I would kindly like to ask your opinion about this. During the past 6 months since I have my car I found the coolant level to be slowly but constantly dropping. After a while I decided to measure it somehow and this is what I got: in 800km I topped up two times, 500ml each, so 1L of g12 for 800km. By "topped up" I mean at the beginning of the 800km the level was at the half of the tank and the two times I needed to add antifreeze I added so it's at the half again.

Now for the head gasket thing. I read around a lot and asked around a lot, here's what I have so far:

• antifreeze level drops slowly but constantly (ex: 2 weeks ago it was at half, this morning it was at the bottom of the tank, way below "min", the light in the dash came on)
  
• the car NEVER overheated during these 6 months, by this I mean the temp needle never went past half the scale
  
• the antifreeze in the tank looks a bit dirty, but i see no oil spots floating around
  
• the oil on the dipstick looks ok, black and all
  
• the oil on the oil cap looks ok, black and all, no foam or brownish colour
  
• there's some "puff" out the exhaust every now and then, when it's cold outside, and even then only sometimes. There's NOT a constant stream of smoke coming out, there is NO smoke coming out when revving or driving around.
  
• I can't see any obvious leaks or traces of red around the engine with bare eyes (I mean not having the car jacked up).
  
• I went to 2 different mechanics so far, jacked it up and looked around. They both said they can't see any leaks, one told me the water pump looks ok, the other one told me he has to take it off to know if it's ok. I'm going to a 3rd one on Monday.
  
• If the engine is not running and I start it, EVERY TIME, be it hot or cold, I can feel the sweet smell of antifreeze in and around the engine bay. It goes away in about 30 seconds, but it's definitely there. Is this normal? Where could it be coming from.
  
• The exhaust gases smell normal, not sweet. Haven't yet checked the smell when starting the engine, but after normal driving and pulling over they smell ok (well, for exhaust gases )
  
• When starting the engine, if the engine is cold enough (mornings or after letting it cool for some hours), it will run "rough", "3 cylinders"-like for 2-10 seconds, after which it runs fine. One of the mechanics told me this is a sign of head gasket failure, but he has to "hear it for himself"... well, maybe next week
  
• One mechanic also took the cap of the antifreeze tank off and had a colleague rev it a little (I guess to check for bubbles). There were no obvious bubbles as far as I could tell, and since he didn't seem convinced at all that it's the head gasket, maybe he saw none as well.
  

Well, I hope I haven't left anything out , what do you guys think?

Sounds like a cracked head to me .....

Get someone to put a block test on it that will tell you if the head gasket has gone the chemical will put up any exhaust gases in the cooling system, if you are using coolant rather than loosing it and the oil is clean and you have no leaks this test will pick up the problem might take a few mins or could take 15 to 20 mins but will let you know where you stand!!!!!

Let me know how you get on :-)

dan1, sorry for being dumb, but I have no idea what you're talking about. What is this "block test"? (I'm not a native English speaker, so maybe that's why I don't understand)

Its not the turbo is it? I've not heard of a cylinder head on the 1.8T leak yet.

dan1, sorry for being dumb, but I have no idea what you're talking about. What is this "block test"? (I'm not a native English speaker, so maybe that's why I don't understand)

Its a compression test, where you take out the plugs and place a gauge via a pipe into the plug holes one at a time, whilst a mate turns over the engine on the key.

That will show which cylinder is low on compression, if you get a low one, you can also squirt some clean oil down the plug hole, crank it over again and it will show of its rings that are worn.

It could be a leak on the head gasket between one or more of the cylinders?

A while back when I looked at the turbo from under the car there was a drip forming, but I think it was oil. Will check again on Monday.

I'll also try to do the compression test. Should this be done with a cold or warm engine?

It's not a compression it is a fluid that picks up exhast gasses in the cooling system pretty much all garages use it !

Thanks dan, I'll ask around the mechanics if they have this...

Well, I went to 5 different mechanics incl. the dealership (now I think I pretty much know all mechanics in town ). 4 of them, incl. the dealership, never heard of this fluid. The 5th shop actually recommended doing this test themselves, before I could ask and, sure enough, it wasn't good. The test was actually a blue fluid in a test tube that they inserted into the coolant tank after some spirited driving by me. The fluid turned golden, which, they say, means gases.

So the head gasket or cylinder head itself (I hope this is what it's called in English) is gone. The quote for repairs is anywhere from 150 euro (if the head gasket is the problem) to about 250 euro (if the cylinder head is cracked and needs to be repaired).

