OCD head gasket protocol

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Mr.Lin

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I have a vehicle that has a blown head gasket. In the past (from what I’ve seen guys dye coming up (I’m older) I drained coolant, drained oil. Put a gallon of wd40 in along with 2 quarts of 20/50, cranked, let idle 10 min then shut down fir storage until I address the problem..
In the past I’ve seen guys do this on their higher end builds instead of letting things sit contaminated then requiring full disassemblyWith this method, I’ve seen them do this, drain when they fix, fill with light oil, then change to their preference and go on their merry way…
Just a random thought/topic.
(Long time reader/new member)
Cheers..!
 
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Mr.Lin said:
I have a vehicle that has a blown head gasket. In the past (from what I’ve seen guys dye coming up (I’m older) I drained coolant, drained oil. Put a gallon of wd40 in along with 2 quarts of 20/50, cranked, let idle 10 min then shut down fir storage until I address the problem..
In the past I’ve seen guys do this on their higher end builds instead of letting things sit contaminated then requiring full disassemblyWith this method, I’ve seen them do this, drain when they fix, fill with light oil, then change to their preference and go on their merry way…
Just a random thought/topic.
(Long time reader/new member)
Cheers..!
Click to expand...
When I did my Isuzu I drained the fluids, did all the disassembly, did a few ring soaks, and sprayed the cylinders with Fluid Film.
 
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So you ran ten minutes without coolant? Not what I'd have done.

I resurrected an old Plymouth Acclaim 2.5 with bad head gasket, there was peanut butter oil everywhere. I just did a BUNCH of (about four) oil changes, 3 quarts at a time, with the cheapest oil I could find. The radiator side was easier, I don't recall it being contaminated, but I probably just ran some water through a couple times before commiting to antifreeze.
 
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Astro14 said:
What does this WD-40 run hope to accomplish? Ruin bearings?

Pull the plugs. Squirt some oil in each cylinder. Turn over by hand. Reinstall plugs. It’ll be good for a long time.
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And don’t forget running with no coolant.

I’m a bit mystified as to what any of this has to do with the head gasket. But do note that he says it’s “Just a random thought/topic.”
 
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I guess if I was stranded on a desert island with an engine with a blown head gasket, and all I had was a gallon of WD40 to preserve it until my rescue - then, yes I would do as OP suggests. Otherwise no.
 
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Blueshound said:
I guess if I was stranded on a desert island with an engine with a blown head gasket, and all I had was a gallon of WD40 to preserve it until my rescue - then, yes I would do as OP suggests. Otherwise no.
Click to expand...
Plus you would need antifreeze to refill the cooling system. Or at least some water.

That’s the part I’m confused about. Running an engine without coolant is a prescription for all sorts of disaster.
 
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Blueshound said:
I guess if I was stranded on a desert island with an engine with a blown head gasket, and all I had was a gallon of WD40 to preserve it until my rescue - then, yes I would do as OP suggests. Otherwise no.
Click to expand...
I share pretty much the same view, I had to see where OP even talked about using WD40. At first, I thought he was talking about maybe spraying it down spark plug holes to achieve some kind of first start/even piston soak ?? lube.. however then I read this part of the post here..

Put a gallon of wd40 in along with 2 quarts of 20/50,
Click to expand...

OK so be mixed 4 quarts WD40 with 2 quarts some kind of 20W-50 motor oil.

Looks like perhaps he was shooting for some kind of 5W-20 or 5W-30.

And. Aside from noting that WD40 is supposed to have some lubricating qualities (??? Asking... I know not a lot about WD40 except that many hate it, greatly dislike) I'm not sure why he put it in 1/3 motor oil.

Maybe he thought he was trying to clean it, like some say can be done with trans fluid??

OP, I would drain that mix and put in some of the cheapest motor oil you could find, maybe from Walmart.

And the answer to the screenshot is NO! (you cannot use WD40 as engine oil.)

Keywords: WD40, WD-40
Screenshot_20230805-080619_YouTube.jpg
 
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kschachn said:
Plus you would need antifreeze to refill the cooling system. Or at least some water.

That’s the part I’m confused about. Running an engine without coolant is a prescription for all sorts of disaster.
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If it didn’t need a head gasket before, idling it for ten minutes without coolant will ensure it needs a head gasket after.

Perhaps new heads, bearing, pistons, and whatever else got damaged by the excessive local heating…
 
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kschachn said:
Plus you would need antifreeze to refill the cooling system. Or at least some water.

That’s the part I’m confused about. Running an engine without coolant is a prescription for all sorts of disaster.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Even sea water would be better than nothing in an emergency.
 
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I think OP is just stating what he’d do on a vehicle with a blown HG that was going to sit parked for a long time before it gets repaired. Drain fluids (I don’t think the oil matters unless it was contaminated, I assume he’s draining coolant to make it quit contaminating oil system / crankcase). When it’s not running and de-pressurized, I’d think contamination is at a minimum, but I guess there’s nothing wrong with being extra cautious. Refilling the crankcase with wd40? Seems like it’d be more expensive than cheap oil, but I could be wrong.

When I had heads off my mustang to rebuild, my car was down for a week outdoors…I soaked the cylinder walls down with whatever BG equivalent to wd40 was at the time, I had the coolant drained due to making the repair, the oil stayed in it until after the repair then a regular oil change was performed before firing it up.

My HG on that vehicle blew due to valve float and excessive boost, though. All my coolant made it out the exhaust and externally and the car was older / no emissions equipment on it at all (street rod registration).
 
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Oil was heavily contaminated (as in at at least 50% coolant.
Idling an engine with no coolant merely to oil/decontaminate hydraulic adjusters etc, and try to displace water and heave a minimally contaminated mix in the crankcase during storage definitely won’t damage anything further than what the 50/50 oil/coolant did…
Nowhere did I ever just say “use wd as oil” lol
I’ve literally seen this done many, many times thru the years, so I was just throwing that out there to see if anyone has ever heard/done the same…
I’m guessing not lol…
(Y’all sure love some mmo around here tho… lol)
I do too, that was just a friendly poke…
 
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(Furthermore, I know a guy that worked for Holman-Moody that would clean a gasket failure engine out with diesel…Y’all really gotta hate on that one)
 
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Mr.Lin said:
Oil was heavily contaminated (as in at at least 50% coolant.
Idling an engine with no coolant merely to oil/decontaminate hydraulic adjusters etc, and try to displace water and heave a minimally contaminated mix in the crankcase during storage definitely won’t damage anything further than what the 50/50 oil/coolant did…
Nowhere did I ever just say “use wd as oil” lol
I’ve literally seen this done many, many times thru the years, so I was just throwing that out there to see if anyone has ever heard/done the same…
I’m guessing not lol…
(Y’all sure love some mmo around here tho… lol)
I do too, that was just a friendly poke…
Click to expand...
What?
 
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