Bluedevil death

Joshphoto

New Member
I blew my head gasket. On top of that, my temp gauge was not working properly so I ran my car until it was so hot it wanted to explode. After it cooled down, I added more coolant and was able to drive it home just fine. My suspicion was that the radiator fan was not working so I tested all of that and it was fine. I replaced the Cooling fan temperature switch just in case. The car continued to start on the first crank every time I tinkered with it. Someone suggested Bluedevil head gasket repair so I thought I'd give it a try. I watched numerous videos and for the most part, they had positive results. I started the car up, turned the heat on high and slowly poured the BD in the radiator. I let it run for about 50 minutes. I shut her down for the night and the next day went to fire it up hoping for a miracle cure. It would not start at all. My little Honda has NEVER failed me before. I tried and tried to no avail. It was turning over really strong, just would not start. I pulled the plugs, cleaned them, put them back. Same thing. Opened the air filter cover and sprayed starting fluid in there, same result. Where could this Bluedevil have gotten that's now preventing my car from starting?? Please help. Oh, and please don't lecture me on how I should have replaced the head gasket and not messed with a short term fix, I already know that, believe me. If I had a stack of cash laying around collecting dust or a shop of my own, I would have definitely replaced the head gasket. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Josh
 

civteck

Respected
Registered VIP
Do a compression test, i had the same happen yrs ago and i ended up cracking 3 sleeves.. not to scare you but it was a boosted B20 at the time

Sent from my boujea ass phone
 


Joshphoto

New Member
This^ killed your engine, not the BD.
So please explain why it ran fine, other than over heating after running for a certain amount of time, for two weeks after the initial incident? It wasn't until I put the BD in that the car never ran again. I can't help but to think it had something to do with it.
 

Drakon543

Member
the only time i would agree to the use of magic fixes myself is if you were stuck somewhere it could be dangerous if you hung around too long. magic fixes in a bottle most of the time do more harm than good. also if they work its only a bandaid that might work just long enough to get you home. boofoo is probably right but again magic fixes are only useful in an attempt to avoid towing costs. they are not safe for anything else in the engine.
 


Joshphoto

New Member
It's turning over just fine and is on the brink of starting but just won't. It hasn't seized quite yet. I don't doubt I did some serious damage by letting it get so extremely hot. There were no indicators that it was over heating. My temp gauge was giving a false reading and it wasn't until I stopped in grid lock traffic on the highway that I noticed all the steam. I got off immediately and was stuck at a red light at a very busy intersection in Seattle. I had to park it somewhere safe and there was a parking lot across the street. I couldn't just shut it down in the middle of the intersection during rush hour. Anyway, I did not intentionally let it get that hot. I pulled over at the very first sign of over heating, unfortunately it was too late.
 

Drakon543

Member
boofoo is pretty knowledgeable with hondas. some vehicles are so weak in this specific topic the temp gauge doesnt need to be in the red for it to have damaged something. i can only reference my experience with the first gen dodge neons.... yes i owned a 95 neon for a time. temp used to ride in the first 1/4 of the gauge. i shut it down when it got close to the 3/4 mark but it was already too late.
 

Joshphoto

New Member
I believe there was air in the cooling system that caused the temp gauge to malfunction. I have seen it hit the red before a few years ago and stopped right away and it was no where near as hot as it got this go around. I ordered a compression gauge and a dummy light to test for spark. Since we're in the monsoon season in Seattle, I can't get much help in the way of working on my car in the pouring rain. I'm not sure how to test for the mechanical timing but I'll google it. It is so close to starting that it seems like a timing issue, or spark. I'll keep you posted after I run the other tests.

Thanks
 

Joshphoto

New Member
Ok, here's the latest... I bought this dohizzle to check the spark. It's basically an extension that runs between the spark plug and the spark plug wire, with a light in the middle of it. If there's spark, the light comes on. Anywho, I threw that on one of the cylinders and turned it over and it started on the first crank! I let it run for some time just cuz, but figured I should take that tester off. I shut it down, reattached the spark plug wire to the spark plug and fired it up again. I let it idle for about half an hour, bleeding air out of the coolant system during the process. I could hear some muffled and really quite backfire noises but could not tell where they where coming from exactly. I shut it down again and went through all four cylinders, checking for spark. All was good. I then checked the compression on all cylinders and that all checked out fine. Also, while I had it running, there was no longer any exhaust coming into my radiator like there was before the blue death. After the tests, I cleaned up and decided to take it around the block. Well, it wouldn't start again. It was really trying but I kept hearing those muffled backfire noises... My guess, is that there's coolant trapped in the combustion chamber. Thoughts? (other than push it into the ocean) If there is coolant in there, is there a way to get it out or is it just done? Also, if that's the case, why would it fire up?

Thanks Colbert
 

Drakon543

Member
now that its not running again do another compression test. that blue devil probably cought just enough to seal it until you ran it and shut it back off. the sealant goop really does do what it says but it also usually only lasts as long as i suggested. just long enough to either get home or a garage. your ONLY real option is to junk it or get it fixed the right way. ive been there had an old lumina i was just trying to get another month or 2 out of it. i probably went through a couple bottles of sealant in that time and 2 cans of black pepper. lol redneck sealant btw. but i still only barely got a month before it completely siezed the engine.
 

civteck

Respected
Registered VIP
What was the compression on all 4 cyl? Were the tips (electrode) of the spark plugs wet at all? Smoke coming out of the exhaust while running? Color? Pull the oil dipstick how does it look? Clean, milky? Any cel's while it was running?

Sent from my boujea ass phone
 

Joshphoto

New Member
The compression on each cyl was around 165 psi, the tips were dry and I sanded them a little bit just to make sure they were clean. No smoke in the exhaust, I checked a few times, even bent down to the pipe to smell it. There was a very faint smell of antifreeze, or maybe I was tripping. No color either. Dipstick oil is black with no milkiness, I've checked this a few times as well. No CEL's. I never did check the timing or notice if the fuel pump was priming as mentioned in number 13 of this thread. I actually just saw those for the first time a minute ago...
 
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Joshphoto

New Member
I jumped the CEL wire and the check engine light just stayed solid and the SRS light was continuously flashing so that didn't help much... Unless that means something to you?
 

Joshphoto

New Member
I believe it was off but I'll need to put on my rubber suit to go out there and double check.(It's still pouring rain) I know it was never on when driving. The first time I've ever seen it come on was when I jumped the connector
 

Joshphoto

New Member
Without the connector jumped, all the dash lights come on for a few seconds then the CEL and SRS lights go off
 


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