HEAL-A-SEAL

[Ranger]

"Rfishing" from cadillacowners.com tried that stuff in a painfully long thread. Bottom line is it did not work. He had the gaskets replaced and supposedly Timecerted by a dealer, but they just recently failed again (2 months after the 12/12 labor warranty).

[OynxSTS]

I would add not only did it not work... the miracle in a can plugged up everything EXCEPT his failed head gasket... He ended up replaceing the heater core, the water pump, etc etc etc.. by the time he was done (and has now sold the car) he had replaced pretty much the entire cooling system and the head gaskets were still toast...

Timesert is the ONLY solution to this problem... Miracles in a can will only make things worse.

[dirtyoglocloc]

I JUST ORDERED THIS PRODUCT HEAL A SEAL I HOPE IT WORKS FOR ME

I JUST BOUGHT DUBS FOR IT YESTERDAY AND IT BLEW THE GASKETS THE NEXT DAY

I HAVENT EVEN GOT A CHANCE TO RIDE ON THEM REALLY

I LOVE MY 2000 CATARA I HOPE AND PREY IT WORKS

[MrEldo97]

It's not headgaskets that leak but headbolts that pull right out of the block.

IMO, I would not advise anyone to buy a pre 2003 Northstar engined Cadillac unless they are assured that the block had been Timeserted.

Perhaps the overall number of pulled headbolts is fairly low (20% ?) but the risk is significant.

[adallak]

It's not headgaskets that leak but headbolts that pull right out of the block.

IMO, I would not advise anyone to buy a pre 2003 Northstar engined Cadillac unless they are assured that the block had been Timeserted.

Perhaps the overall number of pulled headbolts is fairly low (20% ?) but the risk is significant.

The headbolts were changed in 2000, but we have seen 2000 Northstars with pulled bolts. I believe some changes have been made in 2004 not 2003.

[BodybyFisher]

Since Funk62's use of this quick fix happened in 2007, I sent him an email and asked him how long it lasted, here is his response

My email to Funk62

Funk, what was the outcome of your head gasket repair in a bottle, you never reported back, is it still good? Mike (BodybyFisher)

Funk62's reply:

It Worked for 200 miles and BLEW again on the way to the dealership to trade it in...I followed the direction right to a T ...I even used a rad flush machine and flushed the rad and engine of all its antifreeze for 2 hours and left it in a heated shop over night to set up...The product was GUARANTEED TO WORK OR MONEY BACK....Yeah Right...They had ever excuse in the book...Its only a quik fix!!!! thats is all.... Sorry Guys....

[adallak]

Since Funk62's use of this quick fix happened in 2007, I sent him an email and asked him how long it lasted, here is his response

My email to Funk62

Funk, what was the outcome of your head gasket repair in a bottle, you never reported back, is it still good? Mike (BodybyFisher)

Funk62's reply:

It Worked for 200 miles and BLEW again on the way to the dealership to trade it in...I followed the direction right to a T ...I even used a rad flush machine and flushed the rad and engine of all its antifreeze for 2 hours and left it in a heated shop over night to set up...The product was GUARANTEED TO WORK OR MONEY BACK....Yeah Right...They had ever excuse in the book...Its only a quik fix!!!! thats is all.... Sorry Guys....

Mike, thanks for the update.

[Cadillac Jim]

I think that you can check for cases where a head bolt has pulled by cleaning the engine around the head gasket and looking for red or green stains. If there is not antifreeze leaking out of the outside, the head bolts may not be pulled and one of the sodium silicate quick fixes may last longer. You can see a leak on my engine from the (poor quality, sorry) photo that I posted on my car blog at the time.

But, whatever, it's still a quick fix. For a car that is never driven far and stays under 40 mph, it might be OK. When my gaskets failed my mechanic verified the problem with a pressure check but said that there were no bubbles in the surge tank and that I could drive it for another year or more around town. I know this but at the time I was commuting on the freeway and I had multiple overheats with boil-offs every time I pulled a hill; even 2% grade for a half mile would do it. I got the expensive spread, a Jasper remanufactured engine, and have not had a problem of any kind since, and it's been over 20,000 miles now.

My mechanic wouldn't tackle a Timesert job because he know that dealers weren't having much luck with them. If I knew what I know now, I would have found a way to keep my original engine, but it was seeping oil at the O-ring and had the oil-light-flicker-at-idle problem, the engine had just begun having oil-burning problems that were only partly solved, and, at 116,500 miles, it really needed to have a lot of little things changed. The oil pump, water pump, O-ring, and possibly the timing chain tensioners were on my list, and cam wear inspections are a good idea too on an engine that old. My plans for keeping the car were -- and are -- long range, so used car prices and such weren't part of the equation. So, I just went the remanufactured engine route. Today, I would just fix it, including using heads-off solvent attack to clean out the rings while the oil pan was off. And, when I put it back in, it would have custom headers with an oval or rectangular crossover pipe to get better flow from the front bank.

