Radiator Advice

[jzwahlen at cerrejon.com]

Based on my experience with our old '85 Audi 5000S, and some
additional anecdotal evidence, the plastic on the radiators 
start to become brittle at 80K miles.  This caused my wife
to blow the head gasket on this car when his was driving in
rush hour traffic in Houston and couldn't get off the
expressway.  She finally was able to limp the car off the
exit ramp but by that time it had lost compression and then
wouldn't restart. 

You can avoid damage to the head gaskets if you stop your
car immediately after the radiator dumps, but sometimes this
isn't safe to do.

My advice is to replace the radiator soon after 80k miles,
it's a lot cheaper and easier that pulling the head.

I don't think this would be too difficult a job for most 
do-it-yourselvers.

jazman

'99 VW Polo Classic 1.6L
'94 Porsche 968
'93 Audi 100CS (gone but in good hands)
'87 Audi 5000CS TQ (best car I ever owned, also gone)
'85 Audi 5000S (I think this car must have died)