[V8] Overheating problem - A tribute to Audi engineering and my own stupidity

[smccoy at nd.edu]

Greetings!

The following is a request for help and at the same time a tribute to the
incredible engineering and strength of the Audi V8 as well as my own stupidity.
 Last night, while trying to prepare for an early morning departure, I check
the fluid levels of the Audi V8 my daughter uses as a daily driver and backed
it out of the garage.  Not wanting to have a problem with flooding (BTDT on two
occassions) I left the car running for a few minutes.  To make a long story
short - I forgot about the car and went to bed.  While this might not have been
a problem under normal circumstances, the electric cooling fan on this car
doesn't always kick on and of course, this time it didn't.

Several hours later, my daughter (returning home from a date) awoke me to tell
me that something was the matter with her Audi - of course, it had overheated
and a large pool of antifreeze was under the car.  Water temp gauge wasn't
working (intermentant grounding problem) but the oil temp showed almost 130 C. 
I immediately drove the car down the road, allowing it to gradually cool - and
when the oil temp had dropped to about 90 - I pulled it into the garage and
shut it down.  It had boiled out about 3 qts of antifreeze but other than that,
no apparent damage.

The next day we drove the car down the road and it started to overheat, so we
pulled over, let it cool down and drove back home.  Since then, the v8's
cooling system hasn't work (possible vapor lock?) although the car runs as
strong as ever.  The car starts and runs well - remove the cap from the
radiator reservoir and it appears to be normal.   However, drive it down the
road for 10 minutes and it will overheat.   One final note - the car just turn
over 210 k miles.

Question - Have I damaged the head gaskets - in which case, I guess the car is
done for - it's a shame, it been an exceptional car.

Any suggestions (on the car) would be appreciated.

Thanks

Scott McCoy
2 '90 V8s
assorted variety of Porsches
'75 Bricklin SV-1