Replacing a Head Gasket can be difficult and expensive. Sometimes your car is not worth fixing and this is where a head gasket sealer in a bottle comes in handy. Do these head gasket sealers actually work? How long do they last? How do they work? What does a bad head gasket look like? Do head gasket sealers clog radiators?
In this video I show you how to use a head gasket sealer to repair the head gasket and test it for 2yrs and 10,000 miles. I then tear down the engine and show you how the headgasket failed, how the sealer worked, and if the radiator got clogged up with sealer.
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Bar's Leaks Head Gasket Sealer: https://ebay.us/vdvL0y
Head Gasket Test Kit: https://ebay.us/IAbWUu
Spill Proof Funnel: https://ebay.us/QraoPc
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Due to factors beyond the control of ChrisFix, I cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information. ChrisFix assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. ChrisFix recommends safe practices when working on vehicles and or with tools seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of ChrisFix, no information contained in this video shall create any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or from the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not ChrisFix.

Hey guys chris fix here and today we're going to test and see if we can repair a leaking head gasket with a bottle of head gasket sealer. Now in this video, i'm going to be showing you five main things. The first thing is, how do you know you have a bad head, gasket and it's leaking, and the second thing is after you verify you have a head gasket leak. Should you use a head gasket in a bottle like this, or should you do the repair properly and disassemble the engine and replace that head gasket? The third thing i'm going to show you is how to choose which head gasket sealer is best for your specific application, because there's a bunch out there.

The fourth thing i'm going to show you is how to properly use the head gasket sealer. That way, you can hopefully seal that leak and fix your head gasket and the fifth and final thing i'm going to cover in this video is what you're all waiting for. Does a head gasket sealer, actually work and we're going to be doing this test not for a week not for a month but long term for over a year, so right now we're in the fall season soon the leaves are going to drop then we'll have the Winter and it gets very cold and it snows here in the winter so we'll have below freezing temperatures, then we'll have the spring, which is the rainy season so high humidity. Then we'll have the hot summer here it could get over 100 degrees, sometimes and finally, a year later, we'll finish up back in the fall, so we'll go through all four seasons to cover all the different weather extremes from extremely cold to extremely hot and everything in Between and not only are we gon na cover weather extremes, but we're gon na cover driving extremes as well.

This is my dad's daily back and forth to work. He does a lot of highway driving so that car is just chugging along at 2 500 rpms for hours at a time, and he does a lot of hard city driving stop and go so we're really going to put that head gasket sealer to the test. Now i did say this is going to be a long-term test over a year, but don't worry this video will have the results if you're watching this video right now a year has elapsed. I don't want you guys to have to wait for another video.

A year later, all the information on whether or not this worked will be in this video, and that's for you guys now, speaking of you guys very important, we have about five million chris fixed subscribers in this community, and i know some of you guys have used A head gasket sealer before and this is where you could help out and add a lot of value to this video. Please comment below. If you've used a head, gasket sealer, let us know which one you've used. Let us know your year making model how many miles how bad your head gasket was, and whether or not it sealed it or maybe it didn't seal it or maybe it damaged your engine.

Let us know in the comments the more people who comment, the more information we could get and the better this video will be because it's not just me doing the test. It's also you guys. So that's what i'll be testing and that's what i'm going to be covering in this video and i can't wait to see if we could actually see a leaking head gasket using a head, gasket sealer. So let's get started so the first thing to do before you go and add a head gasket sealer to your cooling system or before you go and disassemble the engine and replace that head gasket.
It's very important to know if your head, gasket is actually bad, and i think it's also important to understand how a head gasket works. That way you could properly identify if you have a head gasket leak or if it's something else. So this right here is a cylinder head. You can see.

We have four different cylinders, there's the valves in there and all around. We have all these holes and these are coolant jackets. So this is where coolant runs through the block. It runs through the head to cool it down, so it doesn't overheat now.

This is a completely machined flat surface that goes against the engine block, which also has a machined flat surface, and in order to prevent leaks, you need a head gasket like this. Now the head gasket has all these holes for the coolant jackets to allow the coolant to flow through, but it also has this ring here which prevents the combustion gases from getting into the coolant and the coolant from getting into the combustion chamber. So this is what a good head gasket looks like, but if we go to the other side here, this is what a bad head gasket looks like. You can see right here.

