Block Sealers

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steven kiser
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Block Sealers

Post by steven kiser »

Have a customer with a 06 Jeep Commando with a 3.7. Had a suspicion for a while he had a head or head gasket issue. There were air pockets forming around the t/stat and causing overheating. Happened maybe three times. I did block tests with no positive results but i had issues like this before with vehicle and i told him i felt major work was on the horizon. Today there is no doubt there is a head or head gasket issue. I use head blanks and swap and set up myself and make a good buck doing it. Gave a price and got the O.K. I just got a flier from car quest and it has a product called FIBERLOCK HEAD GASKET AND BLOCK REPAIR. Being old school i never have trusted miracle pour and cure's before but i've seen others work. Any input ?
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Rich
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Re: Block sealers

Post by Rich »

funny story about this kind of crap.

When i worked for carquest, the owner told me. "go dump this in the radiator and go do your sales". I NEVER read the can, did what i was told. Off to do the sales route. A mile or two down the road, temp gauge PEGGED, whip the ol' aerostar into Joes Tire and make a phone call to the boss. THEN I read the can. Seems you don't leave some of that stuff in the system. Have to do some of that warm up, dump in, let run for 5 minutes, empty system, blah, blah, blah. But it sure was a bytch getting out of the radiator. the heater core.....it never forgave us.

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brianp87
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Re: Block sealers

Post by brianp87 »

Ive never tried one. Seen pepper in one once not sure why but I seen it.
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Re: Block sealers

Post by Jeff @ Able Auto »

I have used Blue Devil with some sucess. As far as pepper I have seen it used in big rigs and had it work for radiator leaks and such. Worked for a fella in Oklahoma years ago driving tankers in the oil patch. We always kept a large can of pepper and a couple gallon water in the cab. Springs a leak 100 miles from no where, cool it down, add pepper and water and drive it home. :shock: I will add after we got back to the shop he would drain it down, flush with dawn dish soap and repair the leak. He had a fleet of Ford LTL 9000 with Cummins BC engines and all of em had been "peppered" at some point! 8)
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Pauls Automotive
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Re: Block sealers

Post by Pauls Automotive »

I used Blue Devil on an employees car once. He didn't want to fix the head gasket and wanted a temporary fix till he could but another car. He ended up driving it for quite some time before he qiute. Last time I saw him it was still going.

Never heard of using pepper. Learn something new each day....especially on here...... :D
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Re: Block sealers

Post by ricmorin »

You can probably guess how I feel about those miracle cure products. :P
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Re: Block sealers

Post by Pauls Automotive »

ricmorin wrote:You can probably guess how I feel about those miracle cure products. :P

Yeah I feel the same. I would never suggest it to a customer. I can only imagine the ramifications of that. :roll:
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Re: Block sealers

Post by brianp87 »

Id be scared to think that anything that plugged a leak would also plug the heater core and radiator those passages are not very big and alot of times the leak is larger then those passages. Id consider it if i needed to use it to get from the middle of nowere to home. But wtf do i know lol times change.
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by jbadenoch »

Ive seen raw egg whites seal leaks as well. Bottom line is i would never use a sealer unless it was an emergency in the middle of nowhere
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by marcdaniels »

I've seen some being promoted by my local Napa that even says fixes Northstar head gaskets. Hahaha. The head gaskets never failed on a Northstar till the heads lifted off then it was to late. What a bunch of crap!
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by brianp87 »

marcdaniels wrote:I've seen some being promoted by my local Napa that even says fixes Northstar head gaskets. Hahaha. The head gaskets never failed on a Northstar till the heads lifted off then it was to late. What a bunch of crap!
It must also fix the threads that are always f'd up lol
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by Tim Martin »

Basically, for us if a vehicle has a leak, be it internally or externally, I do not suggest a sealer of any kind. However if a customer asks if there is such a thing as a sealing agent, I will admit there is products that claim to be that, however I will not place a sealer into the cooling system. Do they work? it is said that they do. However, we sure do fix alot of leaking gaskets.

