Radiator Stop Leak Recommendation

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My 1979 Jeep CJ-7 w/304 V-8 appears to have a slight coolant leak at the seam towards the bottom, 10 drips on the garage floor after 1 week of not driving. Radiator is the original Blackstone and I believe it is brass. Jeep has 38k original miles and I am driving it to the beach next Friday, trip is about 4 hours. I am willing to roll the bones and try some stop leak, any recommendations? Bars has about 4 different products for this, thanks.
 
Although probably most people will say don't use any, just fix it, If you are going to use a stop leak, I would use the Bars leaks pellets or powder, or the pelletized stuff. I think it is all mostly the same ingredient. Just don't use the aluminized stuff. I personally have used all that I mentioned, and found it to work pretty good and cause no problems.
 
Bars leak pellets or tablets have worked for me on many occasions. I've also had excellent luck with the GM radiator pellets from the parts counter.
 
Free rental of pressure tester from AZ. Find out exactly where the leak is. A good handyman could solder it if brass. Those band aids you propose do more harm than good. Been there done that.
 
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K-Seal perhaps? I know some people who has had success with it and it's not one of those types of sealers that just harden at the top of the radiator. I've used there product once when I was going up to Iowa recently. Car hit a deep pot hole out of no where and the water pump was pouring water very quickly.

We where about half way and I tried it since I heard some good stuff about it in the past. Sure enough it solved the problem in about 35-45 mins and the thing stopped leaking and got me to Iowa where I was able to replace the pump and gasket correctly.

I read a lot about it at the time and it's suppose to be mainly a chopper, fiberglass??, and epoxy mix that cure on contact with air instead of just melting when it's hot and gets clogged in the leak over time.

I guess the best thing about it is it can be kept in the system and is safe for the heater core since it only cures after prolonged contact with air and doesn't require the system to be flushed out afterwards.
 
+1 for the pellets , they've fixed a couple of vehicles of mine in the past that had slight coolant leaks.
 
Getting the OE radiator repaired is my ultimate goal. There is a great family owned, old school radiator repair shop in my town. I'm traveling this week and will not have time to get that taken care of prior to the road trip. I have AAA 100 mile tow service if the stuff hits the fan, part of the adventure.
 
aluma-seal is good stuff, available as both a liquid and as a powder
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Bars Leak or GM tabs or Subaru sealer only no metallic sealers. The metallic ones will plug an older system up quicker than you can think about it.
The products mentioned use ginger root as the main ingredient, it shrinks when when and only expends wet in the presence of air so it basically just roams around waiting for a leak without doing any damage, OE manufacturers use this formula in some of their problematic engines.

The GM and Subaru ones are available from any dealer, for a V8 GM makes a larger packet and 2 bottles of the Subaru stuff.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bar-s-leaks-R...13=&veh=sem

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-3634621-Cooling-System-Tablet/dp/B000QIH3C4

https://www.amazon.com/Subaru-SOA635071-Coolant-System-Conditioner/dp/B00IGZP2UE
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
A brass radiator can be fixed by a radiator repair shop (if they still exist).


Yeah this, just a little solder, unless it's corroded.

If you must add stop leak, drain two quarts. Mix one quart with the bar's leak, dump that in, run the engine with the cap off, and top it off with the other quart. Beats having the junk float around up top by the radiator cap where it'll just mess up the cap.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
The seam flexes with pressure. Stop leak wont help.


+1 Yup, this.

And expands and contracts as it heats and cools.
 
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