I was told by a friend that the head gasket repair-in-a-bottle actually works. Of course, being skeptical of any mechanic-in-a-bottle, i was wondering if anyone else has tried it. If so, please share your experience. I'm looking at a head gasket repair and am thinking about giving it a whirl.

Just do it right the first time. Why gunk up your motor with that stuff.
It really isn't that hard to do, just take your time and maybe have a friend with you to help.

Easy for some, hard for others, but either way, it's a pain. Honestly, I don't think it's easy, and I've fixed or replaced about every part on a vehicle at some point and time. The fact that it cost $1000-$1200 to have a mechanic do the job says something in itself. Now, having said all that, I'm probably going to replace it myself, but hey, if enough people tell me that it works and had good experiences with it, then I don't mind taking the easy and cheaper way out.

>>>*Nearly all sealers work on the same principle, just hair in the bathtub drain scenario.

In high stress areas, the fix is temporary at best.

There is one type of sealer that I know of that undergoes a catalyst type reaction under heat and sets up like metal. Many machine shops use it when they remanufacture an engine block, they just drop a cube of it in the water jacket. That is called "Magic Seal" and is mostly sold to people in the industry, it isn't commercially available, partly for toxicity reasons.

This works very well for cracks and things like that. I have sealed up cracks in heads that were inches long and pouring coolant.

Even at that, it is still temporary and will eventually fail. But I did seal up a cracked head in my own Oldsmobile 98 for over 100,000 miles. Surrounding mass of metal to help support it is why.

A head gasket?

Nope, I would not even suggest trying a sealer. Best to get the wrenches out....*EB

Just to add:
Winter is coming around the corner. This stuff will clog your heater core / valve / etc <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />. Just that much more to deal with when you replace the head gasket, and, you WILL end up replacing the head gasket.

Yes, please do remain a skeptic. Also go to the Toyota tech archive and in the lower left window, do a 'view all' and do some reading on the 22R/RE tricks and tips before you start. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Crap....you know this is not what I wanted to hear...
Thanks for the input. Funny thing, I've got another pickup, also a 3.0 (didn't mention that before) that is blowing coolant from a freeze plug on the back of the pass side head. I just didn't want to tear them both apart. But like EB said, time to get the wrenches out...

If it is a 22r(e) and you aren't having to do anything else other than the HG. it shouldn't take you more than the weekend. If they are both 3.0's, it is going to take you longer than the weekend. It is a slow process, a lot of hoses and parts to take pics/diagrams/video of and place all bolts in order(diff sizes on same part) in the order they go with the part, etc. I spent about 24hrs tearing down my '90 3.0, but all of the prep work made it a breeze to put back together(5 weeks after tearing it apart), if I wasn't sure about a hose/vacuum line, etc, all I had to do was look at video and pics.

Since both of your rigs are having issues, you could try the HG liquid repair on one while you tear into the other, to try and prevent the other from going before you get one fixed.

While the heads are off I would recommend getting them rebuilt(burnt exhaust valves are an issue w/the 3.0's), and have the injectors cleaned/rebuilt. You will also need new head bolts, the 3.0's are one time use torque-to-yield, and re-using them will absolutely guarantee another blown HG. Either buy new TTY's or head bolts from Enginebuilder, as well as the head gasket kit. If you have a quality head shop in your area that works with Toyota's, you should be able to have them rebuild the head and shim the valves for you, and if you have the new TTY's or head bolts prior to the the shop rebuilding the heads, they can install the bolts so you don't have to remove the cams to install the heads, there is just enough room to get a socket on the bolt to tighten/torque. This basically makes it a bolt up set the timing and drive rebuild, rather than having to set the valves yourself.

Figure about $7-1000(if you have the injectors rebuilt) for a DIY rebuild. Also if you ever thought about running headers now would be the time to install, of course this will add about $700 more to your rebuild costs.

do what i did- go down to your local dealership and flirt with the receptionist.

Then, when you are in good with her, use her employee discount!

Here's a few examples:
starter- $140....$68 w/ discount
headgasket- $48.....$22
Cap/rotor/plugs/wires- $190....$96

you get the picture?

A guy I work with tried a bottle of the stuff, and it diddnt work.