I love Wendy's Frosty drinks!

I ran K&W block sealer (not radiator stop leak) in a little Daewoo I had bought my daughter 10 or so years ago. It started losing coolant internally and I thought it was a cracked head. No head available locally. So I decided to try the block sealer. Follow the directions to a T and it won't clog the radiator. It's silica based and has to harden. Flush thoroughly when done. You have to flush all the coolant out, run the sealer with just water, then flush it all out again, let dry, then refill with coolant. If you're concerned about the radiator disconnect the hoses and flush it some more.

This worked for about 8 months before it started leaking again. Found a head in a junkyard in Charlotte -- about 2.5 hours one way. Decided to pull the head first. Good thing, turns out it was just a deteriorated head gasket! If I hadn't been suspect of the head I'd have done that right away. I was rather impressed that it sealed a head gasket that long though.

purple72Gremlin wrote: Makes me wonder if it's a cracked block? Reason I say that it if the head gasket was leaking...it would leak in the cylinder....or possibly where it seals on the passenger side? But...Who knows? The 258 isn't known for head gasket problems.....

Lifter problems - absolutely.  Head gasket problems - you are correct! Not so much.

However, the wildcard in the scenario would be Was it a factory head gasket?

If not, who knows what mutton head was in there previously and was inept enough to not torque head bolts?  That is the right question, detective.


Some might not be aware that locally, I'm the goto-Guru of the Mopar 2.2 (and lesser extent 2.5).
Between the ones I've owned, family have owned, friends have owned (and they were VERY poopular around here once upon a time)  that I've worked on easily 50 and gotten to know them intimately. Giggitty.

I had a friend who's wife had this hunny of an '86 Turbo Daytona that kept popping head gaskets.  It got to the point that my friend could change them out in a few minutes by simply lifting the head, sliding a new gasket in and bolting it down.

It wasn't until I asked him one day:  "Are you replacing the head bolts with aftermarket or are you getting them from the dealer?"

His response:  "Why would I replace the head bolts?"

Mine:  "Uh, well, they are torque-to-yield bolts."

Him:  "What's that?!?"

Me: "Single-use bolts, dummy."

Granted, my buddy was a gearhead and generally knows what he's doing.  Classic Mopars most certainly can re-use head bolts.  The modern stuff cannot!  But nobody told him that! The whole time they owned that car I think it'd gone through 12 or 14 head gaskets.  It wasn't until the 15th one that I told them to bring it by my place and I'd do it properly.  They then sold the car thinking it wouldn't last.

Yeah, we saw that thing roaring around for 10 YEARS after they'd sold it.  Each owner loved it and they were hard on that little car.  It eventually toasted the Turbo from one owner, or several, not doing regular oil changes.  Though I'm sure a new Turbo and a new oil line and it'd have been up and running.

The moral of the story kiddies is that it really pays to know what you're working on.  We may know what we're doing - it's the previous owners we have to worry about!

FSJunkie wrote: I have not decided what color to paint the head and valve cover when I reassemble it. The stock black is boring, so I may go with AMC blue. It will look pretty underneath all the emission plumbing.

Hemi Orange!