K-seal

AdrianC

Retrogamer wrote: »

I never said it was.

But then you go on to repeat...

You said they don't fix problems. If your problems is a coolant leak and they stop the coolant leak, then they fix the problem.

Umm, that's kinda my point. "Leaking coolant" isn't a problem - it's a symptom.

I agree it's a bodge, but it's good for people who don't have the time or don't want to invest the money to fix things properly.

Like I said up there... So we're agreed on that bit.

It might fix the leak for a long time... BUT... it might only fix the leak for a while, until the problem itself becomes more major - the hose bursts, the rad splits, the HG fails completely. At that point, you ain't going nowhere until the original problem itself is fixed. Except, instead of having the opportunity to fix it at relative leisure, you're now at the side of the m'way on a wet night, waiting for the AA.

bigjl

I don't know about that Adrian.

I once "fixed" the expansion tank on a friends MG Montego with silicone sealer and gaffer tape.

EdGasket

AdrianC wrote: »

Except, instead of having the opportunity to fix it at relative leisure, you're now at the side of the m'way on a wet night, waiting for the AA.

How do you know that? It could be at a scenic spot on a warm evening with an even hotter bird in the passenger seat

thescouselander

I used k seal on the wife's old car which developed a leaky heater matrix that was too difficult to access. It worked very well in our case.

Geodark

I used it on a k-series engine in an MG I had - it sealed a slight crack in one of the radiator pipes - never lost a drop after that.

Strider590

It's no different to applying a puncture repair patch to a bicycle inner tube.

No your not fixing the root cause of the issue, but then if your rad has a hole through the middle, the root cause was probably something a lot more complex.....

I used it in my Vectra 4 years ago, due to a very minor leak in the seam and not an issue since. To replace the rad with an inferior quality pattern part would cost around £80 plus the labour for taking almost all of the front of the car apart (bumper, lights, grill, the aircon system, etc), i'd be looking around £300-£500 for the job, probably £600-£900 with an OEM radiator. The car is only worth about £700.

Sometimes I have no issue at all with the quick bodge method, but when doing so ALWAYS do the research first.

fordfocus-chav-car

I did use a can of K-seal. The reason was head gasket failure, the water & oil were both badly contaminated.

Result was it did help & i was able to drive the car home, but it did not fix it.
Anyway the car is now in parts on my drive, I`m about six bolts away from removing the cylinder head, its a 2005 1.6 scenic & so far its a real pain.

EdGasket

fordfocus-chav-car wrote: »

, its a 2005 1.6 scenic & so far its a real pain.

That's my experience of french cars. Over there owners rarely DIY and trying to work on a french car is a nightmare for the DIY'er; special tools required for even the simplest of jobs. I had one once (a Peugeot); never again! The best cars to work on are the Japanese and Korean; they also don't go wrong much either.

Retrogamer

I think if it's head gasket related symptoms then Steel Seal is better than K Seal

Strider590

EdGasket wrote: »

That's my experience of french cars. Over there owners rarely DIY and trying to work on a french car is a nightmare for the DIY'er; special tools required for even the simplest of jobs. I had one once (a Peugeot); never again! The best cars to work on are the Japanese and Korean; they also don't go wrong much either.

That's my experience too, they made some cars that were just about worth the hassle, the 205 GTI, 306 GTI/Rallye, 106 GTI/Rallye and you could argue Renault Clio 172/182. But French cars are now dead to me.

I tried to change a shock absorber on my 306, all the suspension parts required heavy duty TORX drivers, which were insanely pricey back then. They blatantly design cars to be near impossible to DIY, even the oil filter required the removal of the inlet manifold (which again was held down with security bolts) and the car was so awkward to service that even the dealership mechanics never bothered to change the spark plugs.