Overheated after using head gasket sealer: UPDATE

So I’ve been chasing this p0300 for awhile now. Pretty much narrowed it down to the HG or something in that area cus it misfires at every start and I’m seeing white smoke more often too at start up. 20 seconds later it runs just fine.
Anyways, I used some Blue Devil head gasket sealer pour n go just over a month ago. Didn’t really seem to fix the issue. Then again, the coolant then was pretty old (I think they suggest new clean coolant). The motor was not completely cold when I did it (but I think that’s just for my safety and not for effectiveness, idk). And I did an 8 hour drive immediately the next day (not sure if it was ok to do that or not). Few days later I ended up replacing the water pump, thermostat, timing belt, coolant with Toyota red.

Misfire still remained

Fast forward a few weeks to today.
I figured I might try again one more time since Blue Devil says it can be used multiple times, and there’s no particles in it like other sealers that can clog the radiator, heater core, etc.

I was watching the coolant temp for about the first 30 minutes staying at 185 so I figured it was safe to go inside for the rest of the 20 minutes it needed to idle. Came back out to park it on the street, parked, checked the coolant temp one last time.. 235!! I panicked, turned it off immediately. Also seemed to pick up a p0303 p0306 in addition to the p0300. I waited till it got down to around 215 and started it again just to see if it would start and it did just fine. No knocks, no smoke, no smells. My resivor is still full. I’m waiting for it to cool some more before I check the radiator level itself.

Before everyone suggests “just replace the head gasket” well I would love to!
Frankly, I don’t have the time, space, or money at the moment. I can’t afford to miss too much work if the head has a crack and I have to order a new one. This is my DD. If anyone has a car I can borrow while I work on it and can still go to work let me know haha. Worst case I get a rental but those aren’t always cheap. I’m still trying to figure that part out.

Open to your opinions on what might’ve happened. It has overheated twice before and one of those times I think was a lot worse than this cus I was actually driving and the radiator leaked dry.
Thanks gents

 

It won’t get better. Multiple over heating will ensure a damaged head or worse.

I have no solution for you, but I can understand your predicament.

next time it over heats, crank the cabin heat up to combat the engine temps, the heater core acts as a second radiator.

 

You can get a little more life out of a leaking gasket....
But not as simple as dumping in some chem and snap your fingers....

The best stop leaks you have to purge all coolant and residue...
use only water.......

And keep in mind that your gonna damage thermosat and heat core...
you'd have to bypass.......and then your radiator is gonna take it in the ass....
wont function as well afterwards....
And then you have to eagle eye that temp all the time....

I've seen retreatment up to 4 or 5 times, and they get another 2 or 3 yrs.....
as long as you keep rpms down......

If head is cracked, thermo expansion will cause to break out again.....
and have weird and intermittent coolant loss.....

 

Im just going to say it... your screwed.

The last 2 cars I got a pruis and a 4runner the previous owners tried that same method and in both cases the head gaskets still blew the heater cores clogged the radiators clogged oil coolera clogged and coolant passenges in the heads and blocks clogged. In both cars both needed new engines, heater cores, radiators and oil coolers, and in the pruises case an egr cooler as well. Stop leak of any kind should be illegal to sell and people who sell vehicles after putting that shit into them should be tarred and feathered.

 

Any thing with "stop leak" is just that, a plugger.

 

Yikes

 

No free lunch. Any snake oil will just take your money and make even fancier smoke. All hope is lost, time to pull things apart and fix 'em properly, 'cus you will eventually do it anyway.

 

Another thought: Didn't see any mention of checking the thermostat or aux fan. Check all of the basics and especially the ones you "know" are OK. Thermostat, aux fan, viscous fan, radiator pressure, etc. You might not be boned but don't discount a few basic failures instead of one big one.

 

Aux fan? Viscous fan? Remind me what those are please.

 

Did you do a compression check first to verify the misfire.

Could be Plug, Coil / wire, injector, wiring issue.

My bro in law is chasing a misfire with his 14’ 5.7 Tundra. Looks like it’s a wiring or computer issue, yay.

 

To be fair I am familiar with the 4bangers but you have a couple layers of cooling. You have a belt driven fan that has a viscous clutch that engages the fan once a certain temp is reached and they don't last forever. You also have an electric fan that runs when the AC is on and it also acts as a cooling fan as well. Check your fans. This would be a good time to invest in a Toyota shop manual.

 

Compression is good all were between 180-192. Engine block test was also good, fluid stayed blue. Plugs, coils, wires are all two years old oem. Wiring looks ok from what I can see and same with grounds. I’m still loosing coolant.

 

just fix it

 

intake leak.

or crack.

 

Just got back home. Opened the radiator.. doesn’t look good.

 

Those numbers were before the blue devil?

 

Yes. I was told that gasket leak could still be there even with good compression and block tests. Seemed reasonable to me since I was still loosing coolant. Perhaps not.

 

Fix it. You are going to be adding catalytic converters to the parts list if you keep buring coolant.

 

Popped the top hose off for a second to see if it solidified that far. Mostly liquid with small chunks as you can see. But as for the radiator.. toothpaste. Oh well.

 

Don't recommend brushing your teeth with that. JK (no but really). Sub'd to see how this turns out...for science. I feel bad for your predicament though. Hope you can find a solution.