There is a hole, there's a gap between our coolant port and our combustion chamber, so that allows the coolant to flow into the engine and get burnt up and it allows combustion gases to get into the coolant when that gasoline burns and cause bubbling and overheating. Now, if you think you have a head gasket leak, there's a good chance that your engine is probably running warm or overheating, or maybe you notice that your coolant is getting low and you always have to top it off. So we have to figure out where that coolant is going. If it's going into the engine, then you know you have a head gasket leak.

If it's leaking somewhere else, then well, you have a leak somewhere else and you don't have a head gasket leak. So we need to figure that out and there's a couple easy ways to do that. The first thing to do is start the engine, let it warm up to operating temperature and look for any external leaks after your engine is completely warmed up and that thermostat is all the way open. Now we can start looking for leaks and we want the engine to be warm, because when it's warm, the cooling system is pressurized, so we'll be able to find any leaks.

Now you want to check all these coolant hoses. You want to check your water pump and i don't see any leaks there and another common area that leaks happen is at your radiator. So a really easy way to look for leaks is to go under the car and just look for any puddling of coolant, and i don't see anything here. It looks bone dry.
So in this case our engine is looking completely dry. I did a more thorough check before and i don't see any external leaks, so if we don't have any external leaks, where is this coolant going? It has to be going into the engine and there's two ways to check that the first way is at the exhaust. If you have a lot of coolant burning off quickly, you're gon na see white billowing clouds of smoke. A really good example of this is with the del sol.

When i got it, the owner said i had a head gasket leak and you can see once i start it up. It's completely obvious. We have a head gasket leak here now, in the case of the jaguar. It's not completely obvious.

We don't see smoke, it's running right now and it looks fine. So, although checking the exhaust is a good method to see, if you have a head gasket leak, it's not a perfect method. You won't always be able to tell with just the exhaust. So the next thing to look at is the oil in the engine, because there's a chance that coolant is getting into the oil so remove the dipstick and, let's inspect the oil.

Now this oil looks fine. It looks like used oil, but let me show you what oil from a car with a head, gasket leak looks like okay, so you could clearly see the difference here. The oil from this car is all frothy and creamy. So this is another good indicator to tell.

If you have a head gasket leak, so the oil isn't telling us we have a head gasket leak, the exhaust isn't telling us we have a head gasket leak. The last thing to look for to see if you have a head gasket leak is either at your radiator or in this case we have a reservoir and we're going to check for bubbles, which means that exhaust gases are getting pushed into the cooling system and are Coming out of our reservoir or radiator, so the first quick way to test for exhaust gases in your coolant is to use a test kit like this. This fluid is blue. When exhaust gases touch it, it turns yellow.

So to do this test start the engine and next we're gon na, let her run and get to operating temperature, and then what we're gon na do is take our tester and place it in the opening of the reservoir. And if you have a radiator put this where the radiator cap goes and with this in place, you want to make sure you don't have coolant all the way up to the top, because we're going to be squeezing this bulb sucking air into this to aerate. The fluid we're going to add, so we want to make sure the coolant is low if it's not low, get a turkey baster or something suck some out, and in this case you can see our coolant is here, so we're not going to suck it in by Accident all right so now is the fun part. Let's remove the top of the tester and add our blue test fluid to the fill line, and then we need to get that top back on good and finally to press this bulb at the top to suck air into the tester.
And this will see if we have exhaust gases in the cooling system, you want to depress the bulb a bunch of times for about a minute and if it stays blue, you're good to go and you don't have a head gasket leak. But you can see already. This is turning from a dark blue to a yellow look at this before and after and the side by side makes it clear. We have exhaust gases in our coolant.

So now we have verified that we have a head, gasket leak, i'll, be sure to include a link to this tester in the description. So you can easily find it it's not too expensive and, as you saw, it works really well, but i do have one more way to do this, which costs less money. If you already have a spill proof funnel it's free and that is actually looking for those exhaust bubbles. So let's install the reservoir adapter tighten down the cap and finally add our spill proof funnel and now what we're going to do is we're going to grab our antifreeze and we're going to fill this funnel all the way up.

