Head gasket sealer

[compass]

Has anyone ever used any specific brands of head gasket sealer, and what were the results?

I bought a bargain new daily on Saturday.....Volvo V90 3.0 CD. Cost me £300 with MOT to November and has done 250 miles since, with no issues. Anyway, one of the niggles is an intermittant rough idle, which I think could be HG related. Mainly because it`s last Volvo service was 3000miles ago, and in the notes it advised there`s a coolant weep from the rear of the head gasket area. No other symptoms, but I`d like to knock anything on the head before it potentially gets worse.

So, has anyone used it before, would you recommend it or is it something I should avoid?

Thanks in advance.....

[colnerov]

Hi, Wellseal, Can be messy to use but very effective.

[Tepper]

I've had success with K-Seal before, but I'd only use it if you've completely ruled out sorting the head gasket properly - it's worth a go if you'd be scrapping the car anyway. You will end up with sealant in the cooling system even once you've flushed it. I was advised to bypass the heater matrix (hoses disconnected at bulkhead, bridged with a piece of pipe), allow the K-Seal to do its' thing, then flush and reconnect the matrix.

[compass]

Cheers. I`ve no intention of scrapping it but only bought it as a temporary daily to run on a budget for 6 months. Don`t fancy getting the HG done if I can help it.

Never used a HG selant before, but heard good things about it.

[Wilk]

I tried K seal. It was a fookin nightmare. Clogged everything up inc heater matrix but still didn't sort the head

When I ripped the head off eventually it took forever to clear it out the rest of the system. Heater was never right again

[Deleted]

I'd be having a look to confirm where the weep is coming from, there are a lot of coolant pipes and they are not known for weeping head gaskets.

[duggers]

Most of them use a glass particle base and are a pain to deal with longer term. For 6 months you might be ok. i have tried K-seal previously and it didn't work, however with a small weep you describe it might.

[compass]

Hmmm, maybe I need to re think what to do here then, as the sealers don`t seam to have a great reputation!

I`ll take a good look around the water pipes etc, and see if I can see the weep the dealers were talking about.

[welshpug]

if you want to keep it I'd just do the gasket if that is the cause, can't be that bad a job on one of these right?

[compass]

Unfortunately, It`s a job that`s way past my skill set with spanners, so would involve paying someone to do it. I`m a bodywork guy though.....so will happily swap hours with someone who needs some piantwork doing Can`t see it being cheap.

Anyway, I`m no doubt worrying too much about it.....should know more by tomorrow night, as travelling from Chesterfield - Weymouth and back in one day with it, so if there`s an issue, I`m sure I`ll soon know!