BlueDevil Products 38386 Head Gasket Sealer - 1 Quart

I bought this product summer of 2014 when my 2004 Toyota Matrix XR (1zzge) engine developed a head gasket problem (burning coolant [exhaust moisture + sweet smell], but no coolant in oil or oil in coolant). I had a few minor overheats due to a cracked radiator. but this engine has a weak head prone to warpage. I had recently had this engine rebuilt and could not afford to do it again. I was getting by for a month by refilling the radiator every 10 to 20 miles, it was a slow head gasket leak. I didn't think this would work but it did. I have put 20k miles on the car and its holding strong, I have even used the Matrix last week to Tow a 2,400 LB BMW with no issues.So here's how I used it; I took out the thermostat, but left the rubber gasket and reinstalled the housing (it is a pain in the butt on my car, but it worked). I emptied all the coolant and flushed it with water. I read online the red devil can react with coolant so we have to clean out the system.I bought peak cooling system flush and mixed it with straight water per the instructions and bleed the cooling system, Do yourself a favor and get the "Lisle 24680 Spill-Free Funnel", I was broke and spent part of that weeks food money on it, but so worth it! It really is spill free, and spills are the last thing you want when the blue devil is about $50 a bottle.After getting the air bubbles out I took it on the highway for 10 min to let the engine heat up and let the cleaner do its thing.I then flushed it with water about 3 times to get all of that cleaner out of the system, I was shocked at how dirty the water that came out was, These cooling systems need flushing.Next I drained the system and put the plug in, I added some distilled water (1/4 gallon) then I used about half of the blue devil. I continued filling the system till it wouldn't take any more.From there I started the car I topped the system up as needed. Once I had enough water in the car (i checked the capacity of my system online), I put the radiator cap back on to build pressure and reach operating temperature.I ran the car for an hour or hour and a half, what ever the blue devil instructions said. I noticed the exhaust vapor had stopped, I needed to get to work that afternoon so I gave myself extra time and baby-ied it all the way there. I took it real easy the first month, still carrying about 6 galons of water at any given time. Two months later I nearly had a breakdown when I lent it to a friend while I was over seas and he said it refused to start the day before I got back. It was just the starter : ) . I know its difficult to believe a sealer can repair a leaking head gasket, but It worked for me, If I can get 4 more years out of this car I'll be happy, It it starts leaking again ill just use red devil again.On a side note red devil is not made for all cases, that BMW I was towing had blown a gasket too, I was tempted to use the product! But I knew that the leak on the BMW was much worse with pooling coolant in some cylinders. For a larger leak like that I would not want to rely on a sealer for another family member's daily driver, yes it could have worked, but BMW's are a little more delicate (temperamental), and I don't mind doing a head gasket on the BMW since that car has less than 100k and will retain its value better than our beat up matrix.In 2018 I sold the matrix,It still ran but after towing an suv started smoking again. The blue devil got me the time I needed out of that car, several more years till I could gain some traction on a career; for me it eventually let go. I was however pushing the car beyond the manufacturer recommendations, so I can’t blame the blue devil product. If you have the money it’s no substitute for the actual head gasket. If you don’t it’s a good bandaid till you can pay for the fix or replace the car.

The product met expectations, helped seal the tank effectively, demonstrated good durability, and contributed to improved engine performance and heat retention.

