s3 2009 8P - Losing coolant, and misfire

[trick971]

Driving the wife's s3 the other day on a 60 mile journey which is mainly M and A roads.
Spirited drive but not crazy, towards the end i was stuck in a little traffic, nothing major but was still for a couple of mins.

Engine light flashed (yellow) and then the EPC light came on - stuck in limp mode. No other warning signs.
Got to my destination, and parked up for a few hours. Came back to car and all was well, no warnings and car ran ok. Drove the 6o miles back and all was fine.

Following morning, wife went out in car, started it up and it said stop engine, check coolant (red warning).
so i checked it, No coolant in the expansion tank. So i topped it up.
Warning went away, ran the car until up to temp and no obvious leaks in undertray, on drive or anywhere.
Oil was fine, no mayo.
Temp never moved away from the normal operating temp of around 90c.

Following day, drive the car 25 miles, fine for 20 miles, then got stuck in traffic. Car started misfiring, sounded like on 3 cylinders. EPC and engine light on again. Then half a mile later, check coolant.
Stopped car, undid expansion tank, water was there but it had lost some, but was above min.
Got back in car, no warnings drove ok.

Later that day car started running on 3 cylinders. no warnings.
Got it check on VAG and said cylinder 1 problem.
checked all sparks, cylinder 1 spark was black as soot. All others ok. Changed coil pack on 1.
Topped up with coolant to over max mark.
Ran ok.

Drove 25 miles, no warnings, no temp issues, but whenever i stopped at lights for a minute or so, it would start to hesistate on idle. but no warnigns. Then when pulled off all ok.

Got home. check coolant when cooled down, it had lost a decent amount of coolant. NO obvious leaks.

I can only assume this is head gasket on way? But no issues with oil or white smoke.
But coolant going somewhere internal, must be as i cant see it anywhere!

Not sure if the above with misfire etc are linked, but whether water is being burned and causing it i dont know.
Anyone had experience of this?
Booked it in to garage but just curious really..

 

[S38pkyle-ing]

My s3 was loosing coolant from
The head gasket and the oil was fine and no white smoke. You need to get into the engine bay you’ll be able to see where the leak is coming from if you come in from underneath

 

[trick971]

My s3 was loosing coolant from
The head gasket and the oil was fine and no white smoke. You need to get into the engine bay you’ll be able to see where the leak is coming from if you come in from underneath

Just heard from garage...
they had it on the ramps too and they cant see any coolant loss from any pipes etc, bone dry underneath.
they took the sparks out again and reckon they can see water in the cylinder 1.

He says its an 8 hour labour charge...and dont know what state head is in either.... but if it has not overheated at anytime, can there be damage?
He also said i am looking at £1k+

 

[trick971]

they also checked compression and all cylinders were fine. did a block test on the expansion tank and also clear...
weird.

 

[trick971]

So, i just had it confirmed by garage (went to independent - my father in law!), and he confirms it is the head gasket, but it has CRACKED and he says they should never crack? potential warranty claim?

Any opinions on this?

 

[leshkin]

Well, that's a bit of a bummer. I feel for you mate.

If the car has full service history you could get some good will toward the cost of parts from Audi, but pretty sure it won't be covered by warranty unless you have some sort of extended deal. Not sure though, as the age of car makes it hard to say. Try it with an Audi dealership and see what they say, can't hurt.