Time To Replace Headgasket

[bridget36907]

thanks for the reply..I took it to the olds dealer and they said no blown headgasket..radiator clogged..car is sold now

[zephram22]

the engine probably will have to come out.

[tedcopeland]

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE!

Heli-Coils is they way to go. They make the inserts that you'll pay big $$ for at the dealer. They'll tell you who in your area sells them or can order them. The way to go is two heli-coils in each thread hole of the block. The easiest way to do headgaskets is to drop the frame, engine/transmission intact and do them from there. Obviously this requires a lift. If the mechanic that is doing the job calls heli-coil and asks for sales, they can walk him thru the process. They even have the correct tap to rethread the holes and tell you exactly what size drill to use. Do the leak test with the blue fluid first. If your local parts doesn't have them Google "combustion leak detector" I got mine about $35 and I see them for as much as $50.

If you do the test and the fluid turns yellow,you may want to consider rxauto.com. They advertise on this forum for a product called thermagasket. They are a relatively small company but I used the product twice. Once, it worked the other it didn't. The cost is $99. If it doesn't work, you get your money back. I tried the "horse pills" from GM. They are actually made by BarsLeak and like heli-coil, are cheaper at the parts store in that name than from GM. They do work in certain cases but the thermagasket worked when they didn't.

[tedcopeland]

Originally Posted by tedcopeland

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE!

Heli-Coils is they way to go. They make the inserts that you'll pay big $$ for at the dealer. They'll tell you who in your area sells them or can order them. The way to go is two heli-coils in each thread hole of the block. The easiest way to do headgaskets is to drop the frame, engine/transmission intact and do them from there. Obviously this requires a lift. If the mechanic that is doing the job calls heli-coil and asks for sales, they can walk him thru the process. They even have the correct tap to rethread the holes and tell you exactly what size drill to use. Do the leak test with the blue fluid first. If your local parts doesn't have them Google "combustion leak detector" I got mine about $35 and I see them for as much as $50.

If you do the test and the fluid turns yellow,you may want to consider rxauto.com. They advertise on this forum for a product called thermagasket. They are a relatively small company but I used the product twice. Once, it worked the other it didn't. The cost is $99. If it doesn't work, you get your money back. I tried the "horse pills" from GM. They are actually made by BarsLeak and like heli-coil, are cheaper at the parts store in that name than from GM. They do work in certain cases but the thermagasket worked when they didn't.

I mispoke regarding Heli-coil. It is timeserts.com that is the GM supplier for these. The info I gave regarding Heli-coil is correct otherwise as far as sales and being able to speak with an engineer by phone. I have read also after entering timeserts in Google that there may be cases where Heli-coils were tried first and there were issues that were resolved using TimeSerts. I haven't the time now to do further online research but the info is out there but I wanted to update before the incorrect information was read. Sorry for any problems! http://www.timesert.com/html/faq.html Is the link to the FAQ section.