In 1958 the USS Nautilus had a leaking condenser onboard - it was critical to repair the leak as the ship was about to make the famous transit under water and across the North Pole. The Captain had the crew scour around Seattle for Stop Leak (now Bars Leak), a radiator leak stopper for cooling systems. 140 quarts were found and added; the system sealed and the Nautilus made its historic voyage without any further problem. But, a bit different from a Subaru head gasket leak...
K seal sorted out the leak in my head gasket on a Primera P11 years ago. I drove it another 30,000 miles or so and it was still running when I sold it. That was a 2.0L and about 170bph. On my H6 Legacy Spec B though (model year 2008) it didn't work. Worked initally but within about 200 miles the plug would fail! Ended up selling it to them traders that pay jack-all...
People always make videos on this stuff and then they use it wrong and then say it's a bad product. Pretty sure the cooling is like a key part of the setting process. Also this stuff is meant to fix completely blown gaskets or I don't know how bad yours is but these are mostly more effective when you just first start noticing symptoms of a bad gasket. They were good for that no one says it's going to miraculously replacing the entire gasket.
We had a small leak in our Nissan Xtrail in the past and used sealant from Liqui Moly with some glittery stuff inside of it. I can't find it online right now, but I can tell you how it worked. So maybe, just maybe, this stuff works the same. At first, coolant was still leaking even after recommended 30 minutes of driving, so we just kept adding distilled water and after maybe 200-300 kilometers, it stopped leaking and lasted about 2 years. After those 2 years, it started leaking a little bit again and we repeated the same process and again, after 200-300 kilometers, it sealed everything up.
Just this week I fixed a 2017 Silverado that was puffing smoke. I used Blue Devil. Took about 4 heat ups and cool downs, but it worked very well. no more over pressurization of the coolant system. No more water in the oil. No more smoke. Pretty pleased with it.
2 big bottles of Barr's Stop Leak and running for an hour works every time. My ex's car was smoking, did that and it ran for another 3 years before trading it in.
@@jnorris32 Man, being a mechanic for 20 years. I feel like every little no-name used car lot that buys all the cars at auctions have cars come through there have this ticking time bomb. It's not if, it's when it fails.
That's exactly what i have im so happy i saw your comment cause its always just off of what i have and that makes everything work different or not at all. Very reassuring thank you so much. Going to the store now
It works under pressure. You have to close off the system for it to build pressure. Shut it off to allow it to cool. As it seeps, under pressure, it will seal the leak. I've used it to seal cracked blocks and heads. Key words: "pressure differential." If there's no pressure, it won't seal the leak.
you also have to disable the cylinder that had leak since its pressure is 100x bigger than the radiator-cap, the sealant couldn't flow uphill into the gap, and if that pressure built-up in the coolant with radiator-cap on then coolant hose will burst, gasket leaking, or random hose come off on its own. Make sure there's no bubble when putting on the radiator-cap, ie: you must disable the cylinder that is leaking first..
@@MatterOfFact1930 remove spark-plug and disconnect fuel-injector cable, and start the engine, but do it 1 cylinder at a time to find out which one has the leak. Look at the spark-plug whether it has water/mist on it or if you notice less/more smoke came out of the radiator. Typical 4-cylinder can't ran with less than 3 cylinder, so if there's more than 1 leak then there's no way to stop the high-pressure gas-into-coolant for the sealant to work.
I have used K-Seal on 2 Toyota's and 1 Saturn radiator leak and it worked each time and still holding strong. I have the radiators on hand but since the K-Seal worked I have left them alone! Never tried head gasket in a bottle though!
Used the regular KSeal to stop a slow heater core leak probably five years ago. Still holding strong! That is too bad that the KSeal head gasket sealer didnt work.
I think no matter which product. If your getting combustion gas in cooling system - find the cylinder and remove the plug and heat up/cool down 4-5 times then let cure 24 hours. Most of the products include theses steps under advanced applications.
@@edogriff In my case I pulled the plugs and one was clean from being washed with coolant/water. I also could need moisture in the cylinder which had water/coolant with a small flashlight.
it's necessary to remove the plug since compression stroke is at least 100psi when fuel-injector disabled, 300psi during light load, and 1000psi at max, so there's no way a sealant can go pass that.
I used one of the small bottles of K-seal and it stopped antifreeze from entering my oil. Didn't clog heater core or radiator or thermostat. 6k miles later and no issues. Though I did flush it 300 miles after using k-seal.
Try Sodium Silicate and water mix aka water glass i bet its gone after that as they dont sell it anymore in stores. Ive used it before on a 96 grand prix with a 3.1 and my sister drove it for about 10 years. She sold the car and i used to see it around. Also you have to put the cap on after you get most of the air to stop then drive it around for a day, check it the next day and it theres no more bubbles, then drain the system completely and the sit with the hoses off to let and circulate through the system over night. They add 50/50 mix bleed and all should be well.
Did you replace the leaky water pump first? Maybe the bubbles you are seeing are the result of air getting into the system via the water pump weep hole??
I actually seen that blue devil stuff seal a head gasket on a 3.4 impala that had a misfire from the head gasket being bad. It was a customer that didnt want to pay to fix it and I told him if you use that crap its gonna cost you more money because that stuff gets everywhere in the system. When he brought it back a week later i took the heads off and you could see where the sealer did seal where the gasket failed there was all this hard white stuff around it so the sealer must cure when it gets to exhaust gasses. The sealer plugged up the water jackets around that cylinder so it obviously got hot and made the sealer fail lol.