So it's the highest point in the cooling system and you want to make sure that you're using the correct antifreeze for your vehicle, don't use straight water because in the winter it could freeze. We want to give that head. Gasket sealer the best opportunity to work and the best opportunity will be with the correct antifreeze. So we have our european vehicle, it says jaguar 1997 and up so, let's fill the cooling system all the way up and continue filling it until the funnel is about three quarters of the way full and then you can start the engine and the reason why this Works is because our funnel is all the way up here filled with coolant.

It is the highest point of the entire cooling system, so any exhaust gases getting past the head, gasket are going to flow up and out to the highest point, which is this right here. So you can see those bubbles right there. Those are exhaust bubbles, it actually smells like car exhaust every time it bubbles up, and that is a way to prove that you have a head gasket leak without actually having to use a test kit all right. So now you know how to tell if your car has a head gasket leak and the jag obviously does so what next? Well, you have two options.

One of them is to use a head gasket sealer in a bottle like this or repair the head gasket properly. The best way to do this is to repair the head gasket in your car properly by replacing it, but it's expensive to do or if you do it yourself, it could be time consuming or complicated, but the biggest thing is: how much is your car worth versus The repair cost so like in my hummer. If the head gasket went, i would 100 replace the head gasket same thing with the vet same thing with the drifting. Those are cars that i really like that i plan on keeping forever that are valuable, but this thing right here this thing: isn't that valuable it's about fifteen hundred dollars.
The value is my dad being able to use it every day to go back and forth to work and to have a shopper place. The head gasket, i did get a quote just to see how much it would cost take. A guess remember: this car is worth about fifteen hundred dollars. The shop quote says they would charge fifteen hundred dollars for parts and six thousand dollars for labor totaling, seven thousand six hundred dollars to replace the head gaskets in this car.

So the car is either gon na, have a head gasket leak and be junk, and we have to get rid of it or we give something like this a try and see if it works. So now you guys get a good idea of when something like this is completely worth trying and the jaguar is a perfect example. Alright. So now you know how to tell if you have a head gasket leak, and you know how to tell if your vehicle is a good candidate for a head, gasket sealer in a bottle, but which one should you use well first, let me show you real quick: How a head gasket sealer works, so we're going to pour some of this out, so you get an idea.

This is sodium silicate. This is liquid glass. So when you add this head, gasket sealer the liquid glass to the cooling system, it's going to flow through all these coolant jackets in the cylinder head and the engine, and as that liquid glass flows through all those coolant jackets. It will flow through the coolant jacket that has the head gasket leak, so the coolant is entering the combustion chamber and that's why we're losing coolant and those combustion gases are forcing itself into the coolant, which is why we're getting bubbles in the cooling system.

So those exhaust gases are incredibly hot over a thousand degrees and what happens is with that liquid glass, when the exhaust gasses touch the liquid glass, the liquid evaporates from that liquid glass and leaves behind just the glass and that glass is very hard and that's what Seals up this head gasket leak and you guys know i like to give you real life visuals. So let me show you what this looks like to simulate hot exhaust gases, i'm using a torch and when that torch heats, the liquid, the liquid evaporates and the glass the silica starts to harden, and you can see that happening right before your eyes as the liquid Is completely removed from the silica molecules, it turns white and even black as it begins to burn, and this is what clogs up the head gasket leak. You can see it becomes very hard actually harder than the head gasket, but it also becomes a lot more brittle. So that's how these head gasket sealers work and there's a ton of research and development that goes into these new sealers so that they actually work.

But these have a bad reputation because of old school hack ways to get a head gasket sealed so that a owner or steelership could go and sell the car with a bad head. Gasket and you'll never know, for example, this is the last car my parents purchased from a used car dealership and not too long after buying the car it overheated on the highway and the engine was destroyed. So i decided to take it apart. Just to see what happened and you could see this white powder well, this is sawdust someone added sawdust to hide the head gasket leak and you can see where it completely clogged the coolant jackets.
So no wonder this thing, overheated and self-destructed so quickly. Now these products are designed not to do that. They're not designed to clog up the cooling ports they're, designed to only clog up that head gasket leak where the exhaust gases are, but that doesn't mean that people can't use these the wrong way because it isn't a perfect repair. So make sure you use this responsibly.

Don't go trying to fix your car and then sell it off, or anything like that. This is literally just so that we could use the car and then donate it afterwards. So with that said, which one is the correct sealer for your vehicle, so there's a ton of different head gasket sealers out in the market. Here's only four of them, but i picked these specifically because they all had decent reviews, they're easy to find i'll, be sure to link them in the description and because they are all relatively inexpensive and around the same price, no matter which one you end up using.

