Nicholasbeast

Seems if my 96 a4 is slowly dieing, its be a domino affect. First the exhaust leak, located at the exhaust manifold and down pipe; the three bolt flange. Took it to an exhaust shop, said they would have to pull off the exhaust manifold and drill out the stud that broke off. With limited time i opted to live with the leak until spring, when I could do it myself and save some cash. (I'm a college student, living off a part time job and loans, you may know how that goes)

Anyway, the second strike was the fuel filter leak. Design flaw in my opinion, those seal rings looked like alligator chewed on them causing the leak. So after wrestling with that for a few days in the freezing rain and snow, that was now fixed. (only thanks to the tech article.)

Now the third and final strike, well...this problem has haunted me for sometime. I R&R the TB, water pump, thermostat, pulleys, and belts at 142,000mi, everything worked and seemed fine. Coolant alwayed reached operating temp. But, now I'm at 160,000mi, the coolant rarely reaches operating temp. I thought it was due to such a harsh winter, temperatures hanging around zeroF. However, I've been losing coolant, no puddles underneath the car, which leads me to believe that I have internal leak....probably a head gasket. I drained the oil today...but to my surprise no milky looking coolant/oil drained out into the pan. I usually run 5w-30 in the winter, because the bitter cold temperatures in the upper peninsula. I took off the oil cap to find that milky looking coolant/oil covering the bottom side of the cap, I took a swipe with my finger along the top of the valve cover to find more of that milky gunk. This left me slightly confused, why a milky substance in the valve cover, but not when i drained the oil out of the pan. Can anyone make sense of that? I refilled the oil, made sure it was at the proper capacity. Started the motor up....and holy valve lifter tick!!!! Sounds like a cummins diesel. I quickly shut it off, checked the dipstick again, it was fine. Again the motor ticked like crazy. The low pressure light came on. I turned off the engine and proceeded to the AW forums. After looking for sometime, i came across possible problems ranging from clogged oil passages, incorrect oil and filter for climate, oil pressure sensor, or oil pump.

I'm going to verify that the pressure is low, by using a mechanical oil pressure gauge, but that still wouldn't solve the coolant leak. Any advise? I'm thinking a motor swap might be the easier route, then trying to chase the gremlins in this current 2.8L. Not Sure? Also, I'll be able to fix the exhaust leak if I pull the motor. I'm sure a motor swap has its own problems to deal with. Any advise...knowledge would be helpful at this point. Thanks in advance. Nick-

1995Qsport

That milky white stuff under your oil cap and valve cover is just condensation from the car not being able to reach full operating temperature and then being shut off. But for the lifter tick, i would start with your oil check valve in the valley pan area. If thats not it, just run a thicker oil, its a 12v it wont die. : )

Jretal

or perhaps the water pump?

Or are you smelling a sweet smell when the heat comes on?

I'd say you might have a leak in the system, but it's probably not a HG issue. I have a smiliar issue w/ vanishing coolant, but I'm 99% sure it's my heater core. Just dont' have the motivation or patience to pull the dash out again for this thing.

odelay12v

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/32880/dscf3624.jpg"></center><p>i lose about a pint per 2 weeks or so right here..thinking i will need to do a repair this spring-summer but Hope i can get by till it warms up atleast into the 60's vs today it was a high of about 35 and low of 19

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

you might as well replace the head gaskets (which require new bolts. if your doing that, might as well replace all the seals on the new motor (crank,cam, rear main) replace the valley pan gasket. make sure you use Audi o-ring on the coolant pipes (trust me on this one!) water pump and all the t-belt stuff. I'm suggesting all of this do to my personal experience. I just did a motor swap and didnt do half of that, ended up doing all of it anyway cause both of my head gaskets were leaking water like a out of bucket in to the cylinders. and while you are at it, gasket match the intake ports, its not that hard. just make sure you clean the intake ports from all the shavings.
anyway, when did the ticking start? after the oil change?

Nicholasbeast

after I replaced the fuel filter for some reason. I didn't think the ticking would be related to the fuel system, but I could be wrong. I'm not ruling out any possibilities at this point. I changed the oil thinking that might clear up the issue, but nothing....the ticking was louder than ever.

I talked to audi mechanic this past week on the phone, I told him what happened and the symptoms, but he was stumped. Obviously, I'm sure he could pin-point the problem if the car was in his shop. I was told to run some thicker wt oil, and see if that quiets the valve train.

I changed out the oil yesterday, substituting a quart of oil with Lucas additive oil. I was told that might quiet down the the ticking. No good. Didn't even make a different, still sounds like there is a marble clucking around in the valve cover. I let the motor come up to temp, the idle is steady, its firing on all cylinders, still has a quick and smooth throttle response when i blimp the pedal; however, the ticking does fade slightly in the higher rpm band. I wondering if this could be caused by a something stuck or broke in the valve train?

Nicholasbeast

the passager seat floor has been wet in the past, possible heater core?

Jretal

if the wet smells like coolant, than I'd say that'd be a safe bet

MP4.2+6.0

under the valley cover below the intake manifold. There is a TSB on this for the similar vintage V6 in A6's.

FYI, just found this looking for oil smoke issues out exhaust relating to the valley pan and oil vapor hoses (hoses are not cracked and suck/PCV valve is new), so I am going to open that area up and have a look see. Meanwhile, have diagnosed and cured a loud valve noise by replacing those check valves, which apparently regulate oil pressure to the heads.