Blown head gasket??

Question

Has anyone tried that gasket repair chemical that you pour in your radiator to seal the leak. I'm pretty sure the 1990 ford aerostar I have has a blown head gasket, it will drive fine for about a week and then will start to overheat, when u check the radiator it is half empty. also have bad compression in the back 2 cylinders. If anyone has ever used that stuff id like to know if it works, or if you have any other ideas I could try.

Answer 1

Stopleak and other chemicals cause more damage than they cure.These products stop up radiator passages and wont seal a head gasket problem if there is compression entering the cooling system.

Answer 2

Alumaseal Head Gasket

Answer 3

You will be a lot further ahead if you just go ahead and fix it the right way from the start. I don't mean toinsult you idea, but I have never heard of any good coming from dumping junk into an engine. No matter what kind of junk it is. Keep only the fliuds that belong in the car in the car, and Do what you have to to keep those fliuds in their proper locations. I realize that head gaskets are a big job, I'm in the middle of a head gasket job on my 1992 F-150 right now, be done tomorrow, but I promise you that if you try to take the short cut you will regret it later. I hope this has been helpful to you my friend and I wish you the best of luck no matter what you decide to do.

Answer 4

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RE:
Blown head gasket??
Has anyone tried that gasket repair chemical that you pour in your radiator to seal the leak. I'm pretty sure the 1990 ford aerostar I have has a blown head gasket, it will drive fine for about a week and then will start to overheat, when u check the radiator it is half empty. also have bad...

Answer 5

You have a cracked head or a blown head gasket. Oil in the coolant comes from the passages ni the head seperating oil gallies from coolant gallies. If your rings where bad it would be sucking tons of oil into your cylinder and burning a lot of blue smoke and then fouling out your plugs quickly. So you will need to determine which head is faulty. Even if it just a head gasket blown, you have the head off and it is proactive to have the head pressure tested and look at valve facings while you have it off. Simply pulling plugs will not always work. Because the crack or the blown head gasket mainly cross over from gally to gally and do not leak into the cylinder. If it was leaking into a cylinder you would be getting white smoke which is indicative of coolant being burnt in the engine.

Answer 6

Seeing your Aerostar is 17 years old you have nothing to lose with stop leak. It works just fine, does not clog up thermostat or other parts. Lack of compression in 2 cylinders has nothing to do with head gasket. If the block were cracked your antifreeze/excess water would be pouring out the tailpipe.
If you take this to a mechanic you may as well buy a newer vehicle. By the time he is finished with you, it will be an easy $1500.00. (& while we got the motor out we may as well do the timing....)
You'll really wonder what cylinder got reamed then!!
I have a similar issue with 92 Caravan. A can of stop leak every 2-3 months & it will continue to function normally.

Answer 7

The best product for this is I believe is "AlumAseal". I have seen it recently at discount auto parts stores, but it said "Stop-Leak" on the package, but you can see through the package material (clear plastic) and it will say "AlumAseal" on the container that is beneath the clear plastic outer package if it's really "AlumAseal".

Alumaseal has a powdery type consistancy that is a mixture of sealant and aluminum. A head gasket leak will typically not seal as well using the popular radiator sealant "Bars Leak" (in my experience). AlumAseal's metal content is able to withstand the temperatures that are present at a head gasket leak that is leaking from the combustion chamber of the engine to cooling system. Add in the amount of air pressure that is trying to find it's way through weaken gasket area from the combustion chamber of the engine and it becomes evident why these leaks are hard to stop with sealant.

The most common symptoms of an internally leaking head gasket are white smoke from the tailpipe (steam from the burning of the "water" in the combustion chamber) and or gray colored engine oil. When engine oil becomes contaminated with water or antifreeze it will turn gray in color. If you have both steam and gray oil.... better hurry.

Remove the radiator cap (when cool). Look into the radiator to make sure the antifreeze level is low in the radiator. We need room to "ADD" the sealant and more antifreeze. Start the engine. With the engine running pour the AlumAseal into the radiator. It may clog in the neck of the radiator because it is a powder. Use a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water to "wash" the AlumAseal down into the radiator. Continue this until all the AlumAseal has been added to the radiator. Now fill the radiator to the top with your antifreeze/water mixture. Reinstall the radiator cap. Go drive the car for ONE HOUR!!! This is very important. The AlumAseal must be circulating in the engine's cooling system for it to work! Turning the heater on will help also. If your van has rear heat you may need two packages of AlumAseal.

Good luck.

Answer 8

I don't know about head gaskets, but I asked a mechanic once about a similar product for radiator leak. He said it basically clogs all of the hoses and heater core. I've never heard of an easy fix for a head gasket, sorry

Answer 9

Don't use it, there is no such thing as a "mechanic in a can". If your pour that in your system, you just bought yourself a bigger problem down the road, anything thick enough to clog a blown gasket, will be thick enough to plug up other things. Nothing can beat having the gasket replaced. I suggest you find a reputable mechanic and have it replaced.

Answer 10

It's called water glass, and is sodium silicate. It can be found in drug stores, but not all of them. The drawback is that it can't be used with anti-freeze. Use plain water and it works good enough. It will (temporarily) seal a cracked block, cracked head, and most blown head gaskets. Anti-freeze will reopen the leak after a few days.