Thermagasket

[rfishing]

Originally Posted by RxAuto

Hello All

The reason that we (RxAuto) Recommend you leave the Thermagasket in the vehicle for 400 miles is so if there are any other weak spots in the gasket that start to leak after the main breach is repaired the Thermagasket will be present to repair them! Thermagasket stays active for approximately 5-7 heating and cooling cycles! If anybody has any questions about Thermagasket or its use feel free to give me a call personally! We are here to help you in any way we can! Kirk 1-800-567-4077

I see you found our little study, thanks for contributing.

Here is my latest:

Had a little scare today, all stop lights, stop and go for 20 minutes. By time I pulled into mall lot, the temp was 220. This time I watched it, and fan kicked on at 225 and temp decreased down to 212 so I shut it off. Norstar engine temp swings are not for weak at heart! I am wondering if cooling system can handle summer temperatures. It is 60 degrees outside today.

Just checked coolant level again cold, and it is exactly the same, no loss. Unfortunately, I have not been able to do the mountain drive yet, but hope to do it very soon. I have been driving highway speeds 65-75mph, and much local driving, no problems at all.

Engine seems more sensitive to pedal than before. Hiting 4000+ rpms without trying. Never knew this car to run up high rpms so quickly, I have to be careful of that because of Thermagasket?

Would like to change the title of this post from Bars Leak to Thermagasket, anyone know how?

[peteski]

This entire thread is starting to look like a nice Ad for Thermagasket...

If someone really found a "new head gasket in a bottle" - all the power you you, and to all the prospecive buyers! Will some people doubt that there is a "miracle in a bottle"? Sure!
Will many others buy it to see if they can save their poor limping Northstar engine? Yes!

Good job!

Peteski

[rfishing]

Not Good

I had coolant in the 94 STS system for 3 weeks now, and car was running great local driving with zero loss of coolant, and temps average 202. Yesterday I went down the mountain pass first time since adding coolant, and traffic was heavy stop and go, engine temps were fluctuating 200-223, I drove about an hour. Going back up the mountain at the slight incline part temp gradually increased to 207-210, and went back to 202 at level sections. At the steepest part of pass, the temp creeped up to highest of 255 and no warning messages appeared. I drove slowly and managed to make it up to top of pass and pulled off at gas station there. Sure enough coolant was flowing out the overflow hose. No other leaks that I could see. I shut off engine.

After a few minutes, I turned on engine and checked temp it was at 220 and had coolant low message, so I took off radiator cap, and added half gallon of 50/50 mix but it came back up boiling (engine was idling really smooth). Let it cool down to 200 and added another gallon to fill. .

Afterwards, I drove locally flat ground, and the temp went up to 223 due to heavy stop go traffic, but temp went back down to normal with movement. I drove half hour local driving and it ran great again even with a one time fast excelaration to 60 mph engine did not overheat. Also, I could not help but notice the drivers side foot area was blowing hot air again, instead of the usual luke warm.

I remember when I got to the point of having Thermagasket and water in system for 300 miles, I drove up the mountain twice successfully before flushing. Now with the coolant it failed. For some reason going up that sharp incline, makes it overheat.

To summarize, my engine had new head gaskets, time serts, new radiator, water pump, overflow tank, thermastat, radiator cap, 16k miles ago. Engine started losing coolant after 10 months of repair, and began overheating going up mountain pass 4000 feet. Tested twice positive for combustion gases in coolant before using Thermagasket. With Thermagasket; local driving car ran great, no coolant loss or overheating at all for 3 weeks. Going up the mountain it overheated.

I wrote Thermagasket rep. for suggestion as well.

[peteski]

I could say that "we told you so", but I wont.

With the temperatures and pressures existing in the combustion chamber, there is no way some "miracle" goop mixed with the coolant can possibly permanently seal the area between the block and the head.

But it was a good try and now we have an extensive documentation of what was done.

Thanks Rfishing!
And sorry that it didn't work out.

I don't recall the specifics and I don't feel like reading the entire thread again, but why wasn't the new timesert/head gasket replacement warrantied? Sounds like you got screwed!

New headgasked should have lasted at least for 100,000 miles.
Peteski

[rfishing]

Rxauto rep is inquiring about a block test, if I did another yet. No, I did not.

