[V8] Who's had a bad had gasket?

[cobram at juno.com]

If there was corrosion, you can't dismiss other causes.  Coolant may have
been diluted too much, or it's anticorrosion properties (additives) were
spent with age/use or ??.  It it's safe for aluminum, it's safe for
aluminum.  One anecdotal story is just that.  
I don't bend over and pay for OEM Pento$in hydraulic fluid either, that
was quite the chicken little scenario at the time on the main list.  I
suspect DTE et. al outsells Pento$in liquid gold among type 44 listers
now.

This came up on a motorcycle board too, dire warnings from the
manufacturer were proved to be nothing but a scare tactic to get owners
to pony up $15 a quart for a different coloring agent.

But, it's your money, if you want to buy purdy pink things with it.....
;-)  

Lately I've been using a universal (colorless) coolant, which is
supposedly compatible with everything (except Dexcool.)  So far so good
with this stuff, a friend gets it in bulk and won't charge me when I use
it, can't beat that at twice the price.

Based on observations and personal experiences with German iron I stand
by what I said, and really haven't seen anything to change my
conclusions.  I can't see spending that kind of money for OEM repackaged
fluids.  If I owned one of those $114 a quart for transmission fluid
Nissans posted last week, you can bet I would have figured out a
substitute by now, too!

I may retire V8Q #2 (too many cars), if I do, as an academic exercise,
I'll pull the head.  Curious to see what nothing but "evil green" for
about 15years and 180K miles may have done, if anything.   

BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
"God's a kid with an ant farm. He's not planning anything."

 "32VQUATTRO" <ALLANVEGA at COMCAST.NET> writes:
> I respectfully disagree Cobram.  While I agree its ok to use none 
> Audi 
> antifreeze, it should be a silicate and phosphate free antifreeze. 
> There is 
> a member on one of the other Audi forums with an AAN head that has 
> corroded 
> water jackets, rendering the head useless due to the green stuff. 
> With 
> premium aftermarket antifreeze selling upwards of 13-14 dollars now, 
> I spend 
> the little extra, and buy the o.e. g12 for $18 per gallon from Audi. 
> That's 
> cheaper than the $12 per liter for Pentosin
> 
> Allan
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <cobram at juno.com>
> To: <toml99 at todomundo.com>
> Cc: <v8 at audifans.com>
> Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 3:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [V8] Who's had a bad had gasket?
> 
> 
> > Anything but the run of the mill green (blue or whatever), safe 
> for
> > aluminum coolant is a waste of money.  This was beaten to death on 
> the
> > main list a while back, with a resident industrial chemist 
> explaining it.
> > I've been running the "evil green" Prestone in all my Audi's 
> (including
> > 2 V8Q's) for over 2 decades now (starting with my '84 5KS and 
> lesser '82
> > 5K before that), if something was going to happen, I figure it 
> should
> > have by now.
> > Never had a head gasket problem on any of them.  Any engine that 
> starts
> > blowing head gaskets en mass is a design, manufacture or material 
> flaw,
> > IMHO.
> >
> > BCNU,
> > http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
> > "God's a kid with an ant farm. He's not planning anything."
> >
> > "toml99 at todomundo.com" <toml99 at todomundo.com> writes:
> >> Hey, was just thinking about stuff, and was wondering on a 
> percentage
> >>
> >> base, who's had a head gasket problem?.....Most steel 
> block/aluminum
> >>
> >> head cars have issues around 150K, and was reading on the Saab 
> site
> >>
> >> tonight that many are going to a phosphate-free type of coolant.
> >> Pearl car still has the green coolant in it(evil), and plan to 
> fix
> >>
> >> that this weekend.  Don't hear of a lot of people complaining of
> >> head
> >> gasket issues with the v8....(good thing).  With a properly
> >> maintained car, who's had a head gasket issue?.....Just looking 
> for
> >>
> >> another reason to validate our obsession.........Tom