K-Seal is better and does actuall ywork and ,more importantly, doesn't block your rad like other products.

 

I saw steel seal the other day and was wondering the exact same thing, according to my friend who runs the parts shop, he has sold around 20 bottles of the stuff in 3 weeks since he first stocked it and every person has come back to him with positive results (allbeit mostly to second hand car dealers). I would hope so though for the £35 retail price! The stuff says they guarantee that it works... not sure how you would prove it though if it didn't. One thing that did suprise me though was how heavy the bottle was! It feels like liquid lead!

Marc

 

I like K-Seal, and kept my HiLux running for 18 months until I finally got round to having the radiator re-cored - in fact, it may well have still been OK now, but I thought I was pushing my luck and it was my only means of transport at the time.

I assume that K-Seal works by finding the leak from the pressurised cooling system, and it blocks the hole as the fluid tries to make for open air? If so, it might depend where your head gasket is leaking as to whether it would work? The Steel Seal blurb seems to suggest it is designed for leaks from the combustion chamber, so if it is just between your water jacket and crank case ports then perhaps K-Seal is the one to go for?

I wonder what it's like for the poor sod who eventually ends up changing the head gasket?

 

i've used k-seal and seal up, liquid glass metallic. both seem to work fine. the seal up is on ebay if you can wait. you add it, run for about 1/2 hour then drain the system and leave overnight. it sets on the internal surfaces and seals cracks, gaskets etc.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Did a compression test and all four cylinders showed good even pressure and clean plugs. So almost certainly water getting into an oil way. Not sure what product(s) if any will seal water to oil. I've seen that Radweld plus states water to air only on the small print. Its a tricky one as it's head gasket (or possibly a warped or cracked head) if it was just the rad leaking........ You'd be amazed at how long a blob of chewing gum can hold back a leak for : )

 

Just a quick update. I've just got off the phone to Steel seals technical department and seem to have confused their technicians by asking a few (what I thought would be!!) simple questions. Being, does the product work on all or some of the following head gasket failures
1# combustion to combustion (obviously wouldn't work as there is no access to the coolant system)
2# combustion to air (again, wouldn't work for reasons above)
3# combustion to oil (again, as above)
4# combustion to coolant (this is feasible)
5# coolant to oil (feasible - this is my own problem, I asked if it could seal going from one liquid(coolant) to another (oil)
6# oil to coolant (feasible-different circumstances to above depending on system pressures in an area)
7# coolant to air (fesible, and what most other products claim in their small print as their only use)

So I thought that would be easily answered. Kept getting the response that the product was designed to fix all head gasket leaks..... But obviously not all leaks can be fixed via coolant system. Tech guy got a bit confused and has asked for verification from a higher source (God perhaps)
Very friendly and polite, but unfortunately only trained at reassuring the nieve!!!

 

Steel seal isn't too bad but expensive compared to k-seal. (£30 vs £9 I think) So might as well go for k-seal!

 

i use cargo metalic seal up (if you can find it), about £8-£10 a bottle.

i had 2a landy with 7 splits in the rad, pit it in & rove back 20 miles from the off roading event ... cured!, a sierra (1.6 pinto) with porous/leaking thermostat housing, leaking heater matrix & pin hole in a rubber hose, poured it in & drove 6 miles ... cured! we sold the car locally after just over a year & the old boy ran it for aother 2 years without any problems. another sierra (2ltr dohc), head gasket went, poured it in from cold, went for a 10 mile blast ... cured! engine outlasted the body & found it's way (straight out the sierra) into a caterham, the engine only died after the owner did a track day & over revved down shifting, putting the rod through the block.

if i have any doubts about the condition of the coolant system, i'll put cargo metalic seal up into it. no need to remove the thermostat, it won't block the rad, no need to flush the system before or after ... unlike a lot of others (although someone has offered me £80 for the stick of holts leak stopper stuff thinking it was something illegal ... should i have sold it to him?), i just our this in & leave it untill i'm ready to do a coolant change

 

you sure your head gasket is blown?? had this loads of times (my head gasket has gone as there is white gloop in the oil filler cap and on the dipstick) could just be caused buy condenation build up buddy have some one do a sniff test to be sure if you have water oil mix or vice versa the fluid used in the sniffer should change colour.
dose not have to pressurise to detect it, you may just have a small water leak and fretting over nothing, even have a pressure test on it to check just take some precautions befor you shoving cures in a can in, i have been in the trade for 28yrs and have had first hand experience of the mess this sort of stuff can cause it can end up being more costly especialy on old cooling systems ie, rads blocked,heater matrixes, and in one extream case partialy blocked water jackets in a cylinder head on a honda ledgend v6, wasnt best pleased as it was a twat to strip and only then did my customer say he had been putting in a water additive for months. just bear in mind that it is only sold as a get me home fix and if your gasket is leaking into an oil return gallery it wont work as it will not stick to oil even if it is passed through the gasket
buy all means try it, it may be ok for a while but if the gasket is failing then its failing. if your motor is the 16v zetec they are not that bad a job to do. just adving you on the obvious things to check first, example stat housing leaking yes it will stop it and allso poss your stat working too just that i have been there and seen it on several occations. sorry for the negative responce but please do it with caution thanks andy.......

 

i sell loads of k seal at work, people love it its brilliant, one guy told me it cured the head gasket leak on his merc atego truck which was seeping a gallon a day, it cured it after about 4hrs driving...

just tip it in and drive...

 

Seems you were right. Looks as though it was just condensation build up. Been cleaned and nothing has returned. Water loss has stopped, so guessing that it may have just been the system settling after the coolant was changed. Glad I didn't waste the money now! : )

 

has anybody used steel seal in a rover v8 with the porous block syndrome and if so what were the results please?

 

I used k seal on my van.had a leak half way down rad.motor factors were charging £10
bought exact same off ebay.£5 with free post.worked straight away.no problems since

 

Another vote for K Seal

 

Steel seal forms an epoxy type goo.When I used it as per instructions ie warm up for an hour it almost completely blocked the passage of water to the cylinder head.As it sticks to the hottest parts.It did not seal my headgasket however.
On removing the head I then had to flush and scrape the stuff out of the water galleries it also blocked the thermostat.

I think the stuff is useless and would never use it again.

However I know someone who used it on a Grand cheroke and supposedly it worked he did sell the car shortly after however.....

 

i've used liquid glass with good results. looks like a clear liquid with copper coloured sediment in the bottom. shake it up and pour it in. run for 20 mins ish and drain system (including block if possible) leave overnight then refill with coolant mix. had cars run for 2 years plus after using it to cure head gasket leaks/overheating so not a temporary fix.