Leaky head gasket and trying blue devil

Hello all! This is my first post to the forum but I’m a frequent browser and I figured I’d post to maybe give insight to others in this sucky situation. I have a 2005 v6 with 250k miles and in hindsight my symptoms were pretty typical of blow head gasket. I had misfire on cylinder 6, rough idle when starting cold and low coolant. I had CEL and VSC light on. No oil in coolant and no coolant in oil.

Took it to the dealership and they told me it was my spark plugs so they replaced them (they needed replaced anyways and I can be an optimist) but the problems persisted. Took it back to them and they determined it was a “blown” head gasket and quoted me $6,000 dollars worth of repairs. Took it for a second opinion to a trusted local shop and they confirmed a minor head gasket leak. It did pass a block test, but there was definitely coolant leaking into cylinder 6. They also did a pressure test and found it was losing a significant amount of pressure.

Considering the information above and advice from that local mechanic, we decided to give Blue Devil a shot. Drained coolant, removed the thermometer and flushed two times with their radiator flush one bottle each time. Let idle each time for 10 mins with heat on blast both times. Then flushed with water and let the car cool down.

Then it was Blue Devil time. We tried to follow the directions as closely as we could. The only issue we ran into was the car not quite taking the suggested 2.5 gallons that the coolant system can hold (according to manual). Instructions say water first Blue Devil second. But we wanted to make sure the system had room for the sealant so we did one gallon of water then the sealant then just added as much water as she would take which is was a little less than another gallon. Let it idle for 50 minutes heat on blast. Let the car cool down again drained the water and installed new thermometer (and tightened all the valves of course). Added coolant and crossed our fingers.

This was a few days ago and I’ve cold started it a few times since and she starts like a dream and check engine lights are gone. I know it’s still kinda early at this point but I figured I could update when I think of it. Hopefully this helps someone out there considering what to do after getting the bad news of a head gasket issue!

 

Welcome

 

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Welcome to the forum

 

Thanks for posting this. My daughter has a 2005 V6 with a slight head gasket leak.

 

Wow. Thats awesome to hear. Glad it worked out for tou