Rocketwrencher

I am pretty sure you can rent the block tester (sniffer) at your local auto parts store if they rent tools. Mine does.

92 TOY

is that the only test?

RMA

I Have used a similar product but alot cheaper. Got it at Kragen auto parts, Bars head gasket repair.
1991 tercel , has over a year and still good ,passed smog.
1993 4runner ,3vze has around 6 months and still going fine.
1990 22re truck around 8 months and still good ,passed smog.
1994 z28 did not work!!.

This is with the cheap Bars from Kragen around $10.

We bypassed the heater core by connecting the hoses together. Followed directions on the bottle and all was good.

Jay351

You can remove the rad cap, if you have a good headgasket leak, the exhaust gases will push a bunch of fluid out of the rad..

You can pull plugs, see which cylinder is getting coolant

I don't trust those "headgasket fixes in a bottle". They have to plug up all sorts of passages in the motor and cooling system. Im sure once it blows out and you have to fix it for real it will be real fun to clean out the remains of that junk..

My 0.02$

Flash319

You could have pulled the head, had it surface and a new head gasket put in, in the time it takes to flush that crap out of the engine.

Oh ya my shlong is 10 inches now thanks to those blue pills.............

yodercrawler55

well i tried thermagasket and well the good news is that it worked the bad news is I forgot to bypass my heater core. So now I have practically no heat but now my rig runs great so who cares lol

TNRabbit

Be sure you check your radiator; I used the new Bar's HG fix today and it clogged the bejeezus out of my radiator....

yodercrawler55

will do hope it didn't, its a brand new radiator

Rocketwrencher

Thermagasket instructions do not say to bypass the heater core. I have since flushed the radiator after the treatment, (supposed to be done after two weeks but I drive 600 miles a week, so I flushed it after 400. I did call them regarding this and they said to go ahead and flush after 400 miles). I now have 600 miles on the truck and everything is checking out fine. Heater works and temp is in normal range. No white smoke out of the tail pipe and the motor is running strong. I sure hope it holds. I have a 1200 mile trip this weekend. Will update this post after that. I should have about 2000 miles on the truck after repair by then. I think I am going to do the block test again this week just to satisfy my curiosity.

yodercrawler55

when you flushed your system out, did you just run water through the system or did you go buy the actual radiator flushing liquid and run that through?

Rocketwrencher

Just water as the instructions say. I also had the heater turned on full blast.

92 TOY

like i posted too, mine is holding fine and radiator and heater working fine

Rocketwrencher

At 900 miles now and and everything is checking out great. I leave for my 1200 mile round trip to Flagstaff tomorrow. It is supposed to get to 107 in the desert so I will be taking plenty of tools, water, coolant and thermastat just in case because my wife informed me the a/c will be cranked. I will update again when I get back Sunday evening. Wish me luck!

92 TOY

good luck. if that's not a stress test to see that this stuff holds, I don't know what is.

Rocketwrencher

We made it home. Not only that, The truck ran perfectly. We drove straight through with no stops on the way there. Oil pressure never budged and neither did the temp. We ran the a/c the entire way there. The ambient temp in the desert at the Colorado River hit 109. I would say the average temp in the desert was 105. Not bad for setting the cruise control at 80. Once we got there, we were supposed to stay the night but my son was anxious to get away from school so we left after packing him up two hours later. Needless to say, we did not get home until 3:15 Sunday morning. Nt a peep from the truck the entire way home either.I now have 2000 miles on the truck since the thermagasket treatment and everything seems to be operating within the normal ranges. For the $350 that I spent, which included the tune up, it was well worht the money spent. I am just hoping it holds out. Fixing two head gasket leaks in nine months is not my idea of fun.

BlownHeadGasket

I just got burned by a "Thermagasket" type product. Bought a 94 4Runner for a pretty good price, drove it for 2 weeks and the HG blew. Took it to my mechanic and when he tore it down the heads were cracked and the product had plugged up so many places there was rust where no coolant or water had been for quite some time. Now I need a motor.

ShawnH

Im about to fork over the $$$ for the thermagasket treatment for oil in the water. I have a BUNCH of the brown sludge throughout the cooling system. Sooooo we'll see how it goes...sounds alot better then spending thousands on a head gasket replacement! I spoke to one of the owners at RxAuto, the makers of Thermagasket, and he said that they used to be down the street from one of the Toyota dealers, and stated that they have fixed "hundreds" of the 4-runners successfully with their product. So with that, and what Ive read here, I'm very hopeful, and I will let you all know how it goes!

csc89

Just bought my '89 4runner for a 1,000! Ran 300 miles, poof. Was planning on a 3.4 swap this spring, but might have to try Thermagasket first, see if I can get by without spending $3,700.

displacedAlaskan

I would never use a headgasket stop leak product again. I had an external head gasket leak on a 2.5 Subaru engine, and someone suggested I try headgasket stop leak. So, I bought some and I followed the instructions exactly and yes, it did stop the headgasket problem for a couple weeks but I still ended up having to replace the engine and then it started overheating on the new engine because the headgasket stop leak actually clogged my radiator, so I had to go buy a new radiator. Trying to short cut and use stop leak products actually cost me more money in the long run. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my heater core is partially clogged too. My heat output is pathetic.

barthmonster

I have a '91 4Runner 3.0 that has had a head-gasket leak (slight) since I've owned it. The leak is minor in that there has never been ANY coolant lost or coolant in the oil. What this vehicle does is put's small bubbles from the cylinders into the cooling system which then collect at the thermostat, causing it to overheat in about 20 to 30 minutes. So for 2+ years we've driven it with no thermostat, and she runs fine but cold and getting bad gas-mileage.

Thermogasket is in there right now, did the 15 minutes and the additional 5 after topping off.

I'll be calling Adam at the company tomorrow because before I bought it he never told me it had to stay in two weeks !! In South Dakota it FREEZES at night, imagine that !! So one way other I'm going to have to remove the stuff tomorrow or they will owe me a new block ! The leak is either fixed or not anyway right ?? I'll keep y'all posted !!