I tried the rislone, nulon and k-seal head gasket fix and none of those fixed the issue on my Subaru liberty(legacy). I tried in other engines like GM Cruze and ford focus and it worked great. I think it is something related with the horizontal boxer engine design.
I have been seeing bubbles in my over flow tank but not at idel or even at2000rpms for a hour then I drive down the road when it’s fully hot and then it bubbles and blows coolant out of the overflow thinking mabey warped head because it only leaks after driving seems to build pressure in the coolant system mabey it didn’t work because the block wasent fully warm and sealer wasent getting in there idk
Well you're looking for a magic fix in a bottle, over the pond here in the Uk try Steel Seal. An engineer gave me this tip years ago & I swear by it ! Out of all the times i've used it ,it has only failed once on a seriously overheated head gasket. About ten years ago I had a hair line crack in my cylinder head by No.1 injector, tried Steel seal and it fixed it.Have never had the problem reoccur. It's made here in the UK but hope you give it a try if it's available over there ? Really appreciate your video's & advise, please keep them coming. Julian.
I have used them both many times and when the customer balks at the steel seal price I switch to K-seal and they will usually go for it sometimes the deep pocket ones go for the steel seal 😂
Steel seal is a better alternative then k seal when it comes to head gasket leaks from my experience. for the folks who want a cheap solution to a major problem just have to drain all coolant fill with regular water/ steel seal and let run for 1 hour with heat on max; turn off let sit overnight then check results following day. Results vary.
I see how a stop leak can stop a coolant leak, but not a compression leak😊 That is good to clamp off heater hoses. Maybe after shutting off the engine it seeps back, & somehow seals it temporarily.
It takes a while to fully seal leaks in radiator anyways I used 2 or 3 bottles plastic at top is cracked. Finally leaks stopped but took a long time just drove it around while keeping coolant level topped up. Total time was over a 4 week time frame first it would stop leaks interemintally then when not completely full then when topped off it would squirter coolant but now has stopped for about a week, I imagine that head gasket may be even more difficult to seal but maybe it would eventually help but I've only used the standard k seal for radiator leak at top plastic housing area horizontal Crack in middle I hope I didn't add too much and won't add any more because I am worried about clogging issues or water pump seizing but for now all good
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the additive? It needs heat from the combustion chamber to "activate" the additive to make a solid plug. By activate I mean burn off the water leaving behind the silicate plug.
Yes the combustion gases overpressurizes the coolant system. It will never I mean never work unless you find the cylinder (s) that is or are affected and let vent to atmosphere during application I've sealed big leaks in cylinders with just about all of the head gasket fixes even the old ones. Food for thought.
Blue devil worked for me just throw it in and drive it around like normal and dont drain it. Needs the system to pressurize to work the best and when i did it took about a week of driving to fully fix the head gasket. Yes not a permanent fix but it will get you by in the mean time and didnt matter in my instence after about a year and half after the head gasket went south the trans crapped out and then i sold it as is
Air bubbles does not mean it didnt work, when you bleed coolant system its going to release air pockets.. if it was bubbling like a soap bath then you have a oil mix/ exhaust fume.
From what i know k seal works when the System is presurized with the cap essentially the system isnt heating up or even Presurizing high enough to cook the k seal into the Cracks and Crevices of the leak its supose to crystalize at a specific temp from the pressure @MrSubaru1387
i've been running blue devil for over a month (not overheating , just small compression leak/skip on startup) with no change , except it swelled the seal on my radiator cap . now i have to open the cap when cold to let overflow tank refill radiator .
I had small coolant leak going into the piston on a penastar and used blue devil worked like a charm haven't had issue I think works with small leaks not whole blown head gasket
I hate using chit like that...but I have used it. In my 2001 Forester it let me drive for 2 more years before another problem made me swap in a rebuilt engine. I would recommend using way less than recommended and later work more in as needed
That was my thought; how do you know that the bubbles aren't just boiling water? I know the temp sensor said 186F, but could be localized areas hotter than that.
@@MrSubaru1387 Drive the car a few times and let it fully cool down in between. I've seen that work until we could pull the engine (EJ) and give it all the love.
You need the system to be under pressure so it can push the sealant into the leak.... Also it says on the bottle that for severe leaks you should remove the spark plug for the offending cylinder once it is up the temperature so that the sealant can't be pushed out before it crystallizes. That works for Blue devil as well, but it's specifically listed on the k-seal bottle. I haven't had much experience with k-seal, but was able to go from complete failure to another 40,000 miles on my Prius with a badly blown head gasket. It isn't a miracle fix, but the stuff does work for a while in a pinch if used correctly.
bars leak is the only one ive used in a pinch when i had a old 04 legacy, it held up after use for about 2 years before it gave out and started to overheat again. i didnt care much to repair the car since at the time i lived in ny and it was practically rusted through, cant complain for it lasting just a bit longer since it was gonna go out whether the chassis or motor gave out first
I would say that nothing works better than an actual head gasket. No matter what a head gasket will be needed at some point in time. Thank for the video.👍 When you put a head gasket in that car, can you show what procedure is for changing the starter?
Over 12 years blue devil fixed 06 ford explorer 4.6L. Still daily drive. I've tried blue devil on few cars and I noticed they do not work if the block is aluminum. But if the block is steel it will fix it as long as it starts. Now I'm saying aluminum block not the cylinder head. I don't like additives but from that time when I had to fix my explorer quickly or get another vehicle I was in a bad situation and blue devil saved me. Make sure you open the cap at the store and look at the bottle seal make sure its factory sealed.
