Blown Head Gasket Snake Oil
 

Believe it or not, I tried one of those "Snake Oil" Head Gasket elixirs because I didn't have the talent or the money to repair my 1991 Non-Turbo Supra. It overheated and blew a head gasket. All the symptoms were there ... overheating, sputtering and rough running, including, water and steam blowing out the tail pipe.
Although there were lots to choose from, I narrowed it down to Thermagasket.

Sorry, to say folks.... but it Worked (for me)!

I even video taped what I did and I'll probably post it.

Mitchell

P.S. Here's the link to their product if allowed

<SNIP> LINK REMOVED

you'll be back

please keep us updated... if it blows again post here, if it works for more than 2 weeks post here!

Response on status of Thermagasket use for blown head gasket.
 

Response to Tom Fraser.

Tom, I did the procedure on April 1, 2008 (No Joke!) and followed the directions explicitly. Within an hour, the radiator was not over heating and the temperature gauge stayed rock solid a little less than 1/2 up the scale.

Prior to using it, my temperature gauge would spike and water and coolant would gush out of my radiator overflow tube.

It is now July 3, 2008 and everything is holding fine.

Mitchell

I'll have to find that video clip!

ok its working for now, but remember its not supposed to be a perm fix, only a temp. better be saving a little more money to get it fixed. id recommend getting another motor and having it rebuilt, and hope this doesnt blow again. keep us updated on it also. and another thing, how hard do you push the motor and what kind of condition is it in?

snake oil (head gasket)
 

Well you think it is going to hold but sorry to say but the stuff you put in will only hold for about a month or so and all that stuff really does is plug the hole and then it will eventually get forced out by the compression and you will be lucky if the stuff did not get into which ever piston it is by and it will sit on top of the piston and when it gets hot enough it will melt right through the piston and then you will be looking at a hell of a lot more expensive repairs, trust me on this one i used the same stuff on my 89 supra and that happened and when the stuff melted through my piston it sent shrapnel down into the oil pan and it took out 3 out of the 6 connecting rod bearings and the fine shrapnel from the bearings took out my oil pump, if i was you i would get that stuff out of there ASAP, take it in and replace the head gasket.

otherwise you are looking at about roughly $950 or better in engine repairs.

Response from Thermagasket on most recent post.
 

I'm not mechanic, but I passed the last response back to the Thermagasket person and here is his rebuttal: (I'm just the messeger, so don't get mad at me, please.)

The person that wrote this has absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

------------------

Well you think it is going to hold but sorry to say but the stuff you put in will only hold for about a month or so and all that stuff really does is plug the hole and then it will eventually get forced out by the compression.

There are products on the market that do plug the hole like Alumaseal.
Thermagasket uses the heat generated at the point of the breach to chemically bond the 2 surfaces.

it will sit on top of the piston and when it gets hot enough it will melt right through the piston.

What in the world does that mean, the Thermagasket will get so hot in can burn through a steel piston....? Give me a break,whatever amount of Thermagasket that makes its way into the combustion chamber will burn up.

We have repaired hundreds of thousands of vehicles with Thermagasket, if even part of what this guy is saying is true we would be out of business.
You as a happy customer are our best advertisement, not some guy that most likely has never used Thermagasket and claims he has. After your vehicle has been repaired for a year repost and prove him wrong. Its been over 3 months since you purchased Thermagasket, if compression was going to blow the so called "plugged hole" out it would have happened already.

Best Regards
Kirk Malley
RxAuto Thermagasket LLC

Kirk
 

Dude the only reason why you say i dont know what im talking about is because you want people to use your companys product, i have been a mechanic for 10+ years i think i know what i am talking about, i have seen many cases where that shit has damaged an engine.

I have seen similar stuff work on some engines, fixed the leak and cars drove for a long time after, but on the other hand other cars had the problem come back and one even got coolantpassages get blocked up.

The used car salespeople use this stuff, and i wouldnt do it on my own car if i was going to drive it for a long time. Getting stranded at the side of the road sucks badly, especialy if you are in a sportscar.

sir, if you believe this stuff will hold up better than a stock headgasket, then you will certainly have a shock one day. all this type of product is, is a cheap temp fix. IT WILL BLOW AGAIN, its only a matter of time. sure its holding now, but i bet within a year, yours will blow again. why would you think a damaged hg will hold like new? they call it snake oil for a reason :gtfo:

Thanks for all the comments.
 

I appreciate eveyone's comments and my apologizes to all the mechanics and Supra purests, but I'll come back and post every few months and let you know how the "temp" repair is holding.

It's an issue of economics. I mentioned that I was not a mechanic and the Toyota Dealership quoted me $3500 to repair the head gasket. The State of Texas would credit me $3500 for purchasing a new or used car that won't pass inspection, but I'd still have to come up with an additional $10,000 to be on the road again.
The Thermagasket only cost me $97 with a money back guarantee that if it didn't work, I'd get a full refund. .... How could I lose?
Right now, I'm driving, I'm not overheating, and with the money I didn't shell out, I had the A/C serviced, so I'm driving down the road in air conditioned comfort. If it holds, I'm good, but if it should start to fail, I'll either get it fixed right because I have time to shop, or I may just try the compound again, who knows? I'm still driving, and with all the money I saved , I can put it in my gas tank and have food on the table for a while.

