Is there too much heat under your car’s hood coupled up with whitish smoke from the exhaust?
Chances are, you have a blown head gasket. Just like a flat tire, a blown head gasket is a risky situation that can damage your car. To be precise, it can lead to erosion and cracking of various parts of your car’s engine.
Fortunately, you don’t have to replace the blown head gasket immediately. You could just repair it for now. In this post, I will be showing you exactly how to fix your car’s blown head gasket without replacing it.
What's a Head Gasket?
Before we delve into today’s main topic, some of you might be wondering what the head gasket is and its importance.
The head gasket happens to be one of the most critical parts of your vehicle’s engine. It’s a mechanical seal that fits between the engine’s cylinder head and the cylinder block or the cylinders.
The purpose of this gasket is to make sure that the compression process takes place in the combustion chamber only. It also prevents different fluids, like engine oil and coolants from mixing.
Checking for a Blown Head Gasket
The following are various indicators of a blown head gasket:
Excess Engine Heat
High heat levels in your car’s engine can cause damage to the gasket. Once this occurs, the heat levels only continue rising. In case your vehicle is overheating incessantly, that could mean you have a blown gasket.
Low Coolant Levels
When the head gasket blows, the coolant might leak from the cooling system.
Frothy or milky oil
What’s your oil’s color? Is it whitish? Does the dipstick reveal a frothy substance? If so, the oil has likely mixed up with the coolant due to a damaged head gasket.
Light Smoke From The Exhaust
Is there whitish smoke coming from the exhaust pipe? That could be as a result of the coolant leaking into the combustion chamber.
The problem with replacing that blown head gasket is that it’s such a huge, tiring task. It requires separating the cylinder head from the cylinders and it can take 6 hours or more just to reach the gasket. There are too many components to remove, such as the airbox, the compressor, the alternator, and so on.
Even worse, the reinstallation process is tricky and if you get things wrong, the resulting engine damage can be catastrophic.
With that aside, it’s time to repair that head gasket.
How to Fix a Blown Head Gasket: Easy & Cheap Method
The best strategy is to use a head gasket leak sealer such as Steel Seal, k&w or BlueDevil Pour-N-Go. With this solution, you don’t have to disassemble anything. Fortunately, these products are readily available on the internet.
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The best strategy is to use a head gasket leak sealer such as Steel Seal, k&w or BlueDevil Pour-N-Go. With this solution, you don’t have to disassemble anything. Fortunately, these products are readily available on the internet.
Now that there’s no dismantling the engine, you don’t need to hire any professionals, and thus you’re able to minimize the head gasket repair cost. All you have to do is add the sealant to your coolant system, an easy and straightforward process.
First, ensure that your engine is cold, then add the sealer to the coolant system. The sealer will work by fixing the gasket metal’s molecular structure, subsequently enabling it to work properly again. The chemicals in the sealer form a weld at the leaks and cracks, and thus keep your combustion chamber and coolant separate.
The best thing is, most of the top head gasket sealers, including Steel Seal, work with both aluminum and steel gaskets. Moreover, they’re applicable to both diesel and petrol vehicles.
Once you have added the sealer to the coolant system, the next step is to run your car’s engine to a temperature of about 210 °F, and then let it cool down. Repeat the process a few times during the day.
Sometimes later, you might want a lasting solution for your old head gasket. In that case, the following steps will help you replace it with a new one:
Final Word
Fixing a blown head gasket is not very easy, particularly if you are not knowledgeable in matters to do with a vehicle’s internal workings. Repairing your head gasket incorrectly can lead to greater damage on your car, and that’s why I recommend that you seek professional help if you don’t feel confident repairing it yourself.
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Last update on 2021-01-20 at 20:25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
