[Vwdiesel] audi head gasket

[Chris Jude]

So,  all this head gasket talk, and I'm realizing that I probably have a
problem in my '80 Audi 5000S.  I've noticed some oil in the coolant, white
smoke at startup, and the initial idle after startup is pretty rough.   I
smell some coolant in the heater air also. But it's been like this for
awhile, and once warmed up, runs fine.  There's some valve clatter, and I
was planning to do a  valve adjustment (i had a mechanic tell me that was
unneccesary, but i don't understand what his reasoning was).

So, assuming that this is a head gasket issue, where do I go from here? I
just picked up the bentley manual, but I've never done a head gasket.  From
what I've heard on the list, it sounds like there's a good chance the head
is warped, and I'd need to get it shaved, or even find a new head.   This is
our only car, so I'd need to get in there, get the job done, and have the
car running  again in a  couple days, so I need to plan it out pretty well
before I get started.


Any advice from the BTDT crowd?

thanks
chris
seattle