K Seal

[Negative Creep]

So the rad in the 406 is leaking about half a litre every 5 miles and I haven't heard back from the garage who were supposed to be ordering the replacement so I guess they haven't bothered. Is it worth getting a bottle of this on the way home instead? Garage told me not to as it would clog the cooling system, but then they would say that wouldn't they? Saving £200 would be rather nice, but any experiences of the stuff?

[Vince70]

Ive used K seal in the past when I had a slight leak on a heater matrix on my old Audi 80 as a stop gap till I could get it repaired..

Two years later I was still driving it about and also flushed the system out and put fresh antifreeze in the motor and it had sealed the matrix up a treat also the heater still worked perfectly so if it can seal a heater matrix without clogging it up you shouldn't have a problem..

I would use it again in an instant if it's for a rad or matrix...

[LC Torana]

Can the radiator be repaired? They usually split at a seam - can that be soldered up?

[sierraman]

It's a £10 a bottle but to be honest I'd look around for another rad if its leaking like that, fit it yourself. It must be a serious crack for it to be pissing out like that, would get a new one also as 406s known for blowing radiators, so unless breakers can yield a recent one you might struggle.

[derskine]

It works but it depends on the leak.

My R18 had a small water pump leak which was remedied by K seal.

This lasted a good while, about 5000 miles, though it started leaking again.

Once again lobbed some K seal in and got another 3000 miles, but now I think I'll need to just replace the water pump.

I think I may have spent more on K seal than a water pump costs...

 

Too long didn't read: It will work as a stop gap until you get it fixed.

[Negative Creep]

Annoyingly I enflamed my knee the day before so can't be messing around fitting it myself at the moment. Since its now my ownly car and needed for work every day o can't get it recored either

[sierraman]

Modern radiators are really a replacement only part, you can't reliably repair them. I've seen people replace the side ranks on a DIY basis but I wouldn't as they aren't designed to be tool apart. I'd try ECP, EIS radiators are aftermarket but seem reasonable quality.

[RayMK]

As with other posters, it works with slight leaks, in my case for about 4,000 miles.  When the rad was replaced and the system flushed, the lumpy clotted mess that came out was a concern but no problems resulted from this.  I doubt that K Seal would cope with anything worse than hairline type cracks i.e. a stone hole in a rad matrix is unlikely to seal for long, if at all.

[sierraman]

It's best with seal type leaks, thermostat housings etc. Stuff like cracked tanks its waste of time due to the size of the crack and pressure etc.

[2MB]

Just crack a couple of eggs into the header tank. 60% of the time, it works every time

[sierraman]

40% of the time you get an omelette. So win win all round.

[Mr A Lawrence]

Don't do it!!

 

We bought an Mgf last year with hgf for £300 with 12 months mot, poor guy was on his way home from test centre when a pipe burst causing hgf.

 

He put K seal in it and possibly some other, equally shit stuff to try and cure it.

 

We had a mobile mech come and do the gasket and he couldn't get it to bleed properly so I had to flush the system..

 

This is what I got out of the matrix!!

Not the quid coin though, that's for scale!!

[Bren]

That looks like the stuff you used to crumble into the header tank like an oxo - bars?

[purplebargeken]

Never actually used the stuff. 

[sierraman]

That looks like radweld, that's got a powder solution in it. You wouldn't use that for sealing a head gasket, its not designed for that. Its designed for minor leaks not plugging the gash on the Titanic.

[Negative Creep]

OK maybe that's not such a good idea! A quick look on eBay shows then for about £65 so might just do that and hopefully be able to fit it myself in a few days

[Station]

This is what I got out of the matrix!!

image.jpg

image.jpg

Not the quid coin though, that's for scale!!

 

That's just years of hard water crud/sludge out of the cooling system.

 

K-seal is microscopically minute particles that harden with heat and oxygen.

[sierraman]

No he was a buoyancy aid for Kate Winslet wasn't he?

[stephen01]

A friend used this in fiesta, seemed to stop the leak, and was still okay when he flogged it,

[Asimo]

I lived with a leaking radiator on an Audi for 5 years by removing the pressure valve on the cap: no pressure = no leak.

The leak was at the base of the plastic where it crimped to the core.