I have been working on my own cars since I was 21 about 12 years ago. I have swapped and built engines. My honest opinion is avoid this stuff like the plague. It's a temporary solution to a permanent problem. You may be the lucky one that has a small gasket leak, but you may be one of the many (just search engine the negative results and you'll find some on Youtube) that has larger problems. This stuff works as it says, the problem is when you have more than a head gasket leak and it goes into those places and chemically welds other things in place, LIKE YOUR PISTONS. I have a seized engine that will not turn over, which is no issue because I have another one to replace it (FYI, if you intend to keep an engine do not use this; this is a last resort as it could result in having to junk an engine - because it's just cheaper - as it will chemically weld on all the internal surfaces in the engine if you have more than a gasket leak). The only way to know if you have more than a head gasket leak is to pull the head off in the first place. By that time you've already gotten far enough to replace the HG, and found any other issues that need fixed anyways. If you have an HG leak you might have other issues, as I did. My application is a 4.0 I6 Jeep Cherokee engine. It has either a cracked head or cylinder wall in the 6th cylinder which is not a common malady. I thought it was just an HG leak only since I could see a visible leak. I decided to investigate mechanic-in-a-can solutions and determined BDP's HG sealer to be the best option. I now have a fully seized engine that I can't remove from the transmission because it requires turning the crank to be able to get the bolts off of the flywheel so it will come off of the torque converter (the TC turns and locks 3 separate times into the transmission, it doesn't come out until you have the engine out of the way). So you see I have a serious conundrum, especially since I am not junking that transmission with the engine since it is a brand new remanufactured transmission. BDP has opened up a serious can of worms for me beyond my wildest dreams. I will never use this or any other chemical in my coolant system to stop a leak. It's a temporary (for me it was VERY temporary) false sense of security. The leaks stopped, but one day at work I had to make some long trips after a few weeks of having it in and the entire coolant system bled out. The way the thermostats in these engines work is if you don't have any coolant it will be an extra long time before it registers the heat since it is at the very top of the engine. It's the last spot for heat to spread too. So as soon as the gauge jumped to the right and sounded an alarm I pulled over, by the damage was already done by then.UPDATE: It's later today (12-17-2017). I got the head off of it. I'm going to give you 6 guesses which cylinder Blue Devil sealed up for me but you're only going to need 1. It also plugged up 1 of my catalytic converters. Ultimately this all was the result of a not-completely-tightened head bolt in the very back of the engine (I found out as I was un-torque'ing all the bolts). It was practically loose. I didn't bother checking them when I put this engine in last year because when it came out in 2014 it was a working engine that never had any problems. I bought it from a guy in Ocala in 2012 when I came home from Afghanistan for 2 weeks. I later on found some janky stuff they did in the suspension, sound system, and failed attempt at installing the snorkel. I imagine the original head on this engine cracked and they either replaced it or they bought a broke down jeep, got it running, and then turned around to sell it for a profit. Regardless, it ran fine before so I didn't bother checking the head bolts. If I would have the engine damage could have been completely avoided. Blue Devil would have never fixed this, but I wouldn't have found that out until I took it apart anyways. This is precisely why I say buyer beware. The only sure way to know whether or not BDP is going to fix your problem is through a leak down compression test which will pressurize the cylinder and reveals all the leaks. If you have leaks beyond the head gasket BDP ain't gonna help, unless you need something that will temporarily hobble you along.The picture with the snow is the buildup of BDP. It was like pudding, but it only seals hard in the oxygen exposed areas where there's iron or steel. I cleaned it all out and PB blasted it. Hopefully I will be able to turn the engine over so I can get the transmission disconnected from the engine so I can get it out finally.UPDATE - 12 -18 - 2017:Letting PB Blaster sit in the cylinders for two days I still couldn't break the pistons free (I did this last year after letting it only sit for a night and it broke up all the rust). Cylinder 5 was mostly rust and I could tell the PB blaster was working in there because the amount of fluid drained down low. Cylinder 6 with the BDP treatment stayed sealed to the cylinder walls. Trying to turn the crank by the bolt was stripping the bolt head and using the crank puller bolt holes with bolts in them was actually bending the bolts when I tried to use them for leverage with a breaker bar. Finally I resorted to the last resort, a sledgehammer right into the pistons. If I had any intentions of rebuilding the engine that is now completely out the window. Pistons are damaged as well as the cylinder walls. Pictures enclosed.Stay away from this stuff and get the work done by a mechanic. This is coming from a DIY person that does all of his own work and is all about saving money. This just costs you more in the long run and isn't worth the toil. Blue Devil will seal the deal on your engine's eternal destiny as it sucks it down into the junkyard pits of hell.

Follow the directions and don’t use too much. Had a leak in my BMW e39 head, leaking exhaust gasses into my coolant. Installed blue devil and it’s been running great for over a week. So I thought I was going to have to change the head gasket. But that’s on hold now. So if your car isn’t really worth the cost of the head gasket repair, give blue devil a shot and you will probably be back on road sooner than you thought.