i blew a head gasket, but want to wait untill i have enough money to machine the heads while there off anyway, so i was wondering if anyone has tried this, or anything like it, and how it worked for them and how long, any other quick fix for the head gasket is welcome JRance o yeah, the product: Bar's Leaks Block Seal Head Gasket Repair 20 oz.

Don't do it. That crap will mess up the heater core, radiator and waterpump.
Fix it correctly is the best thing to do.

We had a customer blow a gasket and he brought us some Blue Devil stuff. It worked good but then the truck was only worth about $500.

NO WAY STARTERUP, that may work if you had a small coolent leak, but if you truly have a blown head gasket that wont do a thing. Did your compression check show which cylinder that it blew out between, usually its between 3/5 or 4/6. But one thing for sure if you keep running it you not only will hurt the heads you may even end up having to deck the block. You need to just save up and fix it right to start with, and make sure you have a good clean deck surface on the block and heads. And dont skimp, get a good gasket like the FEL-PRO set, I have been abusing thees for decades and have always proved to be the best.

Buy 1 cheap headgasket and an intake manifold/exhaust gasket set and spend a nice weekend figuring it out with basic easy to find handtools and a torque wrench. If you willing to put that crap into your engine you probably really don't care about it (or these heads you speak of machining, jeez). All you really have to do is clean the surfaces properly and get the torque sequence right.

ok, first of all, dont come on and be an a$$ about it, because its not even close to "i dont care about my engine" its called, i need $ so i can machine the heads, so does it make sense to go through the process twice? NO, so if anyone has any real comments about this product, or any other like it, i would appreciate it


JRance

if it comes down to money it leaves you no choice, go ahead and use the temporary sealer then!

Why do people get so bent out of shape when they don't get what they want to hear?

Good grief, if you didn't want the opinions, don't ask, go screw up your car on your own and then come cry on here when you have to change out a bunch more stuff than just a head gasket and some intake gaskets.

Really now, are the gaskets going to make you go broke? Stop crying, crap happens, do it right and you don't screw up more stuff than you have to.

DO IT i USED IT ON MY OLD CROWN VIC AND GOT 20,000 MILES OUT OF IT BEFORE I SOLD THE CAR...IF IT IS A JUNKER F@$K IT

Ok, for one, this is a fix in a bottle that you speak of, so it's not going to work too well and WILL cause additional damage/problems to this engine that you speak of wanting to put more money into. You find that this engine has enough value to have the heads machined in some way, however your looking for a miracle inproper fix (which could lead to the heads being destroyed). The other guy that posted is right, it isn't real hard to figure out which cylinder(s) are gone, a compression tester is best, but pulling the wires off the spark plugs individually and doing an RPM balance test to measure which cylinder, and most likely there are 2 adjacent, are causing the problem makes it easy to find as well. If I come off like an ******* it's because I am and it makes me sick seeing people saying they want to fix something they find valuable with a so called miracle in a bottle.

have you considerding just waiting till you get the extra 30 bucks to get the actual gasket???

im not trying to degrade the instant fix stuff but i mean if it was so good, why would there still be other methods? the correct way is the bst and in this case id have to say new gaskets, if you replace one side might as well be the other too, no use in one good side with one bad side still, but just what i would do =)

I have seen people come in where I work as a tech who have used it ok for a temporary fix. Wont fix a big leak. Wont fix a head gasket blown between the cyl most likely. You may have to have the radiator boiled out good when you fix it permanently. And definately will need to flush the stink out of the whole cooling sysyten. It would really suck if this stuff clogged your heater core! If you do use it, use it sparingly usually the liquid stuff is safer. It is temporary and may cause more problems than you have now. Good luck

Yes and no the stuff works. If you have seepage somewhere and can't afford to get the problem fixed, then yes it will work. Downside is yes, they do tend to clog the passages in radiators and heater cores because in some cases the passages in them are similar thickness to a head gasket, so guess what happens by the time you add enough to plug your head gasket? When you're dealing with a stock thick head gasket this is definitely not a good idea especially considering that stuff has to seal the head gasket in spite of the combustion pressures forcing themselves into the cooling system or elsewhere.

Once upon a time I tried it when I blew a head gasket and it was alot thinner than a stock one. Didn't work. All it did was super-heat the cooling system and cause permanent cooling problems for the motor that replaced it. Nothing worked to keep it cool and it was a very mild 350 vortec in a T/A. Just do yourself a favor and save for the gasket, and dont drive it until you do!

A new gasket doesnt cost much more than that bottle of crap...


Hmmm let me think...

$17 for a new headgasket to do it right or $10 for a bottle of crap thats going to **mess up** the rest of my cooling system...


I think i would get the gasket!

NOTE FROM MOD: Please refrain from using this type of language. Thanks!

I would agree that this, at best, is a VERY tempoary solution, and if you really do have a blown head gasket it likely will not cure your problem. The problems it will cause mentioned by others here are very real, and likely to do more long term damage.

Maybe you don't have the experience or expertise to feel comfortable fixing your own car, and so money is an issue 'cause you need to pay someone else. If you have no other transportation, you might just want to bite the bullet and take it to a shop and put it on your card to have it fixed right. It likely will be cheaper in the long run. If you want to save a few $$$, buy the parts you will need yourself before you take it in.