I had to top up the coolant weekly but that was because there was no expansion tank. No issues seemed to result from no coolant pressure.

[MrBiscuits]

That looks like the stuff you used to crumble into the header tank like an oxo - bars?

Barrs Stop Leak. Known in the trade as the 'dog turd' about as useful as one too in my experience.

[Bren]

No he was a buoyancy aid for Kate Winslet wasn't he?

Kate Winslet has ample buoyancy.

[BorniteIdentity]

I used Tec 2000 stop leak or something or another on my Rover Seventy Fail. Alight coolant leak was 'fixed' for 10k miles. Started leaking again - fudged it again for another £15.

 

You can buy a lot of the stuff for the same price as a head gasket / thermostat housing / water pump etc.

[BavarianRetro]

https://www.facebook.com/bavarianretro/posts/562686677207628

 

The early blue 323i Baur had a slight coolant loss, every couple of days the check panel light would come on and it'd need topping up. We looked, but couldn't see a leak, until one afternoon, going through McDonalds drive through actually, there was a veritable warm swimming pool in the passenger's footwell.

Bugger! Heater matrix or heater valve then. At least the source of the coolant loss was discovered. As it goes, we had a new heater matrix on the shelf and as the heater box was full of coolant we were able to ascertain that the matrix had burst.

 

Not my favourite job and it become apparent doing these jobs that the right hand drive conversion on the E30 was an afterthought. The brake rods get in the way and you really need to disconnect the servo to get the heater matrix out. All while lying in the wet passenger footwell. Anyway, we replaced the heater matrix and were confident that the coolant loss would be resolved.

 

A day or two later and the check panel light is on.

There's no leak, but to be certain, I bridged the heater hoses using an old E24 heater valve that I drilled out and that confirmed that there was no loss at the heater matrix or valve because the bloody light came on in a day or two.

 

Now that I come to think of it, the exhaust does seem a little smokey and white, but that'll just be condensation and the cold weather, right? What about the mocca-chocca-chino coloured stuff in the rocker box and the sump then?

 

The car runs perfectly, well, no discernible performance degradation. It doesn't overheat. There's no oil in the coolant, but it's a little steamy at the exhaust and there is definitely coolant in the oil. And it's an M20 engine with a 731 head.

 

That'll be a cracked head then.

 

In pretty much all areas, I'm a bit of a traditionalist. Blades, not cavity backs, mechanics, not electriconics - that sort of stuff, so the traditional repair involves head off, head welded or replaced, valve train refurbished, head pressure tested and then replaced with new gasket and bolts.

I refuse to believe all these snake oil treatments work.

 

However, I was persuaded to try a £40 can of K-Seal Ultimate with absolutely no hope whatsoever that it'd work and a looming certainty that the head would have to come off. We followed the instructions to the letter - tip in, run engine, wait.

 

Nothing. Just as bad. Blowing white smoke and losing coolant I knew it. Crap! Waste of time and money. Why did I even bother? Where's that 731 head we took off the rusty 323i?

 

So it's running fine, still not overheating and still losing coolant. Mini-Me is using it daily just now so,

"Just carry on using it son and we'll get it fixed in due course. Keep an eye on the temperature gauge and the check panel."

 

Three days later. No coolant loss. No white smoke. Oil change and no Starbucks stuff in the engine.

I'll keep you informed and while it can't possibly be a proper repair, it appears to be working now.

I'm astounded to be honest. Must be worth a try if you're in the same boat.

 

Three months and more, still working. Flushed out the coolant system recently, and it appears to be holding fine.

[sierraman]

Anyone with any mechanical knowledge must realise you cannot bridge a 3mm split in a part with some gunk you shove in the expansion tank. At the end if the day, these 'remedies' are designed as a temporary repair, be it 10 miles or 10k. People expect a miracle from a bottle of £10 leak sealer.

[lisbon_road]

In fairness I'd say you can get a miracle cure of some gasket leaks, which can be more or less permanent - sometimes.

 

But a radiator leak is much less likely.  I have had good results from fixing rad leaks with a massive lump of araldite over the problem area, basically encapsulating the lot.  Long time ago though, for a while now I've had cars for which the rad is too cheap to take that path.