To Bars or not to Bars?

[Vilan]

My Metro has developed a small coolant leak. It has never lost a drop of coolant since I bought it in 2001, but I took it in for a rebuild a few months ago and since then I've lost a couple cups worth of coolant. Dollars to donuts that they didn't quite put on the new head gasket properly. No puddles on the ground or noticeable white smoke. I don't relish the thought of trying to convince the dealer they messed up, so I'd like to fix it myself if possible.

I bought some Bars stop leak, but I also noticed there was sodium silicate "liquid glass" at the store too. Heard a lot of good about Bars, but the other one is a mystery to me. Did a search and couldn't find much. The silicate one is more expensive and requires flushing out the old coolant and letting the silicate sit 12 hours before driving. Fine with me if it'll do a better job than Bars, but that's the question, will it? I use traditional green coolant so you'd think there'd be plenty of silicate floating in there already, though it may not be the same stuff, not too sure on that.

 

[doitmyself]

In my opinion, if you choose to add the Bars Leak to the engine, then you also choose to take responsibility for any future engine rebuild coolant related issues that may occur next week or next year +/-. Why would you choose to do that? You risk wasting your thousands of dollars on a rebuild and ending up with a ruined engine with no recourse for making it right (other than taking the loss or shelling out more $$$$).

The engine rebuild should have a warranty. You should take it back to 1.) document the problem, and 2.) make them responsible to make it right. End of story.

I simply don't understand why you don't want them to be responsible for their work. A coolant and/or oil analysis might be helpful to prove there is a problem.

Become educated on the problem and don't let them bully you. Unless, of course, money is no issue for you.

 

[Chris142]

A slightly loose hose clamp will cause a mistery leak.

Do not put the liquid glass stuff in it. It will just plug up everything. Bars leak is ok but dont put the whole bottle in your tiny car. Mix it with water before you put it it instead of just dumping it in the rad.

 

[ctrcbob]

Don't know what to tell you about the head gasket, however I have used Bars in leaking radiators and also in hoses that leaked where the clamps were in a tough location. The Bars always worked great.

One time, probably 40 years ago, I had a hole from a rock (or something) puncture the front of my radiator. I stuffed a rag into the hole and added Bars. It did the job and never leaked after that. The piece of rag and Bars did the job.

Have not used Bars since most new cars switched to the seperate tank and where you cant fill the radiator directly by removing the radiator cap. Back in "the old days", I would drain the radiator slightly, shake the bottle of Bars and pour in the contents, making sure the hard pieces get into the radiator. I then started car, radiator cap off, until the thermostat opened and coolant would flow. (Drained radiator slightly and kept cap off to insure that the added Bars would not just come back out the top of the radiator.) Replaced the cap (did not refill radiator) and drove car for a few days until the Bars was fully mixed. Only then did I top off the radiator.

 

[Vilan]

Thanks for the advice all. Trying to see if I can at least confirm where the leak is before taking action. Read somewhere (maybe here) that if the head gasket is leaking you'll see bubbles coming up if you run the engine with the rad cap off. Tried that and don't see any bubbles, though admittedly my leak is very slow, wherever it is. Put it up on ramps and didn't see any obvious coolant leaks underneath. Further bulletins as events warrant.

 

[1sttruck]

I used some Barrs in older Taurus before eventually changing the radiator and I'll never use it again. The stuff collected on the radiator cap, the thermostat, plugged the overflow line, and even after a flush and refill was still showing up in the coolant.

 

[Cutehumor]

with a warranty on a repair, take it back to the shop. the head bolts may need to be retorqued.