I checked coolant level this evening, added a few ounces just to make sure, but it was normal. Started engine, Removed the equalizing line and it flows slowly. I shined flash light Inside the overflow tank there is a small amount of metallic particles on top of baffle plate, I can only imagine what is like on the bottom. Appears to be thermagasket metalic stuff, assuming it boiled up from overheating, or when I added the coolant while engine was still hot and it boiled back up / out. On back side of engine, at cylinder head, in the valley there is a small amount of oil there, less then teaspoon. I know it is new because I cleaned it really good a week ago.

Drove the car around the neighborhood for 5-7 minutes, and temp stayed at 196 entire time. I did rapid exceleration to 50 mph one mile, then same other direction and it went up to 201.

I parked it in garage and let it idle, checked heater air and it is blowing hot air. checked for leaks, none. I grabbed upper radiator hose, it is hot. Bottom hose was still cold. Thinking it should be hot by now? Anyone think differently, should I be concerned about the thermostat?

I let temp go up to 212 then turned on AC with Auto mode and it went back down to 201.

Oil is black and needs to be changed.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by rfishing

..... should I be concerned about the thermostat?

I let temp go up to 212 then turned on AC with Auto mode and it went back down to 201.

Oil is black and needs to be changed.

Indeed, check the t-stat. I'm wondering, if this additive will stop a head gasket leak, what will it do to the rest of the inside surfaces to the cooling system? Will it coat the surfaces of the radiator, thereby reducing it's ability to transfer heat?

[denscor]

So it stopped working on the headgaskets?

[rfishing]

According to Rxauto representative, "Thermagasket has repaired the head gasket but there is definitely something else wrong with the vehicle!".



I believe they are saying, it is fixed, because it should overheat on level ground as well as going up hill if it were a head gasket? I remember however, this is exactly the same problem it had before replacing the original head gasket. Runs great on flat ground, overheats going up mountain pass.



If I lived in a flat state such as Ohio, I would never know there was a problem with this car.


Will keep you posted.

[FRANKO]

Hi,

Just finished reading the ENTIRE string!

Has your steam cloud re-appeared out back?

FRANKO

[rfishing]

Originally Posted by FRANKO

Hi,

Just finished reading the ENTIRE string!

Has your steam cloud re-appeared out back?

FRANKO

Hello Frank,

No never had steam in the back. The next day after the high heat (255 degrees coming up mountain pass), I did see what appeared to be white smoke when I first started the engine, it was very cold out and this car does use a quart of oil every 1000 miles, it smelled smokey. That is only time I noticed any smoke, and it cleared up after a few minutes. I have been driving local driving since the overheating, and currently it is running great since mountain trip, no more signs of smoke either.

Last night I check coolant level cold, Level appeared to be above the baffle plate, but I added some just to be sure, it did not take much, and I probably added to much. I drove for 10 mins, then took it on a very rapid exceleration up a 3/4 mile steep hill (not mountain) at 80mph and highest temp was 201. I pulled into parking lot, and noticed overflow hose had a drop of water on it, I thought the worst, but it may have been equalizing from overfilling, nothing on ground below hose. Afterwards, I Went through fast food drive-in long wait 15 mins idling, and temp went up to 225 just one time while waiting in line, but fan obviously kicked in and it went right back down to 210 before I drove off. Checked coolant again this morning and it looks bright green and level is about 1 inch above baffle plate in overflow tank. Drove today, no smoke, runs great.

I am still considering this thermostat, and heater core. Thinking that some Thermagasket might have clogged the Thermostat, and heater core may be clogged from 12 bars leak tabs previously installed in overflow tank. Drivers side footwell area is blowing warm air again, not hot, rest of heating areas are hot. I removed Tstat when I did the initial flushing out of coolant to install Thermagasket, but when I flushed thermagasket and water out, I never removed the Tstat. My hunch is based on driving the other night, and noticing the lower hose was still cold after 8-10 mins. However, after driving 10 minutes today, I checked lower hose, and hose was hot but not as hot as upper hose.