It's very important that you follow the instructions on the bottle. Each brand has its own instructions and they know exactly how to give you the best chance to seal up your head gasket. So with that said, the most important thing to look for is idle time. So how all these work is you pour this into your cooling system and then you have to let your engine idle now, in this case the jag will idle for about 15 to 20 minutes before all the coolant is consumed and the car overheats.

So we can't use a product like this, where it says it takes 50 minutes for the sealer to work, but these other ones will work in our situation. The next thing to consider is what is inside each of these and how it works, because that's what sets these apart. So let me show you this sealer pours just like water and is not thick at all, and it consists of sodium silicate and finely chopped fibers, which are designed to act like rebar in concrete. This sealer also pours like water, and it's completely liquid.

It has sodium silicate and ethylene glycol, which is antifreeze now this sealer is different. Not only is it thicker, but it uses copper and fibers that solidify with pressure and heat, so it doesn't use any liquid glass, like all the others. And finally, this sealer is easily the thickest and pours like a smoothie. It has sodium silicate in it and carbon fiber and again this one is very thick and i do have a slight concern that this could clog a radiator, heater, core or thermostat.
So out of all these, which one am i choosing i'm choosing this one, it will work within that 15 minute time frame that we have also, this has fibers in it, which could help work, could cause issues we'll find out, and i think those fibers will help With that long-term seal, if we could get it to work, so let's get started all right. It is time to see if our head, gasket sealer, actually seals the head gasket and start our long-term test, so the instructions say to start with a cold engine and remove the radiator cap, obviously never remove this if it's hot and then according to the instructions. Since we have a 10 quart system, we are going to be using a half a bottle. If you have over 10 quarts in your cooling system, then you're going to use a whole bottle and we're going to be adding it to this.

So we need to make enough room in our reservoir to add a half a bottle of our sealer. So i'm using a turkey baster to remove some of the coolant from the reservoir to make room for the head. Gasket sealer and you can see the coolant level - is now low enough. So we have enough room to add our sealer next we have to shake the sealer up, and this is very important because the stuff in here settles and we need to make sure that we mix it.

So it's a nice and even solution. Now we need to pour half the bottle into the reservoir just like that and finally, we could top off the reservoir with our coolant so that it's completely full good. Now, let's get this funnel out of here and put the cap back on, so we could start the engine. Okay, so now comes the fun part.

Let's see if we can get this to work. So what we need to do is we need to start the engine. Let it idle until it reaches operating temperature and then shut it off it. Is that easy, so, let's go start it up good and then immediately.

What we want to do is come over here. Go to the climate control turn it on and put the heat up. All the way, and if you have a heater control valve what that does is that opens it up so that it doesn't get clogged up. It's very important that we have heat this winter.

It gets cold here and we do not want the heater core or heater control valve getting clogged up i'll. Keep you guys posted on. If that happens, hopefully it doesn't, but right now our focus is just getting that head. Gasket sealed.

So the next most important thing would be to watch your temperature gauge. We need this temperature gauge to go about halfway there. That means it's at operating temperature, but you want to pay attention and make sure it doesn't overheat by accident. So keep an eye on this and 15 minutes later.

Our engine is at operating temperature. That means our thermostat has opened up all the way and it allows our water pump to pump all that head. Gasket sealer, that was in here throughout the entire cooling system. So now what we need to do is shut the engine so with the engine shut.
Now, what we want to do is let it cool completely down to complete an entire thermal cycle. Basically, what we want to do is heat the engine all the way up and then let it cool all the way down and that'll help solidify the head gasket sealer and make sure that we hopefully clog the head gasket leak. So you can let this sit for a couple hours, i'm gon na. Let it sit overnight and tomorrow we'll go for our test drive to see if our head gasket is sealed.

Now, one day later we know the car completely cooled down because it sat overnight. So let's go and take her for a ride and just to show you guys, i'm monitoring the coolant temperature straight from the computer, so we have an accurate reading, we're 84 degrees fahrenheit right now and that's ambient air temperature. So as we go for a ride, we'll keep an eye on that temperature right. So only five minutes into the test drive and the temperature is steadily increasing over normal operating temperature operating temperatures anywhere from like 195 to 205 or 210 fahrenheit.

