Seriously, it fixed my o-ring failure on a 42K Mazda Reman.

My engine exhibited the following symptoms:

- gurgling sound (for the last 40K)
- misfire at idle, shows up as rich A/F on gauge (last 500 mi.)
- coolant buzzer (last 50 mi.)
- blowing coolant into bottle w/o returning;
- small bubbles at fill cap upon cold start;
- vaccum dropped from 14 in. Hg to 11 in. Hg (last 500 mi.)


I pressure tested the system: dropped 1.5 psi w/in 30 minutes and 9 psi over 12 hours and totally lost all press. in 24 hours.

While deciding whether to get Pineapple to rebuild a good motor (10K) out of a wrecked car or buying a Malloy Mazda Reman (btw Ray is an awesome guy to deal with, all his engines have new rotors and housings due to his volume), I decided to try this CRC block weld.

Basically, the material is a silicate copper mixture that under high temperature becomes a ceramic-mettallic material when exposed to air. However, it can not be used with any trace of glycol or it becomes a gel that will clog your cooling system.

The procedures:
remove thermostat, flush-fill-drain with purple degreasers 3 times with a flush before and after each degreasing cycle (I did a total of 10 fill-drain cycle). You can drain the block by crawling underneath the car by the driver's side right above the edge of the oil pan and unscrewing a 14mm bolt. Fill the system, pour in two 8oz bottles, run to 210 degrees F for 30-45 minutes, let sit 24 hours, drain, install thermostat, fill with coolant-water mixture.

CONCLUSIONS:
Damn! THIS CRAP WORKS!



-NO MORE GURGLING SOUND ON START UP
- FLUID LEVEL IN THE FILL NECK ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP WHEN COLD
- VACCUM IS NOW 15-16 in. Hg
- NO MORE MISFIRE/RICH A/F AT IDLE


Hell, this should be done to all reman motor!

The only downside is how long will it last? I'm running 13.5 psi with a PFC, M2 Large, ND pump and datalogit. I'll keep running this and see how long it will last. According to other postings, Paul Yaw has it in a daily driver for more than 2 years and Ron Miller has it for more than a year.

SO IF YOU HAVE THE ABOVE SYMPTOMS, RUN OUT TO PEP BOYS, SPEND $20 PLUS 10 HOURS TO SAVE YOUR MOTOR BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

 

Wow poman, That is awesome!! You gotta feel great not having to worry about a new engine right now. So what's the down side to this stuff. when does it finally just give up the ghost. Can you do it again if starts to leak more? Tom

 

I talked about this kinda of stuff with a buddy, and we came to the conclusion that because we have small water passage ways, it could easily clog them up if it turns TOO thick. We never experimented.

Hi

 

Flybye, That's one of the things I was wondering about, I've seen what some of those passages look like and they are Small . I wonder if this stuff is like cholestral and will clog 'em up. Please keep us updated poman. Tom

 

My car did 25K on copper block weld while flogging it every other weekend at the track. I finally lost an apex seal which was unrelated; motor went after 98,000 miles. Block weld won't clog the coolant passages because the reaction that takes place only happens where there is air (ie leakage). Anyway, once you are leaking from the o-rings you have nothing to loose. A must try for everyone with problems.

 

I must agree that the stuff works, although I have "blown through the copper" several times. I'm running stock boost. Thinking about flushing the system again and adding more... nothing to lose right?

 

This stuff is suppose to work through capillary action so it wont clog any of the passages or hoses. I've used this stuff and it worked even after a year.

 

where do i get this block weld to buy

 

London,

They're sold under various brand names: CRC Copper Block Weld, K&W (this doesn't have copper though); Seal-Up at WalMart in USA and in Europe.

 

and what happends if you have air trapped in your coolant system?

 

well mine went completely today
it gave me problems like a month ago
and went away

but today when i got on it like 5min later
coolant light kicked on.
latewr drv home pulled into garage and
boiling reserve tank spitted anti-freeze onto floor.
and i saw temp going up high fan
werent even on ? why not

so i shut car off and buzzer went on when i turned the key to on
(not motor) then fans kicked on.
reserve was still boiling cooled down and went inside too cry
is it too late even for the crc block ?
for a while longer

 

It's not like "gook". Air trapped in the system won't do anything because the block weld needs to see high air (combustion) pressures to make it coagulate. It will not clog the system.

 

could you mabe do this as a failsafe in order to stay away from the coolant seal problem? lets say you have a high mileage motor. . . do you see a problem with doing it right now. i just replaced my radiator with koyo and i havent put everything back together yet. im replacing the thermostat and im wondering if i should do this. ive had some questionable experiences withe the coolant prob. no bubbles at all, but i have had some white smoke at start up after it is hot and it is a little hard to start on a hot day after ive driven it in traffic a lot. what do you think.

 

I thought I posted an update to this:

Anyway, here's the update:

After two weeks, it seemed like the block weld didn't work anymore. Yes, I had the PoMan water injection! At 8 oz every 30 miles.

So I did a second treatment. I don't know if it worked b/c I'm still trying to bleed the system. It doesn't seem like it's eating coolant. And the car runs like a champ though.

One other mod that I'm going to do: I'm going to install a coolant expansion chamber like those in Mercedes, BMW and certain Toyotas. This should help push coolant back and allow me to see combustion gases in the tank.

If you want to do this, use the K&W at Pep Boys as it doesn't have copper. I called CRC and they told me they're phasing the copper formulation out as it will damage water pump and thermostats. They also said the K&W is a much more improved formula.

Rotorbrain, if your car is over 90K and you're starting to get symptoms, you might want to do it--- I'm not saying you should as in my situation, I had nothing to lose. If you do it, do it with the stock radiator instead of the Koyo. After you're done with the treatment, put the Koyo back in.

 

I just redid my copper treatment two weeks ago... and it's holding once again... this time even under full boost (several times!). I am a believer. Nothing to lose. Already have some funds saved up for a rebuild anyways. =D

 

For the first treatment I used "CRC Metallic Copper Block Welds" available at Pep Boys. I don't recommend this though. It will damage your water pump due to the microscopic copper flakes.

For the second treatment, I used "K&W Permanent Mettallic Block Weld." I think this stuff is better and that's probably why CRC industry is phasing out the first type. This is also available at Pep Boys. If you're living in an area without Pep-Boys, I feel sorry for you b/c you're not living in the ghetto, but seriously, go to Wal-Mart, they have the first type but it's called "Seal-Up"

For my next motor, I'm adding a second oil cooler, running a separate oil injection tank with synthetic for my engine and turbo. And for the next motor after that, I'll cryogenically freeze this motor so as to get a denser metal structure. And for the motor after the aforesaid motor ....

You must flush the cooling system out. completely as per my writeup. I did it ten times b/c I had 3 different brand of radiator stop leaks in my cooling system and engine oil also. You could probably do it with 5 or 6 flushes.

I have an aftermarket temp gauge. The car doesn't run any hotter. The block weld does not clog the cooling system as long as you don't mix the green stuff and it together.