I'm pretty sure you would have to put the radiator cap back on so that it can build pressure as the water heats up which forces The water and stop leak product into the leak where I can do its job.
I put new head gaskets in my moms Subaru had the heads done used mls head gaskets and it still leaked no cracks in block i think the block warps on Subaru engines sometimes i tore it out and swapped it from 2.5 to 2.2 worked great little underpowered but better reliability
I put an older version of k seal in an 03 legacy and it's still running. Coolant level is ok, but won't sink money into a car this old. Had 2 gasket jobs beand they both failed...
Lol... I ended up using so many bottles over so many intervals (200 miles a time with a fresh flush) that I eventually clogged up the radiator/heater core. It stopped blowing out hot air through some of the vents...
I used some K Seal last year on my 2013 FR-S after the head gasket started to fail. It managed to buy me the 6 weeks I needed until I was able to source another FA20 motor. Hell, I even drove the car 3 hours in traffic over to the shop that had my new motor! Once we pulled the old motor and inspected it, the guy told me "how did you make it here on this engine?" 😂
I never used combustion leak fluid till the last couple years. But I can find head gasket issues through this very method months, if not years before it's truly a problem. I bought my v10 excursion 3.5 years ago with a weak head gasket, drove it for 2 years before I was seriously suspicious. Leak check fluid never picked up CO or CO2 but a power brake would make it volcano out of the degassing bottle. It went over a year from that date before any leak check fluid would pick it up. Before anyone says "it's the fluid" I had universal blue point and the gasoline specific from the parts store.
I've used K&W block sealer on a Ford Explorer 4.0 Pushrod engine and a Toyota 22RE by directions and it worked well for months until I sold them that way. Sodium silicate is pretty much all it is.
i know im a year late but for this to work you need to close the cooling system so it can pressurize. the force of the combustion likely pushed the cured liquid glass into ur water jacket since there was no pressure on the other side holding it back. little chunks of hard residue in ur cooling system is no good, and that's even if it makes it out of the engine block.
I used the quart sized blue devil on an 07 gmc 5.3L that was using over a half gallon of coolant every week. I removed the thermostat, crimped off the heater hoses and poured the blue devil into the engine via the upper radiator hose. Topped off the system with water and ran at idle for an hour. When cooled i put the system back together with new coolant. It took two long (20 mile) drives to get it to stop using coolant. So far I've put 500 miles on it, and the coolant has stayed at the same level. Fingers crossed i get a year or more out of it.
The only time any sealant works is when you have a slight leak...and I mean slight...its nothing but a band aid...I do know of a man who used blue devil 10 years ago and it still holding..
I have a 172,000 miles on my 2007 Forester no head gasket issues as of yet if they do occur I will invest in a Mazda next time I buy a car. Subaru has been great after I have exchanged 90 % of the parts. Gets expensive is what I mean.
Bars works 100 percent just take out the thermostat and run it a week normal no more than 45 min drive than (change oil) don’t put the thermostat on run it like 2 normal drive so that sealant heats up and goes everywhere that needs to seal and you should be good I did it worked fine 🎉
Bro the K seal Does work all you did was cycle it through? You gotta wait and let it shut off and cool down Maybe another cycle even also.so it does its job. That's not a very accurate review at all.
Blue Devil, the 'Pour and Go" formulation failed my blown head gasket. Problem w. that product (and possibly K-Seal as well?) is that it is only sodium silicate/liquid glass w/o anything else added to it to increase its sealing properties. I'm about to try the "Professional" blown head gasket product made by Bar's Leak to see if it in fact works. It contains carbon fibers (think "Kevlar") in addition to the usual sodium silicate in order to quickly work on sealing up the leak(s) w/i 15 minutes or so of running, vs. the B.D.-type products that require up to almost an hour of running time to start working.
Ive tried everything. I don't have oil in the radiator. Nor water in the oil. I do lose a little coolant in the radiator over a few hundred miles. I just keep it filled. It also doesn't draw from the overflow. I'm assuming there is not enough vacuum when the engine cools to draw out of the tank? The tube from the tank is clear and it has a new radiator cap.
I have the same issue. It has me stumped on a 2004 Forrester with 212,000 miles. Compression is A-OK. Cylinder leak down test is A-OK. No bubbles in radiator, no air sounds from the dip stick, same with the tail pipe and throttle body. My little Subi is a "tight" engine. But there is a leak behind #4 cylinder near the bottom of the EGR tube.
I followed the instructions to the letter , and my dodge Avenger went from sputtering under acceleration to going strong within two runs down the highway to and fro work .
My radiator needed a half gallon of water every 2 days for about a good six or seven weeks I was about to purchase another radiator for about $140, I said hey I'll try the K seal - well here we are two and a half years later zero issues no radiator leak... That being said for a head gasket known issue I wouldn't even attempt to use a sealant product. I would just replace the head gasket 🤷
I never used this stuff, but for you to say it's crap because of your test, is Idiotic, I used a similar product on an Oldsmobile that would fill the Garage with white smoke, 10 mins later, was clear, car ran for another 3 years.
It looks like the system is still burping. I wonder if you sealed the system up if the pressure would have fixed the leak. It definitely looks like it would get you home though if you overheating on the side of the road.
Do you still have this car? Give Bar's HG-1 a try. It worked for me (for now) where the K-Seal Ultimate failed. The regular K-Seal worked for about 3 months but then it started leaking coolant again, so I tried the Ultimate, didn't work at all. As a last-ditch effort tried the Bar's HG-1 and it has been holding up so far (knock on wood).
