Engine repair question about 2008 Town and Country 3.8L

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65LoveAffair

65LoveAffair

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I am in a bit of a pickle, so I need some advice. We have a 2008 Chrysler T&C 3.8L with a little over 234k on the clock. I am pretty sure we have a bad head gasket. It leaks coolant but there are no puddles, the overflow tank bubbles when I remove the radiator cap (combustion gasses?), it blows white smoke when I start it after it’s sat overnight, and it’s throwing misfire codes. As long as I keep coolant in it, however, it doesn’t overheat and there has been no noticeable loss of power. The oil is also not milky.

My question is this: Have any of you ever used head gasket repair stuff (Bar’s, K-Seal, etc)? I know they’re a stop-gap and come with their own issues (clogged heater core, among others), but we can’t afford this repair at the moment, and it is beyond my ability.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
I've not used it directly, but when I worked for O'Reilly, we sold the Blue Devil stop leak for head gaskets to a lot of our commercial accounts and word on the street was that it always worked. The K&W stuff with the fiber in it also seemd to work well. They also offer a money back guarantee if I remember right on the label. So they're pretty confident in it. That would be what I would try and then if I had success, I'd sell it or trade it.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I've not used it directly, but when I worked for O'Reilly, we sold the Blue Devil stop leak for head gaskets to a lot of our commercial accounts and word on the street was that it always worked. The K&W stuff with the fiber in it also seemd to work well. They also offer a money back guarantee if I remember right on the label. So they're pretty confident in it. That would be what I would try and then if I had success, I'd sell it or trade it.
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I wish we could afford to sell or trade it. I’ve been unemployed since October and my wife can’t work due to being disabled. Bills falling behind have pretty much ruined our credit. This honestly couldn’t have come at a worse time. But thank you for your advice. We’ll just have to see how this plays out.

Merry Christmas!
 
A stop leak may work on small coolant leaks but will never stop a bad head gasket.
 
As suggested, the head gasket in a can stuff might help temporarily. I've used the K & W fiberlock a while back and it did seal it up.
 
I swear by this stuff: "Dike" cooling system sealer.

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Sealed up a John Deere 2520 gas farm tractor, leaking head gasket running down the outside of the block over 20 years ago and is still holding.

Also use it as preventive leak maintenance for used cars, hoses, and gaskets that can seep and leak. Won't plug the heater core.

Want to give it a better chance of working? Flush your cooling system a couple of times, to get the white crap and oily film out.

Then put in a new 50/50 mix of Distilled Water and Anti-Freeze and the Dike cooling system sealer.

Get all the air out of the system and make sure it is full. (sometimes have to top it off the next morning after it cools down from first run up to get warm)

Then take it out for a good long drive and let the healing begin.

Put in a new thermostat too at the same time, as you don't want your system running warm or even hot from a wore out used up thermostat causing problems.

☆☆☆☆☆
 
Any of the sodium silicate based products are worth a try in this instance. The biggest pain is flushing all the coolant out of the system before filling it with the water and repair.
 
Murray said:
I may have mis-spoken.
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You would have been correct only a few years ago as this stuff is fairly new to the market, still. I share your same sentiment regarding the older stop leak stuff you and I are most familiar with. It's pretty much snake oil, but this new generation of stuff can actually work. And of course you know it, the auction and used car guys just love it. lol One of them......I think it's the K&W product has a double your money back guarantee on it. Of course getting it may prove to be more trouble than it's worth. lol
 
To flush the cooling system try used Cascade dish washer "powder" DO NOT use the tablets. It will really do the trick for you, just make sure you flush it well to get all of it out.
 
It's most likely the intake manifold gasket. Didn't do a lot of head gaskets on those engines. Easy fit too.
 
65LoveAffair said:
I wish we could afford to sell or trade it. I’ve been unemployed since October and my wife can’t work due to being disabled. Bills falling behind have pretty much ruined our credit. This honestly couldn’t have come at a worse time. But thank you for your advice. We’ll just have to see how this plays out.

Merry Christmas!
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I wish yall well. Kitty and I have struggled for a lot of years ourselves. We also live solely on social security. It's tight. I have managed to pay off some outstanding debt we carried for several years and things are a little better now. I used to do the occasional mechanic work for friends, but now, my health is to the point where I don't do that anymore. There is one member on here who pops up from time to time mocking me saying stuff like "if you go to work you won't have those issues" and the like, but I just let it bounce off. None of us knows what the other is going through, so I watch what I say there. Just know you have prayers coming your way. I hope whatever you decide to do with your car works out.
 
I used to buy one of all of the stop leaks and dump a different one in each day. It would work for awhile usually.
 
Hellrats said:
It's most likely the intake manifold gasket. Didn't do a lot of head gaskets on those engines. Easy fit too.
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I really wish this was the case, but I doubt it. While some of the symptoms between the two are the same, I don’t think a bad intake manifold gasket would cause the cloud of white smoke from the tailpipe every morning. And I think I would also see a noticeable antifreeze puddle under the van. We’re leaking coolant somewhere, but it’s not going on the ground.
 
K-seal works but not every leak is fixable. Worth a shot. Some you pour into rad, run it for a few minutes, pull all the plugs and let it sit overnight. My old Town and Country trans started to go so it was off to CarMax as a trade in on a 2012, we still have it. I have only changed out the water to oil cooler thingy in the valley due to some sort of leak and were on our 3rd (well almost) driver side window regulator. The replaced one in there now started making a racket so I pulled it and found the top pulley was broken, I fixed it with a screen door roller! Almost a perfect replacement pulley.
 
I haven't played with the 3.8 at all, but you might check the spark plugs to see if they confirm coolant is going through the cylinder. Typically it will wash the plug because of all the steam, sometimes the porceline will turn colors.
I'd stop at an auto store and rent (typically free) a pressure tester to see if you can pressurize the system and see if that helps track it down.
Again, not familiar with the 3.8 but a leaky intake sounds like it could result in coolant finding a port and blowing steam?
I've also had cars with bad water pumps lose coolant over long periods, but no obvious leak. None of it made it to the ground, mostly because the bearing and shaft was so hot it just boiled all the liquid out until it left a waxy substance that blended with the rest of the oil weeps. The pump finally totally died and once swapped the coolant has remained at a steady level.

Just some thoughts that might be worth trying to rule out for cheap/free. There are likely head gasket sealers that work, but I'd do everything to confirm the worst before heading down that path, myself.
 
65LoveAffair said:
I really wish this was the case, but I doubt it. While some of the symptoms between the two are the same, I don’t think a bad intake manifold gasket would cause the cloud of white smoke from the tailpipe every morning. And I think I would also see a noticeable antifreeze puddle under the van. We’re leaking coolant somewhere, but it’s not going on the ground.
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Plus, I tend to believe a leaking intake gasket would contaminate the oil and it would show up on the dipstick.
 
There is also the little doodad you can rent from the parts stores that attaches to the radiator and measures combustion gasses in the coolant. That would at least confirm your suspicions.
 
Hellrats said:
The 3.8 has no oil going through it only air and coolant.
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If the intake gasket is leaking, would coolant not contaminate the intake valley? I admit, I'm not completely familiar with that engine's construction. Nor do I want to be. LOL
 
65LoveAffair said:
I really wish this was the case, but I doubt it. While some of the symptoms between the two are the same, I don’t think a bad intake manifold gasket would cause the cloud of white smoke from the tailpipe every morning. And I think I would also see a noticeable antifreeze puddle under the van. We’re leaking coolant somewhere, but it’s not going on the ground.
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I have seen the gasket split and leak coolant into the intake running so no you will not see any coolant on the ground on.
 
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