Radiator Stop Leak Recommendation

[Duffyjr]

Originally Posted By: Egg_Head
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.


Give these guys a call and ask them since they will be doing the work and see what they say. I'll bey you they tell you not to put anything in there to try a stop the leak.

Had a good friend in high school that worked part time for a radiator shop and thru the years we stayed in touch with the owner. Saturday afternoons knocking a few back. I remember several times guys stopping by and asking how much to fix my radiator leak, he would shoot them a price and then say "double that it you put anything in there to try and stop it".

 

[Trav]

I guess he must have charged double for every Cadillac N* and Subaru and a few others because they had it in there from the production line. Some work and are totally harmless when used as directed and some clog everything in sight.
The Ginger root sealer will work on a minor seam leak just like porter seal worked from cracked blocks, it worked (plugged everything else too) and the block is always expanding and contracting.

 

[eljefino]

I wonder if he hated rodding out older rads... that could be monotonous, I imagine.

 

[andyd]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I wonder if he hated rodding out older rads... that could be monotonous, I imagine.
Deadly too, lead fumes, acids, fluxes, heat antifreeze. Most would fix a gas tank as well.

 

[CrAlt]

Originally Posted By: Trav
I guess he must have charged double for every Cadillac N* and Subaru and a few others because they had it in there from the production line. Some work and are totally harmless when used as directed and some clog everything in sight.
The Ginger root sealer will work on a minor seam leak just like porter seal worked from cracked blocks, it worked (plugged everything else too) and the block is always expanding and contracting.


GM started with the NorthStar like you said and they also put them in every other engine with iron blocks/alum heads like the corvette. They still put them in their GMPP crate engines and replacement Goodwrench engines. They ship them with replacement heads.

I drop a few GM tabs in everything I do a coolant flush on. Use only the recommended amount. To many and you get visible clumps.

 

[AVB]

Originally Posted By: Trav
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


I always thought they were powdered walnut shells.

I remember doing recalls on 3800's back around '03, 4 new throttle body nuts and two stop leak tablets. We always said the new nuts were just to make the customer think that you were fixing something.

 

[Trav]

The original formula did include walnut shell and still may but it was the ginger root that did the sealing. I don't know what the purpose of the walnut shell was, possibly to scour the area of any scum so the sealer would adhere better. Its an interesting question but I doubt we will get a real answer.

 

[AVB]

Cool, I just thought the walnut shell plugged the hole. I didn't know anything about the ginger root.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: Superflop
Yeah the gm/ac delco stop leak tablets


+100 If that doesn't work I would determine the leak and repair but I have used this in the past and it has worked nicely

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
Originally Posted By: Superflop
Yeah the gm/ac delco stop leak tablets


+100 If that doesn't work I would determine the leak and repair but I have used this in the past and it has worked nicely


+101 I've kept a beater or two over the years on the road for a very long time using them. It was used locally and not worth the money for the proper fix. I had no problems with the overheating, or the output of the heater.

 

[BironDanmum]

Bar's Leak powder is essentially the same thing as the GM cooling system tabs. Don't use too much and make sure you run it nice and hot after you put it in so it gets a chance to bond to the innards.

I've had Saturns, Cadillacs and Buicks that required the seal tabs and personally I find it appalling that this bandaid was considered a "fix" for a faulty cooling system, but it is what it is (or was, as I completely gave up on GM).

Optimally you would want to get the radiator soldered but the Bars Leak probably can't hurt unless you have a water pump on the way out.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: BironDanmum

I've had Saturns, Cadillacs and Buicks that required the seal tabs and personally I find it appalling that this bandaid was considered a "fix" for a faulty cooling system, but it is what it is (or was, as I completely gave up on GM).


Then you better add Subaru to your do not buy list they use it also.

 

[BironDanmum]

Way ahead of you on that. I still think of a Suburu as a "disposable" car.

 

[Trav]

Lots of them running around 20 years old and more with hundreds of thousand of miles on the in NE winters the whole life, its probably one of the least disposable cars I can think of. Now if you said Early Hyundai or Kia, Ford Festiva, GM's Daewoo built cars, etc I would be in agreement.

 

[BironDanmum]

So, the head gasket issues that have plagued Subaru since the late 80s up until today are all a myth? Or is replacing the engine every 100k miles considered normal maintenance? Not trying to start a flame war, just curious. I don't consider any of the modular V6 GM cars to be reliable for the intake manifold gasket issues so I certainly wouldn't consider a 4 cylinder that blows a head gasket every 80-120k miles reliable either. Hence disposable.

