steel seal

Hiya guys, im on holiday in coombe martin been here since last friday, my 1.8 51 plate freelander has been running great till today. Went to start it up this morning it took 3 atempts to get it started then a white plumbe of smoke come out the exhuast and carried on smoking whilst the car was running. So i checked the header tank and it was dry, i had checked it the day before and it was fine so not sure whatd happened there over night. So i got the AA out and its the head gasket gone apparently. The garage wants 1100-1300 to repair it which i simply cant afford so the sugested a steal seal which is similar to k seal apparently i dont know cous iv never used it. Has anyone used this stuff and if so how was it ? Did it work? And do you think it will last the 200 mile to get us home on friday ?

Any advise and information would be apreciated

Chris

dont use it - it can cause more probs than it is worth. PM Trewy for a better garage.

Coombe Martin is a fookin long way from me!
Sorry, but I don't know any garages up that way.

Petrol, matches, insurance?

Trewey said:

Coombe Martin is a fookin long way from me!
Sorry, but I don't know any garages up that way.

Petrol, matches, insurance?

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Is that up in North Devon?

Probably not much competition around if they are asking that kind of money for a head job!

OP, can you get it relayed back home and do it youself or get a garage you know to do it?

Does your insurance cover include breakdown recovery, several insurers do these days

The aa said cous iv used 1 recovery getting it to the garage i would have to pay for the second recovery back home. They cover the first 50 miles but then its £2.50 per mile. Works out about 400 quid with the sur charge what a joke. I had the same thought petrol and lighter. Think my only option is to have the steal seal in then thats classed as being repaired then if it did break down again on the way home i could just get aa to towe me bk for free.

Has changing the Head Gasket got more complicated?

Surely a long weekend, manual and socket set (torque wrench) is all the tools you'll really need...

SnapBrokeIt said:

Has changing the Head Gasket got more complicated?

Surely a long weekend, manual and socket set (torque wrench) is all the tools you'll really need...

Click to expand...

Om Holiday????

have txtd Porkbeer & Top5y

SnapBrokeIt said:

Has changing the Head Gasket got more complicated?

Surely a long weekend, manual and socket set (torque wrench) is all the tools you'll really need...

Click to expand...

...after you have skimmed the head....

Yeh he did say the head would need skiming. Is this a major job for me to do myself once i get it home cous i could just get a run around while i fix it i suppose.

Message from Top5y....

if he can make it then I would suggest the Metro Centre on Braunton road which is the road he would have to travel to leave the area but that is still 29 miles away.

...after you have skimmed the head....

Too much expense and hassle... you're really have had to cook the engine and as its a know issue with the K-series!

As to the difficulty I really don't know with a Freelander, but sure someone could tell you how many Haynes spanners it is....

Good luck...

A tow to somewhere more reasonable might be possible. We can try lzir if that's what the OP wants to do?

how did the AA man test it we are presuming that he has tested it ok like doing a sniff test and that he has nothing to do with the outrageously priced garage. is it using a lot of water? is there oil in the header tank, and look into the engine via oil filler cap is there lots of mayo and then when engine is running try putting your hand near the tail pipe if it is too hot to keep it there then that is a sign of water being boiled. and finally DO NOT put anything into your engine to try and seal it. you have been warned

If the engine hasn't overheated (I presume you turned it off immediately and didn't restart since) It's unlikely the head will need skimmed. I've changed two now and neither needed skimmed.

+1 on not putting crap in there which will block up all the waterways and cause grief ever after. If it managed to dump all water like that KSeal probably won't work anyway. It's only for small slow leaks.

Hiya i did check all those things but there were no sighn of mayo substance or oul in the header tank the exhuast was just warm. As i say i only started it noticed the smoke then turned it off, it wasent even up to temp so i doubt the head would need skiming. The aa bloke just looked at it really didnt even touch it just said yeh thats the head gone mate.

You can do the head gasket job yourself, everything you need is available mail order from the internet usually next day delivery, just get the tools and head gasket set delivered to your hotel, even with buying new tools it will still work out a lot cheaper than you have been quoted.

The haynes manual explains how to do it step by step, youtube as some good videos showing headgasket removal and replacement on the freelander, i did mine from watching the videos, reading the manual and asking questions on here.

Im having it towed now and gonna get home in a hire car. Ill strip it out myself. I think they bump the price up cous they know your on holiday and you will pay it to get home, well im sertainley not paying that redicoulous price i only payed £2000 for the car. If id have know about these sort of problems with the k series before i would have walked away from it. Ill get it bk home take the engine out and do a full recon job on it i think, ill just take my time with it and if i get stuck like you say there is always you tube . God bless you tube its got me out of **** many a time lol

You didn't look very hard if you weren't aware of issues with the K series good luck with it anyway

Well its the first 4x4 iv owned so i wasent realy sure what to look out for. I suppose you could say that about any car they all have there problems mate