Head gasket leak & "Steal Seal"

Has anyone heard of or used a product called “Steal Seal”? I have a 2002 Nissan Frontier 4x4 pickup with 82,000 miles that has a leaking head gasket which would cost $1,900.00 to repair. I was planning on trading it in sometime next year and I found a product called ?Steel Seal? on the internet that claims to repair head gaskets with no disassembly, and comes with a ?lifetime guarantee?. It costs about $70.00 not including what a ?Steel Seal Professional Installer? will charge to install it for me. Does this stuff work or will it do more damage than good? Any advice given would be greatly appreciated.

i really think that this is just another money making schme.dont waste your money

Never heard of it before. Another miracle in a bottle. The only way to determine whether it does more harm than good is to try it.

Pouring something in the radiator does not sound like a good way to fix a leaking head gasket to me, but, hey, it’s guaranteed for the life of your vehicle.

Let us know how you make out with this.

Like the others, I have never heard of this particular product. However, a head gasket is a tough thing to fix with a chemical sealant. Is it leaking only toward the outside, and only water?

I once successfully stopped a small head gasket water leak with sealant, but I lived to regret it when the sealant ‘set up’ in various other places in the cooling system and blocked passages, causing hot spots in the head.

If you’re not wedded to the vehicle and willing to perhaps waste money and risk screwing up some other stuff (see, e.g., Maolito’s post) it may be worth a try. I would try to locate a “professional installer” and ask them if they stand behind the product and are willing to fix any residual problems caused by the product itself. My guess is that they’ll run for the hills.

I would suggest the $10 variety that you can pick up at your local auto parts store. Get the kind that doesn’t mix with antifreeze. Takes a little more time and effort to flush the system, but the results are outstanding and it’s less likely to cause blockage elsewhere in the system. I used the stuff three times over about 8 years on an old high mileage caravan - different leaks, not the same one. The van eventually died of other causes not related to the cooling system. Of course, as with any shortcut there are risks involved.

I’m always skeptical of any product touting a miracle in a bottle and providing testimonials.
I’m also dubious about all of these garages they have peddling this stuff. Sounds like the BG product line business method.

What reputable mechanic or shop would promote the use of a bottle of goop’em rather than do a proper repair?