 

[Trav]

Replacing the engine every 100K? Now your trolling. HG on the Subaru is no big deal and certainly no reason to change the engine. FYI it was only the open deck engines that had the HG issue the closed deck engines routinely went 200K and more on the same head gasket.
Using your criteria as a indicator as to if the car is disposable or not condemns every super car to the rubbish heap. Every car ever made will at some point need an expensive repair, regardless of make or model its just a matter of time.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a6327/the-boot-high-maintenance/

Just for laughs what do you drive?

 

[BironDanmum]

I currently drive a 2016 Mazda 6, 2006 Crown Victoria, 1999 ZX2 S/R, 2000 ZX2, 1975 Plymouth Gran Fury, 1976 280Z, 2000 Nissan Frontier, and 2011 Ford Ranger. Project cars are 1950 Ford Custom Deluxe Tudor and 1968 Imperial.

I can go into the motorcycles I own if you need that information too.

No, I'm not trolling. Driving around on a blown head gasket usually leads to engine replacement. I guess if you check your oil every single day you can catch it before it does the most damage, but rarely (if ever) is that usually the case.

If Subaru head gaskets are "no big deal", why do they cost around $2000 to replace?

Quote:
3. How much should I expect this to cost?
Depending on the year and engine configuration of your 2.5 Subaru, the base head gasket job for parts (including tax and labor) costs between $1500 and $1600. Adding the timing belt, idlers, and tensioner adds about $400. The typical total cost for an automatic transmission car runs between $2100 and $2300. The typical head gasket job on a manual transmission car including a clutch runs $2400-$2600. This isn’t to say yours could be a little more or a little less, but these are the numbers we are used to seeing


Source: https://independentmotors.net/subaru-head-gasket-replacement/

It's fine if you love your Subarus, I get it. I had a Vega and a Pinto during the 70s and I thought they were some of the most awesome cars ever, event though they were about as reliable as, well, a Subaru.

But please don't pretend there's not a problem with Subarus and head gaskets. You're just insulting your own intelligence otherwise.

 

[Trav]

Who's pretending they don't have HG issues? I said the close deck does not and they don't. When they fail on the open deck the leak exposes itself quickly and rarely results in the need for replacement engine. That doesnt make it a disposable car.
You are calling the pot black with some of the those gems you have there aren't you? LOL

If I had the Ranger in the rust belt I would be more worried about the frame breaking and how to keep the rear quarters on the 6 in a few years than the HG failing on some Subaru.

 

[BJD78]

I once owned a 1979 Cougar and in the mid 80's while in college the radiator leaked, so being on the cheap and not wanting to cut into my beer budget, I bought some stop leak, which was a small bottle with pellets could have been Bar leaks, but so long ago I do not recall brand. my dad recommended that I only use half the bottle or it would clog up the heater core. that is what I did, anyway after about 25 miles of driving it stopped the leak, I drove it for a few months and top of radiator leaked at a seam, so I got some JB Weld and sealed that leak from the outside and drove the car for another year or so before finally putting in a new radiator. These stop leaks are not meant to be a permanent fix but certainly can last for a while. I went nearly 2 years with it before replacing radiator. When I replaced radiator, a few days later a deer found its way to my radiator at 60 mph and no amount of stop leak could fix that. That was the bitter end for my 1979 Mercury Cougar. In a pinch stop leak works but a new or used radiator is still likely a better long term solution. I mainly drove around town in the old Cougar, had I been making long trip over 100 miles I would definitely gotten a new or used radiator a lot sooner. So bottom line is that if you are just going to drive near home, stop leak will be ok for a while, but if traveling a long ways best to get a new radiator. many radiators are composite material and not easily repaired nowdays. Best to replace.

 

[BJD78]

That is some old school stuff that really works. I recall as a youngster back in the early 70's, visiting my grandfathers farm in western South Dakota and I went with him to Rapid City in his 1970 F100 Ford Ranger anyway on the way back we stopped at a small roadside cafe/ gas station because there was steam coming out of the radiator. it was about 7-8 in the evening and back then gas stations closed at 6:00, lucky for us the cafe was still open so we had a quick meal so the radiator could cool down and my grandpa dumped about a tablespoon or so of pepper in the radiator and within about 5 minutes no leaks. Able to make the 20 mile drive back to his ranch thanks to pepper. A few years later I cut myself on the arm while we were tightening some barb wire fence and was bleeding pretty good and my grandpa poured some water on the cut and then grabbed the pepper shaker from the house and dumped pepper on my cut. It did not burn as
I expected and stopped the bleeding fairly quickly. For a radiator it is a temp fix but all stop leak products are just a stop gap until one can fix or replace the radiator.