I'm guessing that this is a big big job. I left my car in with a VW/Audi specialist all last week expecting it to be fixed but turned out he did nothing to it and I'm still having the same problems with it.

First thing in the mornings the car turns over for about 2-3 turns and then will usually stop dead as if the engine has hit something. Then if you keep forcing it round it will eventually start and it will then start for the rest of the day without getting stuck. When it's warm it takes 2-3 turns to fire up for the rest of the day instead of instantly like it should.

I've been told to leave the header tank cap off all night and try starting it in the morning to see if that makes any difference. I took the cap off last night and tried the car this morning. It started on the FIRST turn of the engine - which it never does! Does this suggest that it is definately the head gasket causing the problem?

I also have a big of white-ish gunge under the oil filler cap.

The VW/Audi specialist didn't reckon the gasket was gone because the engine doesn't produce much pressure and he said that the white gunge under the cap was just foaming from the PD oil. I'm not convinced though and I just want the car fixed!

What sort of driving do you do, ie. is it all local short distance stuff. If the engine is never allowed, or rarely allowed to reach operating temp then the gunge under the cap is perfectly normal and is the result condensation forming in the engine and never burnt off. If you are not losing coolant, and there is no sign of oil in your coolant, ot coolant in the oil then I would say the gasket is fine and the issues lie elsewhere. Have you had the battery checked to see if its upto par. If your car is only used for short trips maybe the battery is not replacing charge lost during starting.

Car is driven hard for long periods of time. Engine is always allowed to warm up before thrashing it because the turbo "coughes" when the engine is cold.

I have tried swapping the battery with one from my vans which made no difference. The car is also on it's second starter motor.

The car looses water at a rate of about 500ml per 100 miles. There are no physical leaks and no real smoke from the exhaust. There is apparently a bit of white smoke from the exhaust when the engine is cold though when driving.

The mechanic told me there was no water in the oil and no oil in the water.

Have a voltage drop check done on the posative and negative leads to and from battery and starter, could be a cable braking down !!

The car looses water at a rate of about 500ml per 100 miles.

:eek:

That is a lot of water to be loosing if you don't have a leak anywhere. If I were you I'd find another garage and get it looked at again.

Done the voltage check tests according to another thread on here. All ok.

The engine does not overheat.

This reminds me of a fault I had on a Citroen many years ago. There was a hair crack in the head gasket, allowing water to be sucked into the cylinders as the engine cooled down. If enough was sucked in it formed a hydraulic block in the cylinder stopping it turning over on a cold start unless I removed the spark plug from the affected cylinder.

I temporarily kept it running by removing the radiator cap overnight (so depressurising the system and stopping the water entering the cylinders) until the gasket could be replaced under warranty by my dealer.

Chris

Let's hope the engine stopping 'dead as if the engine has hit something' isn't hitting the 500ml of water in one of the bores.

Get it to dealer that will look at is ASAP. If you have a hydraulic lock you could do serious damage to the engine and it will cost A LOT MORE than a gasket replacement.

D

Trying to avoid the dealers - the local dealer here is useless.

Surely if it was hyro-locked it would be very smokey when it starts or where does the water go?

I seem to remember thread about Porous Heads on PD140s but I think the problem was limited to a batch of Audi A3s / VW Tourans (stands by to be corrected).

I've never needed to top up the water on either my 2.0 TDI or my previous 1.9. Half a litre every 100 miles is a lot of water and if it's not leaking externally that's going to end up getting expensive pretty soon. I'd be going elsewhere to get a 2nd opinion urgently.

I have never topped up the coolant on my pd140. I think the pressure in the coolant system is pushing the water through the leak in the gasket or in the crack in the head overnight hence why when you took the cap off the pressure was realeased and not pushed into the cylinder. Only a small amount of water will cause in to hydraulic because it cant be compressed. Get a simple pressure test done on the system.

My PD140 uses coolant all the time and has real problems starting from cold, has to crank for 5-10 seconds followed by lots of grey white smoke. Sometimes doesn't start at all.

Its been back and forth to the dealers for the last 3 months now, new tandem pump, new injector seals. Today it is back in having the fuel pipes renewed. There is the possibility of a porous cylinder head as it's an early 2007 model. Trouble is, the part is something like £2000 which is why it is way down the list of things to try, just above 'engine replacement' I would guess.

If water was entering one or more cylinders wouldn,t there be a misfire?

The quantities we are talking about per stroke wouldn't be enough to upset the combustion IMO. And added to the fact the water will flash straight to a vapour if it gets anywhere near the combustion chamber via a crack or alloy porosity I don't think it will affect the engine when running. The problem is when the engine is left overnight allowing a relatively large quantity of water to enter the bore.

My leaking PD140 has passed about 4 24 hour pressure tests so far. Trouble is the engine can only be pressure tested when cold :thumbdwn:

My worry is where that accumulated water is going upon startup, through the turbo and/or EGR gubbins can't be a good thing.

Yes, there have been problems with hair cracks in the head gasket with the 2.0 diesel. I don't know whether they were limited to VW's or Audi's only. On wiki.tdiclub.nl I read that the problem occurs on cars made between june and december 2003. What you notice: white smoke when starting, loss of coolant, difficult to start the car when it wasn't used for at least 8 hours. Could only be solved by a new head gasket.

Seems to me you have to add far to much coolant to be normal! Couldn't it be that water vaporises out of the gasket, so you don't find oil in water and water in oil, and you don't find water under your car?

I have bought a brand new cylinder head and a brand new turbo for my car. Just need to get the whole lot fitted along with a new water pump and timing belt kit now.

Hopefully that will solve all of my engine issues.

I have bought a brand new cylinder head and a brand new turbo for my car. Just need to get the whole lot fitted along with a new water pump and timing belt kit now.

Hopefully that will solve all of my engine issues.

Is your wallet crying in the corner?? :thumbdwn:

Please let us know the outcome, my car is still in the garage being dismantled in an attempt to resolve the starting issues and coolant consumption.

Fingers crossed that this sorts your car out - can't be much left now can there

Not really, through the wonders of ebay I got both the turbo and head for less than £600. Brand new in their boxes, unused.

Did you get the cylinder head casing bare or did it come with cams, valves, camshafts etc etc?

Do you know when the head was made? hopefully it isn't an early one that is prone to going porous.

I think there are a, b and c variants from what I recall.

The head came with valves, cams and followers etc.

Just checked the part number and it ends in "A" so it could be a first generation :( Ah well it can't be any worse than the one the car has at the minute.