It's possible they have time to do it in 2 weeks. I hope it turns out ok, they looked like they knew what they were talking about. Any other stuff I should be asking them or looking out for regarding this repair?

Are you sure you don't just have a leaking hose somewhere?

Maybe it's leaking when hot, so evaporating any traces of a leak, and only giving off a smell while it's evaporating any leaked coolant.

A cracked head just sounds a bit far fetched to me.

I've heard stories of a coolant hose leaking at the rear of the engine, which gradually reduced the coolant level but showed no sign of drips etc, due to the coolant evaporating. Might be worth a proper look before spending money on a new head.

Of course I'm not sure

I have the 6th repair shop schedule in an hour, for another opinion, but, to be honest, the one with the fluid test looks like the most competent so far, all others being "there are no leaks", "why don't you pour some of that radiator leak repair thing in it see how it goes", and "just drive it like this until it gets worse"

The cost of repairs you've been quoted sound quite reasonable. When the HG went on my Rover I was quoted £200-300 to just have the HG replaced, but they would need to test the head to see if it had been cracked and possibly replace it, which was going to bring the total to over £1000 and effectively made the car a write-off

Thats a real pain in the ar5e mate. You seem to be having a lot of trouble with this car, hope you get it sorted relativly cheaply.

Cracked heads leading to a leak between a waterway and the combustion chamber or exhaust port are unusual; I'd agree that the guys who actually did the combustion product test sound most competent, and think it's probably a head gasket failure. If so, when it's off, have the head checked for warping.

The thing is they aren't replacing the head, they'll repair it if need be, which, I guess, is good enough for me since they will give some warranty for it.

Since I'll probably leave the car with them (something which I don't usually do, I'm the kind of freakish person who sits by any mechanic until done ) I was thinking if somehow I could "make sure" they're ok. So I'm thinking I'll ask if they will use a torque wrench for the job... anyone know what torque to use when tightening the screws and in which order (if it matters)?

ps: another small question mark for me is that most mechanics said that since the 1.8T gasket is metalic, it very rarely fails, these guys said they know quite a few cases... hmm...

later edit: I found the torques and order, image attached

Edited 1 June, 200917 yr by jmf

The head's off and mine might as well be :(

The gasket is fine, but there are no less than 6 cracks in the head between the valves. 4 of them are in cylinder nr 1 and that's where the leak occurred, because the valves are clean "inside" and corroded outside, as opposed to all others which are kind of dirty, 1 is in cyl 2 and another one in cyl 3. Also, I have 4 cracked valves.

I'm quite literally shocked by this. I thought these engines were much more solid, but seeing all these little cracks makes me wonder.

The head is on its way to a head repair shop to see if they can do anything about it, if not, well, I'm properly fsked.

Anyone know if the head from a 1.8T Passat from '98 will fit on the RS engine? (found one from a damaged car)

The head's off and mine might as well be :(

The gasket is fine, but there are no less than 6 cracks in the head between the valves. 4 of them are in cylinder nr 1 and that's where the leak occurred, because the valves are clean "inside" and corroded outside, as opposed to all others which are kind of dirty, 1 is in cyl 2 and another one in cyl 3. Also, I have 4 cracked valves.

I'm quite literally shocked by this. I thought these engines were much more solid, but seeing all these little cracks makes me wonder.

The head is on its way to a head repair shop to see if they can do anything about it, if not, well, I'm properly fsked.

Anyone know if the head from a 1.8T Passat from '98 will fit on the RS engine? (found one from a damaged car)

PM Steeviewonder as he did have a head for sale.

I don't think the Passat engine will fit.

I think the Passat engine will be a 150 or non-turbo, so it might have different cam profiles and/or combustion chamber volumes? I can't see any reason why the galleries, bore centres etc should be different.

Edited 12 June, 200917 yr by KenONeill

Have a look on etka and check the part numbers.

Get the engine number from your engine and the passat 1.8T's engine. If they are the same then it should be fine assuming the valves etc are all good.

Look at it this way, a cracked head is bad, but at least you found it before it took the whole engine out.

So what would have caused this then ????

Running very lean perhaps?

Very bad detonation?

Most things I come up with are more likely to melt plugs or valves than crack across a chamber.

Maybe it was a casting weakness that has been exposed by the boost being turned up (remap)

Other options as already said would be a lean mix or running with poor quality fuel causing poor detonation.

Sure there are plenty of options.