Seem to have temporarily fixed head gasket! Advice?

[Emrarrr]

Hi All

My name is Emily and I am new to the forum. I currently own a 1993 Celica ST184 nice and stock Slowly doing some mods for fun, good practice for my future GT4! Anyway...

When I purchased this car there were so many problems, way too many to list. A few being, no thermo fan, several blown fuses, dysfunctional water pump, starter motor issues, need new distributor (bare wires), thermostat was bored open, leaking hoses, constant overheating bla bla however got most under control! The car blew the head gasket (I could have possibly bought it with one hence the constant over heating and the amateur mistake of not checking the engine oil etc.

Basically the car started smoking and the radiator fluid bubbling and shit loads of sludge through the engine oil. Gasket had blown however cylinder pressure remained good. There was no way I could afford to get a whole repair done. I decided to flush the radiator and heater core and then put seal tite (like chemmy weld) through the system following the instructions etc. This was approx a month ago. Since then the car has not overheated once, the oil has no sludge whatsoever, runs like a dream, doesn't smoke and doesn't chew through coolant. Keep in mind the car needed about 3 litres of water every 20 mins of driving towards the end.

Is it possible this could have fixed it? At least temporarily? After about a week of driving I still may need to put in about say what would be equal to three cups of coolant in but this is a far cry better than before! I am thinking, the coolant loss doesn't necessarily have to be the gasket as some of the hoses are still leaky and the water pump is shitting itself. Do you think those are things that would contribute to the coolant loss? although sometimes it won't need a top up at all. I used to have to keep the thermo fan on constantly and had to pull over and put coolant in continuously and after that seal tite I have had no probs whatsoever! If you don't think the other things I mentioned could be related to coolant loss maybe I need to put another small treatment of seal tite in?

Any advice welcome!
Thanks in advance
Em

[Silly Rabbit]

Chemi weld is wonderful stuff, for leaks that is, for pretty much the rest of the cooling system it ain't great. In your case it seems to have done something good for the engine but from most reports and from also when I used it that stuff will be clogging up the engine until the end of time.

I had a slight head gasket leak from the water gallery to the outside of the engine in my 18RG. Used some Chemi weld and the leak went away. Did the flushes and everything as mentioned but the brown stuff was still present and is still there many years later. That said it is only a temporary fix and probably shouldn't be looked upon as a long term solution. I took the head off and replaced the gasket and fixed the problem properly but the chemi weld is still clogging up the water galleries.

Will you be doing any engine work or will you just keep driving it until it possibly happens again etc?

[ta22fan]

Em - I would avoid multiple sealing treatments - you are likely to clog the water gallaries in the engine block and head. I've seen reports of cracked heads due to overheating as a consequence. While you may have mostly plugged the head gasket failure - chances are you'll still be getting some leakage, and it'll get worse again over time. This sounds like something that needs a proper fix asap.

[jondee86]

If the car is running fine, and the only problem you have is adding a little coolant now and then... Don't worry... Be happy... check the radiator every day and keep driving

Cheers... jondee86

[oldeskewltoy]

If the car is running fine, and the only problem you have is adding a little coolant now and then... Don't worry... Be happy... check the radiator every day and keep driving

Cheers... jondee86

.... and in the mean time pick up a spare engine... tear it down and rebuild it... Toymods will be here to assist

[Emrarrr]

Hey, thanks for all the advice! Luckily I didn't do another application of seal tite, I was shit scared it would clog the system! As fas as if I am going to fix it up properly- definately and would love to now but unfortunately studying at the moment so money is a bit tight! After fixing so many things already I think I will need to save for this one so basically if it gets me a bit of time (if you think it will) I will keep it going as is and as usual keep a really good eye on it then when I have enough I will get fixed for sure. I want to keep her as my daily when I get my gt4, one day! I was thinking about putting a whole new engine in someone quoted $400 to install and I reckon I could find a decent 5sfe from a Camry to put in for $200-$300, could that be a viable option?

Haha Jondee I like your attitude! That was mine and then the head gasket blew lol!

Will def be hitting everyone up for assistance!

Now to get rid of the sludge and yuck, should I now drain the oil and put a flush through? I am new to this!

Thanks again!

[Emrarrr]

Oh yeah one more thing! I want to get a 2.5" performance cat back exhaust fitting but that too needs to be put on hold until more important things are done. This is lame but is there anyway to get the car to sound just a bit deeper/louder cheaply? I heard u can remove the cat converter and put metal pipe in place but no welding would be preferably and I will never put a hole in the muffler and sound like a fart! Sorry if I say anything dumb but I am learning, could you take the mid muffler off and not put anything in it's place or is that essentially a hole in the muffler?

[ta22fan]

Em - I'm not a fan of chemical engine flush. Pretty certain I buggered a Corolla engine many years ago that way (no easy feat!). I'd just do a engine oil & filter change, run the car for 500k's or so, and then repeat. You definitely want to get that gunk out of your engine as quick as you can - that stuff can speed up crankshaft bearing wear.

On the exhaust - don't remove the catalytic converter! Very much illegal. A good quality after-market air-cleaner can sometimes give you a slightly stronger engine note (and improves performance a bit).

[wa5]

Dont waste your money on aircleaners or exhausts... pretty pointless fitting them when you may lose the engine next week... save the dough for whats really important.. fix the motor first.. including taking a look at the rest of the cooling system... Cheap / Good / 5sfe .... Pick two..

[Emrarrr]

Ta22fan- Thanks heaps for that, I will def do the oil flush tomorrow and replace the oil filter, picked one up a couple of days ago! That doesn't mean it will undo the sealing that seal tite did and it will end up with the over heating probe again?? I actually got a good Pod and have put that on and it sounds awesome and throaty when I put my foot down!

Also do 93 celica's have bolted on mufflers as in can it be easily taken off and a better muffler put in place or does it need to be welded?

wa5- haha yeah I think I would prefer a good 5sfe engine. At this stage it is probably cheaper for me to sell as is and then get a gt4!

[ta22fan]

Em - no particular reason for an oil change to make any difference, but keep in mind that you're basically running with a blown head gasket plugged up with some chemical goop desiged to plug radiator leaks (temporarily) - it's a ticking bomb and could let go any any time for no particular reason. Running clean oil may save the engine internals from terminal damage. You'll also be able to quickly see whether you are still leaking coolant into the oil.

I don't know the factory setup on the '93, but best just to get under and take a look as something after-market may have been put in sometime over the last 20 years

[Emrarrr]

Hey TA22fan,

Yeah I keep reminding myself she still has a blown head Lol still so attached to the damn car! I did the oil change- level is now perfect no sludge etc. Is only a matter of time tho! I actually found a 1990 st185 aus spec for sale rego $800 and it has legit advan rims and like a garage of parts?! Anyway here are some photos of my Sillycar stocky, one of us together before Toyotas in the Park like a love story....

[kiwi]

On the exhaust - don't remove the catalytic converter! Very much illegal. A good quality after-market air-cleaner can sometimes give you a slightly stronger engine note (and improves performance a bit).

Are you sure its illegal? First thing I do is strip the cat from any exhaust i am building.

[Emrarrr]

Yep pretty sure it's illegal to remove the cat- in WA at least, the guys who did mine said anyway. I ended up just getting my muffler sawn off and a hot dog style one on there and it actually sounds really good, deep drone and when just cruising speed it isn't noisy and no fart noise thank god!

[ta22fan]

My understanding is that the cat is part of the emission control system, and hence falls under the various Evironment Protection legislation - here's the VIC one, but I think it is similar across Australia (don't know about NZ):

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/v...03563/s19.html