Hello,
(2003 Ford Taurus 3.0L V6 OHV Gas 171,000 miles)
I believe I have a small head gasket leak. I have replaced my Valve Cover Gaskets, Timing Cover Gasket, and Oil Pan Gasket. I was hoping that would take care of my problems and avoid having to tear the engine down to the block to change the head gasket. Sadly, I still have problems, so I know it's the head gasket. I am losing coolant, not super fast, but enough to be noticeable. I also have white smoke coming from my exhaust. A little bit of white smoke is coming out of the tailpipe, but the majority of the white smoke is seeping out of the exhaust pipe before it even gets to the catalytic converter. I do not have any lights on, and I have been watching and it is not overheating. My heater still works, which is important because I live in MN. I do not have any coolant in my oil and my radiator cap has not blown off. The exterior of my engine is coated in fluid, I believe it is coolant, but I wasn't sure if it was also oil. Hense me replacing so many gaskets. I figure might as well if I was already going to be tearing it apart. I was online looking for options and came across Scotty's 2019 video explaining that you should use different sealants, for different kinds of leaks. I was just wondering if a sealant would work for my situation? Or if I should just tear it all apart and replace the head gasket? If a sealant would work, which one would be best for my issue? Also, if I use a sealant, and it does not work, will it make it harder to tear the engine apart in the future?
Thank you for your time.
-Grace
Thank you
Sealer is a temporary band-aid at best, at worst it will clog up your heater core and/or radiator. Problem is that the cost of doing a proper repair will exceed the value of the car, unless you can do the work yourself.
Even with some type of sealant, the head gasket leak will get worse. As it does, you risk getting a significant amount of coolant into the combustion chambers, leading to hydro lock, which usually winds up breaking wrist pins, connecting rods and rod bearings, thereby ruining the engine, If you remove the cylinder head now and have it rebuilt and reinstalled with a new head gasket, you're probably good for another 100,000 miles.
