Hey friends. I've opened a thread about my Prius' shaking engine and some of you lovely friends informed me about the good news: the head gasket is blown. It went WORSE and WORSE every single day since I opened that thread. I have started to use head gasket repairer liquid like 2 weeks ago and it seems working just fine. No check engine light, no shaking. What happens if I regularly use that repair liquid? It only costs like 30 bucks. Doesn't it make more sense than letting engine turning into a hotdog? I make 150-200 miles in a day. The mileage is 260k. I am an international student and really not able to cover buying another car/repairing the head gasket. Is there any solution? Thank you so much!
Typically head gasket repair liquid will plug things up and cause overheating but it’s been several decades since I used said product
Used Bars Leaks radiator sealant at 32,000 miles on our 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan on its transverse V6 impossible to access rear bank cylinder head gasket failure (external, not internal) and that did the trick for another 90,000+ miles, until the POS was stolen and never recovered.
The head gasket leak will get worse or the engine will blow a hole in the side of the block. You might get away with it for three to six months, maybe. The problem then is it may cost more, an engine, radiator and heater. Watch this video.
With somewhere to work on the car, floor jack, jack stands, a good collection of tools, this is a fairly arduous DIY, that'll set you back maybe $300 minimum (gasket kit, form-in-place gasket plus new head bolts). If you get a machine shop involved, to refurb the head (inspect/clean plus new seals, that come with the gasket kit), probably atleast $1K. Getting someone professional to do it, $2000~2500? Do clean the EGR, intake and throttle body in the process, or (my suspicion) you'll be blowing the new head gasket, in another 20K miles or so. This video will give you some idea what's involved: There's some head gasket repair info in my signature.
