Ok. I know some people have commented on "snake oil" solutions and I think this product has been mentioned before, but I have decided to go ahead and try the "Thermagasket" product from the US - RX Auto.
There are many reviews online that give it rave write-ups and with a repair bill of upwards of £1,000 on a car that's worth around £600, I've decided its a gamble worth taking!
Does anyone have any experience of this product? Any guidance or advice (apart from "don't do it"!).
If anyone is interested, I'll post a "blog" on here of what the process is and how it goes?
To start the record, the symptoms are signs of steam coming from the tail pipe(s). Using a small amount of coolant, with some evidence of gases in the reservoir. It looks like it is early signs of HG failure and that is why I am hoping this product can do a realtively good fix, for a fraction of the price of a new HG!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 13/02/2009 at 10:22
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Good luck, but I think its probably a short term fix rather than a long term "repair".
I understand because of the price/value and accordingly its probably worht a shot but I think its only delaying the inevitable?
Never heard of the stuff either, but I assume its a similar product to "Kalimex and cargo Seal"? Both of which I have tried and delayed having to do Hg; rather than not having to do HG!
But, let us know?
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only other advice i can add is, either your going to try this and if it fails scrap the car. otherwise stuff like this and radweld is a pig to clean up once the head has been removed as it has a habit of blocking up in the galleries and heater matrix etc.
chris
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OK. Thermagasket has arrived from Los Angeles and the prep work seems simple enough!
I'm going to follow it all to the letter, just to make sure I don't prevent it working through bad workmanship!
The main advice is to ensure the reason for the overheating/blown HG is fixed first. As the car came with the symptoms, but has had a new waterpump fitted not long ago (in mileage!), I'm going to go ahead with the assumption that waterpump failure caused some HG damage.
First thing to do is to flush all trace of the anti-freeze from the system. Having already had a good go at back-flushing the heater matrix to get rid of any sitting gunk, I hope this will be easy enough.
Next I need to remove the thermostat for the duration of the treatment. I'm assuming that the action of the Thermagasket is to seek the "hot spots" caused where the HG failure is, and that by having coolant flowing at a reduced temperature will assist this?
The two bottles that you get with the kit are interesting! Bottle A contains a fluid that looks like liquid metal. It is described as being a "carbon solution with metal particles". I've never seen anything like it! Bottle B is a thick red fluid that must cause the reaction with the particles and the heat?
During the course of this week I will run the car with clear water and flush it out each evening until I am happy there is no anti-freeze. That will then give me the weekend to treat the car and run it for the required miles to get a good fix!?!
I'll let you know what happens early next week!
S
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OK. Interesting times!
I've been without internet for a while, hence the delay in posting an update but....
Having flushed all the anti-freeze and ensured everything was tightened up suitably, I filled the coolant system up, around 1 litre short, and proceeded to shake the bottle of the black stuff!
After adding half the black liquid and half the pink liquid, I immediately ran the car at motorway speed (only 60 mph!), between 1500 and 2000 revs for 40 miles! Temperature guage registered only as far as the first line on the "normal" range. Its never run so cold! (I'm assuming it will run quite cool without the thermostat!).
I then took a look at the exhaust - all the noticeable steam had stopped!
I then drove it at normal speeds for a further 150 miles, checking the coolant at regular intervals. No coolant used/lost.
The instructions say to leave the treatment in the system for 2 weeks and drive normally. Two weeks is nearly up! I've driven over 600 miles and i've had to put just under 1 litre of water into the system in that time. Still no apparent steam from the exhaust.
The only time it has run "hot" was in a prolonged traffic jam - when the guage read between the "R" and the "M" of NORMAL.
Miles per tank have improved around 10% whilst driving it cool! Should I leave the thermostat out?
This weekend is two weeks and the system will be flushed again, then topped up with suitable anti-freeze.
So far, so good! I never imagined this would work, but if it gives me another year of motoring, I will be well chuffed!
Any other news after the weekend, I'll let you know!
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Hi Turtle
I've gotta 1995 2.5 V6 which is losing oil and water, how did the Thermagasket fix go?
Cheers
Steely
Mega SNIPQUOTE!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/02/2009 at 18:20
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i bet as soon as u put the thermostat in it will go back to steaming from the exhaust and using a lot of water again..with no thermostat in the engine will run cooler and less coolant pressure the engine will run richer as well...
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