What's the deal with these friggin head gaskets?! I put a remanned 3VZE in my 91 and I've only put about 35k on it and I think it's already got a blown head gasket. Coolant mysteriously disappears from the radiator and #5 is for the most part dead weight floppin around in the cyl. WTF?! Im gonna try some of that sealant that (supposedly) seals up your potentially failed head gasket. Any recommendations otherwise? I hate this motor but do not have the $ for a swap or even a head gasket set for that matter. Any suggestions at all?

 

don't put any head gasket 'sealant' or anything like that into your engine. do a compression test on all 6 cylinders and a leak down test on your cooling system before doing anything hasty.

 

Well not to sound too much like a shade tree mechanic but my dad used it in a car that had a failing HG and it worked and it's been three years and that car is still runnin strong. I hate to say but I need a quick fix, and usually I'm not a "jerry rig" kinda guy but funds are stupidly limited right now. Is a cooling system leak down tester the same thing as the pressure tester? I've used a cylinder leak down tester but never a cooling system one.

 

From what I've read in the past, those "head gaskets in a can" cause 10x more damge to our engines, then good......

 

well it seems that, with the small leak that I have why wouldn't a minor leak repairing solution work? If I had coolant shooting out of the exhaust, ya I would def replace the gasket. But I dont even see any steam from the coolant being burned. For example would you put stitches on a papercut or just grab a band-aid?

 

Fix it like you want and stop asking for advice since you don't want to listen.

 

I want to listen I just feel like a fussy little kid that doesn't want to clean his room. I guess I was hoping for someone to say "ya I've used this stuff called, (whatever) and it worked great and it's only like $15" I'm jobless, broke and now the last thing I have after selling everything is now giving out on me. I swear, sometimes I feel like a walking country song

 

I have use stuff called blue devil. It's like $50 a bottle, and will seal any coolant leaks, be it hg or whatever. The car I used it in, was a pontiac grand am, with the infamous quad4. I got about another 30-40k out of it before it finally let go for good. The only problem with these things, is that...as said above...in the end, it does more damage than anything, it clogged all the little coolant passages thru out the motor, rendering it un repairable. Another common problem with this stuff.. it litterally glues the head to the block.... good luck getting it off again.

 

I used some of the liquid glass sealant from Napa years ago on a ford 302 engine & it worked & held for years. Never hurt the cooling system. It just depends how big the leak is & what you try to seal it with. Google head gasket fix or something like that & see what has the best review. I understand how sometimes you have to just get by due to funds being low. Good luck & let us know if it works for you.

 

I have used some of that stuff...dont remember the name tho, it was in a can with one of those pull off lids. I remember it was one of the more expensive sealer things.
Anyway I followed the instructions, mixed it with boiling water first, added it , and flushed it like 10 times over a few days till the water was coming out clear.
Turns out my hg was beyond sealing and I had to have it replaced anyway. But I never had any problems with the heater core sealing up, or removing the head, or anything. I can see some of the red crap around my rad hoses, and wonder what the inside looks like, but yeah it's still running fine.
It's been like 2 years since I did it. And it was a 22re as well.