K-Seal Ultimate

[IAmTheWalrus]

OK so my BMW 2002 E46 320CI Sport has had a head gasket failure as per hydrocarbons found in the coolant system. The car was given a new head gasket only 5 years and 38,000 miles ago by some mechanics who appear to be incompetent for a variety of reasons I wont bore you with.

The engine works fine despite a cold start misfire which the car came back to me with after the mechanics did the above head gasket job 5 years ago.

Given the car has had a lot of issues over the last 5 years of ownership and its current value I do not intend on paying someone at least £950 to do a head gasket job replacement and so have used a bottle of k-seal ultimate to see how that goes.

It was put in the warm engine on Thursday night given 20 minutes tickover and a short drive. The next day there was no leaking from the expansion tank which my current mechanic said could be plugged by k-seal.

On my way to work and drive home from work despite driving with a lowish rpm of 2-2500rpm as the bottle asks not to push it much, the temperature went pretty high hit 99 at one point and it normally does 95. It varied between 95 an d99, upon usage of the cabin fan to help pull heat out of the coolant system it went down to 95.

Can anyone clarify if you have used k-seal before to successfully fix a head gasket and how did you use it beyond the instructions, do I for example remove after a couple of weeks with a coolant change or flush with cleaning product and then try another head gasket change? I am going to check the pressure in the system every day after a journey to see if its built up gasses which was something I did 5 years ago before going to get the head gasket replaced back then.

Thanks in advance.

[23.7]

I've used it, a very minor leak, worked OK.

[ReverendCounter]

Have you flushed the system out with clean water + hose? If not I would do that, making sure that water can flow around the system and that there are no blockages, then refill with coolant and bleed again. Any further problems I would maybe look at the thermostat.

[Skyedriver]

Used K-Seal on a Volvo 940 about 10 year ago after a major HGF. It worked and the car ran for another 50K miles before unrelated problems killed the car.
Only thing I'd say is it gummed up the thermostat too and the heater never worked in winter until I replaced the 'stat.

[IAmTheWalrus]

ReverendCounter said:

Have you flushed the system out with clean water + hose? If not I would do that, making sure that water can flow around the system and that there are no blockages, then refill with coolant and bleed again. Any further problems I would maybe look at the thermostat.

OK so this is my query of how to use it. The bottle says should notice after ten days sometimes do I flush after ten days if its not pressuring the coolant system?

[ReverendCounter]

I've just realised I use Radweld, not K Seal. The two products must have different methods because I flushed it out the same day - ie, drop it in the expansion tank, get the engine up to temp, run it for a specified time (two cycles of the fans kicking in and off again if I recall) then drain and refill with fresh coolant.

So all in all it was done over an hour. That was years ago and there were no further problems.

Just to add, in your situation I would be disconnecting a rad hose to let everything out and I would be connecting a garden hose to another coolant pipe and I would be flushing the system out thoroughly. Then I would be putting a new thermostat in and new coolant.

The 20mins of idling gets the K Seal up to temp so it basically finds its way into the leak, and slowly gets cooked solid by the rising temp. So once the leak is sealed I would be getting it flushed out myself. It could end up causing a blockage elsewhere maybe.

Edited by ReverendCounter on Sunday 22 August 14:21

[OldGermanHeaps]

Used it on a friends 1.4 peugeot 206. It worked as advertised and kept working for 2 years and 18000 miles when the car was scrapped for an epic mot fail.
Unfortunately the 3 head gasket failures I have suffered over the years were always so catastrophic that the car would not start.