Right now, I'm ahead $3500 - $10,000 by taking this option.

I'll return to post my head gasket status every few months. It it doesn't hold, then you can tell me "I told you so..."

P.S. Don't tell anyone but I'm investigating adding an HHO Electrolyzer to increase my mpg, but that's another discussion thread.

i feel sad for your supra. But good luck in your adventures.

Just so you kno most mechanics will do a head job for around 1200... I wouldnt trust the dealership or any mechanic with my car but since it doesnt bother you any :eek3:

Then if you take the time and care to learn how, and do it yourself your looking at even less with a bullet proof engine that you know will hold through anything becuase you know whats on the inside...

But i guess if you destroy your car mine goes up in value just a little bit :dance:

Sorry, read below!

I have a Toyota Echo 2000, bought 7 days ago as is and the guy that sold me it told me that was in good mechanical shape. Instead I have a blown head gasket. The guy used "Engine Restorer" to fix it but after a week it has problems again. I can find the hydrocarbon residual in the radiator. I am likely going to buy Thermagasket tomorrow and use it on Saturday.

I think the chemical in the bottle probably cost them less than $5 and selling it for $100 is a good business for them. But if it can fix my problem for a long time without damages in the engine it is definitely worth it. I don't think it is a scam but I understand that it may not working always.

What I want to be sure is that it will not clog anything in the system and the solution will be durable.

The guy I talked today told me that it will work.

Let's see what happens. I will keep you posted.

Best,
Camicia

I tried without the plug in that cylinder. The engine cannot stay on. I guess it's the only cylinder that has not water in it.

The clean plugs were most likely in the affected cylinders. The coolant will clean the plugs and cylinder walls of carbon. The check engine light is on, because the car detected two spark plugs not running. A compression test will pinpoint the affected cylinders.

A head gasket repair on this car should be easier than a Supra. This is a simple 4-cyl in-line. I did one on my Toyota Pick-up in one day. I'm about to do one on a 1993 Celica.

Update: Blown Head Gasket Snake Oil - 8 months later
 

Well, it's Dec. 5, 2008 and I wanted to give you on update as I promised. I initially used the the Thermagasket product on April 1, 2008. It is now Eight Months later and everything is still holding and I haven't had any problems since. No blockage. No overheating. No regrets. Temperatures are operating and holding normally as if there was never a problem.

(I recently discovered that the previous owner removed the console light behind the radiator warning light. I suppose he had overheating problems, couldn't or didn't want to fix it, so he simply disconnected the warning light to deceive the next buyer. .... sneaky dishonest previous owner).

.... but it's fixed and working now. I even replaced the bulb and socket in the dash console so I can see if my overflow reservoir level is being maintained.)

I read other replies to my original post where different manufacturer's products were used and didn't work. I'm amazed that there are two pages of posts and replies after my first posting. This must be a serious concern of Supra owners.

I'm just posting my results to relay my experience, but it's unbelievable how many people want to "kill the messenger" or accuse me of ulterior motives.

Hey, the product worked for me and I'll continue to post the status just to give my experience with this specific product. Can't wait to post after next summer when it really gets hot in Houston. By then, I would have at least 12 months of using the product.

Until then or until if fails...

Do you know anything about the chemistry of this product?
Sodium silicate is said to work well and is only a few dollars...however,... however "Steel Seal" claims to be polymers, which means plastics, in my mind...
Actually I have a Celica 1987 with a 3S-FE engine, Celica spun off Supra's in 1986, I think.
The 3S-FE engine's basic design must be respectable because engines up to at least a 2000 RAV4 used it's name, I think.

Reply to Chemistry question
 

I don't know the chemistry behind Thermagasket. It would be best to contact them directly.

There is a two part liquid component that is poured into the radiator. There are no solid components.

My first installation held 2-3 years and would have continued to hold except that I had a later heater core leak that caused another overheating problem and caused the gasket seal to blow out again. Unless you diagnose and fix the other mechanical issues such as bad radiator caps, leaking hoses, leaking heat cores, leaking water pumps, etc. you'll always get an overheating problem and blow the gasket seal again.

Fortunately, I had the half of the remaining components (since I only used half the amount for the first installation) and reapplied the compounds just like the original installation and just like the first time, IT WORKED!!!!

After having run the car 2-3 years after the first head gasket issue, I felt I was putting too much money into a dead horse and didn't want to fuss with replacing or repairing the heater core, so I scraped the car. If it was something other than the heater core and I hadn't started a new job and needed transportation immediately, I might have tinkered around and done something different, but that was the decision at the time.

Unkymurch

woot.. lets hear it for snake oil!

lol. glad it held brother.

Okay, so don't act like you do and assume there are not solids involved.... it emulsifies (see: hardens from chemical and/or thermal reaction), like epoxy.... hence... SOLID. ;)


So, the car finally did tank due to something coolant related and you decided not to investigate? Big surprise there.


Products like this can fix TINY leaks in certain types of seals but can also cause significant damages. Use what you wish but I don't want to see this actively recommended on this board.... you got lucky, most 7M HG's blow in a far more spectacular fashion and most owners are obviously far more demanding of their 7M.

Thread Closed.