RE: 86 C-GT H2Opump leakage and head war

[paul.heneghan@bbc.co.uk (Paul Heneghan)]

From: ampj

>Paul Heneghan wrote:
>> . . .  .  If you lose all the coolant, then you will have a head
>> warp problem - this will expose the fact that half your exhaust manifold
>> studs are broken (or will break when manifold is removed) etc.

>    Will the head warp EVEN if the oil temp does NOT rise above the normal
>level. My pump started to go without my knowledge, and I just thought
>the coolant was low causing the gauge to flash. When I finally did
>notice the leaking fluid and opened the hood, I found an empty expansion
>tank, but it took only one and maybe another one-quarter(1 1/4)
>anti-freeze jugs of fluid to raise the level back to normal. The car had
>been running for maybe a half an hour with the fluid level low, but the
>oil temp gauge never rose at all(not one LED light-I kept an eye on it).
>With that knowledge, do you think my head was damaged?!?

You're probably OK.  My experience of warping heads comes from my parents 
driving a Toyota with no coolant until the engine lost all power!  I put a 
new head gasket in which it blew in less than 50 miles.  Then I had the head 
skimmed and that sorted the problem out.

It's usually fairly obvious when the head gasket is blown - massive 
overheating, or mixing coolant with oil (mayonaise in expansion tank or 
mayonaise on oil filler cap).

>> I know it's a pain in the neck to do, but you need to grasp the nettle 
and
>> do it sooner rather than later.  It's all routine stuff apart from 
removing
>> crank nut - I can't remember if you need to do this to get at the pump - 
I
>> think you do (I have tool 2084 if you want to borrow it - it's heavy, so
>> postage might be expensive).

>    Is that tool all that is really neccessary to purchase outside of the
>usual wrenches and sockets?

Yes (and a 4ft breaker bar to put over the end of your t-bar to exert the 
332ftlbs of torque necessary to undo and redo the crank bolt - often much 
more is required to undo it).

Paul
paul.heneghan@bbc.co.uk
1984 Audi 80 quattro
1989 Audi 100 Avant