[MrEldo97]

Jim, in your opinion the reman motor wasn’t worth the expense and heartburn?

I ask because I’ve been considering doing the same. My Timesert job has 2-1/2 years and 25,000 miles on it with no trouble so far. Car runs great. However, my ’97 Eldo has a leaky trans. side cover gasket, case half seal, burns oil, leaky A/C (won’t hold a charge of R134) and some other problems that are fairly minor in and of themselves but should be fixed to make the car right. The car is in great shape otherwise and is certainly not a beater, but the situation has now evolved into one of spending 5 or 6 large bringing back a car that may be worth 2 large… The flip side is I can drive it as is until the wheels fall off. But again; it is still a very nice Eldorado…

[Cadillac Jim]

I do believe that if I had the same resources that I have now and needed the car every day, a remanufactured motor would be the best choice. I solved all the problems and reset the age and mileage clocks to zero with a two-day turnaround time. What I know now that is different is that a Timesert job is bulletproof if you don't take shortcuts doing it, the oil sending unit was likely the cause of the flickering oil light and not a worn oil pump, the oil-burning problem can be solved with the equivalent of Gumout and Gunk treatments, and the O-ring and oil pan gaskets are not a big deal when the engine is out. If I had known this, I would have approached an engine rebuilder or other in-depth, Northstar-experienced mechanic with my shopping list and asked for a quote; my mechanic could have worked with them as well as he did with Jasper. I might have saved thousands and kept my original engine at the price of waiting a week or so instead of two days, and I did have my wife's car to use. If I couldn't locate an engine mechanic that offered a warranty and that I trusted, or if the price was too close to the Jasper price, say within $1000 or so, I would still have taken the Jasper. And, "worth the heartburn?" Jasper was zero heartburn. Finding a mechanic that I trusted to Timesert my Northstar would have been heartburn. Letting someone work on my motor and waiting for days or weeks to drive the car and see what I got back would have been heartburn. A short mechanic's warranty like 90 days or even a year would be heartburn.

There are other rebuilders out there now that seem quite trustworthy with the Northstar and that cost a little less, and that might tip the scales a bit away from fixing my original engine. But, Jasper is still the gold standard in engine remanufacturers. I especially liked their clean-room environment and their automated head bolt clamping force assembly steps. They also discussed use of Borla XS mufflers when I was rear-ended and couldn't find another stainless steel muffler that would fit, and my mechanic is a certified Jasper installer and monitors my engine for the Jasper warranty when I take it in for oil changes. Jasper is my security blanket for the engine, like GM was until the 6-year, 50,000 mile warranty ran out.

[MrEldo97]

Your experience is encouraging me to bite the bullet and rehab my car. My wife drives the Eldorado now and with retirement approaching (she's already retired once) we really don't want to buy another ride so rehabing the Eldorado is starting to look like the smartest thing to do...

[Ranger]

MrEldo, if you are thinking of fixing it, consider studs. http://www.northstarperformance.com

[MrEldo97]

I'm not having a probem with the headbolts; my Timesert repair is holdiing up. If this engine needs headbolt repair again then it will be replaced with a reman. I agree that studs are a much stronger solution.

I ran Alfa Romeo 4s and 6s and Jaguar V12s for many years and rebult many heads and replaced many head gaskets on these engines and never had a problem with studs. IMO headbolts is a cheaper solution hence their use.

[adallak]

I'm not having a probem with the headbolts; my Timesert repair is holdiing up. If this engine needs headbolt repair again then it will be replaced with a reman. I agree that studs are a much stronger solution.

I ran Alfa Romeo 4s and 6s and Jaguar V12s for many years and rebult many heads and replaced many head gaskets on these engines and never had a problem with studs. IMO headbolts is a cheaper solution hence their use.

Here is a quote from a "Deleted Member" you all know well.

"The other approach is to install studs into the block holes and then use nuts to hold the heads down on the other end of the studs. This approach is common in racing engines that are torn down frequently. It is a very strong way of making the joint as the stud does not have to be turned in the aluminum threads under load as the stud is tensioned when the nut is tightened. The stud approach makes assembly of the engine very difficult as it is hard to align the studs into the head holes and very easy to damage the aluminum surface of the head with the studs so it would be very rare to see this approach on a high volume engine.

The engine , as designed, with head bolts into blind holes works extremely well and is easily repairable when problems occur. Why change it."

[Ranger]

Isn't it funny how people are so quick to proclaim the success of some snake oil repair in a bottle, but don't bother to come back and update the failure (that we all new was inevitable).

[Cadillac Jim]

Yeah, but like cold fusion, the payoff is so great that we hang on until we see the inevitable. All the more reason, I guess, that someone that hears the tree fall in the forest tells us about it.