There is no 'mechanic in a bottle'.... period. If your at a loss for cash, buy a head gasket kit and install it... If you use the stopleak (will work if the lengthy procedure is done correctly) you can kiss your heads goodbye, hell, kiss everything coolant touched goodbye. Most machine shops won't touch the heads due to the sealer.. Not to mention the thermal conductivity properties of the metal are greatly reduced... Meaning you are ten times more likely to have a repeated failure, especially in the block...

I've used the powdered alumaseal many times over the years, and it has worked amazingly well on a couple of occasions for me for radiator leaks.

I've never had it work on a headgasket, but it might, and for $2 I'd certainly try.

As to all of these folks with the "terminally plugged" engines/radiators/heater cores - I think if you press the issue, you'll find they never tried these products themselves and they are talking about a "friends" car.

Bottom line, if a car is sick enough to need sealer, the radiator/heater core/ headgasket may just be one symptom of a tired cooling system. It's quite likely that a bad water pump or a plugged radiator "took out" your headgasket, and even replacing the gasket will still leave you with a weak cooling system that still needs other parts - remember if the radiator is plugged, the heater core had the same stuff running through it, and it's probably on it's way out as well. I think this is where the myths start - a "friend" has a leaky wasted radiator, and dumps sealer in to try to fix it - later, he replaces the radiator, and then finds that the heater core is plugged - was it plugged before the sealer was put in? - Yes, but it's easier to blame the sealer than to admit a mistake.

When dealing with a cooling system issue on a car this old, I usually replace everything related to prevent future problems - a new radiator, heater core, thermostat, water pump, and fresh hoses, ( you'ld be surprised how little all of these parts cost when bought online) - and of course verify operation of the fans.

Sorry I guess I misunderstood, I thought you had a "Blown Headgasket", see I thought you had done a compression check and did a leakdown test, not had a water leak. There is no amount of bottle fix that is going to repair a blown head gasket, now if you have a water leak thats a differnt story. I would still do the right thing and install a new gasket before you cause real damage.

One more point I forgot to mention, at the time your car was built, ( up until very recently) GM was putting "sealing tabs" in the radiator of every new car they built (GM P/N 3634621) .

The hysteria about "ruining" your block is pretty uninformed, IMHO. There's a link:

CaddyInfo.com Coolant Sealant

that explains the GM sealer in depth - key points:

" Another reason for the coolant supplement is leakage at the water pump seal. The tiny fibers in the coolant supplement act to microscopically "scrub" the surface of the water pump seal to keep it clean and seated. Impurities on the seal surface can unseat the seal and cause seepage. Use of the supplement will help prevent this in any engine.

BTW.....the coolant supplement is just a sealer. It is the product of the company that markets under the BarsLeaks brand and is made up of ground up ginger root and walnut shells.... The supplement or sealer has nothing to do with controlling the pH of the coolant, corrosion inhibitors or anything like that. It will not "protect" gaskets from corrosion or failure. It is just a sealant. The tiny fibers of the sealant collect in a leak path and swell when exposed to air on the "leak" side thus plugging the leak. The fibers get chopped up over time by the water pump vanes and become less and less effective thus the supplement needs to be replaced/replenished with time. "

Thes are the dexcool tabs that are required to be put in certain GM models. We use them all the time. They have nothing to do with the block sealer that he was considering putting in to stop a bad head gasket leak and thoes tablet are meant to prvent minor seepage.

Beg to differ - those tabs have been out for decades, long before dexcool, and they are a sealer made by the same company that makes the "pour in headgasket" material he is considering using.

They weren't put in some cars, they were put in *ALL* cars - read the package... If GM was using a sealer made by this company for several decades in every new vehicle they made, then the argument about "ruining" his car is pretty darn weak.

I've personally ripped apart engines with thick jello lining the coolant passages, radiator, hoses, etc. I'm sure a few other people here have too.

its 20 bucks and it better to bo it twice than to clog up your rad and heatercor

well i poured in 2 sets of stop leak **** and i no longer have a leaky intake manifold so i'm very happy. Btw this was months ago and i drive mine daily and haven't had a problem yet.

I know this is a dated post. But I considered both the Bars product and the Blue Devil Head Gasket Sealant. I saw this post and went to my local Napa Auto Parts and the sales guy raved on the success his customers had with the Blue Devil product. So I purchased that one. This was two years ago and I am now having the same issue as before. I called the company that makes the product and they said they would warranty my bottle (if i could find the receipt) or send me a replacement bottle. I was just going to try it again since it saved me for two years but then I incrediously stumbled onto that faded receipt. I noticed on their website www.USAsealants.com that they have a new version of the Blue Devil called the Pour-n-Go. Has anyone used it? It is $30 cheaper. But I had good luck with the more expensive bottle & it did save me from spending a wad when I didn't have it. I just watched a video of a guy that used it on his car's blown head. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQiIimMtT5U. He said he only paid $300 bucks for it b/c it was heading for the junk yard and the Blue Devil Pour n Go saved it. But his car is newer... anybody used this new improved formula?