Head Gasket Miracle Fix?

[TheBaron]

Hey All,

I have a 2011 Avensis 2.2 D4D!!! The head gasket went on it just after I bought it used about 2 years ago. I got it fixed and no real problems but brought it for a 4 hour cross country drive 2 weeks ago and it over heated and now it seems it has gone again, it is putting water out of the overflow pipe on the expansion tank and there is a strong exhaust smell from the coolant.

I am not going to spend anymore money on this car, I have spent enough!! I drive an hour to work and an hour back 5 days a week, I don't drive the car hard rarely go over 2000 rpm. Is there any of the bottled miracles that work, I am willing to give anything a try as I am just going to keep driving it regardless (topping up coolant every few days) until it dies!!

The only problem is the leak is obviously creating pressure in the system which is pushing the water out of the expansion tank so will these bottled fixes work?

There is not white smoke from exhaust and no water in the oil just the pressure in the expansion tank and the exhaust smell from the coolant.

I have heard steel seal is good and some people have mentioned Blue devil, any advice would be very welcome. I'm sure there are alot of 2.2 D4d drivers out there that feel my pain!!

Thanks in advance!!

[avetoy]

Hello Aaron!

I feel your pain but I´m afraid there is no other cure but leveling the head + new gasket. And there might also be a possibility that it can´t be done for the second time?

Meaning if there is no gasket thick enough available. When engine overheated the leveling may take more material from head and thicker gasket is needed.

When engine block is aluminum, do  the head bolts thread withstand...

If you just continue topping up coolant (during the summer only water) when needed (to avoid overheating) the car may work long time before dying! 

 

 

[yossarian247]

My mother used to own a Corsa 1.7 diesel which had a leaking head gasket and would push coolant out of the cap. The car was quite old by that time and due to underbody corrosion wasn't really spending the money on getting it fixed properly. We tried K-Seal and it did definitely slow down the rate of leakage, but not totally stop it, and after a year or so it was as bad as ever again. However, if you just want to get a bit more life out of an engine which is otherwise unfixable, and not have to top the coolant up so often, it is probably worth a try.

[Mr Wolf]

If you Google you'll find there are a number of head gasket sealing products claiming they work. Some even promise to give you your money back if they don't. Some suggest you drain the system and then flush and refill with water before adding the sealant preparation. Bar Leaks state that if your engine takes more than 15 minutes before overheating then their product will seal any leak. Having not used any of these products I can't say they will work but if I was in your situation I'd give them a try. £30 could be a small price to pay. Good Luck.

[Ant-Rav]

I thought the head gasket problem on these engines was sorted in 2009, I am sorry to read about your problem, I guess one product to seal leak's is as good as the other. Try any one product maybe and see does it work, u have nothing to lose, if it did work u should prob trade it in against something else. Good luck with it.

[m456an]

Coolant is expensive, well the pink Toyota one is, maybe try distilled water but fill the reservoir completely or simply try the cheapest coolant you can find and it may be a good enough solution maybe not oem, but the Toyota 2.2 was oem and not up to oem standards.

[James_Delahunt]

20 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Hey All,

I have a 2011 Avensis 2.2 D4D!!! The head gasket went on it just after I bought it used about 2 years ago. I got it fixed and no real problems but brought it for a 4 hour cross country drive 2 weeks ago and it over heated and now it seems it has gone again, it is putting water out of the overflow pipe on the expansion tank and there is a strong exhaust smell from the coolant.

I am not going to spend anymore money on this car, I have spent enough!! I drive an hour to work and an hour back 5 days a week, I don't drive the car hard rarely go over 2000 rpm. Is there any of the bottled miracles that work, I am willing to give anything a try as I am just going to keep driving it regardless (topping up coolant every few days) until it dies!!

The only problem is the leak is obviously creating pressure in the system which is pushing the water out of the expansion tank so will these bottled fixes work?

There is not white smoke from exhaust and no water in the oil just the pressure in the expansion tank and the exhaust smell from the coolant.

I have heard steel seal is good and some people have mentioned Blue devil, any advice would be very welcome. I'm sure there are alot of 2.2 D4d drivers out there that feel my pain!!

Thanks in advance!!

Hi there yes ive heard of loads of horror stories regarding the head gaskets on the 2.2d4d you said above you barely drive above 2000rpm that in itself is a possible facor or cause to why it went i was told with the 2.2d4d they suffer from excess carbon build up due to failure and wear of oil control rings on the pistons and burning of small amounts of oil the egr is also a massive problem with them as regards carbon if i had one personally i was told that you should give the 2.2d4d engine a good hard drive at least once a week and for a considerable distance too ie motorway at 80mph 5th gear 2900 to 3700rpm to burn excess carbon off but in general nobody should have to do that if the engine was decent from day one unfortunately those engines are more troublesome than theyre petrol vvti counterparts i have a 2.0 d4d myself and i was plagued with problems from day one first water pump then egr then set of glow plugs now turbo and it has 165000 mile i guarantee by 180k miles my DMF and head gasket will fail and ill be packing her in and going to my vvti avensis

[avetoy]

I´m sorry that I seem pessimistic...

When the fuel burns inside cylinder, pressure is so high that it is hard to believe any product, added to the coolant, will stop exhaust gas leaking into cooling system.

In this case the head gasket fault is still so tiny that only gas will go through it. I think it is impossible to liquid, with almost no pressure at all, to go against tens of bars gas pressure?

Those repair products may work at radiator leaks etc when they react with air and blocked the leak.

Those products may not cause problems, but I´m afraid they are only waste of money...

 

[Kennycab]

I didn't think 2011 cars suffered from head gasket problems, they were all sorted a couple of years earlier.

I have had the problem on my 2007 2.0 d4d at 114 k, it will last a while but get worse with time and use if you keep it topped up, I used a longer pipe on the overflow that went into a 1 litre bottle for a while, that caught the expelled coolant which I then poured back in once it cooled down.

My car is now on 203k and been ok since fixing it but if it ever goes again then I will be trying Steel Seal in it, the value of the car is so low now that it would probably not be cost effective to repair again properly and I know the head won't take another skim, but 2011 car may be worth doing properly again.