Regarding the brand mentioned by Steve, I have no knowledge of that line.
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by steven kiser »

I'm not turning into a snake oil believer but are becoming an intricate part of our business. There have been and are wizardry inventions that have come and gone. The air foil in the intake hose, magnet on the fuel supply etc. I use chemicals as tools such as injector cleaner, brake cleaner, top end cleaner, oil additive, etc. I swore by tuff oil and can't find it local anymore. I used this stuff and had unbelievable success with noisy lifters. I used it on an engine right before i tore into it. It was one of those jobs you look at and your heart sinks, you know it's going to really suck because it's never been touched, the customer is a tight a@@ and the hoses are going to crumble, basically a bomb. I had read about this stuff in a tech magazine and decided to give it a shot. Changed the oil and filter letting it really drain. Added spec oil and started engine. It was hammering away when i poured in the Tuff Oil and after a few minutes the noise started to come and go, lessen then increase, then it really started hammering and i thought i really messed up and before i got to the key to shut it off it started to lessen so i let it run. Within 10 minutes the noise was gone and in the next 5 years of driving it never came back. I insisted in on adding a Tuff Oil every third oil change. I use lucas now but Tuff Oil will be like my first girlfriend.

I've seen all sorts of crap and i recall a transmission additive that i balked at and someone one the forum at that time ran a transmission shop , called me and he told me it really did work. It cleaned the bands without glazing and trashing the transmission. I'm tinkering with sea foam right now and have seen positive results especially in cleaning E.G.R. systems in Ford Dsls. Right now when i have a flat converter if i rev up the engine and spray the cat cleaners for trucks through it (i use the b&g tool) i see huge results along with smoke filled bays. I've read up on a lot of these coolant leak chemicals and i just don't know. Many many years ago when i smoked and a pack was short change i would drop a few non filtered butts in a truck radiator and it would work. Pepper would as well as dust from drum brakes. You know the asbestos dust. All us old timers dealt with that crap for a few years.

Well i think i'm going to give this stuff a try. The customer told me i could do what i want because he completely trusts me and will keep it if i do the heads and trade it in if i have sucess with the sealer. Now on another issue here. On any vehicle under 75k that has a cracked head i usually buy a blank and swap the cams and valves over. Ya i know the shim issue and i don't have the tool to test spring pressure but i can buy the blank from the dealer for 300 bucks and the cheapest i can find a reman head from a reputable shop is 600. The markup sucks so i use the blanks to keep the job profitable. Haven't had an issue and have done a few, but now i'm on a roll and better stop and get my butt back to work.
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by AZAUTO702 »

I bought a Nissan xterra from a customer who had a headgasket leaking and didn't want to fix it. I poored Blue devil in for giggles because I was too lazy to do headgasket at the time on my own car. It sealed it up and have been driving it a year now with no problems.....crazy I know but for 500 dollars for a 2001 xterra I feel guilty now.
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Re: Block Sealers

Post by steven kiser »

Like Ric I have always looked at "snake oils" with distain. I've watched it move from chemicals to bolt on parts. Remember the insert that claimed by installing it in your air intake tube it would create a swirling motion in the air flow increasing your mileage? The magnets on the fuel line? I've used tobacco to plug radiator leaks along with pepper and all the parts store items. What I did do from the beginning was to by pass the heater core before I used it so it wouldn't plug the heater core, a lesson an old timer taught me while I was pumping gas to pay for my first vehicle that I purchased right before the junk guy showed up to haul it away.
I've used snake oil products on customers vehicles with the understanding that it's nothing more than a last ditch effort to buy some time. It may or may not last, it may or may not cause other issues to surface, and it may give you a false sense of an actual repair only to leave you stranded in the middle of the night during a raging blizzard. It's strictly borrowed time and a roll of the dice. I'll add that there have been stories where this stuff has worked as advertised and I've seen it myself but the times it's failed far outnumbers the times it hasn't. I've seen a small leak sealed turn into a major overheat on the highway while a vacation trip was in progress. Well enough about all this.
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