You most likely have a situation where the leak requires multiple uses regardless of brand. The Bars has the benefit of sealing up the last little bit of leak that the K-Seal started to fill, but didn't quite get all of it. Reverse the brands and you probably have the same outcome.
@@kitfisto1827 Could be, but more likely I think it's due to the fact that Bar's seals up to 0.015mm vs K-Seal Ultimate's 0.010mm width. I can even see copper flakes where the K-Seal just ended up leaking through whereas the Bar's pretty much immediately stopped the leak when the coolant circulated (maybe also helped by the fact that it's a lot thicker). Believe me, I wasn't expecting the Bar's to do jack s----, whenever I see buzz words like "cabron fiber reinforced" and all that non-sense mumbojumbo, I am super skeptical--like how is it going to help fill the hole? Are the carbon strands pre-impregnated with resin? It doesn't make sense to me and I've worked with carbon fiber professionally. But it definitely worked. I was absolutely shocked that it worked tbh lol.
Do the Subaru 2.0 engines commonly blow head gaskets? Have a 2013 crosstrek that i need to add coolant too every two weeks or so with no noticeable external leaks. Have not dug into trying to find the cause yet was just wondering if its common for the 2.0s to have head gasket problems.
On a Subaru? This is a Subaru specific video. The boxer engine is a different beast. Just asking cause I recently picked up a junker Subaru and I'm seeing a lot of conflicting advice about head gasket sealer.
When are you replacing the head Gasket. I just got a 2011 Forester that runs so well I thought it turned itself off when I came to a light. Unfortunately it looks like it needs a head gasket. Bubbling in the overflow and my combustion gas detector fluid turned from blue to yellow. 😵💫I was going to give this to my son as his first car but the used FB engines are not cheap.
Hello, I have a 2012 Forester FWD, 4cyl. Heads gasket blown out, creamy fluid in the radiator. Gunky coolant reservoir. Is it worth to fix or repair? How about engine replacement. Thank you so so mych.
I have used both of those if there going to work it usually takes a few days of driving around for it to work it is only a temp fix if it dose work but i have gad blue devil stop a pin hole leak in a intake cooling line on a 4.2 in a f150 well it was a buddy's truck u should by. Pas the heater core. Usually people that use that stuff are people that cant aford to pay someone to fix it or people that are too poor to do or cant take the time off me personally its because i couldn't afford eather to take the time off or pay but i usually do that stuff myself everything thing is too expensive
How did you verify the head gasket is actually leaking? Its normal to have the small amount of bubbles in cooling system since the system was drained. Vacuum filling cooling system doesn't remove 100% of air from cooling system. (example air trapped in hose between valve and container with new 50/50 coolant). Have you verified combustible gas in cooling system with chemical test?
In 1958 the USS Nautilus had a leaking condenser onboard - it was critical to repair the leak as the ship was about to make the famous transit under water and across the North Pole. The Captain had the crew scour around Seattle for Stop Leak (now Bars Leak), a radiator leak stopper for cooling systems. 140 quarts were found and added; the system sealed and the Nautilus made its historic voyage without any further problem. But, a bit different from a Subaru head gasket leak...
K seal sorted out the leak in my head gasket on a Primera P11 years ago. I drove it another 30,000 miles or so and it was still running when I sold it. That was a 2.0L and about 170bph. On my H6 Legacy Spec B though (model year 2008) it didn't work. Worked initally but within about 200 miles the plug would fail! Ended up selling it to them traders that pay jack-all...
People always make videos on this stuff and then they use it wrong and then say it's a bad product. Pretty sure the cooling is like a key part of the setting process. Also this stuff is meant to fix completely blown gaskets or I don't know how bad yours is but these are mostly more effective when you just first start noticing symptoms of a bad gasket. They were good for that no one says it's going to miraculously replacing the entire gasket.
We had a small leak in our Nissan Xtrail in the past and used sealant from Liqui Moly with some glittery stuff inside of it. I can't find it online right now, but I can tell you how it worked. So maybe, just maybe, this stuff works the same.
At first, coolant was still leaking even after recommended 30 minutes of driving, so we just kept adding distilled water and after maybe 200-300 kilometers, it stopped leaking and lasted about 2 years. After those 2 years, it started leaking a little bit again and we repeated the same process and again, after 200-300 kilometers, it sealed everything up.
Just this week I fixed a 2017 Silverado that was puffing smoke. I used Blue Devil. Took about 4 heat ups and cool downs, but it worked very well. no more over pressurization of the coolant system. No more water in the oil. No more smoke. Pretty pleased with it.
Did you do all that flushing
2 big bottles of Barr's Stop Leak and running for an hour works every time. My ex's car was smoking, did that and it ran for another 3 years before trading it in.
RIP to the sucker who bought your vehicle.
@@jnorris32😂😂😂😂😂
Bars worked for me too, but destroyed my radiator and heater in the process
@@jnorris32 Man, being a mechanic for 20 years. I feel like every little no-name used car lot that buys all the cars at auctions have cars come through there have this ticking time bomb. It's not if, it's when it fails.
Over how much time??? All i need is a quick fix until March so u can trade it in for my bday@@DARKELLAKEL
I just used the same kseal and it worked on my 2012 Subaru Impreza.
That's exactly what i have im so happy i saw your comment cause its always just off of what i have and that makes everything work different or not at all. Very reassuring thank you so much. Going to the store now
Also did you empty and refill it did you do the flushing of the radiator as well
It works under pressure.
You have to close off the system for it to build pressure.
Shut it off to allow it to cool.
As it seeps, under pressure, it will seal the leak.
I've used it to seal cracked blocks and heads.
Key words: "pressure differential."