I bought a flush adapter T fitting kit, thinking to cut the hose going to heater core, and flush. Will remove Tstat and check on stove top as well. Can anyone tell me if the hose on top of Tstat housing is one of the upper or lower hoses going into firewall / heater core? Its a bitch trying to trace out. Specifically which hose should I install the Tfitting for flushing? Or, is there a better way to flush heater?

One thing I remember about Tstat, when I reinstalled it, Tstat would not fit flush against the housing, I had to tighten it down to get it to fit against the rubber gasket it was about 1/8 inch from gasket before tightening. Does that sound about right for these tstats? I was surprised it would not fit snug without tightening. Also does the direction mater? From what I can remember, it would only go one way?

[Kev]

The direction does matter on the t-stat.

[C170B]

dear rfishing

I have been reading your post , following the thermagasket.

I am puzzled as to why orig time sert job was not warranty covered.

At any rate you may well get control of the N* cooling system .

What thermostat housing do you have? Is it an original black plastic or metal
housing? There was a change w/o explanation as to why?

Once you have had an OVERFLOW at surge tank air has been introduced into sys and at the least the thermostat may become SICK. I am hearing advice on forum to use only the GM part and drill an additional 1/8" diameter air hole to allow system to purge air.

[rfishing]

Even though I reported losing small amount of coolant to service writer at 6 months, they did not document it, just told me to keep an eye on it. At 10 months and 16k miles later it overheated. Dealer would not help me because warranty was for 12 months/12k miles. They are in legal rights. We called GM and got the cold shoulder. Told get rid of car.

Housing is metal, aluminum I think. I will replace tstat just in case, but will need to know the proper direction. Will also recheck radiator cap pressure. Dealer parts sold me this thermostat last year, and If I rememmber right, it did have a small hole in it with a small metal tab sticking through it.

Would like to know if there is an easy way to flush out the heater core.

[rfishing]

Update:

Finally got around to working on the car again. Flushed and back flushed every hose I could get off, lot of speckles of metalic Thermagasket came out. Hoses I could not flush were those heater hoses, I cannot even get my hand or a tool on them hose clamps, at least not with my tools. I did manage to back flush the heater hose that attaches to the Thermostat housing, and could hear the water going up inside the overflow tank, then I let off the water and it flowed back out. I also flushed out the 3/8 line from the overflow tank. I removed upper and lower radiator hose and flushed them as well. Everything appears to have good water flow, in both directions. I inserted 6 broken up GM coolant tabs in lower hose.

When I removed the thermostat, I noticed it was stuck in place, and I had to work it out. I mean to say, it was sealing the water inside engine completely. Visual inspection it looks to be in usable condition. I tested new thermostat along with old one in pot of water on stove. The old one GM brand started to open sooner, and opened wider that the new one. It opened about 1/4 inch more, and appears to be better quality than the new autozone brand, so I put the old one back in. The both fully opened before boiling.

Inspected the water pump belt, and noticed some cracks on the inside of the belt, and it is shiney on the outside edges. I replaced the belt with a better quality Goodyear Gator back belt. I removed the 2 tensioner mounting bolts, and was able to remove the tensioner. The old belt slipped off easily, and after installing new belt, I was able to move the tensioner by hand, and slip the belt over it. The tensioner is against the belt but it is nearly fully extended, I am surprised that is all the tension it provides for the belt. There is no adjustment for the tensioner, and it appears to be mounted properly. The amount of tension seems to be just enough to keep the belt in place. The wheel part does spins freely, but I had to clean up the part of the wheel that contact the belt, it was messy like graphite on it. The water pump also turns freely by hand without the belt attached to it, and I could see water being pumped out through the opening where lower hose was removed.

I am not sure if the water pump belt was slipping or not, so not sure if I fixed anything. Everything is back in place, with 50/50 mix coolant and 6 gm supplement tabs.

Afterwards, I took for drive 10 mile drive with 2 stops lights. Car ran great, just like new, temperature went up to 203 at the second light, and 194-196 on the 60mph straights. I will keep a check on coolant level over next few days, get the oil changed, and if all is well attempt driving up the mountain again.

Note: I do not see any of the shiny speckles from Thermagasket in the exhaust tail pipes. Thinking, that if I had a head gasket blown, the stuff would be there as well?

[denscor]

I have been following this post for some time with Both Eyes open, so did it work? Very excited to know!!!!!!