Steel Seal

[Dannyboy]

Hi All,

Looking for a bit of advice. Bongo has been playing up. Losing a bit of water for a while and coolant now coming out of expansion tank.
It is not clear that it overheated and there is certainly no evidence of white smoke in the exhaust and the engine runs fine.

Am now considering adding steel seal. It is clear that some of you have already done this successfully.
Could anyone who has used it give me some feedback. When did you do it and how many miles have you covered since?
It has been suggested that it makes the coolant more viscous and it may be harmful to the water pump. What are your experiences?

Thanks for your help.

Dannyboy

[Northern Bongolow]

as you rightly say some have used it with success, others not so good.
im going back tommorrow to look at one that has done 1000kms since treated, but now is playing up again.
i will let you know if the current troubles are a seperate issue or linked to the steal seal fix if this is possible.

[bigdaddycain]

It sounds like a miracle in a bottle for sure... I've never used it, but would certainly be tempted should it ever look like the heads on it's way out on my bongo... Nowt to lose at that stage i suppose...

[missfixit70]

Didn't work on mine, but then mine wasn't a "catastrophic" failure in the first place as I was monitoring the system very closely. Once bled mine would drive a couple of hundred miles if it wasn't allowed to cool down, once cooled it became airlocked (tiny crack in the head) & had to be bled again, it would then run fine again, with the system being pressurised more than normal by the end of the journey.
Tried the steel seal, as per instructions, removed the slower speed fan fuse to allow it get up to 99c (carefully monitored) didn't work at all, airlocked exactly the same again once cooled down. It does make the coolant much more viscous & sticks in the system like sh*t to a blanket took several thorough flushes to get it out, powdery residue anywhere it dried.
Some people have had success with it, always worth a go, but even if it'd worked on mine, I don't know if I'd have fully trusted my bongo again until it was sorted properly TBH, certainly wouldn't want to risk going abroad with it I don't think.

[Northern Bongolow]

before you go down the steel seal route make sure you have the system pressure tested for leaks,your symptoms could just be a tiny leak that is going undetected.
fix this,bleed it properly and you may be sorted.
dont drive it till its sorted though,it will not go away,infact it may get worse and more expensive to fix.

[tomsk]

Hi Danny

I was going to buy Steel seal last week to keep in the van for emergency purposes. The shop owner explained that you need to use a certain type of antifreeze in order for it to work.
It is also not suitable for a roadside repair quick fix, as the system has to be drained heated up, drained again etc, quite a lengthy process.

Regards

Tom

[teenmal]

Hi Danny

I was going to buy Steel seal last week to keep in the van for emergency purposes. The shop owner explained that you need to use a certain type of antifreeze in order for it to work.
It is also not suitable for a roadside repair quick fix, as the system has to be drained heated up, drained again etc, quite a lengthy process.

Regards

Tom

Hi Tom,
I might be wrong but I thought that this product had Only to be introduced to a Cold engine,then run up to operating temp.

Cheers..

[missfixit70]

It is quite a lengthy process & from memory it's not recommended to be used with the longlife red antifreeze, as I use standard 2 year ethylene glycol, not an issue. As both Tomsk & Teenmal said in their own way (I think), requires a couple of cycles of bringing the engine up to temp, bearing in mind the bongo needs to be brought up to temp to open the stat before it is properly bled, you have to adapt the steel seal instructions slightly.

[teenmal]

It is quite a lengthy process & from memory it's not recommended to be used with the longlife red antifreeze, as I use standard 2 year ethylene glycol, not an issue. As both Tomsk & Teenmal said in their own way (I think), requires a couple of cycles of bringing the engine up to temp, bearing in mind the bongo needs to be brought up to temp to open the stat before it is properly bled, you have to adapt the steel seal instructions slightly.

Could this be the reason that it does not Work in some instances??

Cheers.

[missfixit70]

I don't think so, if you don't match the steel seal instructions to the bleeding of the bongo, it won't work anyway, as you won't get it up to temp & you may end up with an airlock. It is a temp dependant reaction to activate the chemical reaction to actually create the seal, I suspect that in some cases such as mine, the temp at the leak isn't sufficient to activate this (as I said earlier, mine wasn't a "catastrophic" leak).
Of course I could well be talking out of my arse as I'm not a chemist/metallurgist, just trying to pass on my experience as requested from the OP.

[mikexgough]

Never used Steel seal,I know the Trade & breakdown services use Kseal as a "get you home" plus in some motors prone to HGF namely K series and Fiat FIRE ones...as a preventative .
The FIRE engine is well known to need Head gaskets every 40,000 and I know traders who give their Punto's on the forecourt a "dose" of Kseal so they are not responsible for any repair.....whether you think that is appropriate or not.....you would soon go bust by not using the stuff with Punto's....many K series Rovers are prone too to HGF....plus some other more prestige makes all down to design flaws

I have seen Kseal being used....... well put into a leaking system...... not as bad as the you tube example.... and it worked surprisingly and 3 yrs later it's still okay. Cant say if the vehicle has had a coolant change since but there you go....but it's still on the road for £9 as it was then

[missfixit70]

At the end of the day, it's worth a shot, if the heads fubar anyway (very rarely just the gasket) what have you got to lose? That's why I tried it, several people had success with it. I'm not sure whether it would work better if it was HGF failure rather than head failure?
As has been said by NB, be really sure that it is not simply a waterpump/rad/hose pinhole leak first. I exhausted all possibilities before reaching the conclusions I did.

[Northern Bongolow]

as you rightly say some have used it with success, others not so good.
im going back tommorrow to look at one that has done 1000kms since treated, but now is playing up again.
i will let you know if the current troubles are a seperate issue or linked to the steal seal fix if this is possible.

been back today. and the best evidence indicates head problems.
however the actual miliage done was 1000miles not kms.and there is good reason to doubt it was put in using the correct method. there seems to be a possiblity that it was not hot enough to fully cure the product and this may have compromised the outcome.
so after a thorough test/check of the entire system the owner has decided to re-do the job,this time removing the cooling fan switch fuse,this as missfixit found allowed the engine/coolant to reach the full curing temps,so giving the product its best chance of success.

[tomsk]

Hi all

Yes I think Missfixit is right, the temperature has to be brought up at least twice for Steel Seal to work. I just wanted it as a sticking plaster, a get me home fix from Europe.
I will put a bottle of K Seal in the spares box just in case, and as Mike says, what have I got to lose?

Thanks all,

regards

Tom

[mikeonb4c]

Why do I get the heeby-geebies every time Steel Seal is mentioned: it always feels like Bodgit & Scarper are at work