Installation Instructions

K-Seal Installation Guide for Severe Over-Pressurising Systems (Head Gasket)
In certain instances of Head Gasket Failure K-Seal is prevented from repairing due to combustion gases entering the cooling
system causing over pressurisation. Two tell-tale signs to look out for are:
In these instances, the extra pressure can actually prevent K-Seal from entering the cooling system or reaching the failure point.
There are a few extra tips to help give K-Seal the best chance of making a repair.
 Adding K-Seal via the top hose of the radiator, or draining some coolant and mixing with K-Seal before adding back to
the system, can help to get K-Seal into the cooling system more rapidly.
 If you can identify the problem cylinder then by disabling or removing the spark plug you will reduce the pressure
blowing into the cooling system. This gives K-Seal more chance to reach and enter the failure point. Disabling the
injector can also help, particularly in diesel engines where there is no spark plug.
 Another effective method is to idle the engine with the highest point bleed valve open which vents the combustion
gases early and stops over-pressurising which has been demonstrated to then allow K-Seal to work. If possible, you can
also add K-Seal while the front of the vehicle is elevated up to 45 degrees by parking on an incline. This allows any air in
the system to rise and reach the expansion tank and escape.
Sometimes the failure is simply too large for K-Seal to make a repair. K-Seal is specifically engineered to seal holes up to
0.635mm / 0.025in in diameter and cracks up to 0.254mm / 0.01in wide by 12.7mm / 0.5in in length. As a rough guide, if you
are adding coolant almost as fast as you are losing it, and the system is draining in around 15 minutes, then the leak is too
severe to K-Seal repair
In this image of a damaged head gasket from a Fiat Punto, although we could see
that K-Seal particles were present around the water passageways of the gasket the
area that had failed was more than the maximum specification for a K-Seal repair.
Also, the head required skimming due to overheating and warping which is beyond
the repair capabilities of K-Seal.
Although these dimensions are large enough to cause a sizeable leak if you are
draiing the majority of the coolant over short distances or time, then this may be
beyond the limits of what K-Seal can fix.
There is plenty more information at our website www.kseal.com
1. Coolant being expelled from the expansion or
overflow tank while the engine is left idling. In this
example, the cap is left off, but even in place, the
system would build up the pressure and eventually
force coolant out as well as raise the engine
temperature as the coolant flow becomes restricted.
2. Bubbles that are visible in the expansion tank or
top of the radiator are combustion gases from the
engine getting into the cooling system.