BlueDevil Products 00209 Pour-N-Go Head Gasket Sealer - 16 Ounce

Okay, I want to be clear that I did not use the Pour-N-Go product, even though that is what I ordered on Amazon. After reviewing the instructions, I realized this was not the right thing for my car. I spent the last 4 years of my life restoring a 1965 Ford Galaxie XL convertible with 390 engine. This was a frame-off restoration that I did entirely myself, only farming out a few essentials like plating and machine work. I assembled the engine myself and triple checked my work. I wrongly assumed that the block and heads were decked sufficiently to use any head gaskets I wanted. I was wrong. After having the engine fully detailed and back in the car, my first test run was a bit of a disaster. Steam was coming out of the crankcase and I quickly realized I was getting coolant in my oil and vice-versa. No bueno. I pulled the engine and removed the heads. I swapped the thin steel-shim gaskets for thicker Fel-Pro versions that actually advertise their ability to seal imperfect surfaces. All seemed well after cleaning the water and oil passages and re-assembling. I finished the car and have put a few hundred test miles on it over the past few months. It runs great now and pulls well. Now that summer is fully on, I have been chasing some unexplained overheating issues that made me really study the cooling system and try to track down my issue. I've had a couple boil overs in this car that just didn't seem right, and strange bubbles in my coolant made me think to check with a combustion leak test kit. I saw the results I feared that I was getting compression/exhaust gases in my coolant and my cooling system was being over-pressurized and overheated by this issue. My heart sank at the thought of fully disassembling this engine....again. It would be a very involved process getting it back from the machine shop and compensating for the changed geometry that decking the block would create. I went to an online forum for the Ford FE engine series for advice and someone suggested trying Bars leak before resigning to a tear down. I figured I had nothing to lose, and I already had pretty big respect for Blue Devil products after using their Transmission Seal products with amazing results in the past. Reading reviews on Amazon further encouraged me, but I had little expectation of success. Firstly, I am rarely lucky, and secondly, It seems like products like this are meant more for keeping coolant out rather than compression. The pressures of a cooling system are nothing like what's inside the cylinder's combustion chambers.So, with this on order, I realized that what I actually needed for my engine was the larger quart bottle of head gasket sealer. I actually picked some up from a local Auto Zone even though it was more expensive. I wanted to get it sooner to take advantage of a day off work. I had already flushed my cooling system and used some Thermocure to descale and remove rust trying to remedy the overheating. This was before I discovered the real issue, but it made for a shortcut for being ready for the Blue Devil product. I used the radiator flush as described as well just to be by-the-book. I removed the thermostat and placed a new gasket on the water neck. I used the whole quart bottle on a cool, not cold, engine. I let it run for 50 min. as directed. I let it cool enough to handle things, replaced the thermostat and gasket then topped off the radiator with anti-freeze (the instructions pointed out that you don't need to do a flush after using the product, implying that the remainder being in there may continue to work to help seal things). After getting things back together, I used the block tester kit again and NO color change. I went and drove the car fairly hard to create some compression pressure, I came back and repeated the test--still passed. Really seems crazy and a little too good to be true, but definitely an impressive outcome. I really hope this is a permanent fix, but I will certainly be suspicious of a future failure. I'll plan to do some retesting periodically to make sure this isn't recurring.Anyway, definitely give these products a try. Completely worth a shot!

Really did the job. Actually did fix a bad head gasket . It took at least 2 days of driving to show the result but I have been driving my van for 3 months without any issues . It's as good as new. This product saved me thousands . I used another product on the same engine and that worked for 2 months and then lost its effect. This fixed what others could not. I'm happy

The media could not be loaded. 2005 Honda Element LX AutomaticUPDATE: Prestone flush chemical did NOT react to Blue Devil crystals. It must've been bubbling from the heat gasket leak. I had to remove the radiator and flush it thoroughly to remove even more large crystal chunks. I hate that I used this product and hope that it doesn't end up clogging up my system in the future. In total, I did 1 garden hose flush of the entire system, 3 prestone flushes, a radiator garden hose flush (radiator out), and 4 distilled water flushes. AVOID THIS PRODUCT!Deceptively labeled as a "pour and go" product. If your cooling system has gotten any combustion gases in it or is "dirty" you will need to flush it, otherwise you'll just get a clogged system. I contacted Blue Devil support, where they were less than helpful. They merely put the blame on me, saying they had no idea why it would crystallize like that, or it might've already been like that. Yeah... I don't think so. I followed the instructions very carefully and poured even slower than instructed.I drained some of the existing coolant, enough to make room for the Blue Devil contents, then started the cold engine and poured a very small stream until the bottle was empty. I then let it idle for 50 minutes. 40 minutes into the idling, the air coming out of the heater vents began to get colder and the coolant gauge showed the engine temperature climbing. It appears this is when the clogging began to occur.I had to take all the hoses off and flush very well with a garden hose through everything I could. Still plenty in the system, so I did 2 Prestone chemical flushes of the system. At least the Prestone chemical flush seems to react with those Blue Devil crystal chunks and break them down. I left the flush (with distilled water) in the system for several days, driving it daily (just make sure temps aren't going to go below freezing). I'll flush 3 more times with distilled water to get all the Blue Devil glass powder out of the system, then fill with antifreeze and try K-Seal next, since it doesn't use liquid glass to seal.

So far so good, it took 2 days to see results.