I have an Audi 100 2.6E 1993. After 88000 km (when I bought it in 1998) it got two new head gaskets due to oil leak to the outside (not into the water or cylinders)
Now after 227000 km both head gaskets has gone bad again - same problem - 1 litre of oil leakage after 2000 km!
Is this the normal Audi quality I experience (change head gaskets every
100000 km's or so!)?
How to avoid this once more if possible ?
One could wonder why they choose to protect the body work by electroplating the whole chassis when the mechanics breaks down all the time (this car has been a nightmare!)
Head gasket life expectancy is normally the life of the car. *Usually*, something out of the ordinary *causes* a head gasket failure. That is
*usually* overheating the engine (excessive detonation, freezing of the coolant, or excessive turbo boost can also cause it), which will warp or crack the head(s) and cause poor gasket sealing.
Did you have the heads *surface planed* when you did the job before? This is usually going to solve the problem for as long as it should be solved (life of the car) unless the condition that caused them to warp in the first place is repeated. If you overheat the engine every other week, you can logically expect the heads to warp, and the gasket to fail, every other week.
electroplating
But I'd almost bet it's been caused by something you did or allowed to continue. FWIW, I wouldn't consider every *139,000 km* to be "all the time". That's what, 1800 miles? :^)
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I have heard that Audi has redesigned the head gaskets for this engine 4 times between 1992 and 1995 because of this very problem. Any body knowing anything about this?
The first time the gaskets was replaced by the Audi dealer on the warranty when I bought the car. With the reputation they have in my country, I'll bet that they have done it as cheap as possible - just so it would last the 1 year warranty. My pressent mechanics (not an Audi dealer/workshop) tells me that you always must plane the heads when it's aluminium.
Talking about overheating I initially complained to the dealer that the temp gauge jumped up and down a lot compared to other cars that I have had (BMW, FIAT, OPEL). In winter time the temp, when driving, never reaches more than
75 deg cel. In summer time with my camping trailer after the car down to Italy it stays on almost 100 deg. cel. Spring and autum its around the 85-90 deg. cel.. The dealer told me that this is 100% normal for this car and as long as the "red lamp" on the dash board doesn't light up, it's ok. This lamp turns on at about 110 deg. cel. (I have tried it with a blocked cooling radiator). A friends car of the same type and model does the same - so its not a fault on my car I guess
I normally drive very "normal" (I'm to old for fast driving) so I cant believe it has some thing to do with what "I do to the car".
Regarding "all the time" and "139000 km" I have had this car repaired at least 4 times a year the last 5 years with things not being service (brakes etc), but things gone bad like hydralic hoose, exchaust catalyst, A/C compressor, evaporator, flapmotors etc etc etc.
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