Talking Heads

[Kim Johnson <kjohnson@pclink.com>]

My head gasket is TOAST (I think).

My wife just got halfway home from work and stopped because she saw some
steam coming from under the hood. She was puzzled because the gauge
registered "normal" temperature. None the less and to her credit she
called home for help and I responded at light speed.

What had happened was the housing (cheep plastic crap) to the afterun
coolant pump had broken at the clamp. My guess is that the cooling
system completely drained and the engine overheated but with no coolant
the gauge did not register the high temp. When I started to put water in
the cooling system the the engine died. I continued filling the system
and then restarted the car but the cooling system quickly started
blowing coolant out of the coolant reservoir. I had intended to change
out the head gasket this Fall but the Audi Gods are vain and called for
immediate attention.

I started the dismantling process tonight but I stalled out at the
corrugated down pipe. The small bolts that are in the flange will not
allow any purchase the 12 mm 5 pt socket just spins. I guess I'll have
to cut them with a hacksaw blade (slow slow slow work) Does anyone have
any TIPS for removing the exhaust system from the head?

I called my local machine shop and asked them for a "ballpark" price on
rebuilding this head and the guy said It would go $200-$300 dollars. Is
this a reasonable price or should I shop around?

Thanks for your support,
Kim Johnson
1986 5kqt
almost 200,000 tornado red and a hobby that rivals golf