If there's no pressure, it won't seal the leak.
How does one ensure there is proper pressure?
@@NeuroplasticityReprogramyou put the rad cap on homie
you also have to disable the cylinder that had leak since its pressure is 100x bigger than the radiator-cap, the sealant couldn't flow uphill into the gap, and if that pressure built-up in the coolant with radiator-cap on then coolant hose will burst, gasket leaking, or random hose come off on its own. Make sure there's no bubble when putting on the radiator-cap, ie: you must disable the cylinder that is leaking first..
@@xponenhow do you disable the one that's leaking first?
@@MatterOfFact1930 remove spark-plug and disconnect fuel-injector cable, and start the engine, but do it 1 cylinder at a time to find out which one has the leak. Look at the spark-plug whether it has water/mist on it or if you notice less/more smoke came out of the radiator. Typical 4-cylinder can't ran with less than 3 cylinder, so if there's more than 1 leak then there's no way to stop the high-pressure gas-into-coolant for the sealant to work.
I have used K-Seal on 2 Toyota's and 1 Saturn radiator leak and it worked each time and still holding strong. I have the radiators on hand but since the K-Seal worked I have left them alone! Never tried head gasket in a bottle though!
You could have saved money and added black pepper that is what we did in the 70s or used a bar of body soap to seal radiator leaks.
Used the regular KSeal to stop a slow heater core leak probably five years ago. Still holding strong! That is too bad that the KSeal head gasket sealer didnt work.
I think it did work through bubbles he saw looked like burping of the coolant system, remember he just filled it after a drain
This test was not done properly
Let the system cool and then test again
No it wasn't. Your right about that
He mentions that the instructions are simple, then proceeds to not follow them.
😂
Please explain how to use it
I think no matter which product. If your getting combustion gas in cooling system - find the cylinder and remove the plug and heat up/cool down 4-5 times then let cure 24 hours. Most of the products include theses steps under advanced applications.
How do you find the plug. Do you have to get a combustion tester?
@@edogriff In my case I pulled the plugs and one was clean from being washed with coolant/water. I also could need moisture in the cylinder which had water/coolant with a small flashlight.
it's necessary to remove the plug since compression stroke is at least 100psi when fuel-injector disabled, 300psi during light load, and 1000psi at max, so there's no way a sealant can go pass that.
I've used K&w fiber lock many times that will definitely fix it!
I used one of the small bottles of K-seal and it stopped antifreeze from entering my oil. Didn't clog heater core or radiator or thermostat. 6k miles later and no issues. Though I did flush it 300 miles after using k-seal.
I'd like to see a follow-up video in a week or so. Interesting content regardless of the outcome.
Try Sodium Silicate and water mix aka water glass i bet its gone after that as they dont sell it anymore in stores. Ive used it before on a 96 grand prix with a 3.1 and my sister drove it for about 10 years.
She sold the car and i used to see it around.
Also you have to put the cap on after you get most of the air to stop then drive it around for a day, check it the next day and it theres no more bubbles, then drain the system completely and the sit with the hoses off to let and circulate through the system over night. They add 50/50 mix bleed and all should be well.
Did you replace the leaky water pump first? Maybe the bubbles you are seeing are the result of air getting into the system via the water pump weep hole??
K-SEAL DOES WORK if you DO IT RIGHT! terrible FUD on a great product
I actually seen that blue devil stuff seal a head gasket on a 3.4 impala that had a misfire from the head gasket being bad. It was a customer that didnt want to pay to fix it and I told him if you use that crap its gonna cost you more money because that stuff gets everywhere in the system. When he brought it back a week later i took the heads off and you could see where the sealer did seal where the gasket failed there was all this hard white stuff around it so the sealer must cure when it gets to exhaust gasses. The sealer plugged up the water jackets around that cylinder so it obviously got hot and made the sealer fail lol.
You have a great voice for sports narrator 👍🏻
I tried the rislone, nulon and k-seal head gasket fix and none of those fixed the issue on my Subaru liberty(legacy). I tried in other engines like GM Cruze and ford focus and it worked great. I think it is something related with the horizontal boxer engine design.
Subaru's & head gaskets.. drove mine for years with leaking head gasket..
I have been seeing bubbles in my over flow tank but not at idel or even at2000rpms for a hour then I drive down the road when it’s fully hot and then it bubbles and blows coolant out of the overflow thinking mabey warped head because it only leaks after driving seems to build pressure in the coolant system mabey it didn’t work because the block wasent fully warm and sealer wasent getting in there idk
Well you're looking for a magic fix in a bottle, over the pond here in the Uk try Steel Seal. An engineer gave me this tip years ago
& I swear by it ! Out of all the times i've used it ,it has only failed once on a seriously overheated head gasket. About ten years
ago I had a hair line crack in my cylinder head by No.1 injector, tried Steel seal and it fixed it.Have never had the problem reoccur. It's
made here in the UK but hope you give it a try if it's available over there ?
Really appreciate your video's & advise, please keep them coming. Julian.
I have used them both many times and when the customer balks at the steel seal price I switch to K-seal and they will usually go for it sometimes the deep pocket ones go for the steel seal 😂
Steel seal is a better alternative then k seal when it comes to head gasket leaks from my experience. for the folks who want a cheap solution to a major problem just have to drain all coolant fill with regular water/ steel seal and let run for 1 hour with heat on max; turn off let sit overnight then check results following day. Results vary.
That junk totally clogged my radiator on a Honda that I used to own. Nothing worked except replacing the head gasket.
@@gregdolecki8530 Was that when you drained it and added fresh water for the first time?
