Headgasket blown - Anyone know of stockists of Blue Dragon Sealant or similar?

LarM

I know I know, there's no such thing as a quick fix, but I desperately need to find a good Head Gasket Sealant. Halfords don't have any, not in my local anyway.

Googling seems to recommend Blue Dragon by USA Sealants, or Bars Head Gasket Repair but after hours of searching I can't find any local stockists.

Anyone know where to find it in Dublin/Kildare area?

johnos1984

How do you know its the head gasket?

LarM

All the hall marks; engine knock when its running idle, white smoke from exhaust, milk chocolate coloured oil, coolant boiling away after 30 miles or less (also bubbling and under pressure), residue on spark plugs. 99% sure its the gasket, it could be from leaking oil valves or cooling system issues - nothing that I could see though. Don't have a compression test kit to know with absolute certainty.

johnos1984

From that description I have to be honest and say a bit of head gasket sealant will most probably have little or no effect.

LarM

I'm tempted to agree johno but this is still something I need to try, just to get me through a couple of weeks with low mileage. Any pour-in sealants you can recommend?

johnos1984

I've used Holts before in a tractor that was on its last legs and it held. Any local motor factors should have some though. Small guys are better for advice than halfords

LarM

Tried a couple of little auto parts shops in my area but to no avail, they couldn't really point me in the right direction even.. Thanks anyway though johno I'll keep up the search.

mondeo

I've read alot of positive reports on "K seal".

Nissan doctor

If you are planning on keeping the car then your wasting your time with any of those quick fix sealers. The might make it seem ok for a while but they are not designed for modern cars with alloy heads or blocks. When the sealer fails again in a couple of weeks/months perhaps you will have done more damage to the head/block and you will also gunge up the cooling system too.

biko

Novastop is supposed to be good but yeah, a real fix is of course best.

LarM

I got some holts radweld plus today, will use it tomorrow, fingers crossed it'll at least give me a temporary seal. I'm not planning on keeping the car, but if I trade it in as is I would get next to nothing for it. Shame as I've really looked after that car. Thanks Biko I'll give this stuff a try and see how it goes. If there's no joy I'll flush out the system and give nova seal a go. I'll let you know what happens!

dharn

sound to me like you are passing on a lemon to some other poor devil but of course it happens all the time ..human nature

LarM

Well first off dharn I haven't got the conscience to sell on a lemon to some poor sod, what goes around comes around. However, if I can pass it off as a viable trade in, the garages will have onsite mechanics who after close inspection can skim it for next to nothing, and whoever buys car will likely get a 6month engine gearbox warranty so as far as I'm concerned thats no big deal.

Got Novastop today, had to do two rounds of it. The first time round the coolant was losing about 5 litres every 10 minutes and the exhaust was spitting steam like theres no tomorrow. Second time round the steam was reduced and the coolant lost about 1 litre in 10 minutes.

Its still steaming quite a lot but theres a lot of water in the oil. Went to change that too but last time I got a service the garage must have changed the plug from the original renault to a different one and I didnt have the right attachment for my ratchet.

Havent put any miles on her yet so I don't know how she's driving.

dharn

fair enough.. but it looks like you are struggling to stop that leak and all the water in your oil will probably destroy your bearings plus all the gunk in the cooling system will probably clog the radiator but lets know how you get on in your quest to stop the leak and pass on the car

LarM

Tell me something I don't know.....

Nissan doctor

LarM wrote: »

Well first off dharn I haven't got the conscience to sell on a lemon to some poor sod, what goes around comes around. However, if I can pass it off as a viable trade in, the garages will have onsite mechanics who after close inspection can skim it for next to nothing, and whoever buys car will likely get a 6month engine gearbox warranty so as far as I'm concerned thats no big deal.

Got Novastop today, had to do two rounds of it. The first time round the coolant was losing about 5 litres every 10 minutes and the exhaust was spitting steam like theres no tomorrow. Second time round the steam was reduced and the coolant lost about 1 litre in 10 minutes.

Its still steaming quite a lot but theres a lot of water in the oil. Went to change that too but last time I got a service the garage must have changed the plug from the original renault to a different one and I didnt have the right attachment for my ratchet.

