Hi,
My suspected head gasket problem has turned out to be not a head gasket problem :(
Basically we ran a block test kit on the header tank, and turned the liquid yellow, ie hydrocarbons in the coolant. This we suspected to be the head gasket, so we stripped and took to a local machine shop. Very helpful chaps, but they basically said the heads were perfect and looked like they'd be done already some time ago.
The fellahs explained a few things about what would more than likely be wrong, and recommended that we try some coolant additive that repairs cracks etc.....I've heard of radweld before, but not much else along them lines.
So a bit of google investigation revealed a few products, that contained silicates of summat, basically glass with bits of metal for extra strength. You pour it into your cooling system and it goes around fixing cracks in the block. The main one that come up was K&W Block Seal. After contacting the UK branch saying that this product wasn't available in the UK and there wasn't any other equivalent product, I was a bit stumped, so hence the war and peace post on here.
Does anyone know of a block seal equivalent here in the UK. One turned up, but it was on a tractor website :)....go figure.
Thanks in Advance
Tim