sprocket
Well-Known LVC Member
I figured it was worth a shot. In case anyone doesn't know, this car has a bad head gasket. There is coolant in the exhaust and oil in the coolant, but no coolant in the oil. Compression is good on all cylinders. It failed the blue dye test of the cooling system, so there is exhaust gasses in the coolant.
It took me several hours to complete the process. I used the mechanics version of Blue Devil in the one quart bottle. It requires the system to be flushed, have only water and no thermostat. This car was already running with the center cut out of the thermostat so I was good to go there.
I drained the radiator and removed the lower radiator hose. It was immediately clear that this only got about 1/2 the coolant out of the system. I also removed the coolant jug and cleaned it. To get the rest of the antifreeze out I did the following:
1) I cut the end off an old garden hose so it would fit in the crossover tube hole. This was for draining.
2) With the lower radiator hose back in place and the petcock closed, I removed the reservoir cap and inserted a funnel that was a tight fit. I then stuck a garden hose into the funnel holding it tight to make a seal. I then ran water through the reservoir until coolant game out the other hose which drained into a tub. I ran the car briefly while doing this as well, but I didn't want the car to get hot at all, because it has to be cool to use Blue Devil.
I emptied the tub into disposal containers the first time because it was nasty. After that I poured it down the house drain. When it ran clear I went to the next step.
3) My friend has a water canister that looks like a fire extinguisher. It can be filled with water and then pressurized with air. I filled it with distilled water and pressurized it. I then repeated the same process as before using the water canister instead of a hose. I ran about 8 gallons of distilled water through while letting what was in the system drain out. Since it was just water now I ran it down the driveway.
4)Now is was time for Blue Devil. But how to get it into the system? This car has back pressure. It would do no good to put it in the reservoir. It is supposed to be put into the radiator slowly over a minute or so for the full quart. It would have just stayed in the reservoir or at least been there for a long time. I didn't like that idea. The crossover tube was belching water so no good there either. I would have lost too much. SO, I removed the upper radiator hose from the cross pipe and dumped some Blue Devil in the hose. I then attached the hose, started the car, ran it for a minute, shut it off and repeated that process until all the Blue Devil was in the system.
Then I let it idle for 50 minutes. I was skeptical the whole time. The exhaust was white. It stayed white, but the volume got less. My friend Tim said it was just the weather because it is very moist out and had been raining. He said it was condensation. I didn't believe it.
The car never got hot but the temp did get to the center of normal after 50 minutes. I took it for a drive and the temp went right back down. FYI, it didn't overheat before Blue Devil either. When I got home there didn't appear to be white smoke from the exhaust.
I did the blue dye test. It passed! I still am highly skeptical. The dye was in my garage and may have frozen. Maybe the dye is no good. Time will tell. It always started really hard due to the back pressure and coolant in the cylinders. The only way it would start easily was with the reservoir cap off to relieve the back pressure. I'll try starting it again in a little while and if it starts easy, then I will believe the stuff worked. Nah, I still won't believe it for quite awhile.
It took me several hours to complete the process. I used the mechanics version of Blue Devil in the one quart bottle. It requires the system to be flushed, have only water and no thermostat. This car was already running with the center cut out of the thermostat so I was good to go there.
I drained the radiator and removed the lower radiator hose. It was immediately clear that this only got about 1/2 the coolant out of the system. I also removed the coolant jug and cleaned it. To get the rest of the antifreeze out I did the following:
1) I cut the end off an old garden hose so it would fit in the crossover tube hole. This was for draining.
2) With the lower radiator hose back in place and the petcock closed, I removed the reservoir cap and inserted a funnel that was a tight fit. I then stuck a garden hose into the funnel holding it tight to make a seal. I then ran water through the reservoir until coolant game out the other hose which drained into a tub. I ran the car briefly while doing this as well, but I didn't want the car to get hot at all, because it has to be cool to use Blue Devil.
I emptied the tub into disposal containers the first time because it was nasty. After that I poured it down the house drain. When it ran clear I went to the next step.
3) My friend has a water canister that looks like a fire extinguisher. It can be filled with water and then pressurized with air. I filled it with distilled water and pressurized it. I then repeated the same process as before using the water canister instead of a hose. I ran about 8 gallons of distilled water through while letting what was in the system drain out. Since it was just water now I ran it down the driveway.
4)Now is was time for Blue Devil. But how to get it into the system? This car has back pressure. It would do no good to put it in the reservoir. It is supposed to be put into the radiator slowly over a minute or so for the full quart. It would have just stayed in the reservoir or at least been there for a long time. I didn't like that idea. The crossover tube was belching water so no good there either. I would have lost too much. SO, I removed the upper radiator hose from the cross pipe and dumped some Blue Devil in the hose. I then attached the hose, started the car, ran it for a minute, shut it off and repeated that process until all the Blue Devil was in the system.
Then I let it idle for 50 minutes. I was skeptical the whole time. The exhaust was white. It stayed white, but the volume got less. My friend Tim said it was just the weather because it is very moist out and had been raining. He said it was condensation. I didn't believe it.
The car never got hot but the temp did get to the center of normal after 50 minutes. I took it for a drive and the temp went right back down. FYI, it didn't overheat before Blue Devil either. When I got home there didn't appear to be white smoke from the exhaust.
I did the blue dye test. It passed! I still am highly skeptical. The dye was in my garage and may have frozen. Maybe the dye is no good. Time will tell. It always started really hard due to the back pressure and coolant in the cylinders. The only way it would start easily was with the reservoir cap off to relieve the back pressure. I'll try starting it again in a little while and if it starts easy, then I will believe the stuff worked. Nah, I still won't believe it for quite awhile.