But right now we're approaching 215, and this is getting me nervous, so i'm gon na keep an eye on it. Okay, so five minutes later and take a look at this temperature gauge we're pretty much overheating if this gets into the 240 range. I need to shut this off right away because the engine will get damaged, so we've only been driving 10 minutes and we're at 235 232 fahrenheit, and it's just starting to go down a little bit now. But something's not right now we're at 228 226 and it's dropping down now, which is good, and you want to know what i think the thermostat got clogged up, which caused that huge temperature spike and almost ruined the engine.

But now it kind of unclogged itself, because the temperatures are dropping down a lot and check this out. We went from almost catastrophic failure temperature to pretty much what we should be running at all. Right and after a wild 20-minute drive, we are back and the temperatures stayed where they were supposed to be after we had that big spike. They were ranging anywhere from about 199 fahrenheit to 205., we're finishing up here at 207, which is a good sign.

So, let's shut the car off, give the engine time to cool down and then we'll go check the coolant level. Okay, with the engine cooled down, let's see what we got and that's either completely full or completely empty. It looks a little light. Looks like it's empty.

This is cool, so we don't have to worry about getting burnt, let's open this up and let's find out and we are completely empty. That is not good. Well, i shouldn't say: that's not good. That's kind of what i figured would happen because the head gasket's still leaking the stuff that we added the sealer has to go into the leak and we'll slowly clog it up.

The bottle itself says that it could take a couple of times for the engine. To start and stop and start and stop before it clogs it up. So what we need to do is we need to fill this back up and i'm going to just continue to drive this as many times as i can every day and see if we can get this to seal up and hold and real quick. I want to show you something: this is the radiator cat or the reservoir cap, and if you look inside of there, you could see there are these fibers, and that is what i think clogged up our radiator or clogged up the thermostat.
Now only time will tell if the sealer actually works. So let's fill up the reservoir with coolant and it looks like she's taking one entire bottle, which is exactly what's been happening since the head, gasket started leaking and then let's remove that funnel and screw the cap back on and go for another ride. So this drive is going much better than the last one, with our coolant temperature staying steady at around 200 degrees, fahrenheit and the best part is the car only used to drive for 15 minutes before overheating. But now i've been driving this around for over an hour with no problems.

So let's head back and check the coolant level and we are back from an hour-long drive with zero issues with no overheating and, let's see, is our reservoir still completely filled with antifreeze. This engine is nice and cold, so i could take this off without anything blown up in my face. Oh man, look at that. We are completely filled with antifreeze to the top.

The way we left it before we went for our drive and we drove for an entire hour. It used to overheat and use all the coolant in like 15 to 20 minutes max and now an entire hour, and we haven't used any coolant at all. That is huge. I think we could say that this is actually working.

It is actually sealing that head gasket leak, so just to verify we don't have a head gasket leak anymore. Let's fill the funnel up with antifreeze and start the car, so the engine's been running for a little bit. Our thermostat is open because we're at operating temperature and check this out. We have no bubbles at all forming which means that our head, gasket sealer, is actually sealing the head gasket and preventing those bubbles from the exhaust from leaking into our cooling system.

And the proof is in the pudding. Look at that no bubbles at all and one more test to verify the head. Gasket is now sealed: just squeeze the bulb a few times and check this out, it's staying, dark, blue and not turning yellow, and now we know for sure that our head gasket has been sealed. So, let's start this long-term test, and so you guys know the starting mileage.

We have exactly 187 548 miles on her right now and the goal is to put another 10 000 miles on her for this test. So my dad really tested out this head, gasket sealer to the limits with aggressive city driving and long cruises on the highway almost every day in the winter, the heat actually worked and kept the cabin warm. So we know the heater core didn't get clogged up, which is good and my dad was getting great fuel economy which indicated that the engine was running good as well. Unfortunately, partway through the year, the coronavirus happened and the car wasn't being driven as often as it used to be.
So i decided to extend the test for another year, making it a two year long test that way we could put at least 10 000 miles on the car and surprisingly, for the past two years throughout all these different seasons and all the weather extremes, the car Ran great and there were no problems until the very end, so two years and 10 000 miles later, my dad is back from his last drive in his baby. He's been daily driving this car for the past six years. It's never let him down and he loves this thing. So it's a bittersweet moment, but the head, gasket sealer test is complete.

