K Seal

L18M · February 15, 2009, 03:24:48 PM

What are peoples views on this stuff?

What is K seal? (quoted from the website)
"K-SealÂ® is specially formulated to permanently seal most cracks in the engine block and head. This unique product is guaranteed to mix with all types of glycol based coolant and antifreeze. K-SealÂ® can also be used to seal holes and cracks in the head gasket, radiator, heater core, freeze plugs, water pump casing and other metal components of the cooling system in both petrol and diesel engines."

"K-SealÂ® is formulated with ceramic micro-fibres and copper fines of varying size to ensure a fast and permanent seal of all holes or cracks (up to 0.75mm large) in the cooling system."

as you know i got a water seal leak somewhere (think due to flooding in past) but anyways, i got some from clive over at MRP and put that in my cooling system.
ran the engine until warm n left it running bit longer as per instructions.

on start up, i had the \'normal\' (well for me) whiteish smoke and quite a lot of it. after the engine warmed it usually smokes quite a bit n bit sweetish (i didnt know it smelt sweetish as i got a sweet tooth n couldnt compare it to any other car with de-cat).
after putting this k seal stuff in when the engine was warm it smoked a lot less and only got a little bit of smoke (think cos using bit more oil than should be) and the little smoke was more dirty smoke (not black but smelt dirty exhaust fumes)

so looks like its doing something. my after market water temp sensor is buggered so cant tell the temp apart from stock gauge.

will take for emissions sometime this week then my garage is more free n see if the hydrocarbons etc have reduced.
(might need to do oil change n spark plugs etc to pass?)

what would make the engine use more oil than normal?

anyway, will add more as it happens. this stuff just seems too good to be true?!

kev-yorks · February 15, 2009, 04:23:29 PM

It works well and has to my knowledge been used on a few rotary\'s curing water seal issue\'s, for how long who knows. We use it a work to cure a porous head bolt issue we get on DAF\'s and 3 yrs on still no leaks.

Brett · February 15, 2009, 06:28:07 PM

I\'ve used it on a TII when it first showed signs of possible water seal failure - seemed to do the job. Done about 3000miles since it went it with no problems :wave

L18M · February 15, 2009, 11:48:02 PM

wow.. miracle stuff!! :p
if only i found out about it earlier and use as a preventative measure aid.
still cant believe it works

but still.. gonna replace the block as wont add much to costs of fitting my tub etc.. :cool

oldrotary · February 16, 2009, 12:00:52 AM

I used it on my TII last year when the water seals showed signs of failing, lasted about one month before the seals failed. On strip down there were deposits from the copper like content of the K-seal all around the water ways but none in the seal area. It may be that if the seals have failed in a low pressure area near the intake or the problem is an external coolant leak, then the K-seal may work, but if the seal failure is in a high pressure area as mine was, then it is less likely to work. It\'s very temping to use as it\'s so much simpler and cheaper than an engine rebuild and this thread will help to indicate the possible likelyhood of it working. In my view if your cooling system is not being pressurised by the combustion gasses then it\'s worth a go, but if your getting pressure in the cooling system in my experiance it does not work.
Was your system being pressurised Brett?
The top hose should remain just as easy to squeeze with your hand with the engine running as before it starts, if it\'s not then potentially your seals are failing. This is probably the quickest test for possible seal failure with combustion gasses pressurising the cooling system and hence whether the K-seal has a chance of working.
Just my view and it will be interesting to hear the experience of others.

L18M · February 16, 2009, 12:06:51 AM

Quote from: oldrotary;584800The top hose should remain just as easy to squeeze with your hand with the engine running as before it starts, if it\'s not then potentially your seals are failing. This is probably the quickest test for possible seal failure with combustion gasses pressurising the cooling system and hence whether the K-seal has a chance of working.

that is a good point raising the squeezyness of the top rad pipe!
would like to read more of other ppls exp also

would be interesting to see which point my seals have failed / failing.

SiH · February 16, 2009, 09:52:25 AM

Is it not just prolonging the inevitable though?

I\'d be interested in the views of engine builders (not vendors who sell K-seal/radweld/AN Other

) who have rebuilt engines that this stuff has been used on. I know it\'s not looked upon too favourably by a friend who was rebulding the head of a piston engine that it has been \'applied\' to.