I see how a stop leak can stop a coolant leak, but not a compression leak😊 That is good to clamp off heater hoses. Maybe after shutting off the engine it seeps back, & somehow seals it temporarily.
It takes a while to fully seal leaks in radiator anyways I used 2 or 3 bottles plastic at top is cracked. Finally leaks stopped but took a long time just drove it around while keeping coolant level topped up. Total time was over a 4 week time frame first it would stop leaks interemintally then when not completely full then when topped off it would squirter coolant but now has stopped for about a week, I imagine that head gasket may be even more difficult to seal but maybe it would eventually help but I've only used the standard k seal for radiator leak at top plastic housing area horizontal Crack in middle I hope I didn't add too much and won't add any more because I am worried about clogging issues or water pump seizing but for now all good
You need to determine what cylinder has the head gasket leaking and pull the spark plug. Run it with the plug out and radiator cap on.
Could you elaborate on why pulling the spark plug works better? im about to test this out. Thanks!
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the additive? It needs heat from the combustion chamber to "activate" the additive to make a solid plug. By activate I mean burn off the water leaving behind the silicate plug.
exactly... pulling the plug from the offending cylinder relieves pressure build up and allows the K seal to do its job ...great point mate!
i replied to it
@@kanogl
Yes the combustion gases overpressurizes the coolant system. It will never I mean never work unless you find the cylinder (s) that is or are affected and let vent to atmosphere during application I've sealed big leaks in cylinders with just about all of the head gasket fixes even the old ones. Food for thought.
Blue devil worked for me just throw it in and drive it around like normal and dont drain it. Needs the system to pressurize to work the best and when i did it took about a week of driving to fully fix the head gasket. Yes not a permanent fix but it will get you by in the mean time and didnt matter in my instence after about a year and half after the head gasket went south the trans crapped out and then i sold it as is
Bars works , did on my 2001 legacy, dont pinch off the heater hoses , and run it with heat on high
which Bar's product? they have the "strong" 1100, the "stronger" 1111 and the "strongest "HG-1"
Air bubbles does not mean it didnt work, when you bleed coolant system its going to release air pockets.. if it was bubbling like a soap bath then you have a oil mix/ exhaust fume.
From what i know k seal works when the System is presurized with the cap essentially the system isnt heating up or even Presurizing high enough to cook the k seal into the Cracks and Crevices of the leak its supose to crystalize at a specific temp from the pressure @MrSubaru1387
i've been running blue devil for over a month (not overheating , just small compression leak/skip on startup) with no change , except it swelled the seal on my radiator cap . now i have to open the cap when cold to let overflow tank refill radiator .
I had small coolant leak going into the piston on a penastar and used blue devil worked like a charm haven't had issue I think works with small leaks not whole blown head gasket
I hate using chit like that...but I have used it. In my 2001 Forester it let me drive for 2 more years before another problem made me swap in a rebuilt engine. I would recommend using way less than recommended and later work more in as needed
Might having the Radiator cap on and the additional 13PSI pressure differential make a difference in how they work?
We’ll see. Still in the car. I’ll try it some more.
That was my thought; how do you know that the bubbles aren't just boiling water? I know the temp sensor said 186F, but could be localized areas hotter than that.
@@MrSubaru1387 Drive the car a few times and let it fully cool down in between. I've seen that work until we could pull the engine (EJ) and give it all the love.
@@MrSubaru1387 Update??
@@jkenney940 didn’t work
You need the system to be under pressure so it can push the sealant into the leak.... Also it says on the bottle that for severe leaks you should remove the spark plug for the offending cylinder once it is up the temperature so that the sealant can't be pushed out before it crystallizes. That works for Blue devil as well, but it's specifically listed on the k-seal bottle.
I haven't had much experience with k-seal, but was able to go from complete failure to another 40,000 miles on my Prius with a badly blown head gasket. It isn't a miracle fix, but the stuff does work for a while in a pinch if used correctly.
bars leak is the only one ive used in a pinch when i had a old 04 legacy, it held up after use for about 2 years before it gave out and started to overheat again.
i didnt care much to repair the car since at the time i lived in ny and it was practically rusted through, cant complain for it lasting just a bit longer since it was gonna go out whether the chassis or motor gave out first
I would say that nothing works better than an actual head gasket. No matter what a head gasket will be needed at some point in time. Thank for the video.👍 When you put a head gasket in that car, can you show what procedure is for changing the starter?
Yes, sure; but that will be way after I do the neighborhood hotties in bikinis photo shoot special, you know- priority!
Over 12 years blue devil fixed 06 ford explorer 4.6L. Still daily drive. I've tried blue devil on few cars and I noticed they do not work if the block is aluminum. But if the block is steel it will fix it as long as it starts. Now I'm saying aluminum block not the cylinder head. I don't like additives but from that time when I had to fix my explorer quickly or get another vehicle I was in a bad situation and blue devil saved me. Make sure you open the cap at the store and look at the bottle seal make sure its factory sealed.
I'm pretty sure you would have to put the radiator cap back on so that it can build pressure as the water heats up which forces The water and stop leak product into the leak where I can do its job.
I put new head gaskets in my moms Subaru had the heads done used mls head gaskets and it still leaked no cracks in block i think the block warps on Subaru engines sometimes i tore it out and swapped it from 2.5 to 2.2 worked great little underpowered but better reliability
Tryna do mine lol
I put an older version of k seal in an 03 legacy and it's still running. Coolant level is ok, but won't sink money into a car this old. Had 2 gasket jobs beand they both failed...
