headgasket leak.

[toyota_Camry97]

i need some help.. i have a camry 97 le
inline 4 5sfe engine.
my headgasket is leaking. coolant is coming out of the between the block and head.
it is not that bad of a leak but.

ok i have two options either change the headgasket of use a stop headgasket leak.

does anyone know if the stop headgasket leak, blue devil or steel seal works?

or should i just change my headgasket.


give me your suggestions about this. thank you in advanced.

[carsrus]

Blue devil is supposedly good stuff, but I would only use it if the other option was to junk the car.

Sealants and stuff will clog and mess up your cooling system, blue devil will only take a while to do it.

If you want to keep the car, fix it. Theres no miracle fix in a bottle, the heads gonna have to come off, the magic in a bottle will just require you to get a new rad, waterpump and heater core in addition.

[Fortified Souls]

Yea my dad wanted to try steal seal but I told him no and it turned out that our problem was more severe than just the headgasket so I'm glad we didn't. Taking off the head isn't to bad taking off the intake manifold is really hard though because the bolts are in really tight spaces. I would start looking at this http://www.scribd.com/doc/9571013/Toyota-5sfe-engine to see the work involved to see if you want to try this or not. You should have it done in about a weekend. It cost me about $250 to rebuild the head and resurface it and the headgasket kit with all the gaskets needed is about $120 dollars at autozone. Plus fluids if you do it yourself it would probably be about 375 to 400 dollars to do it right.

[toyota_Camry97]

hi guys thank you for the heads up. now i am solid with my decision.. to change the headgasket. goodthing is my uncle is a mechanic and i hav no problem in paying a hi price labor. and he was not sure either if the thing works.

THANK YOU!

[Mike Gerber]

You don't mention what your long term intentions are with this car, nor how many miles are currently on it; but if you do plan on keeping this car, stay away from the bottle fixes and replace the head gasket. That is the proper fix. There is no way of telling what these magic fixes in a bottle will do to your cooling system long term. Since your uncle is a tech, he can probably help you do this in 1 day. That would be my choice.

Mike