The story:
Last November or December of 2006 (2 or 3 months ago), I over heated my car due to the radiator level dropping too low without my knowledge. Well, the engine got hot to enough to expand causing a crack (probably not visible to the naked eye) either in the block or the head gasket. My car idle began surging and dropping regularly when in Park or Neutral. So I began keeping water with me and checking the radiator water/fluid level all the time along with the amount of oil and didn't drive it on the freeway during this time. Though it was Winter, I still used water, since I live in sunny California.
The surging never quit (at the time), but my car wasn't getting hot any more. So I began discussing options with my buddy who is a mechanic and I didn't want to haul my car off to the junk yard just yet nor did I want to drop in $1200-1800 for someone else to fix it.
Let me backstep a minute.
- My car was over heating, but my dip-stick registered plenty of oil*.
- There was no water/liquid drips below my engine (water pump, radiator, hoses, etc.)
- Nor was there any moisture from my tail pipe**
* This was probably due to water sitting in the oil reservoir, which was pushing the oil level up on the dip-stick.
** Keep in mind that just because you have moisture from a tail pipe does not mean that you have a cracked head or blown head gasket. This can also happen if there has been a lot of moisture in the air (rainy season) or if the car has sat for a while.
Most people do not mess with a job like this on a little 4 cylinder, but I had nothing to lose and after some researching on different methods and products, I found K&W Nanotechnology's "Permanent Head Gasket & Block Repair" for about usd$22. So, I removed the thermostat and followed the directions included.
They also have a 200% money back guarantee and though some people will scoff at the idea of a customer actually being able to get their money back is beside the point. This comment is more of a promise that their product will work for you.Now that this product had been used properly, we started (after waiting the required time) and the engine ran with out any idle surging. It worked!
After I followed the instructions in a military manner, (at the appropriate time) I then poured in a bottle of Bar's Leaks' Liquid Aluminum - Radiator Stop Leak, which was less than usd$10. This was only a preemptive move to make sure there was no leaks in the radiator and also it couldn't hurt anything, but might prove beneficial as the same time.
Now, the next question was, how long would it last, because I like to go off-roading and this product says it will fix your engine back to 100% competent, so my off-roading future looked bright. I drove it gentle for about 4 days or so and then took it out on the freeway. It drove fine and the engine didn't heat up, which is partly due to the thermostat being removed.Well, now I was really interested in knowing just how strong this stuff was, so I decided to test it out. I made a 60 mile round trip to a friend's place in the mountains and there are two mountain ranges to get over to get to his house, so that would be the ultimate test. It was 20 or so miles of freeway at 70 mph and then another 5-10 of mountainous highway with tons of turns and grade changes, which I took most in 2nd gear for more power and acceleration out of turns.
The Result: Everything worked fine, no problems and the engine stayed cool.
Just this past weekend, I made the trip again and all is still good. My car is fine. The product worked.