Lol... I ended up using so many bottles over so many intervals (200 miles a time with a fresh flush) that I eventually clogged up the radiator/heater core. It stopped blowing out hot air through some of the vents...
Old school trick is black pepper I promise you worked for me every time instant results
I used some K Seal last year on my 2013 FR-S after the head gasket started to fail. It managed to buy me the 6 weeks I needed until I was able to source another FA20 motor. Hell, I even drove the car 3 hours in traffic over to the shop that had my new motor! Once we pulled the old motor and inspected it, the guy told me "how did you make it here on this engine?" 😂
Subaru folks just hit different.
I never used combustion leak fluid till the last couple years. But I can find head gasket issues through this very method months, if not years before it's truly a problem. I bought my v10 excursion 3.5 years ago with a weak head gasket, drove it for 2 years before I was seriously suspicious. Leak check fluid never picked up CO or CO2 but a power brake would make it volcano out of the degassing bottle. It went over a year from that date before any leak check fluid would pick it up.
Before anyone says "it's the fluid" I had universal blue point and the gasoline specific from the parts store.
I've used K&W block sealer on a Ford Explorer 4.0 Pushrod engine and a Toyota 22RE by directions and it worked well for months until I sold them that way. Sodium silicate is pretty much all it is.
Blue devil always work been using it for years. Even in a s10 that was almost a bilge pump when it ran Before.
Used k seal on my old 96 wagon with 2.5l dohc...it worked.
I put it in a 2.0 dodge dart and drove it for 3 years until it finally blew and warped the head.
i know im a year late but for this to work you need to close the cooling system so it can pressurize. the force of the combustion likely pushed the cured liquid glass into ur water jacket since there was no pressure on the other side holding it back. little chunks of hard residue in ur cooling system is no good, and that's even if it makes it out of the engine block.
I used the quart sized blue devil on an 07 gmc 5.3L that was using over a half gallon of coolant every week. I removed the thermostat, crimped off the heater hoses and poured the blue devil into the engine via the upper radiator hose. Topped off the system with water and ran at idle for an hour. When cooled i put the system back together with new coolant. It took two long (20 mile) drives to get it to stop using coolant. So far I've put 500 miles on it, and the coolant has stayed at the same level. Fingers crossed i get a year or more out of it.
I know it works but you do have to cap it and run it some work some don’t depending on how bad the leak is
You have to put the cap on
worked on my overheating 300 i6 and worked on my 3.1 leaking coolant into the crankcase.
What if you use a 2nd ? since 1 reduced the bubbling
The only time any sealant works is when you have a slight leak...and I mean slight...its nothing but a band aid...I do know of a man who used blue devil 10 years ago and it still holding..
Lol. I think it depends how bad the workage and gasket break. I use a k seal, and they worked for my small leak on head gasket.
Other mechanics on TH-cam have used the product or other products and they have successfully worked
I have a 172,000 miles on my 2007 Forester no head gasket issues as of yet if they do
occur I will invest in a Mazda next time I buy a car. Subaru has been great after I have exchanged 90 % of the parts. Gets expensive is what I mean.
K seal worked for me. Took a days driving though. Jeep grand cherokee v6 3.6 liter. Heater and aircon on full blast.
Was this with exhaust gases getting into the coolant or coolant in the oil
Bars works 100 percent just take out the thermostat and run it a week normal no more than 45 min drive than (change oil) don’t put the thermostat on run it like 2 normal drive so that sealant heats up and goes everywhere that needs to seal and you should be good I did it worked fine 🎉
How long did u go with Thermostat? I was told car could go awhile without it
@@vinsinfletcher80192 weeks
Got to have some patience. Drive it around for a while may be a week then see.
I used barrs liquid ceramic stuff it worked amazing on my 04 XT
Bro the K seal Does work all you did was cycle it through? You gotta wait and let it shut off and cool down Maybe another cycle even also.so it does its job.
That's not a very accurate review at all.
It depends on location of leak. If leak is around exhaust side its difficult to fill the gap because too much pressure.
Mr subaru , have you had any luck with sealants that stop engine oil dripping?
Try the Liqui Molly Oil Saver
Went from using a quart every two weeks to a quart every other month
@@shadythereok I usually don't have to add oil but it's always a slow leak after driving, tried STP and no luck
@Avvura
Google Liqui Molly, they have many products. Really interesting company with their research and all, be safe
Blue Devil, the 'Pour and Go" formulation failed my blown head gasket. Problem w. that product (and possibly K-Seal as well?) is that it is only sodium silicate/liquid glass w/o anything else added to it to increase its sealing properties. I'm about to try the "Professional" blown head gasket product made by Bar's Leak to see if it in fact works. It contains carbon fibers (think "Kevlar") in addition to the usual sodium silicate in order to quickly work on sealing up the leak(s) w/i 15 minutes or so of running, vs. the B.D.-type products that require up to almost an hour of running time to start working.
Ive tried everything. I don't have oil in the radiator. Nor water in the oil. I do lose a little coolant in the radiator over a few hundred miles. I just keep it filled. It also doesn't draw from the overflow. I'm assuming there is not enough vacuum when the engine cools to draw out of the tank? The tube from the tank is clear and it has a new radiator cap.
I have the same issue. It has me stumped on a 2004 Forrester with 212,000 miles. Compression is A-OK. Cylinder leak down test is A-OK. No bubbles in radiator, no air sounds from the dip stick, same with the tail pipe and throttle body. My little Subi is a "tight" engine. But there is a leak behind #4 cylinder near the bottom of the EGR tube.
same as my 3ZRfe Toyota
try bars stop leak with carbon fiber
I had to switch to blue devil and that did the job
Due Devil worked for me in a 1998 F-150 4.6 V8. Held for several years. Thank you for using your Forester as a lab test monkey 🐵.
