blown head gasket? 91 t bird

I brought my car to the shop because the whole car was vibrating alot. come to find out one of the bushings from the engine mount is gone. ever since this happened the car blows white smoke and runs really hot (or so the temp gauge reads).before the mount went the car ran beautifully with no white smoke. anyway when i took it to the mech.he told me that by running a few diagnostics he can tell that the head gasket is blown or in bad shape. my whole thing is that because the engine is shaking it self to death, could this be the reason for the white smoke? any thoughts on this? and wouldnt i be able to tell if the head gasket was going from the way the car ran before? all of this just happend in a 48 hour period.

penny for your thoughts

Irish, this is what I wrote a few days ago concerning K&W Block Seal.



Actually, I just wanted to tell you all about what I'm doing right now. I'm pretty cool with a bunch of the guys over at the local Pep Boys, and when I told them about my blown head gasket, they pointed my to the K&N Block Seal. I looked at the $8 can, and when I saw "Guaranteed to stop head gasket leaks, I figured it was worth a shot. So I bought it, followed the lengthy instructions, and used it. The result - so far, so good! I had to completely flush out the old coolant first by draining what was left of the current antifreeze, then fill it up with water, start the car and let it run for 5 minutes, drain the water, fill it back up, run it for 5 minutes, over and over again until the drained water became perfectly clear. Then I mixed the Stop Seal with 3 Quarts of hot water, added it to the radiator, and topped it off with water - just as the directions said. I then had to start the car IMMEDIATELY, and let it run for 20-30 minutes. After about 5 minutes, the exhaust stopped dripping and blowing out white smoke, but I waited for 20 more minutes, just in case. I was then to drain that mixture out of the cooling system, and let it dry for 24 hours before doing anything else with the car.

The next day (today), I went back to finish up the job. I had to flush out the system one more time with water before adding new coolant. So I did this, and so far the car seems to be running great! The thermostat is still reading normal after driving if for an hour, so I'm going to change my oil again tomorrow.

Now, I'm a real skeptic when it comes to these "quick fixes", but I had to try it out since I'm pretty much broke as shit (sorry). I did, however, go online during those 24 "drying" hours, to help lift my spirits. What I found was great. If you go on Google and type in "K&W" and "Block Seal", you can read the testimonies of many people who have used this stuff. Out of all of the reviews and remarks on many different forums, I only found one person that it didn't work for. And my guess for this is that the person didnt follow the directions to a "T". They're pretty damn meticulous, and I'm sure that at least one person is gonna try shortcuts. Either that or he had been driving on the blown head gasket for quite some time and made the hole too big, or warped the head too much.

Anyhow, my complete review of this stuff is yet to be made. But like I said, so far, so good! If this stuff does turn out to be permanent like the can says...



Okay, it's been almost a week now, and I have spent about 3 hours each day in HOT Los Angeles traffic. If you've watched the news close enough, you'd know that we're in a bad heat wave right now. Anyways, I have been checking my thermostat and fluid levels regularly, and have been amazed every time I look - THEY ARE PERFECTLY NORMAL!

Well, this K&W Block Seal has worked so far for me, but idk if it works for everyone. If it turns out that you DO have a blown head gasket, then I strongly recommend trying this stuff out before you go dishing out some serious cash on a repair or a new engine.

If you DO want to try this stuff out, it's available at Pep Boys, and I'm sure most other major automotive stores. But make sure you get the K&W, and MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS TO A TEE! Read them over many times before you do it, and make sure that you get all of your coolant out completely before adding the mixture that you have to make (you just have to mix the stuff with 3 quarts of hot water - nothing big).

I hope that if you do, in fact, have a head gasket problem that this stuff helps you out. I can't think of any harder test to put this stuff through, other than what I already have. I have been hauling ass up and down mountains here in sweltering L.A., and have not had any problems yet. I'm really trying to test it before I resume any further maintainence on my car.

Good luck man.

Thanks Mike75

I had the engine mount fixed yesterday so the car is running smooth again. There was white smoke when i picked it up from the shop but that seems to have gone away. I did find a radiator leak and re clamped that one, so my heats back and the car no longer runs hot. I think the guy that i took the car to was trying to take me for a friggin idiot. if problems persist that are head gasket like problems i certinitly (forgive the spelling) give K&W a go. I love my T-Bird but not willing to put another enigine in it or invest $1,000-2,000 repairing a "91" 3.8 V6. If it was a "96" 5.0 maybe.

By the way i did research K&W on google etc... And your right... the people who use it, swear by it.

thanks again

No problem at all man. I'm glad your car is doing better.

Just an fyi, no '96 5.0's.

I also have used k&w block sealer,the trick is it has liquid glass or sodium silicate is the main ingredent,back in the 70s and 80s you could buy it in its pure state at drug stores and believe me it works great,first time I ever saw it I was bout 10 years old and my uncle used it on a old car it worked,ive used it several times as a matter of fact will be using it today on a 1987 supra,I will report back but im sure it will work.