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Surprise, surprise it looks like the head gasket has gone west on my Mum’s K-Series-engined Metro.
Aside from one slightly scabby arch, it’s a 40k, two owner, near minter so she’s considering getting it fixed. Basically, she wants a car but only covers a few hundred miles a year, so even though it’ll cost to right her sickly Metro, it won’t cost anywhere near what buying another small auto in similar condition would.
To replace the gasket the quote comes in at under £400, which I didn’t think was too bad. Like I said, the car’s worth more to her than its monetary value.
The other option is to give ‘K-Seal’ a try. Has anyone used it? I’m a bit sceptical of chemical repairs but if it’s worth a shot I’d be all ears. FYI it’s not blowing too badly yet. There’s gunge in the expansion tank but it hasn’t fried itself, goes well enough and isn’t smoking, so I assume the head wouldn’t need a skim.
Any help is much appreciated.
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Not tried the k-seal so don't really have any useful input on it, however i did have a 1.1 carbed k series metro that appeared to have a blown head gasket (same symptoms as youve got) a few years ago. I just ignored it and carried on driving it (i only paid £50 for the whole car - so it wasnt much of a risk), i think i clocked up somewhere between 40 and 50k on it in that state commuting to guildford and back from swanage (dorset), most of it driven rather hard trying to kill it (no rev limiter, valve bounce was the only indication that another gear was due), which i failed to do completely. It did however rust really really badly, including rather randomly, a hole appearing at the back of the roof!!!!
I eventually sold it (for £150 i think!!) when i got fed up with trying to kill it. I bumped into the bloke that bought it off me a year later (up a mountain in italy - seriously random!!) and he said he'd put another 15k on it before scrapping it at mot time due to the welding. I asked about the engine, aparently it was still going fine when he had driven it to the scrap yard, the same symptoms, but they hadnt got any worse in 50-60k.....
Food for thought!!
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Current fleet:
'58 A35 (half mine)
'67 11 window splitscreen vw (half mine)
'77 mini 1000 (not quite 1000 any more!!)
'86 Armstrong MT500
'89 XR4X4
'94 Corrado VR6
Some sort of sevenesque kit car (no age yet!!)
'01 Mondeo estate 2.0 (engine eventually destined for kit car!) - scrapped, engine only left!
'98 E300 estate, rusty but seemingly reliable, fast-ish tat hauler. eventual engine donor
A35 van, or whats left of it after it lived in a field for many years
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K seal is seriously good stuff.
I used it on a Range Rover with a porous block and it was fine for ages.
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Koos
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Agreed, good stuff but accept no substitutes , most of the others cause rad blockage as a side effect, K seal only works where there are holes.
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They are using water glass to seal parts of the Fook You Shima nuke plant, so it'll be good enuf for your engine. ;D
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 Team Blitz Ford Capri parts worldwide: Restoration, Road, or Race. Used, Repro, and NOS, ranging from scabby to perfect. Itching your Capri jones since 1979! Buy, sell, trade. www.teamblitz.com blitz@teamblitz.com |
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Agreed, good stuff but accept no substitutes I disagree with that, the active ingredient in K seal and several other products is sodium silicate. As Team Blitz says they are using it in Japan and I doubt they are using K seal so maybe you should have a word with them... |
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"Alice in Wonderland's Cheshire cat is perhaps the 1.9-litre 205's closest parallel, for like Carroll's fiendish cat, when the Peugeot is gone only the grin remains." -What Car? March 1987
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Garry
East Midlands
Posts: 1,722
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My brother is having HGF issues with his Punto. A temporary measure was to put K-Seal in it, and it lasted around 600 more miles before it started using water again. Another K-Seal dose lasted about 250 miles. We've got a new gasket and stretch bolts to do the job properly now.
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Agreed, good stuff but accept no substitutes I disagree with that, the active ingredient in K seal and several other products is sodium silicate. As Team Blitz says they are using it in Japan and I doubt they are using K seal so maybe you should have a word with them... Nice attitude . I wasn't talking about Japan , I was talking about the UK where your local factors may offer you something like Barrs Leaks or Seal It or a number of Holts products to fix it. After 15 years in the car radiator trade I've seen the results of various products. Next time I support a product I'll do a worldwide search for other applications first. |
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I've shoved it in all my cars as an insurance (two K series and an O series) and no probs yet. Mind you, if it will seal the cylinder liner gaskets on an English Electric 12CSVT diesel engine, it'll do anything..... ;D
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Rover Metro - The TARDIS - brake problems.....Stored
Rover 75 - Barge
MGZTT Cdti 160+ - Winter Hack and Audi botherer...
MGF - The Golden Shot...Stored
Project Minion........
Can you see the theme?
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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I had an old Sierra estate as a temp car that I bought for 40 quid with a blown HG, lasted 3000 miles after a dose of K-Seal and was still fine when I sold it. I think it will fix a slight blow, but a really bad leak I doubt it would work. But hey, for a tenner? Worth a go right?  |
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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I've found it to be the best out there although TBH it works better on cracked heads than gaskets, i used it in my lucida 2 years ago and it's still water tight to this day and comparing it to Barrs leaks is a waist of time they are in totaly differant catagories IMHO  |
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R.I.P photobucket
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GavinJ
Club Retro Rides Member
MGB 3.9 v8 Sebring
Posts: 927 
Club RR Member Number: 209
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K-Seal?GavinJ
@gavinj
Club Retro Rides Member 209
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I've used it K Seal with great results in the past aswell...
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K Seal is brilliant from my experience with it.
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