So it's time to show you guys the results and real quick. I want to show you guys the final mileage for this test. So let's go check this out and, as you can see, we are at 197 500 miles. Remember we started at 187 500 miles, so we went a total of 10 000 miles for this test.

So let's get right to it and answer the question. You've all been wondering: can a head gasket sealer, actually seal a leaking head gasket, and can it do so long term and the answer to both of those questions is a definite yes, and this is the perfect example of that the head gasket leak in this car Was so bad that in 15 minutes it would consume all the coolant and overheat rendering this car useless? It couldn't be used as a daily driver anymore, couldn't even be used around town and to fix. It was way too expensive, six hundred dollars, even if it was five grand or even three grand way too expensive, and to do it myself. I'd have to drop the engine.

It would be time consuming. It's tough to do outside just wasn't worth it, but what was worth it was a 35 dollar bottle of head gasket sealer, which kept this car running for two more years and 10 000 more miles, which is absolutely amazing, so totally worth it in this situation. But this isn't perfect after those two years very recently, my dad gave the car a lot of gas, he floored it and he felt it run a little bit different. He felt it almost like misfire and you can see right here.

The coolant is down and that's because the head gasket leak has reappeared so the seal broke after two years, so it isn't perfect but i'll. Take it two years and 10 000 more miles is a win. Now i would do things a little bit differently next time, i'll explain that in a second. But first i want to show you what the bad head gasket actually looks like.

So i'm going to quickly disassemble the engine and since you're supposed to remove the engine to get to the heads to speed things up, i decided to cut out the core support next we're going to remove the radiator and don't worry in a few minutes. We'll cut this open and see if it's clogged up at all from that head, gasket sealer, then we can remove the bolts holding in the camshafts and then we can remove both of the camshafts next unscrew. The eight head bolts, which hold the head into the engine block - and this is a one piece timing cover, so it needs a little persuasion to come off and finally, we could remove the head, and now we have access to the top of our engine block. And this is always really cool to see, because this is something you don't normally get to look at and you can see each of the cylinders here which one of these had the head.
Gasket leak. Take a guess. The answer that one right there that piston head is nice and clean because the antifreeze gets in there and it steam cleans the piston head, and you can see these piston heads have carbon deposits on them while that one's nice and clean. So that's how you can tell which cylinder had the head gasket leak and this head gasket is a multi-layer steel head, gasket.

The reason why they call a multi-layer head gasket. If we just spread this apart, you can see this head. Gasket has three different layers to it: the top layer middle layer and that bottom layer - and i don't see anything here that shows me that this head gasket is bad. It actually looks just fine, although this is a very interesting head.

Gasket, the head gasket actually blocks off all the coolant ports, so underneath you can see all the holes for the coolant that flows through well typically flows through. In this case, it doesn't flow through the coolant flows across the engine block, and these are the only two ports that are open. Then it flows up and then across the head. I just wanted to show you that, because these aren't blocked by that head, gasket, sealer, they're, just blocked by that metal gasket.

Now what caused that head gasket leak. Well, let me show you the cylinder head, so here's the cylinder head - and this is so so cool. Wait till you see this. This is the cylinder that had the head gasket leak and you can actually see the two spots that the head, gasket sealer, sealed up.

That head gasket leak, here's an up-close look and you can see this is the sodium silicate that hardened here and sealed off the leak, and this makes you realize the leak isn't really that big? You don't need a lot of buildup of the sealer for this to actually work and how cool is that you actually get to see how the head gasket sealer works and sealed off that leaking head gasket and, although i do say, leaking head gasket the head. Gasket is actually fine. There's nothing catastrophically wrong with this head gasket. The problem is this head got warped and to show you what i mean by warped, you can't see it with the naked eye.

Instead, you have to use a special tool that is completely flat. It's machined and it goes against the surface like this, but first you need to clean off the surface so that there are no bumps from like that: head, gasket, sealer or leftover head gasket material. That way we know it's completely flat. So, with this surface completely cleaned now what we do is we take the straight edge of our tool here and we're gon na lay it against the block in different directions and we're gon na use a feeler gauge one thousandth, of an inch to see.
If there's any gaps underneath this, if there's gaps, then we know there is warpage. So first we'll use the tool straight down the middle like this and try slipping that feeler gauge underneath and you can see it won't fit under. So it's flat now we're going to try across the head like that, and you see the feeler gauge fits under here no problem and if we move it more towards the middle and it's getting tighter, but it still fits underneath and then at the other end here It doesn't fit so you can see this head is warped. So, even though our head gasket had no physical damage, there was no chips.

