Fixing a blown head gasket can be a huge job. It’s such a big job that often times it can be cost prohibitive either from a budget standpoint, or because the vehicle isn’t worth as much as the repair job costs. A blown head gasket is also the kind of problem that if you continue driving with it can end up causing more damage raising the repair bills.
The head gasket in your vehicle is the gasket in between the 2 largest pieces of your motor, the cylinder head, and the engine block. The engine block contains the crankshaft and pistons and the cylinder head contains the valve train. When these two pieces are bolted together, they form the combustion chamber above the piston. There are also oil and coolant passages that travel between the cylinder head and engine block through the head gasket.
The head gasket is responsible for sealing all of these cooling and oil passages as well as the combustion chamber make sure oil stays in the lubrication system, water stays in the cooling system, and combustion gases stay in the cylinder above the piston.
A blown head gasket is simply a head gasket that has started allowing one or more of these fluids or gases into a space they shouldn’t be. The combustion chamber is where the temperature gradients are the most extreme and the pressures are the highest so more often than not, this is where a leak will form.
You’ll notice you have a blown head gasket in your vehicle due to the consequences of coolant, oil, or combustion gases being in the wrong place. You may see bubbles in your radiator or coolant reservoir as combustion gases are leaking into your cooling system. You may also notice white smoke from your tailpipe as coolant leaks into your combustion chamber and is burned. Lastly, you may find white milky substance in your oil as coolant leaks into your oiling system.
If you notice any of these symptoms or otherwise suspect you have a blown head gasket, you can check for sure using a few different methods. First, some auto parts stores sell test kids that can chemically check for combustion gases in your engine coolant which would confirm you have a blown head gasket. You can also try checking the compression in the cylinders in your car. If you find one cylinder with very low compression it could indicate you have a head gasket leak into that cylinder, but it may also indicate you have bad piston rings in that cylinder. Lastly, if you have all the symptoms listed above at the same time, it’s a pretty safe bet you have a blown head gasket.
Replacing a blown head gasket is such a hard job because you have to separate the cylinder head from the engine block. This step in itself does not take very long, but to get there, it requires the removal of a lot of other components. You have to remove things like the intake and exhaust manifold, the alternator and power steering pump, any wiring going to or across the cylinder head, fuel lines and sometimes the time belt or chain. Also, if you don’t reinstall everything perfectly, you can quickly cause catastrophic damage to your engine.
The good news is there is a way to fix your blown head gasket without all the work and without even removing the old gasket! BlueDevil Pour-N-Go Head Gasket Sealer can seal the leak in your head gasket quickly and easily without removing your old head Gasket. BlueDevil Pour-N-Go Head Gasket Sealer is a chemical sealing agent that will form a chemical weld at the leak keeping your coolant and combustion chamber separate.
For more information about BlueDevil Pour-N-Go Head Gasket Sealer, visit our product information page by clicking on the banner below!
You can also purchase BlueDevil Pour-N-Go Head Gasket Sealer at any of our partnering local auto parts stores like:
- AutoZone
- Advance Auto Parts
- Bennett Auto Supply
- CarQuest Auto parts
- NAPA Auto Parts
- O’Reilly Auto Parts
- Pep Boys
- Fast Track
- Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts Specialists
- S&E Quick Lube Distributer
- DYK Automotive
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blown_head_gasket.jpg – By Stocksnapper – Licensed by Thinkstock Photos – Original Link
cylinder_head.jpg – By Evgeniy_Bibikov – Licensed by Thinkstock Photos – Original Link