Bought a 2002 Camry 4cyl, 94k miles. Has a head gasket leak. My mechanic or one of his guys did the Blue Devil Head Gasket Treatment #38386. It didn't take, may have been done wrong. Antifreeze leak back of engine by intake manifold and bubbles never fully stop when purging the cooling system. 1or2 bubbles every 20 seconds. Eventually the overflow fills up. I plan on doing an (over kill) re-application to poss. avoid the $1500 or more for a head gasket and poss. stripped head bolts job. I plan on running the car with straight water and Blue Devil Flush for a few days. Flushing it then removing the thermostat and poss. connecting the heater core hoses together. Slowly put in the product, run the car for 50min.-1hr.. Let rest 1hr. and repeat for several cycles. Maybe repeating the cycles a second day. No, not putting in more product ! If Scotty or anyone feels there is a better way for my last ditch effort, please let me know. Please, no you should have done replies. If I could change the past, i would have purchased a radiator chemical test and not this car!
anyone feels there is a better way
Yes, a new head gasket and peace of mind.
What's $1,500 to get years of reliable service?
The only "better way" is proper replacement of the blown gasket, checking the head for warpage and cracking. There is no miracle in a bottle that will fix these kind of problems. Such products are temporary band-aids at best and are just as likely to plug up your cooling system as the head gasket leak.
Unfortunately, the 2002 - 2005 Camry is pretty famous for blown head gaskets and stripped out head bolts. I would get the head rebuilt, have timeserts installed in the block and use ARP studs, get a good quality head gasket and get another 200,000 miles out of it.
I plan on doing an (over kill) re-application .... running the car with straight water and Blue Devil Flush for a few days.
This owner put Blue Devil in his cooling system. Now radiator, thermostat and water pump has been added to list of broken things.
Get it fixed the right way. The Blue Devil may have failed because the head gasket isn't the only problem. The head could be warped or the block could have some sort of defect/ be cracked from overheating. Those products really only work if there's hairline cracks, something where the sodium silicate crystals can easily build up and plug the leak. It's unlikely to fill large cracks or gaps, like you may have with a warped head. The new seal can also suddenly give out under load and you'll be back to square one, if not worse off than before.
