Audi A6 quattro 95 oil leak.

Hi,
An additional problem with my A6 is a very bad oil leak which seems to
come from "top rear". The oil drips over the exhaust and causes an
embarrassing smell.
I asked the dealer to identify the problem. Their diagnosis was a bad
Head-gasket. Their estimate (incl. timing belt and water pump):
$2500. I bought the car a couple of years ago for $2300.

Does anybody care to comment. The car runs great, is it really the
head gasket?
What about doing such repair at home.

Thanks,

Andre

On Mon, 19 May 2008 10:04:46 -0700 (PDT), against all advice,
something compelled Andre >, to say:

> Hi,
> An additional problem with my A6 is a very bad oil leak which seems to
> come from "top rear". The oil drips over the exhaust and causes an
> embarrassing smell.
> I asked the dealer to identify the problem. Their diagnosis was a bad
> Head-gasket. Their estimate (incl. timing belt and water pump):
> $2500. I bought the car a couple of years ago for $2300.

I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine that if the head gasket
failed to the point where it was leaking oil, the engine would be
running poorly, if at all. Is there a valve cover in that part
of the engine, and if so, is *that* where the leak is coming
from? It would cost a lot less to fix that.
--

Life is too short to play cheap guitars.

On May 19, 1:04 pm, Andre > wrote:
> Hi,
> An additional problem with my A6 is a very bad oil leak which seems to
> come from "top rear". The oil drips over the exhaust and causes an
> embarrassing smell.
> I asked the dealer to identify the problem. Their diagnosis was a bad
> Head-gasket. Their estimate (incl. timing belt and water pump):
> $2500. I bought the car a couple of years ago for $2300.
>
> Does anybody care to comment. The car runs great, is it really the
> head gasket?
> What about doing such repair at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andre

I'm pretty sure the 2.8L V6 engine has a habit of leaking from the
gasket on the intake manifold. That could be the cause. But no way
would I take it to a dealer. Find a good independent shop that handles
Audis (or any premium German cars - BMW, Mercedes, etc). Have them
look at it.

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

"Andre" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
> An additional problem with my A6 is a very bad oil leak which seems to
> come from "top rear". The oil drips over the exhaust and causes an
> embarrassing smell.
> I asked the dealer to identify the problem. Their diagnosis was a bad
> Head-gasket. Their estimate (incl. timing belt and water pump):
> $2500. I bought the car a couple of years ago for $2300.
>
> Does anybody care to comment. The car runs great, is it really the
> head gasket?
> What about doing such repair at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andre]

Defo leaking from the valve cover/rocker cover gasket new one costs £15 and
the problem is the gasket goes hard and a nice new supple one will sort the
problem.

This is a common as hell problem with all Audi's and is quite simple to
replace yourself, there is also a gasket on the timing chain that could
cause the leak and is a little harder to fix but try the rocker one first
and see what happens

On May 19, 8:15 pm, "Ronny" > wrote:
> "Andre" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > Hi,
> > An additional problem with my A6 is a very bad oil leak which seems to
> > come from "top rear". The oil drips over the exhaust and causes an
> > embarrassing smell.
> > I asked the dealer to identify the problem. Their diagnosis was a bad
> > Head-gasket. Their estimate (incl. timing belt and water pump):
> > $2500. I bought the car a couple of years ago for $2300.
>
> > Does anybody care to comment. The car runs great, is it really the
> > head gasket?
> > What about doing such repair at home.
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Andre]
>
> Defo leaking from the valve cover/rocker cover gasket new one costs £15 and
> the problem is the gasket goes hard and a nice new supple one will sort the
> problem.
>
> This is a common as hell problem with all Audi's and is quite simple to
> replace yourself, there is also a gasket on the timing chain that could
> cause the leak and is a little harder to fix but try the rocker one first
> and see what happens

Thank you all for your time. You have re-enforced my deep suspicion
that since the engine is running quite good the source of the leak
maybe somewhere else.
Thanks for all the suggestions about the likely places to look for the
leak.

I did not get a warm and fuzzy feeling about the dealer, especially,
since I was not happy about the work they have done when I brought the
car there for an AUDI recall related repair (ignition switch).

Regards,

Andre