There's no cracks, there's no way for a coolant to get in because of physical damage to the head gasket. We still had a coolant leak because our head was not completely flat. It warped due to overheating. One thousandth of an inch is all you need and that's exactly what happened to this engine and why we had this head gasket leak and, finally, let's check out the radiator and see if we have any evidence of these passageways getting clogged up.

Okay, this is gon na, be pretty good we're about to find out if the head, gasket sealer clogged any part of this radiator. So we got these two ends off and i have a light right here, so we could see through the radiator i'll put that right about there and let's see if there are any clogs at all. So if i try to line this up just like that and we scan across, you could see the light going through each one of those little tunnels and none of them have any clogs at all, which is beautiful, and i also checked the bottom row for you. Guys no clogs at all, so the odds are a head.

Gasket sealer isn't going to clog up your radiator, it's pretty smooth in there and that sealer only really works when it touches that hot exhaust gas. So that's a pretty good thing. That's definitely good to know the radiator and the heater core are probably not going to get clogged up, and one last thing i want to know is: if any sealer got into the engine oil, so let's grab an oil sample, so we could send it to the Lab to get analyzed - and i haven't changed the oil since the head - gasket leak started purposely, so we could see if there's any contamination and fast forward a little bit here are the results of the oil analysis. They said there was a little bit of coolant in the oil, but nothing significant, so that's probably when the head gasket started leaking because we sealed it up pretty quick but, more importantly, they detected high levels of silicon in the sample, and that represents dirt.
And that's probably from the head gasket sealer, that sodium silicate and because these levels were elevated, there was a lot of wear going on, especially from the pistons. So what we learned here is super important. If you're going to use a head, gasket sealer like this once that head gasket gets sealed up change the oil and the filter right away. That way, you don't get that extra wear and tear, and there you go the most thorough head, gasket sealer in a bottle.

Video in the world done, you guys know everything you need to know about all of these and those were the results. I can't believe it worked. I can't believe we actually got to see the head gasket sealer working, the actual head, gasket leak. All of that now one thing i would do differently next time we use this head gasket sealer.

This was really thick and i think it caused that temperature spike because it clogged up that thermostat. I would either remove the thermostat or i would try one of these head - gasket sealers first, because these are very liquidy and less likely to cause a clog. I'd probably try this one first, but either way this one actually worked and it worked for two years and it kept this car running for 10 000 more miles. So while this 1900 jag has been an awesome, reliable car for the last six years, it's time to donate it so out with the old and in with the new my affordable budget supercar that cost me 21 000 and don't worry, we're still working on that endurance.

Bmw, we're gon na turbo charge the del sol and supercharge the drifting, but i couldn't resist when i saw this deal so hopefully you guys enjoyed the video if you did remember to give it a thumbs up. I don't know of anybody else who would do a two-year test like this consider hitting that subscribe button and, as always, all the tools and products i used are linked in the description. Stay tuned.

16 thoughts on “Do head gasket sealers actually work (full 2yr test with engine teardown)”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Joshua Gomez says:

    Thanks genuinely for doing that. Normally if you are using head sealer is very often in a case where someone is desperate and doesn't have the money time or means to do it at the time and need transportation. I have personally used the stuff a decent few times over the years on a couple of my vehicles, as well as a few friends/fam who have been in bad situations and up against a wall. And in all but one of those cases it did the trick for at least a worthwhile time. With the exception of one that had the oil and coolant mixed but it didn't seem to be burning any of it off. So I'm pretty sure the leak was between a coolant and oil passage and it just wasn't getting hit with the super hot exhaust to seal it. They are a GREAT solution if its a smaller leak between the coolant passages and the engine and you can't or won't for whatever reason do it right. I have sort of gotten my own method I use to try and minimize the amount in the system to a bare minimum to do the job to help avoid other problems often associated with them. I have generally tried first with about 1/4 the suggested amount and if its a small leak that often that works.. At the very least it will start to seal it up but not quite be enough. If it isn't enough with the tiny portion, I'll put another 1/2 the amount reccomended or so in. Give it a chance and normally by now it does the job. But if it still doesn't by then.. well you may as well YoLo it and dump er in.. But I never tore one down after the fact to see what really happened. I had one last a good while after, probably 5 years or so maybe longer.. It was my first car, a little mazda mx3 and that thing ran forever.. But every once in a while I'd have to add just a little touch more as it would start very slowly leaking again. But ya I can't imagine the number of people who could benefit from this video in a pinch.

