Inside the engine of an automobile, a seal is required to isolate the cylinder from the rest of the engine. This seal is called the head gasket. Normally, the head gasket is very durable and long-lasting. If the engine of a car overheats, however, the head gasket can become damaged. This damage is frequently caused by the warping of the engine metals under extreme heat.
Once a head gasket has become damaged, the gases inside of the cylinders are not properly contained. This leads to ongoing overheating problems, and can eventually lead to severe engine damage. Liquid head gasket repair is designed as an easy way to fix gasket problems before damage is done.
When engine gases escape through a damaged head gasket, they cause excess heat where the crack has occurred. Liquid head gasket repair takes advantage of these hot locations. As soon as the repair liquid makes contact with a cracked area, the high heat causes alloys in the liquid to harden. This forms a seal directly over the site of the leak.
Because liquid head gasket repair only hardens and seals when excess heat is present, only the cracked areas where gases are escaping are affected. The rest of the engine continues to function as normal.
Liquid head gasket repair typically must be introduced into an empty engine cooling system. Antifreeze and other coolants must be drained before the liquid repair can be added.
As soon as antifreeze has been drained from the cooling system, the gasket repair liquid is added in two parts. These parts begin to chemically interact as soon as they are mixed, and cycle throughout the engine. When the engine is run, the heat caused by cracks will activate the liquid and seal the damage. When the gasket repair has had time to cycle throughout the hot engine, it is drained and antifreeze is put back into the coolant system as normal.