[BodybyFisher]

The problem is that the NS does NOT blow head gaskets, the bolts PULL from the block, therefore NO fix in a bottle will repair the breach, as the bolts will continue to pull

[Cadillac Jim]

That's my take too, and my mechanic called and told me he saw an antifreeze leak on a corner of the back head next to the cylinder that had the leak, and I posted a (bad) photo of it here. But, I have seen quotes from guru posts that say that removing perfectly good head bolts usually brings some aluminum with them, and that the bolts don't often pull.

It may be that there are some chicken and egg problems here; my theory is that the head leakage starts first, usually breaking the seal to the head bolt cavity. Once traces of coolant get in the head bolt wells, it still has the locktite to get past, but if there is a path, galvanic corrosion will eventually result in a head bolt pull. Small amounts of coolant loss over a period of time is the first symptom, and if you don't drive in hilly country at highway speed there may be no other symptoms for a very long time. When I had my problem, I had been having coolant loss increasingly for about a year and a half, and it had gotten to the point that I was actively pursuing the problem. My high speed commutes began about that time, and the first temperature spike happened soon after.

In any case, if a head bolt is pulled, certainly no sodium silicate sealer is going to hold past the next road trip. And, it doesn't matter whether the head bolt pulled first or now.

[Jan Olsson]

The problem is that the NS does NOT blow head gaskets, the bolts PULL from the block, therefore NO fix in a bottle will repair the breach, as the bolts will continue to pull

I'm quite surprised to see a statement like that coming from you.

Headbolts can come loose from a headgasket collapsing and making the pretention in the bolt reach zero thus making it come loose. I am sure that this also can be the case in the Northstar engine in the cases of REAL loose headbolts. When I replaced a burned valve I also could have shown pictures of "loose bolts" with a lot of aluminium in the threads. Several years of experience from working on the floor and experience from how it feels to loosen a highly strung bolt joint (I had no problems with overheating or broken headgaskets) didn't alarm me. I knew that the joint worked as it should, just easy to loosen because of the high tension and the sealed up environment without corroded thread surfaces.

My opinion is that headgaskets blow and that (maybe) there can be rare cases of REAL headbolt pulling but only AFTER the headgasket is blown. And you would only experience this after you have been driving long enough with it to make the bolt untighten/ruin the threads from the dynamical load.

Perhaps you will see pulled bolts in your engine which can explain you knocking sound (moving cylinder head)

[badrhino]

What are some symptoms of a leaking head gasket?

Please go into all symptoms in detail please.

Thanks!

[BodybyFisher]

The problem is that the NS does NOT blow head gaskets, the bolts PULL from the block, therefore NO fix in a bottle will repair the breach, as the bolts will continue to pull

I'm quite surprised to see a statement like that coming from you.

Headbolts can come loose from a headgasket collapsing and making the pretention in the bolt reach zero thus making it come loose. I am sure that this also can be the case in the Northstar engine in the cases of REAL loose headbolts. When I replaced a burned valve I also could have shown pictures of "loose bolts" with a lot of aluminium in the threads. Several years of experience from working on the floor and experience from how it feels to loosen a highly strung bolt joint (I had no problems with overheating or broken headgaskets) didn't alarm me. I knew that the joint worked as it should, just easy to loosen because of the high tension and the sealed up environment without corroded thread surfaces.

My opinion is that headgaskets blow and that (maybe) there can be rare cases of REAL headbolt pulling but only AFTER the headgasket is blown. And you would only experience this after you have been driving long enough with it to make the bolt untighten/ruin the threads from the dynamical load.

Perhaps you will see pulled bolts in your engine which can explain you knocking sound (moving cylinder head)

Sorry Jan, I didnt see this post from you. I know what you mean, but I feel that for the majority of cases, bolts pull, and clamping force is lessened and the head gasket is breached. I think the head gasket in these engines is a secondary problem. I have NO DOUBT that I will find pulled bolts in my engine.

I think the guru used to say that the coolant became acidic as it was not changed, it ATE or corroded the head gasket, allowing the coolant to get into the bolt holes corroding the threads. Then the bolt pulled.

BUT since my coolant has been changed ENDLESSLY, that is not the cause in my engine

[Ranger]

What are some symptoms of a leaking head gasket?

Please go into all symptoms in detail please.

Thanks!

Loss of coolant with no visible leaks.

Overheating under load (in the early stages).

Wet tail pipe.

Steam from the pipes (more than condensation on a cold day and smells like coolant).

Regular overheating and coolant being vented overboard.

"False boiling" - bubbles in the tank when cold like right after start up.

Surge tank smells like exhaust.

[BodybyFisher]

I have noticed that my coolant tank smells like exhaust

[MrEldo97]

Sux man...

The up side is that you will be able to join the Hall of Fame!

Good luck.

[Ranger]

Oh oh! That DOES suck. Gonna go for the Hall Of Fame Mike?