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dj Happy Emo says:

    I really shuld've finished watching this when you uploaded it, just ordered stuff to do a head gasket and didn't even think of trying a sealant and I did start watching this but didnt have a head gasket issue so i put it in my watch later…. my parts didn't cost much and haven't arrived yet so i think i'll try this first amd keep the parts to do it later once i have a backup car

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars DreamWRLD says:

    Hey Chris love the videos and don’t comment if you can’t but any chance we can get a update on the driftstang I saw it on the chrisfish channel but I’ve missed the drifting content heaps

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Teddii33 says:

    <3 came to the channel with you checking and buying that jaguar! :,D good to see it had full life!
    interesting engough the 7600$ mechanic‘s repair would have probably not even solved the issue, a new headgasket wouldn’t have solved the warped surface :0

    thanks for all the great work! you teched me heeeeps and saved me so much money!

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Teddii33 says:

    <3 came to the channel with you checking and buying that jaguar! :,D good to see it had full life!
    interesting engough the 7600$ mechanic‘s repair would have probably not even solved the issue, a new headgasket wouldn’t have solved the warped surface :0

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Running on-Dinosaurs says:

    Hey Brilliant video shame you couldn't pull the stat to see if was still sealing fully. On the phone number front if these clowns insist on phoning you up monetise it with a pre-recorded car related message that is paid for by the caller – who knows you may have hit on a new revenue stream!

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars iroguebot says:

    What is the app he's using to tell the car's temp? My cluster panel on my car is broken and I can't tell if the car is overheating, I'd like to be able to use something similar.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Nobody Here says:

    Everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Buy yourself some Shiba Inu Bitcoin so you can have some money that's not in the dollar if and when the dollar is devalued

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Isaac Kaiser says:

    If you don’t get a damn paycheck from that hg sealer company from the one you used then you definitely deserve one just gave them one of the best reviews and tests I’ve ever seen

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Das Kenshin says:

    $6000 for labor? lol, that's just a scam haha. In my country, a complete engine overhaul (without replacing anything) that includes removing the whole engine itself costs only 250-500ish lol

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Christopher K says:

    For your next or latter down the road video Mr, Christopher I challenge you to do this to a Subaru Boxer engine where the engine has to be taken out and taken apart, ( I am a bit biased I have a 2004 Forester and it is going to need that repair)

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Chris Hernandez says:

    I was going to say you could have resolved the gasket yourself in a DIY rental garage with a lift and extraction tools, but with a warped head… nope, bye Jaguar

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars mrsemifixit says:

    What causes a head gasket failure? Also what tool was used to clean the mating surface before applying that straight edge with the feeler gauge? Great video!

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Stephan Nata says:

    Hey Chris, I have 2 suggestions/recommendations for ya. The first, if the engine ever went higher than operating temp I would alsways replace the thermostat just bc that extra heat will cause more pressure on the spring than normal which will reduce its effectiveness. Just always good practice to replace it. The second thing is the surge tanks(what that car has) doesn’t circulate as fast as the coolant in the radiator itself so if your ever doing this to a car with a surge tank like this I would instead remove the to radiator hose and drain enough coolant to add the head gasket sealer directly into that hose/into the radiator via that hose. For the older cars without a surge tank and has a radiator cap on the radiator itself then add straight to the rad as normal. Just trying to give the best possible out come to you and all the other readers.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars hax0rz100 says:

    I have a 1995 Ford mustang V6 the had a blown head gasket. I used a bottle of bars head gasket sealer and it worked. The car runs fine and no longer overheats

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars ChrisFix says:

    So it was brought to my attention that my house phone number is on the oil analysis sheet. I am waiting for YouTube to blur it so in the meantime, please dont call it…

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