Water Jacket Leak question (again)

[CovKid]

and the reason why I did not opt for k-seal. Pouring any kind of goop in is far from ideal but the Holts seemed the lesser of the two evils. That said, anyone can chuck in what they like. Its their engine

[phinw]

Indeed. My reasoning in the end was that I only do about 5000 miles a year so if it gets me another year or two then happy days. We found a new engine for my pals van whose need was greater than mine (from 123-jn of this parish) so we have one spare DG between us for a leisurely rebuild!

[Mr Bean]

Over the years I have resorted to most of the products available with various levels of success.
The one I remember best - probably for the wrong reason - is a product which we knew as a S... Stick ( I guess it had a more respectable product description ) which which you crumbled into your radiator to seal small leaks. That is until I discovered that topping up with the still water from the side of the river Lea which was infested with millions of minute wriggly creatures which seemed to work just as effectively. I should imagine that their sad little bodies log jammed their way into the crack until the leak was stopped .
Like the man says not too much harm in avoiding that can of somewhat larger worms (Poor Pun alarm sounds!) until it gets bad enough to worry you or you feel a bit more brave/flush.

[RosieLee]

Hello
How is your van running following the sealant you used? Holts? Considering a sealant for leaky seals and Wynns recommended on another post. First run out yesterday and its come back dry...no reason for this though as it usually has a slow drip. Last summer I used steel seal on recommendation but that did nothing it seemed. Thanks for your feedback.

[phinw]

Seems to be running absolutely fine. Yes, was the Holts Radweld (125ml bottle, which is half a dose, 250ml could be added). Slow drip form both seals now stopped.

My understanding is the steel seal is a very different thing - it works for conventional head gaskets and metals but won't work on the rubber water jacket seals on a WBX.

[RosieLee]

Hi all,

Thank you for the replies. If I use 125ml of Holts to start with, see if there are any drips, add another half dose if needed, do you think that's worth a try?

Do you think having steel seal in the system is ok?

Last year I replaced coolant with G13 50/50 with deionised water, with dose of steel seal.

Very short of cash to start all over again. I went for G13 as that was suggested on Just Kampers for my year of van.

Thanks for your help everyone.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Why did you use de-ionized water?
Extract from a long discussion on antifreeze/water/aluminium in engines etc:

"distilled water can cause its own problems because
it has such a low pH. Water will seek its own balanced pH, and when
distilled water is placed next to aluminum, it leaches the minerals it
wants from the alloy and black soot forms in the coolant. That's why
silicates are put in aluminum-compatible antifreeze; they're
sacrificial mineral deposits."

[RosieLee]

Hi,

Just going by advice given.

[phinw]

I think most of the instructions on G13 (or G12, G12+) bottles say to use distilled water. Deionised or distilled makes no difference, they are both forms of water with trace minerals removed, just by different processes. Depending where you live tap water can have a lot of trace minerals (here in Essex the water is well 'ard and the kettle needs descaling every month).

Regarding the Steel Seal - i'd be tempted to drain it out and start again rather than mixing two types of additive but appreciate 8l of G rated coolant is not cheap! My approach with the Holts was to add half and see what happened - which in my case has been no drips. If it stays like that when the weather cools down remains to be seen but so far, so good. YMMV

[937carrera]

It's all osmosis to me

[Oldiebut goodie]

I think most of the instructions on G13 (or G12, G12+) bottles say to use distilled water. Deionised or distilled makes no difference, they are both forms of water with trace minerals removed, just by different processes. Depending where you live tap water can have a lot of trace minerals (here in Essex the water is well 'ard and the kettle needs descaling every month).

That article that my quote was from had pics of an engine that had had distilled water in for ages ( + coolant mixture) and there was significant erosion due to the aluminium being leached into the liquid. That was good enough for me to never use distilled water. De-scaling of kettles is irrelevant as normally there isn't a continual supply of fresh water being added to engines unlike a kettle and once the scale has been deposited there is no more being introduced ( unless you are replacing the coolant constantly). My water is fairly hard but the amount of scale inside any engine that I have stripped in the last 45 years has been minimal, certainly not enough to cause concern. The kettle is always being cleared out though.

[phinw]

Fair enough, I just go with the instructions on the label!

[RosieLee]

Thanks for the posts, put 250ml of Holts in yesterday, noticed a possible drip this morning. Taken it for a drive, see how it goes from here...

[RosieLee]

HI again,
The Holts sealant hasn't worked in my case, can anyone suggest anything else that I could do? What would you do?

Thank you, on my own with this, so I would really value your knowledge and experience.

[CovKid]

If the leak plug stuff doesn't work, only remedy is to take the heads off and replace seals I'm afraid. That or find an engine that doesn't leak.