Audi A3 Tdi head gasket failure

[Allyc85]

Hi, I went to look at buying a 2013, 2.0 tdi Audi A3 today, and found this when I stopped partway around the test drive for a look around the car.



Could it just be condensation, or do these normally suffer from head gasket failure? I've never seen the mix with bubbles before. The engine pulled really hard, and there wasn't any obvious smoke/steam at any point, but I guess it could be the start of a problem.

[Dr G]

Looks pretty normal to me. Clean it off and drive it for long enough to get hot, then leave it idling for 10 minutes. Any coolant contamination?

Never heard of gasket failure on one of those.

[Allyc85]

I took it on a 4 mile test drive and this was how it looked afterwards. I didn't see any contamination in the water bottle or on the dipstick. The only other thing i noticed was that it cranked more than I'd expect when first started.


It probably would be OK, but I've massive trust issues after a lot of issues with my current car.

[catso]

Maybe the oil cooler (assuming it has one)?

Different engine but my old A3, 3.2 had a leaky oil cooler (oil to water type heat exchange/intercooler) resulting in contamination between oil and coolant.

Not a small job to repair but nowhere near head gasket levels.

[cuprabob]

It could simply just be that the car has recently just done short trips and it's not getting up to temp to allow the condensation to burn off. You often get mayo around the oil filler cap on cars that don't get a good run and just do short trips.

[Dr G]

Allyc85 said:

I took it on a 4 mile test drive and this was how it looked afterwards.

What did it look like before you started? You’ll need to know it’s clean first to make any comparison.

Could also be residual water if the engine bay has been cleaned.