Re: Help-- Kind of non audi

[audistuff@juno.com (Paul R Anderson)]

Beware, this is all off the top of my head but it makes sense to me.

There are leak detector dies which glow under a black light. If you 
suspect a lead from cooling system into the crankcase, put the
dye in the coolant and see if your oil glows in the dark.  This will also
allow you to detect any other leaks.  For instance, if the coolant is
coming
out the head gasket, running down onto the exhaust manifold and
evaporating,
you may be able to find it.  I don't think these dyes are really cheap
but you may find a shop that has the capability that would be
willing to check it for you.  I would try this, as well as a compression
check
before pulling off the heads.

Regarding the air/spark plug adapter.  This has two purposes, neither of
which
was what you mentioned.  It can be used to hold the valves closed when
replacing
valve springs and/or stem seals.  If attached with the appropriate
combination
of valve, gauge, and regulator, it can be used for a cylinder leakdown
test.
You will not likely be able to find a leak audibly because your hose
connections will probably hiss more than the leak.  Instead, you could
look for bubbles coming out of the cooling system when you apply
pressure.

Another possibility is an air pocket and subsequent boilover.  This is my
personal best guess from your symptoms.  If your system
is not bled completely, you will get these exact symptoms (BTDT).  If
this is
the case, you end up boiling that gallon/week out the overflow tank. 
Check
this to see if there's been coolant traffic here lately.  My wife's XR4Ti

is nearly impossible to blead.  Ask around to see if yours has a
reputation.

If you check all this and end up removing the intake manifold and heads,
any machine shop can "magnaflux" if cast iron or dye test the heads
if aluminum to find cracks.  Some shops may even do this with the
heads fully assembled.  Some won't.

One other thing to check.  If the engine is burning coolant at this rate,
you
should be getting white smoke out the exhaust pipe.  (Although you may
not with a cat.)  Pull the spark plugs and check them.  If it is burning
this
much, you should be able to tell it from the spark plug in the offending
cylinder.

Hope this helps,

I'm curious to find out what it is.  I have sort of a hobby of long
distance 
diagnosis.  I've been doing pretty good lately.
On Wed, 28 Jan 1998 23:09:51 EST Melissaml <Melissaml@aol.com> writes:
>Looking for advice....   I guess it could apply to an Audi.  It will 
>also
>prevent my 90 quattro from turning into my wife’s daily driver.
>
>I’ve got a 95 Windstar 3.8 V6 that goes through a gallon of anti 
>freeze a
>week.  There is no trace of a leak.  when I shut the engine off there 
>is a
>stream of bubbles coming from the radiator in the coolant reserve 
>tank.  There
>doesn’t appear to be any water in the oil, no milky white substance on 
>the
>dipstick.  I suspect a head gasket or a crack in either the cylinder 
>head or
>block.  The car has never frozen or overheated.
>
>I can handle a head gasket or the cylinder head but I think I lack the 
>lifting
>equipment to remove the engine-transaxel from below.  
>
>Now the questions.  Talking to several buddies I’m told a crack may 
>not be
>visible to the naked eye.  It may open up when it gets hot.  Are there 
>any
>reliable crack detection methods available?  Does the fact there is no 
>water
>in the oil say it is possibly a crack in the intake passage in the 
>head.  How
>would I find that.  If it was just a bad head gasket wouldn’t water 
>run past
>the rings into the oil on shutdown?  
>
>I’ve been told Sears sells a compression gauge that has a coupler that 
>has a
>spark plug thread on one end and a fitting for compressed air on the 
>other.
>This allows you to pressurize the combustion chamber and listen for 
>compressed
>air to leak out various locations.  Has anyone ever done this and is 
>it of any
>value.
>
>The local machine shop will pressure test the heads.  Would this 
>locate a
>crack.  
>

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