Any body heard about BlueDevil?

[nissanh]

Seems like I have to use this in my car. Replaced the head gasket 10K miles ago and ran great until I notice the reserve tank is getting full and won't return back to the radiator. Replaced two radiator caps and no luck. Finally after reading a thread in a Honda forum, I check the reserve tank for bubbles...... and yes.... I saw bubbles coming out when the engine is running.

Don't want to get another head gasket, instead I'll replace the entire engine. But before that, I would love to hear about this product.

Amazon reviews are amazing.

BlueDevil at Amazon:
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: BlueDevil Pour-N-Go Head Gasket Sealer

 

[Slow_T4R]

My neighbor across the street is a old school mechanic and didn't beleive in those types of fixes. But, just the other day he told me he had a customer tht wanted to try that stuff out on his civic before he replaced the head gasket. Long story short, the stuff seems to actually work, my neighbor is even impressed.

If your head gaskets gone and if you're going to replace the engine anyway might as well give it a shot.

 

[98OzarksRunner]

I built a 4.6L mod motor and had a slight head gasket leak - oil into the antifreeze so I put a bottle of that in. A few months later I put a supercharger on it and pulled out the radiator and cleaned it all out before putting it back together. That stuff was everywhere and created all these little balls of slimely plasticky stuff, some of which were no doubt clogging radiator passages. The biggest one was about the size of a golf ball at the bottom of the radiator and had the consistency of jello. I wouldn't use that stuff again. It's the kind of 'fix' you do just before you unload the car on some unsuspecting buyer. (BTW, my fix was re-torquing the head bolts, but that won't fix your problem.)

You should read thess reviews on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member..._pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member..._pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

You can verify your head gasket problem by going to O'Reilly's (or whatever your local parts store is) and borrowing a cooling system pressure tester. Put it on the radiator cap, pump it up, and see if it leaks down over few minutes. If it does you have a problem somewere; if it doesn't, you probably don't have a bad head gasket (though it could be a very small leak that only shows up under lots of pressure - a compression test may tell that).

 

[nissanh]

Why do you think re-torquing won't solve my problem. I replaced the head gasket 10 K miles ago. It leaks slightly as can be seen by the bubbles coming from the reserve tank. I took the radiator cap off and put my palm to cover it and observe the bubbles in the tank.

Since the head gasket is relatively new and the leak (slow) just appeared, I though of re-torquing the head bolts. I used a harbor freight torque wrench 44 ft-lb. Any comments about this torque wrench?
What is the torque for 5vzfe? My car is 4afe corolla 4cylinder
Thanks

 

[JayRolla]

I consider myself also a long time mechanic and that kind of stuff sometimes works but usually fails after a little and can make thing worse. It can clog the small water passages in the head, hoses, radiator. All it does is clog up and build up where the leak is, not really good when it can clog other things too. With cars that have watercooled turbos its a huge problem as it can clog the water lines and blow the turbo from not being properly cooled after engine shut down. But if your replacing it, who really cares.

 

[nissanh]

I consider myself also a long time mechanic and that kind of stuff sometimes works but usually fails after a little and can make thing worse. It can clog the small water passages in the head, hoses, radiator. All it does is clog up and build up where the leak is, not really good when it can clog other things too. With cars that have watercooled turbos its a huge problem as it can clog the water lines and blow the turbo from not being properly cooled after engine shut down. But if your replacing it, who really cares.

What if I re-torque the head bolts? I am going to do that when I go home.

How good/reliable the harbor freight torque wrench is? I used this to torque the head bolts to 44 Ft-lb.

 

[98OzarksRunner]

You can try re-torquing the heads. It can't hurt. In my case, I had sprayed the MLS gaskets with copper sealer and I think that after the car ran at temp a while the copper sealer probably settled some allowing a small leak in the oil passage. I tightened the heads down after it had been running (still hot, but touchable) so the copper sealer was soft.

I loosened each bolt (actually, nut on an ARP stud in my case) ONE AT A TIME and re-tightened them in the order specified in the manual. I backed them off so they were a little loose and re-torqued them. Again one at at time is critical - if you loosen them all at once, you'll have lots of problems.

 

[nissanh]

You can try re-torquing the heads. It can't hurt. In my case, I had sprayed the MLS gaskets with copper sealer and I think that after the car ran at temp a while the copper sealer probably settled some allowing a small leak in the oil passage. I tightened the heads down after it had been running (still hot, but touchable) so the copper sealer was soft.

I loosened each bolt (actually, nut on an ARP stud in my case) ONE AT A TIME and re-tightened them in the order specified in the manual. I backed them off so they were a little loose and re-torqued them. Again one at at time is critical - if you loosen them all at once, you'll have lots of problems.

Thanks for the input. What if I torque the bolt without loosing it at all?
The engine has 230 K miles but it runs super great. Burns very little oil.

Also what are the things one should look for before pulling an engine from a car in a junk yard? (30 days warranty comes with it)

 

[02SE]

Those head gasket "sealers", are all pretty much garbage. You might get them to hold for a brief amount of time.

Junkyard engines are a complete unknown. It could be that someone put some of that head gasket "sealer" in a junkyard engine, it predictably failed, and that's why it's now in the junkyard.

Any junkyard engine should be bought with the idea of disassembling the engine completely, and checking that all specs are within tolerance upon reassembly.

The key to fixing a blown head gasket, is to do it correctly. Most so-called shadetree mechanics don't replace them properly, and they fail again in short order.

It's not rocket science; The block deck needs to be within tolerance for flatness. The head(s) also need to be within tolerance for flatness. The RA of the block and head needs to be appropriate for the head gasket(s) used. New head bolts (especially if they are a TTY specification) should be used. The proper tightening sequence with a quality torque wrench needs to be followed.

Even the best torque wrenches (Snap On, Matco, Mac, etc.) should be checked periodically to ensure their accuracy. Harbor Freight torque wrenches start out mediocre at best. Their accuracy degrades quickly from there.

As for retorqing the head now, sure, give it a shot. The real issue is that it wouldn't require retorqing, if everything was done correctly in the first place.

At one time, head gaskets were supposed to be retorqued after a short period of running. Modern head gaskets are designed to not need this extra step, and they don't, if proper assembly methods are followed.

 

[nissanh]

Just came after re-torquing the head bolts. Two of the head bolts were not in the 44 ft-lb. I was able to turn these two bolts about 1/2 turn until the "click"

Looks like it worked.

Thanks for the advice guys.

T4R rocks!!!

 

[Robb235]

I used something similar to a GM car. However instead of fixing a head gasket, I was after a leaky intake manifold, which the GM 3100 V6 is notorious for. It worked great for several years while I was in college. Worked after I sold the car too. Just make sure you take the thermostat out of the car. I forgot to do that and the stuff I used wrecked havoc on it.