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

[Steve Kramer]

Please get the radiator replaced.  You can find o.e.m radiators online for
$300 at 1-800 radiators and I think the labor is 2-3 hours max.

Here's my story.  I'm lucky that my v8 is still alive.
A while back , our beloved Cubs were in the playoffs.  On this particular
night, the Marlin were playing the Cubs for the first time in Chicago.- A
night game  I had arrived home around 6 and turned on the v8 since I hadn't
driven it for a couple of days.  Had dinner and watched the Cubs -
completely forgetting that my car was still on.  Went upstairs around 8 pm
and to my horror realized thatI had left my car on for the last 2 hours on a
70 degree night. Went outside and the car was still going - however, a pool
of radiator fluid was sitting next to the passenger wheel. The temp guage
was all the way past the hot mark and the oil temp was up way past the
middle hash mark.  You could have fried an egg on the hood - it was that
hot. The car was still running!!! Quickly I turned off the car.

Taking the car to the mechanic, I was prepared for the worst.  Luckily, what
had blown was a fitting on the the Heater core.  The engine was ok and no
white smoke. Possibly, the only thing which I cooked was my cat converter-
as my cat in the morning makes a raspy sound - possibly condensation - it
does go away after a while.

Months later my v8 with a new radiator is still going strong.  There is no
white smoke and no internal " bleeding" .  Thankfully the aluminum cylinder
and block handled the extreme temp.

I wish I had done the radiator install before this happened and all the b.s.
that owners go through to deal with a clogged radiator.  It's not worth what
I went through.

Get it replaced.

Steve Kramer
1990 v8

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bob moy" <mmodels at hotmail.com>
To: <V8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 9:32 AM
Subject: [V8] Overheating problem - A tribute to Audi engineering and my
ownstupidity


> Sound as though you had a clogged radiator which prevented your electric
fan
> from coming on.
>
> Keith from Audi Connection did a great writeup on this subject a couple of
> years ago.  Perhaps someone from this forum still have a copy.
>
> Considering that this car is approaching 14 years, it would be wise to
> replace the radiator instead of trying to get it boil out.
>
> Is there white smoke coming from the exhaust?  If the answer is yes then
you
> most likely have a blown head gasket.  Try running the car with the heater
> on full heat, this way if the thermostat is stuck the coolant will bypass
> the thermostat.
>
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