will say that a cracked thermostat housing would not cause the thermostat to get stuck. I could see it causing a leak however, but getting stuck in the closed position, nope. have any and all diagnosis written from that shop in case there needs to be a cause for small claims court after the repairs are made. if the head is cracked between 1 and 2, it's toast and needs replacing. you can search the forums and see if you find one. I have a place in Miami that has an engine for sale, I can ask them what the head cost and get you good shipping prices. I wouldn't make a dime on you. just charge you what they would charge and the true shipping charges.

[henkjooste]

Thanks for the offer, they are busy replacing the head, so its ok. I was just looking for some confirmation that they are passing the buck on this.

[miA4]

I would look at your previous Invoice from them and see if they replaced the head gasket the last time around. I would imagine timing being off and detonation causing something like this to happen.

also, check to see what their warranty on their work is. if they did the entire engine rebuild and the engine goes shortly after, it's mostly on them to fix it at their cost.

[henkjooste]

Thanks for this.
Timing might also explain the laziness of the engine and hard starting i would presume?