Steel seal

[technophobe]

Talk about showing off I was thrown out of the latin class 58 years ago but have now joined a U3A latin group. Will reply suitably in a year

[Aunt Trumpet]

If anyone suffers the news of a head gasket,cylinder head leak,or any overheating problems at all, please try Steel Seal before you do anything else. For 30 quid,its got to be worth a try. I'm convinced, and if it saves 1500 quid on a head gasket repair, its got to be the way forward.

I'm very interested in trying this as I have very similar symptoms as you.....do you just add it to the coolant? It sounds like it worked for you...definitely worth a punt. Where did you buy it from?

[bikemunky]

Sorry Aunt Trumpet, been offline for a looooooong time. I bought my steel seal from a motor factors shop in Bedworth, Warwickshire. You can get it online from their website, just stick Stel Seal in your browser. I'm still motoring happily bt the way, with no probs.

[missfixit70]

That's really good to hear, nice one for keeping us posted

[wishmaster]

Great news is that looks like there's a lot to be said for 'Steel Seal', a saviour in a bottle

Happy motoring

Regards Izzy

[fairly_odd]

great to hear that its working, think we may have to invest in some of this. our bongo overheated and we went the expensive route just before christmas but still having bother losing water from somewhere. i'm getting to the stage i want to scrap the thing, its lovely to drive but i'm nervous whenever i'm in it, i need reliable transport for where we live

[bikemunky]

Hi all,

Not been on in a long time. Just wanted to give you an update on my steel seal saga. Its coming up for 2 years since I used steel seal on my bongo, and I have probably done in excess of 6000 miles. To date (touch wood!) there have been absolutely no problems at all, with no loss of coolant or sign of overheating. The coolant is due to be changed in May, so I will see if there is any gunk floating around, but I can honestly say that this stuff works!!!

I recommended this to a friend who's Vauxhall Frontera had overheated and he says its rubbish. What he didn't tell me was that his radiator was leaking from several places causing the overheat. This stuff isn't for that, it isn't rad weld or a cure all, however, if you have suffered he dreaded blown head gasket, then you have nothing to loose. Next update after the coolant change. If anyone wants to ask me questions about this, feel free.

[tomsk]

Hi all

I agree with Dandy, in that there will be quite a few Bongos out there with what I see as a temporary repair. However I think it may be a great item to have in the tool kit for a emergency. I spend 3 to 4 months in Europe every year, and always wondering if the dreaded head gasket is going to rear it's ugly head.
What do you think Dandy and all out there, would it be worth using as a temp measure to get you home, and then having a proper fix?

Regards

Tom

[gmaczbongo]

It is just a temp fix.
Some people will have symptoms of water leakage that is cured by the jungle juice and it was actually something else. Some will have small leaks that a sealer will seal for a while.When the leaks get beyond the sealers capacity, they will blow even bigger.
Some will have many miles of happy motoring.
If the company gave a money back guarantee, I would say it was a good idea.
I can see no guarantees and no money back.
Hopefully this is wrong and if it does not work, you get your money back.
There will be very few happy customers with the jungle juice.
Head gaskets control huge pressures, jungle juice will be blown away, wee water leaks on the non pressure side will seal.
Temp fix -good if it works.
Waste of money and buy the cheaper sealers for the temp fix.
Only my view and from experience.

[HeskinBongo]

What a dilemma, to try Steel Seal or take the head off !

However if it has been tried and tested over 6000 miles, it must be worth a try

[slow_n_low]

Not a dilemma, id try the steel seal 10 times out of 10, not being loaded i wouldnt have a choice

[dandywarhol]

Note to self - don't buy a Bongo from slow_n_low or anybody else bodging the job

[Aunt Trumpet]

Sorry Aunt Trumpet, been offline for a looooooong time. I bought my steel seal from a motor factors shop in Bedworth, Warwickshire. You can get it online from their website, just stick Stel Seal in your browser. I'm still motoring happily bt the way, with no probs.

Hi, since this post over a year ago I tried the steel seal. It worked for me until after checking the coolant level one morning I forgot to put the header tank cap back on and it all spewed out and overheated again.

So last easter as a last resort to head removal I took out the thermostat. This was great as I had absolutely no problems all over the summer. We even went camping in it to Dorset, fully loaded, and taking in many hills. Happy Days.

However, a month ago it overheated again in heavy traffic and after trying every "bleeding" method available I am now in the middle of a head re-build as it was cracked. I bought a bare head from Bongobits and hope to have it all back on next week.

In conclusion I think that steel seal probably does work, however my results were inconclusive as I didn't give it a fair chance by leaving the cap off....it probably depends on how bad the gasket/head is split?

[mikeonb4c]

Note to self - don't buy a Bongo from slow_n_low or anybody else bodging the job

That's the problem isn't it. We've had a case on here recently of a Bongo sold to a trusting new owner and which quickly developed a cracked head despite 'no previous problems'. Bearing in mind who buys Bongos and why, I wouldn't want it on my conscience that I passed off my troubles to some other innocent party who was no better off than me.

I don't want to criticise anyone, because I know only too well what lack of dosh can drive us all to do, but my conscience would put me in a dilemma if my (Bongo) head developed trouble and I lightly took the easy way out.

[tomsk]

Thanks to all who have replied.

I think I will stick this product in my emergency tool kit, as I spend all of the summer in mainland Europe. However if the head ever does go, and this stuff gets me home, I will do a proper job on Bongo on my return. Me personally could not sell it with the only the Steel Seal in.

Thanks again everybody,

Tom