My coolant warning came on the other day and was pretty low so I refilled it. I was driving it later that day and the low oil light came on. I had the oil changed 2500 miles ago so that suprised me. The next day I noticed heavy white exhaust when starting. I drove the car tonight and checked under the oil cap and sure enough there was quite a bit of white gunk build up. Its a 2003 A6 3.0 Avant. I'm thinking head gasket problems but would that explain the coolant and oil loss??

Thanks,

Stad

 

I'm thinking blown head gasket too...

 

you can not predict problem by youself. as it is mechanical you need to take it to the mechanics.

 

Buy a compression tester and check compression in each cylinder. If you find one lower than the others, that would be the blown head gasket location.

Then, take it to a dealer and trade it in.

Good luck,

Bob

 

Wha...?

 

that is awesome!!

 

ha yeah, bob martin has the right idea.....if the head gasket is blown, change the oil so it looks semi-fresh and drive it to a dealer to trade it in. Head gasket jobs are very expensive and not worth the hassle.

 

Sorry to hear about that, Bad break

WTF?


It can only be 1 of three things.

Blown headgasket/warped head-That's what it is.
gaskets just fail or warped from overheating.

Cracked block, unlikely in the summer. Happens when water freezes in the block.

Someone poured coolant in the oil fill.

 

HG job is not that big of a PITA, if you are mechanically inclined it can be solved very cheaply. The HG kit is cheap, and even if you have to send the heads out to get decked, or buy a used set of heads(500 bucks) you can have the car running again for under 1K. Just my 2 cents, I would fix it and keep it. What good is an automotive forum if we tell the guy to sell or scrap at the slightest sign of a major issue.

 

I talked to a independant Audi mechanic today. He jumped to the same conclusion about head gaskets being bad then he called me back and said after thinking about it it could be the water cooler pump? I think thats what he called it. He said that most of the time when this fails oil gets in the coolant but he's seen it go the other way, though not as often.