Head GAsket Sealants

I've come across a product called 'Steel Seal' which is a money-back guaranteed fix, apparently. I'm sceptical, but has anyone on here ever tried it or anything similar?

is that for curing leaking head gaskets?

or a 'helper' compound that you smear on the head gasket before fitting it?




if its a leak curing substance, I've used radweld, K-Seal, and a few others I cant remember....

the only one that ever worked for me, was K-Seal....

it cured a blown headgasket on my Hijet

This is a good jointing compound.......
http://www.tdcautomotive.com/HELDITE-SEALANT-250ml-TIN-WITH-APPLICATOR_AQDKL.aspx?0

Ahhh, your on about this one.....I've not used it,but here you go.....
http://www.steelseal.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=1

Its probably pretty much the same as K seal. K Seal didn't work on mine but might on yours. Its not going to do any harm trying it. It'll either work or not.

edit - reading the link its not the same as K seal but sounds like you can't lose if they do the money back offer.

I dunno, shoving clotting agents into your coolant system can't really do your water pump or radiator water vain's much good in the long run.

If there was a miracle cure they wouldn't bother with head gaskets in the first place

That original head gasket is made out of pretty tough materials. It has given way to the pressure of explosions and the coolant system. The air fuel explosion bang is around 600 to 1200 psi, and the cooland makes about 20 psi.

Not much other than metals will take that for long.

Especially with temps that vary from -10 to 105 degrees C.

Just my worthless opinion boys

The last time I did our head gasket we were supplied with a charade head gasket which appeared to have a silicon covering and this seems to be very secure as silicon has a little flow to it, it should have when fitted sealed any slight varyations.

HighlyJetted wrote:I dunno, shoving clotting agents into your coolant system can't really do your water pump or radiator water vain's much good in the long run.

That does concern me, also the fact that the guy in local car shop said (and I appreciated his honesty) that it worked fine if used soon after the leak developed but was less likely to if the vehicle had been driven for a couple of months or more.

Still (stubborn me) I decided to give it a go, following the slightly confusing instructions to the letter. It still lost water. I kept topping it up over the next couple of weeks and found to my surprise that it needed less and less water each time, and now, 2 months on, it's hardly using any!

Don't know whether it would work in all cases - and this van is used only 3 mornings a week on local deliveries and doesn't do much mileage - but if at least it puts off a head job until the warmer weather I'm happy.

So as it looks like the head gasket may be kn@kred on my sweet little van.. (1.3 MPV S reg)
I don't have the knowledge to sort it myself but have found a local garage that is brilliant, she went in for the wheel bearing repair last week, got her back Friday and she boiled herself up, first time ever with any overheating probs in the two years I've owned her. Straight back to garage - thermostat gone - new one in, got her back Monday night, yesterday she boiled again - both times I ended up with greasy dark water in the expansion tank

They have her back now and are doing a sniff test, I also noticed she has a tiny split in the Rad cap rubber (inside one)

I'd be interested to know if this continued to work for you - £35 as opposed to £00's sounds good to me. She's done 90,000 miles but engine is good, body work good and I'd hate to part with my quirky beast! - we've had some great times.

Yes, it's still doing fine. Only done about 600 miles since Jan 21, but hardly had to top up at all so far.

Weyhey!

I'll give it a go then methinks.. thanks for that

Well you only lose the cost of the stuff and antifreeze if it doesn't work - and they were offering a money-back guarantee anyway. Do take the time to sit down and read the instructions first, then read again as they can be a bit confusing. Then read again, and keep to hand to check while you do it. My tip - if it doesn't seem to work immediately, use the van sparingly for a few days topping up with antifreeze mix each time and hopefully (like mine) the loss will decrease to almost nothing.

Well that's what I thought too, and she sure is flushed out so I think I'll give it a go - she who dares Rodders, she who dares..

So I got her back from the garage, according to the sniff test etc, the head gasket is fine. I now have new thermostat, and they replaced both rad caps.

I drove to work and almost back before overheating again. I pulled over and let her cool before topping up from engine rad cap. She didn't even budge over the halfway line on trip home, despite getting stuck in a very long traffic queue, I sat at home and let her idle (she hates idling) .. still running sweet as a nut. Water in expansion tank clean and sweet.

My next question is 2 parts,

Could she have had an airlock, not been bled properly in garage?

Because I topped her up from the engine bay have I now introduced an airlock?

I really appreciate the help.

The_Magic_Bus wrote:

My next question is 2 parts,

Could she have had an airlock, not been bled properly in garage?

Because I topped her up from the engine bay have I now introduced an airlock?

I really appreciate the help.

yes and maybe.

Ok, thank you -

Have just taken her for short run up to temp and then idled her - didn't overheat at all.

So if I now fill and bleed her from front rad.. (once i figure out how to get the blinkin grille off!!)
with a bit of luck.. she might be ok and twas just old knackered rad cap in engine bay that caused my probs - fingers crossed anyway.

sounds like it is sorted to get the front off there are two orange clips in the foot well at about headlamp height just about inline with the top of the carpet one in each side rotate anti clock wise and then lift the front panel from the bottom edge and it should just lift off to put it back on I line the clips up in there holes and pull it forwads and up slightly to locate the top clips then lower it back into place and then back to the footwell to put the orange clips back on.

This is assuming a previous owner didn't break the clips and it's bodged on in some way and may explain the air lock if the garage didn't know about the rad cap and just filled from the engine.

That's what I thought too..

I had the carpet up, looking in the foot well for those clips but not for orange ones,will have another look tomorrow. Thanks.

I think like a lot of those clips on these vans, the bottom ones are broken but I don't think it's bodged.

The garage did fill from the rad, but I don't think they bled her. Ohh well, lets see what happens.

Thanks again for your help.