[urq] She's back....

[Thatcher Hubbard]

The engine on these will be noisy:  Unless someone has done some
undocumented mods to yours, it has a solid lifter head.  I had the
valves (and everything else top-end related) done on mine a few months
ago and the valves are still louder than those on an MC engine with a
hydraulic head.  Mine also has some belt squeal at or near idle that
has never gone away, despite changing the belts and using belt
dressing.

Mine has never run particularly smoothly either.  It used to worry me,
but I've done so much work on the internal parts of the engine at this
point that I doesn't any longer.  I think many of us are used to
driving engines with 4 valves per cylinder and or SEFI and or tuned
for smooth running.

As far as overheating damage goes:  You'll probably have to keep a
sharp eye on it.  Doing a head gasket on these engines is not
difficult in concept, but it requires removing a lot of stuff from the
engine bay.  It turned out to be the first big job I'd done on this
particular car, but I had done one on a MC engine a few years ago too.
 On the other hand, the cost of the parts to do it is not terrible (I
got a gasket set and new bolts for under $200 IIRC), and if you
replace the gasket and get the head decked at a machine shop, you
won't have to worry about it.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 16:20:09 -0500, Andrew B <andrew.sb at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well I got my car back from the mechanic today.  She runs!  But the
> final bill came out to 738...I ended up having the Tbelt done.  All in
> all...do the timing belt and water pump before you have a problem
> (note to self).
> 
> Now, how should I proceed?  That is to say, what should I look out
> for, or what precautions should I take with the new parts on my car?
> Any, or is she ready to go, right now?  The is a small amount of noise
> and/or roughness coming from the engine...I don't know if it's the new
> belts, the adjustment on those belts, or perhaps the engine itself.
> What should I be looking/listening for in terms of possible damage
> that occurred inside the engine?  I asked the shop owner (just to be
> sure) if there was any damage to the head, and he said I wouldn't be
> able to tell for a couple months.  If there were damage (ie head
> gasket, warped head) wouldn't steam or coolant be coming from the
> engine, and more specifically from the bottom of the head?  Is there
> any way of telling if there's internal damage, or if there were
> internal damage, would it matter?
> 
> Anyways, at least that's over.  She seems to still pull strong and
> reach full boost, but I haven't driven her much at all.  I plan on a
> little jaunt this evening if possible.
> 
> Hopefully you can quell my fears, and I thank you all for your
> advice....again...
> 
> -Andrew
> _______________________________________________
> Audifans urq mailing list
> Send posts to: mailto:urq at audifans.com
> Manage your list connection: http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/urq
> Have an urq question?  Check the Audifans Knowledgebase!
> http://www.audi-quattro.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Audi/UrQuattro
> Have an urq answer? ... Please help others by adding to the KB ... all contributions welcome!
>