Havent put any miles on her yet so I don't know how she's driving.

If the leak is that bad you are doing nothing but making things worse as you will render the engine unrepairable.

kona

How the hell is the car still even starting with that much water getting into the bores, there must be a serious hole somewhere, I had trouble starting when the rings went and compression was half of what it should be on 1 cylinder! Id love to see if those random fixes work, although a head gasket is going to be as much as some of those fixes.

shamwari

What sort of car is this? There are some out there that will respond very very badly to this sort of treatment. You might well be looking at a new engine already.

Tea drinker

yeah Lar, sounds like this is flogging a dead horse. The amount of time you spent looking for this sealant and messing about would get you half way to fixing the headgasket.
Assuming you have the tools.... and it might turn out the head is cracked too, in that respect there is a method to your madness.
5 litres in 10 miniutes is a LOT, head gasket must be in ribbons and head possibly warped like a banana

LarM

Its a 2001 Renault Megane shamwari. 120k miles on the clock. I'm just goin to bite the bullet and get this fixed. I have a friend of mine on the look out for a replacement engine. I have a strong suspicion that if I "only" get the head gasket replaced there'll be more problems with the rest of the cooling system, bearings etc and it'll end up being a money pit. For the sake of an extra ton or so I may as well get the whole thing replaced..

fryup

LarM wrote: »

I know I know, there's no such thing as a quick fix, but I desperately need to find a good Head Gasket Sealant. Halfords don't have any, not in my local anyway.

Googling seems to recommend Blue Dragon by USA Sealants, or Bars Head Gasket Repair but after hours of searching I can't find any local stockists.

Anyone know where to find it in Dublin/Kildare area?

there's no such thing mate, and i've tried them all

there's no two ways about it you have to get cylinder head reground

shamwari

LarM wrote: »

Its a 2001 Renault Megane shamwari. 120k miles on the clock. I'm just goin to bite the bullet and get this fixed. I have a friend of mine on the look out for a replacement engine. I have a strong suspicion that if I "only" get the head gasket replaced there'll be more problems with the rest of the cooling system, bearings etc and it'll end up being a money pit. For the sake of an extra ton or so I may as well get the whole thing replaced..

You might be better off with a new engine alright. I know the 1.4 8v engine had wet liners and a bad head gasket failure was fairly terminal on those. Dunno what the craic is with the 16v (think they are dry rather than wet), but they still are not a popular engine either among the mechanics fraternity either.

Nissan doctor

The k series renault engines (16v) have closed decks so serious headgasket failure is unlikely to have damaged the block. A repair, if done properly, would have the engine back to new but how financially viable it is depends on how much you can get a decent second hand engine for.

LarM

Sourced an engine in Ringsend for €300, its missing an air flow meter so I'm going to take the one I have now and just swap it. Haven't seen the engine yet going to have a look with the mechanic on friday. Overall it works out cheaper than getting the headgasket done. Plus theres 80k miles on the "new" engine, fingers crossed its been looked after.

On another note I changed the oil yesterday and cleaned the spark plugs (I'm saving the new ones I got for the replacement engine). Theres no longer any knocking when idle, water vapour from the exhaust, or any extensive loss of coolant either so it seems the novastop has worked to an extent. She feels like shes killing power in second and third gear when cold but miles better than it was before.

Nissan doctor

LarM wrote: »

Sourced an engine in Ringsend for €300, its missing an air flow meter so I'm going to take the one I have now and just swap it. Haven't seen the engine yet going to have a look with the mechanic on friday. Overall it works out cheaper than getting the headgasket done. Plus theres 80k miles on the "new" engine, fingers crossed its been looked after.

On another note I changed the oil yesterday and cleaned the spark plugs (I'm saving the new ones I got for the replacement engine). Theres no longer any knocking when idle, water vapour from the exhaust, or any extensive loss of coolant either so it seems the novastop has worked to an extent. She feels like shes killing power in second and third gear when cold but miles better than it was before.

You should really fully service the new engine including a new timing belt/water pump etc so that you have everything fresh as you will have no idea of the history of the engine your getting.