bad news

[pico11653]

Ok, so I have a 1987 Porsche 944 that i just put koni yellow sports all around w/ 250lb lowering springs and brand new tires.

Well i drove it for about 50 miles before i had a problem. It seems the front was so low that something hit the power steering unit. Well it broke the power steering bracket (expensive) and the pulley on the pump hit the lower coolant hose putting a hole in it and causing a leak. So as i am driving home I see the temp gauge go up but i am really tired and in the middle of nowhere so i stupidly keep on driving. Anyways I now have white smoke coming out the back of the car.....blown head gasket.


Anyways i really don't have the money to properly fix this right now, and i am also in alaska which doesn't help because there is not a shop with the correct tools to do it either.

I was wondering what anyones thoughts were on something called Thermagasket. made by www.rxauto.com basically is supposed to seal the gasket......yada yada.......I am probably going to get a lot of flack for this but the choice is for the car to sit in the driveway for years on end and become a pile of junk or possibly be fixed on the cheap by this stuff...........

Also, how do you know if your water pump is bad? Is there any test?

Thanks for the help.

[fast924S]

I would not use that THERMAGASKET its the same thing as BARSLEAKS. Its most likely will stop the leaky head gasket for short time, But It will also clog ur oil cooler, Your RAD and your Heater core. Its only a band aid fix and a poor one at that. Why not just pull the head in your drive way and replace the gasket. Also How low did u drop it sounds like that thing must be slamed if it smashed the powersteering pump.

[yellowline]

Really, why not just spend $100 and put all new gaskets in the head? If the head surface isn't true, it'll take another $1-200 for a good machine shop to true the head. Ship it to the lower 48, if you really need to. It'll come out less than the $1000 it'd take here to pay someone to do it.

The "special tools" are mainly for the timing belt stuff. If you do those on your own, you're likely set. The rest of the tools, you can get in Craftsman, if you don't have them already.

My experience with any type of temporary fixes or additives at all on my car is that they don't last. Radiator stop-leak, another fix-in-a-bottle, blew a heater core hose in my car. Another example: I've tried numerous times to fix a cold rattle in my car's exhaust by tightening this and that. I've finally admitted that it needs a new cat or muffler, since something seems to be loose inside one of those.

It's truly satisfying to fix the car right, and if you have the skill needed, you can do it yourself for not a ton of money. I'd pull the head and see what it needs.

[bearone2]

Originally posted by pico11653
Ok, so I have a 1987 Porsche 944 that i just put koni yellow sports all around w/ 250lb lowering springs and brand new tires.

Well i drove it for about 50 miles before i had a problem. It seems the front was so low that something hit the power steering unit. Well it broke the power steering bracket (expensive) and the pulley on the pump hit the lower coolant hose putting a hole in it and causing a leak. So as i am driving home I see the temp gauge go up but i am really tired and in the middle of nowhere so i stupidly keep on driving. Anyways I now have white smoke coming out the back of the car.....blown head gasket.


Anyways i really don't have the money to properly fix this right now, and i am also in alaska which doesn't help because there is not a shop with the correct tools to do it either.

I was wondering what anyones thoughts were on something called Thermagasket. made by www.rxauto.com basically is supposed to seal the gasket......yada yada.......I am probably going to get a lot of flack for this but the choice is for the car to sit in the driveway for years on end and become a pile of junk or possibly be fixed on the cheap by this stuff...........

Also, how do you know if your water pump is bad? Is there any test?

Thanks for the help.

temp goes up if the pump isn't circulating water.

it sounds like you overheated when the hose leaked so between the engine, powersteering unit and whatever else you damged you're looking at some big $$$ to repair, if it's worth repairing.

seeing the temp go up and driving on wasn't the best thing to do.

you did the dance, now you pay the fiddler if you can't do the work yourself.

[todd84944]

If you could do the work yourself, it would not be that bad. Like someone said before, you could get a gasket kit for less than 100.00, and if... you had to get the head resurfaced, it would be less than 100.00 also. As far as the bracket, I have a couple of extras' off of blown engines that I have replaced for folks. I sell them for 75.00 each plus shipping.
Todd

[AFJuvat]

Email me, I have a few PS brackets.

AFJ

[speedracing944]

Originally posted by yellowline

The "special tools" are mainly for the timing belt stuff. If you do those on your own, you're likely set. The rest of the tools, you can get in Craftsman, if you don't have them already.

You will still need to tension you cam and balance shaft belts after reinstalling the head.

[yellowline]

I meant either use the T-belt tools or risk using the twist method (I don't know it and can't recommend it). But yes, I didn mean to retension them, or just replace and tension them.