Hello all. Thanks to all of you that replied to my first post. Your input was a great help. So the next chapter of the story has unfolded, and I would like to see if any of you can further help me make a decision.

So, I bought this Audi a few weeks back, and have noticed since then a burning oil smell. So I took it into a mechanic that I thought I trusted. The first time I took it in, he said there was too much grime and oil residue on the engine to determine where the oil leak was originating. So he put some die in the engine that would supposedly help him pin point the leak. He said that he would probably have to clean up the engine as well. So I took it back in last week, and they performed the black light inspection to see where the die was coming out. He claims that it is the head gasket. So I asked him if I could see under the car, so he could show me where it was coming out. He was very reluctant to do so, which automatically put up a red flag for me. So he finally agreed to lift the car up, and I look under to see that they hadn't even touched the engine. It still had all of the grime and residue that he claimed was keeping him from finding the leak! So I called him out on it, and he didn't really give me any good response. So.... I am planning on getting atleast two more oppinions. But my question is this.... He estimated that the repair would cost at least $1600. He claims that he would have to totally dismantel the head, and have about 12 hours worth of labor, and about $300 worth of parts. Is this a fair estimate? Does it really require that much work? Any other suggestions for me?!!

 

WOW, there is some idiots there.
What audi did is that they made the head bolts unhiden, you dont have to disasemble the head.

simply timing belt goes off, and then heads unbolt, and done. (a lot of stuff in between).

But to sum up, if you have lots of oil leaking, like me, the whole carter is in oil, then its not a head gasket. the carter has two levels of gaskets, probably the top one.
dont worry of the leak, just keep a watch on the level.

 

It's probably the valve cover gasket. Get a second opinion.

 

Yeah i head gasket oil leaks arent really very common. You need to clean that thing off really good and then see where its leaking at. If its burning its not something i would just not worry about. Sounds kinda like a fire hazard.

 

i have an oil leak that looks like the head gasket, but really its only the AIR INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET(lower). What happens is that the oil collects on top of the engine (where the MANIFOLD GASKET and ENGINE BLOCK meet) than at the time of hard braking the oil spills all over the engine (or over fills and does the same), U have to take off the top AIR INTAKE MANIFOLD and replace the gasket, goood idea to degrase the motor first, change the VALVE COVER GASKETS too easy acces.