Good video
If the pressure difference is in favor of the cylinder pressure, wouldn't the sealer get constantly pushed out by the combustion?
And now put the radiator cap on ,,, go for a drive 2o minutes then cool down, it works it is not Kseal,s fault here :) .
I followed the instructions to the letter , and my dodge Avenger went from sputtering under acceleration to going strong within two runs down the highway to and fro work .
Did you have a misfire? Did you have to remove a plug?
it works, i just used it on my prius. just follow the simple instructions, don't make things more complicated.
In old days we use stu call Water clas, its axualy congrete floor sealer and it worket wery wel. all use car dealers use it.
That Blue Devil Pour & Go worked in my 2009 2.5 Legacy but heater still works only half way lol.
So its okay to go through The Radiator But not good for Heater Core Hmmm okay
Do you want to try bars leak at some point?
The devil and bars head gasket or block seal always works for me
On a Subaru?
K seal worked on a pos dodge I use to own about 10 years ago.
My radiator needed a half gallon of water every 2 days for about a good six or seven weeks I was about to purchase another radiator for about $140, I said hey I'll try the K seal - well here we are two and a half years later zero issues no radiator leak... That being said for a head gasket known issue I wouldn't even attempt to use a sealant product. I would just replace the head gasket 🤷
I never used this stuff, but for you to say it's crap because of your test, is Idiotic, I used a similar product on an Oldsmobile that would fill the Garage with white smoke, 10 mins later, was clear, car ran for another 3 years.
It looks like the system is still burping. I wonder if you sealed the system up if the pressure would have fixed the leak. It definitely looks like it would get you home though if you overheating on the side of the road.
Do you still have this car? Give Bar's HG-1 a try. It worked for me (for now) where the K-Seal Ultimate failed. The regular K-Seal worked for about 3 months but then it started leaking coolant again, so I tried the Ultimate, didn't work at all. As a last-ditch effort tried the Bar's HG-1 and it has been holding up so far (knock on wood).
You most likely have a situation where the leak requires multiple uses regardless of brand. The Bars has the benefit of sealing up the last little bit of leak that the K-Seal started to fill, but didn't quite get all of it. Reverse the brands and you probably have the same outcome.
@@kitfisto1827 Could be, but more likely I think it's due to the fact that Bar's seals up to 0.015mm vs K-Seal Ultimate's 0.010mm width. I can even see copper flakes where the K-Seal just ended up leaking through whereas the Bar's pretty much immediately stopped the leak when the coolant circulated (maybe also helped by the fact that it's a lot thicker). Believe me, I wasn't expecting the Bar's to do jack s----, whenever I see buzz words like "cabron fiber reinforced" and all that non-sense mumbojumbo, I am super skeptical--like how is it going to help fill the hole? Are the carbon strands pre-impregnated with resin? It doesn't make sense to me and I've worked with carbon fiber professionally. But it definitely worked. I was absolutely shocked that it worked tbh lol.
Dude didnt even follow the instructions correctly
😂
Im pretty sure you need to let it cool down to solidify
Do the Subaru 2.0 engines commonly blow head gaskets? Have a 2013 crosstrek that i need to add coolant too every two weeks or so with no noticeable external leaks. Have not dug into trying to find the cause yet was just wondering if its common for the 2.0s to have head gasket problems.
It's the 2.5 that have most of the problemo
I used there radiator product it did do the job
Try 4 tablespoons of black pepper, always worked for me
On a Subaru? This is a Subaru specific video. The boxer engine is a different beast. Just asking cause I recently picked up a junker Subaru and I'm seeing a lot of conflicting advice about head gasket sealer.
Explain instructions please, having issues on 2015 Hyundai Azera
These sealers are supposed to work under pressure...should've put the cap on the radiator.
I just dumped that stuff in my 650 CC sxs and it sealed up the head gasket leak
When are you replacing the head Gasket. I just got a 2011 Forester that runs so well I thought it turned itself off when I came to a light. Unfortunately it looks like it needs a head gasket. Bubbling in the overflow and my combustion gas detector fluid turned from blue to yellow. 😵💫I was going to give this to my son as his first car but the used FB engines are not cheap.
Hello, I have a 2012 Forester FWD, 4cyl. Heads gasket blown out, creamy fluid in the radiator. Gunky coolant reservoir. Is it worth to fix or repair? How about engine replacement. Thank you so so mych.
I have used both of those if there going to work it usually takes a few days of driving around for it to work it is only a temp fix if it dose work but i have gad blue devil stop a pin hole leak in a intake cooling line on a 4.2 in a f150 well it was a buddy's truck u should by. Pas the heater core. Usually people that use that stuff are people that cant aford to pay someone to fix it or people that are too poor to do or cant take the time off me personally its because i couldn't afford eather to take the time off or pay but i usually do that stuff myself everything thing is too expensive
i am sure you WANTED them to fail.
Lol, who do u believe that?
How did you verify the head gasket is actually leaking? Its normal to have the small amount of bubbles in cooling system since the system was drained. Vacuum filling cooling system doesn't remove 100% of air from cooling system. (example air trapped in hose between valve and container with new 50/50 coolant). Have you verified combustible gas in cooling system with chemical test?
Funziona bene grazie mille per il video
Curious, if you had a head gasket leak, then how were you able to pull enough vacuum on the cooling system to use your vacuum filling tool?