Have you ever successfully used stop leak?

[Xist]

The last time that I checked Shouty had 7 videos promoting it and Eric the Car Guy has this video showing how it makes everything worse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76GpMD4LIwY

However, he shows copper-colored stuff on the head gasket. I don't know too much about head gasket sealers, but I do know that many people use copper adhesive on head gaskets, which is almost as bad as using head gasket sealers.

I looked into head gasket sealers the other day and it seemed like there were tons with high reviews on Amazon, but now I only see 5 with 3+ stars: Bar's Leak 1111, Blue Devil, Blue Devil Pour and Go, Steel Seal, and K&W Fiberlock.

Steel Seal has versions for 4, 6, and 8 cylinders, as well as a 12-pack. Blue Devil has a package with coolant sealant.

The rest seem to be adhesive and sealants (gasket maker).

There are 3,696 reviews and people paid $120 for a product for V8s with 3.9 stars and $90 for the 4-cylinder version with 3.4 stars. People paid $164,555.06 for these 5 products through Amazon and the best is only rated 4.1 stars.

You could buy a Mahle or Fel-Pro head gasket for $25 or an OEM one for $78, so it is $2-5 cheaper than the actual part to do it right, but you are talking 30-60 minutes versus what?

One to two days?

I mention this because this 1998 Frontier with a blown head gasket posted yesterday for $350.

Check out this beauty!



Ah yeah!

Now, they also say that it doesn't run, but that is what they want you to think!

No, they wouldn't lie about that.

So, it doesn't run. Does it start, but not run. Is this the classic "Ran when parked! I know what I got!" situation?

Well, hopefully not for $350.

I am not a mechanic genius man, but I would think that a blown head gasket would allow a engine to start unless they drove until it wouldn't go any further.

Two questions: Did they destroy the engine and\or does it start (or did it start when parked)?

Not starting could be a different issue.

It really seems like there are too many variables, but I have always wanted to try one of these products for myself--on a car that would be scrapped.

1. Try to talk down the owner to $250.
2. Try to get it running cheaply.
3. Spend $19.50 on Bar's Stop Leak (4.1 stars with 788 reviews), follow the directions, and document everything on video.
4. If it works, sell it as-is for a slight profit, if not have it junked and hopefully recover most of my money.

However, all of those variables make it sound too risky.

What do you guys think?

By the way, I once asked WatchJRGo about a Nissan Sedan that also had around 200,000 miles and he said with that mileage I should replace the engine.

I think it had a blown head gasket, too.

The ones that I find are around $1,000 and that seems like a terrible idea.

[nemo]

You need another project!

[Xist]

No, I really don't!

[JSH]

I would not use stop leak in anything.

A blown head gasket can mean a lot of things. The big thing to know is that both oil and coolant flow across that joint.

So it could be a mild as a little bit of oil leakage and low compression on one cylinder.

It could be: We didn't know coolant was leaking internally into the oil and we just kept topping off the coolant. We drove it until the engine oil was so diluted that every bearing service in the engine is destroyed and the engine seized.

It could be: We didn't know coolant was leaking internally into the engine and burning. We kept driving until the engine overheated and cracked the block.

So it could be as simple as changing the head gasket (which if I remember correctly you turned into a year-long project on your Civic) or it could be a replacement engine.

You won't know until you go look and do some investigating.

[freebeard]

It's been a while since that hood was opened. Check how much those Vern's caps are going for.

[Xist]

I fixed many other things while I replaced the head gasket.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

I fixed many other things while I replaced the head gasket.

How did I know you were going to respond to the gentle ribbing and ignore the meat of the post.

This truck is bad news - don't buy it. Ran when parked vehicles always have more wrong with them than the issue claimed to have parked them.


My father bought a $250 Ford Escape about a month ago. He is a retired mechanic and was looking for a project. It was parked because the key wouldn't turn in the ignition - the lock was stuck. He had a locksmith come out and change the lock and it cranked. Now he is about $600 and a few weekends of wrenching into the project fixing the other things. battery, seized brakes, rotted tires, new fluids, etc.

[Vwbeamer]

yes, on a 2001 BMW 525i touring. very small head leak into number 3 cylinder. coolant leaking into cylinder, car ran great, just kept losing coolant.

A mechanic told me to pull the plug out on the that cylinder and run it with the stop leak. The idea is reduce compression on that cylinder, so it doesn't blow the stop leak out. the pressure in the coolant system pushes the product into the leak.

I used a product that has poly beads in it, so the idea is they plug the leak, melt and creat a perminent fix. I can't recall the brand, I did a quick google searh and can't find it. It was agray bootle and cost about 40 bucks.

anyway it worked. I flushed the system after wards to remove the unwanted beads.

On a car that was easy to remove the head like that truck, I would remove the head. From reading, it was a big project to remove the head on BMW.

[me and my metro]

I have only used stop leak as an emergency measure. I had a plastic tank radiator develop a crack and stop leak got us back home from Kansas. It always costs more to repair the vehicle after stop leak is used, it accumulates and plugs oil coolers and heater cores.