Mazdarotaryparts · February 16, 2009, 10:55:03 AM

This K-Seal is defiantly not to be confused with old style RAD Weld, bars leaks or whatever you have heard of as this is a ceramic sealer that stays active in the system,

Old style rad weld will block the water ways in a rotary and should not be used, end of,

I am told quite a few vehicle manufactures now use this in engines on the production lines as a preventative measure,

In our own RX-8 that was brought with just 6,000 miles on it I put K-Seal in straight away as insurance and have put a further 6,000 on it since,

We did not just dump this in without testing and worked with Hayward Rotary for a long time before putting this out on general sale,

Many people now have used this and successfully combated water seal failure however as stated above if you have a top hose that’s blowing up like a balloon than it’s way too late for this stuff or any other,

You will notice that we promote this as an insurance, i.e. "preventative maintenance" and not a cure for all,

More details can be found here,

http://www.mazdarotaryparts.com/b-fd-c002-k-seal-water-sealerb-1229-p.asp

Brett · February 16, 2009, 11:19:34 AM

In my case the system was not being pressurized - if the failure ahs gone that far than no amount of additives are going to work

:wave

L18M · February 16, 2009, 01:00:31 PM

just back form garage.
this stuff did reduce some smoke on 1st starting but in my case it has not solved the prob.
the prob as oldrotary mentioned above about crack being in high pressure wont work.
think if my crack was in low pressure then would work as it did reduce the smoke out the exhaust.

This is ONLY MY OPINION and everyone is allowed to have their own opinion

I know is test isn\'t as comprehensive as some people would test it but nothing ventured nothing gained?!

leon · February 16, 2009, 01:41:01 PM

I tried this to fix my issue before pulling the engine out, sadly it did not help me in my case. The excess fluid had not gone hard inside the engine after it was stood for a few days and allowed me to clear it out with relative ease. :Giggle

L18M · February 16, 2009, 02:20:30 PM

Quote from: leon;584898I tried this to fix my issue before pulling the engine out, sadly it did not help me in my case. The excess fluid had not gone hard inside the engine after it was stood for a few days and allowed me to clear it out with relative ease. :Giggle

i dont think its ment to go hard. still stays liquid but the copper flakes ment to fill the cracks?

pdtaylor18 · February 16, 2009, 06:51:49 PM

The thing is is that you are trying to repair a rubberised seal with a compound thats designed to fix small cracks in alloys. Its just not going to happen. This stuff is good at preventative and I use this myself after reading about it on one of Clives threads. It will help stop corrosion from starting and eating away at the alloy and help preserve the seal.
Once your seal has gone then the only way is to strip it down and replace it. You may be lucky and get a few miles out of it but theres no way it will be reliable and you may well do more damage if it does overheat and you dont catch it in time.

SmbFD3S · February 17, 2009, 12:35:54 AM

Have also used this myself on my own Rex. Just to picture the story, the previous owner, who i knew, had water problems with the car, to which i suggested he should use this, so i bought it on his behalf. Before putting this in however he wanted to sell it anyway as it wasn\'t being used, so bought it off him at 57K mileage. I bought the car always planning for a rebuild, so put K-Seal in which i got from Clive, and ran it. Xmas just gone i stripped ad rebuilt the engine which now has 63K on the clock, and when pulled apart, the K-Seal had moulded itself around the join in the inner seal also blocking off the above coolant passage due to the large hole in the rubber. The rest of the inner and outer seals when pulled apart just disintegrated on removal...
Now this could have been like this for 1000\'s of miles or maybe just happened, but one thing is for sure it saved the engine i have no doubt.....

I now use it in the rebuilt engine as insurance just incase...

L18M · February 17, 2009, 12:39:21 AM

Quote from: pdtaylor18;584968It will help stop corrosion from starting and eating away at the alloy and help preserve the seal.

just out of interest, how will it help stop the corrosion?
i though it might be due to the copper being a substitute metal that would corrode prior to the alloy corroding but then.. to my knoledge, copper does not corrode.
i think im missing something here :3Confused