Why Mike Manifold is a ‘snake oil’ sceptic
Home > News > Why Mike Manifold is a ‘snake oil’ sceptic
Recently when flicking through Land Rover magazine we found an article, “Stemming the Flow” written by Range Rover enthusiast Mike Manifold. Mike bought a 12-year-old HSE model with a number of problems including overheating and water use issues. It needed a new block – with a potential repair bill of £2000. In Mike’s own words… “My only resort was to try one of the remedies found on the shelves of the motorist stores and see if that worked. I classify many of the wonder cures available for cars as snake oil as they are essentially quack medicine but there are odd ones I have used that work and one of those is K-Seal… I have used it with great effect on 300 TDI engines with porosity problems in the cylinder head castings. I therefore decided to give it a go on the P38 engine as, at worse, I would waste £20 and at best I might have a usable vehicle. I shot a couple of bottles of it into the top hose as it is the quickest way to introduce it into the cooling system. I then ran the engine for about 20 minutes, taking small amounts of water every few minutes to top up the header tank…. Off for a test drive and 10 miles later it was still fine. I wish all repairs were as easy as this and perhaps all the potions on the motorist centres’ shelves are not snake oil. After all, K-Seal might just be that magic elixir solution for Rover V8 engines.”