Snake oil?

[Ariel Badger]

I doubt this stuff works
Anyone tried it?
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Polarbear]

As an engineer that goes against anything I was ever taught. I cannot believe it would seal a head gasket or cylinder block crack.

Come on Mr. Badger, you know that as well as I do.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[nitrosurf]

It's entirely possible that it would do a good enough job in an emergency situation, like if you blew a head gasket in Rape Forest Tennessee and didn't have time to get the AA (A) in to pick you up. I can't see how you'd want to rely on some partially solidified gunk to keep your engine's fluids where they belong and up to pressure on a permanent basis.

Is the guarantee a gimmick do you think?



🏍
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"Multiple exclamation marks," he went on, shaking his head, "are a sure sign of a diseased mind."

[Raffles]

It does sound like a load of old bollocks but plenty of users' reviews of similar sounding products such as Steel Seal, K-Seal etc. seem to be positive
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A good loser will always be a loser.

[Shinigami]

sound like it would knacker/gunk up your cooling system amongst other things? not convinced
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Snodvan]

Once upon a time (like 15 years ago) I had a Landrover Freelander (R reg). The 1.8 petrol engines in those were crap. VERY prone to head gaskets blowing. The first "blow" was fortunately just after I bought the thing and was repaired under a warranty insurance - but all they did was throw a new head gasket on.

The root causes were (so I was told)
- Poor design that left very narrow widths of head / block between coolant channels
- Lousy gasket design
- Using nylon pins in the block to locate the head

When the head blew the next time they did a better job ie used an "updated" gasket - and did a proper head skim

That repair lasted a mere 2 years before the dreaded "emulsion in the cooling water" symptom showed there was another head blow looming. Being a bit cash strapped I asked the boss of a local engineering shop for advice to tide me over until they could do a full engine strip that would fix all the root causes listed above.

He have me a couple of packets of summat (forget the name but they were only 50p a packet) but was claimed to be a head crack sealer. I drained quite a bit of coolant water to get rid of the emulsion, threw the contents of the packets in and topped up the water/ antifreeze again

Miracle! No more emulsion problems for the next 2 years, maybe a bit longer --- until the guy did a PROPER engine job

SO, IT WORKED

What was in the packets? Not sure but (as an ex-chemist) I reckon it was sodium silicate in some form ie waterglass. That makes sense. When that stuff gets heated it will break down into silica (silicon dioxide ie sand) and it will block small holes

Think about the common wartinme use for waterglass (yes, I am THAT old) - preserving eggs. It blocks the tiny, tiny holes in egg shells so that the stuff inside does not degrade from oxidation.

Snod
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04 (UK Reg) BMW F650cs, but really 02 first Reg in Holland

[stinkwheel]

I see no reason why it shouldn't work for a small blow into the water jacket.

I did see a fairly funny thread on a forum years back where someone had poured the stuff into their oil instead of the coolant. Utter mayhem ensued as it blocked up all the small, high pressure "leaks" in the engine internals. There were teardown pictures of the oilpump etc.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Shinigami]

[lingeringstin...]

You should take out the thermostat in a suspected cooling fail situation. I have always taken them out of water cooled vehicles as soon as I could anyway because they're just crap waiting to go wrong. As far as I can tell their only purpose is for the water to get hot quicker by stopping up the water circulation which is a stupid idea anyway. It's always been my view that a water cooled vehicle really needs water circulating around the system to cool it. Not rocket science.

Removing the thermostat and taking off the radiator cap would hugely reduce the internal pressure in a cracked cooling system and greatly reduce the problem temporarily at least without resorting to chemical snake oils which may or may not work under pressure. And believe it or not in case the water leaks out from a split hose or steams off from a stuck thermostat most older engines can be run without water at low speeds just fine if you have decent air circulation. With a few tools on an intelligently designed vehicle (probably something like pre 1990) in a pinch you could remove the bonnet and bimble home the last 40 miles at 20mph without destroying the engine.

And yes, I grew up on a farm. And yes all this is totally irrevelant to the modern smartphone world of recovery vehicles and computer encrusted newfangled complicated car engines, but it's worked for me in the past and personally I wouldn't own any vehicle that needed a computer to run anyway.

[Nobby the Bastard]

They work, but only for about 6 months. then fail.

I used similar on my punto when I coulnd't be arsed to fix a leak on the water pump.

Back in the day people used to use an egg white in the cold water in the radiator. Works but only for a few days.
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[Azoth]

[pepperami]

[stinkwheel]

[Pete.]

[MCN]

It will work as long as it is still in solution in the coolant. If you flush and change it would possibly compromise the 'repair'.

I really depends on what you term a repair/fix/bodge.


But It will 'repair' a leak in a combustion space.

It's not doing anything seriously Special.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Ariel Badger]

I was searching for something else when I came across this stuff.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[ZX-7R]

[Islander]