My 89 ex cab just blew a head gasket. I was just about to tear it down when a friend gave me a bottle of Thermagasket. It is a 2 part epoxy type liquid you add to the coolant after you flush all of the antifreeze and flush all of the contaminated oil out of the engine. First has anybody used this stuff and what kind of success did you have? Second, my engine never overheated and it ran great until I shut it off..is this normal for a head gasket to blow w/o overheating having caused it?

 

i would not use that stuff and just replace your head gasket and maybe the timing chain too order your stuff from www.engnbldr.com

 

That was my plan..this friend says this stuff will seal up the gasket...to good to be true? I figured if anybody had tried it , it would be somebody here.

 

i think it would do more harm than good

 

Not so sure about putting anything "epoxy like" in my cooling system.. Think it just goes to the spots that are leaking?

HG leaks aren't just water into the oil.. they can be oil into the water, oil into the cylinder, cylinder gasses into the water, blah blah.. You could JB weld the darn thing, but I don't think it'd stand up to cylinder pressure for very long.

Fix it right.. Check the head out, make sure the deck is flat. Install ARPs for some security.

 

Thanks...miracle cures would be nice...appreciate your thoughts..time to get the wrench out.

 

Read this before you start:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/22re-head-replacement-lessons-learned-101694/

I wish that thread would have been started before I started my hg replacement. It would have helped out alot.

Rob

 

usually stuff like that will significantly slow the head gasket leak, but it'll also gunk up the coolant passages, and that stuff will just end up causing more work down the road.

atleast its a 4 cyl. much easier to replace the gasket than a 6.

 

Thanks rdlsz24...great info...

 

And get your stuff from Engnbldr. It is the best deal for gaskets and stuff. Don't use that sealant crap, that's for redneck rebuilds.

BTW, you might want to pull your timing cover first... I have dealt with two 22re's with "blown headgaskets" what actually had slack timing chains that cut into a water passage. If that is the case, then it will be alot easier than doing the HG.

A question for DCG, what are ARPs?

 

ARPs are head studs. Check out http://www.arp-bolts.com/.

Rob

 

That depends on how big the leak is. I had liquid head gasket in mine for 7 years with out a problem.

 

I had a blown head gasket and I used the newer barr's product that is compatable with antifreeze. Worked great. Sure, the correct thing to have done was to replace my head gasket, but I don't intend to spend that much cash on my 4runner when I would rather just have a new car.

Anyway... that was about 2 months ago and the head gasket leak has not returned and no subesequent issues either.

 

uhh... uh.. huh huh.. how is something you put into the cooling system, which at maximum pressure is somewhere around 12 PSI going to positively seal a leak which on the other side of the leak (read: the piston) exerts upwards of 100 PSI?

 

replace it. you run a high risk of clogging up your heater core with that. never trust the "magic bullet" fixs

 

get the one from engnbldr it is quality stuff just put one in my truck.

also most blown head gaskets I have seen there is a missing part of the gasket mine was missing about a half inch in between the the 3rd and 4th cylinders have also seen it blown out on the side going under the exhaust or into the side of the cylinder and all where missing gasket.
you could spend 20$ on that sealer or throw it towards a good gasket from engnbldr.

 

i used the organic tabs that gm offered when my 86 22 re was going south. i couldnt afford to do the job at the time, it held long enough for me to find my 93. in retrospect, i should have kept the 86 and did the necessary work to the engine and body. probably would have been less expensive than the 93 in the long run!

20/20 hind sight. read between the lines.

lee

 

Before I say anything, let me say I was as sceptical as you are (perhaps with less attitude though).

That said, the cylinder isn't always at a positive pressure. There is a state of negative pressure when the fuel is entering the chamber and it was the same negative pressure that was sucking coolant from my cooling system, fouling the spark in that cylinder, and causing me to lose coolant over time.

In the end, all I can say is "it worked": the leak has been plugged, there is no misfire, there is no coolant loss, etc. I am not claiming it is a permanent fix; I am not claiming it won't foul my heater core; I am not claiming it isn't doing ancillary damage to other systems. But it fixed my immediate problem long enough for me to assess whether or not I want to do a full head gasket replacement (not) or get another vehicle.

 

Is it just me or is the new year bringing more zombie threads then ever before...?

 

I had a small leak in one of my head gaskets. I would agree with most of the folks here that fixing it would be the best call. However, I live in a place where the weather is pretty nasty and I have no garage to work in, so I tried Thermagasket a couple months ago.
I'm pretty sure the leak is pretty small; the only real symptoms were a slight loss of coolant and steam from the exhaust. With the cold weather here now, smoke/steam from the exhaust pipe is not a reliable diagnostic observation. No oil in the water or water in the oil.
So far, it is working. As long as it gets me through the winter, I plan to R&R the head gaskets and timing belt. As a precaution, when I was running the crap through the engine, I kept the heaters turned off. As far as I can tell, the Thermagasket has done no damage to my radiator or cooling system. The Thermagasket is a little different than stuff like Bars Leaks that use the silver crap. I know for sure that stuff clogs your radiator and heater.
Bottom line; if the Thermagasket keeps working for another few thousand miles, it will have been worth the $120 to me. And no, I do not work for them.