I never knew stop leak worked!

So I'm going through an awesome slalom this weekend in my jackson racing supercharged miata yesterday.  All of a sudden there is water on the windshield.  My mustang is supercharged as well and while under hard use, will spit washer fluid.  I thought, "is this a supercharger thing"?  But then I realized It didn't' smell like washer fluid, but coolant.  

The leak wasn't bad, (or so I thought) so I figured if I had enough coolant and water I could easily drive home.  After my third fill up in thirty minutes I realized that my two-hour ride home wasn't going to happen.  Issued with a tow truck.  I went to an o'reilleys and figured I'd give some stop leak a chance.  The counter guy was very emphatic that it would get me home.  Holy cow, he was right.  I never thought this stuff worked, but I'm a  believer now.

I'll post questions on flushing the system when I'm putting the new radiator in!

Did you try running with a loose radiator cap?  Less pressure in the system means less squirt out.

I have had good luck with K-Seal.  What did you use?

In reply to Stampie (FS) :

I didn't know that trick!

dean1484 said:

I have had good luck with K-Seal.  What did you use?

I used Barrs brand,  It was a two part mix that you had to use equal parts.  I of course used all of it.  It was one of the more pricey ones at like 13 bucks.  I figured I'd spend the money!  I was never so thrilled as to get that car home.

My experience is that these things work in the short term but may let go in a year or two.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I have already ordered a new radiator.  Whatever the hole in the present radiator, It's steaming and leaking.  I was stupid to drive the thing in this morning.  I asked it to get me home and it did.  I can't ask for more than that.  It's not getting hot, but it's dumb for me to push it.

Whatever you do.... don't over do it.  Trust me.  7 flushes, three more drain and refills, a new radiator, a new heater core, and a new water pump later, I can attest to not overdoing it.  The previous owner had used about 4 bottles of Barrs leaks and I'm still fighting it.  When the intake gasket finally re-started its leak I pulled it for a gasket job.  The water passages were lined with 1/8" of coppery snot.  I had overheating issues (the snot was preventing heat transfer from the metal to the water), no heat, half the radiator was clogged, and I'm still looking at coolant that turns brown after a few hundred miles.

Use it to get you home, but then fix the leak and flush like crazy.

I'm looking to get a little more power out of my truck and I'm actually going to buy a used engine to build instead of building this one.  It adds a few hundred bucks to the equation, but I'll finally be rid of the stuff.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) 

Yikes, I was worried about something like this.  I won't get to the new radiator until next week, but I should at least drain the radiator. Thanks for the heads up.

I could be totally wrong about this (and if so, someone please set me straight) but I thought stop leak hardened on exposure to air. So, if you drain the rad, refill the system-even just with plain water- until you flush it thoroughly.  I know you're swapping out the radiator anyway, but that stuff is everywhere now, so keep the system full until you get rid of it. 

I have  heard  black pepper works in a pinch to stop radiator leaks, if it is a pinhole

Didn't a car talk episode have something about using eggs for a radiator leak?

thedoc said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) 

Yikes, I was worried about something like this.  I won't get to the new radiator until next week, but I should at least drain the radiator. Thanks for the heads up.

If you're not having problems and you just used a little stop leak, don't stress.  Just don't do like the previous owner of my truck did and keep adding more when the leak comes back.

Pepper does work.  So does ground up pine needles or ground up dry leaves.  You will have to completely back flush the system and even then you will never get it all out of the system.  In fact I would bypass the heater core when doing this.  But in a pinch when you absolutely have to move a car or get from a to be in said car it will get you there.   Basically do this to get a car to the junk yard or if you are planning on removing and replacing the entire cooling system.

Years ago I had to have a block cooked at the machine shop because I couldn't get the olds 307 to quit overheating. Heads, headgaskets, new radiator, electric fans and water pump. Still overheated. Turns out when the thing started too leak the old lady just kept dumping stop leak in it. The sludge it left behind just didn't allow water too flow anymore. 

I used a head gasket fix goo in my truck that had a coolant to outside leak about 7 months sgo. It did work, it still working, but since putting it in, my heater core appears to be barely working. Rather than get very hot air blowing out, i only get slightly warm air. 

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

I used a head gasket fix goo in my truck that had a coolant to outside leak about 7 months sgo. It did work, it still working, but since putting it in, my heater core appears to be barely working. Rather than get very hot air blowing out, i only get slightly warm air. 

You might get lucky by just flushing the heater core if you can get at the lines to it easily. That has worked for me in the past and got my heat blowing hotter than ever.

I stabbed a brand new radiator in my van a couple of years ago; it didn't leak per se but there was this wet spot. Minimal amount of Barsleak and it's been fixed ever since. I have in my younger broker days used the stuff liberally and gotten away with it for years.

I've used stop leak to some good effect. Stopped a fairly major water leak between timing cover and block in a FWD that just had to last another few months. I own that car now but havent torn it down to fix the trans that let go! As far as i know it is still holding coolant. I've also used stop leak a couple of times when i've put together engines and had just a drop of coolant forming around some freeze plugs i installed. I generally just put it in, let it get hot once and stop leaking, and then drain and flush, go back with real coolant. They  might have stopped leaking on their own but i do know they never started again! So i would say my experiences with stop leak have been good. Barr's brand every time from what i can remember. I have never used a 'head gasket in a can', can't speak to those. I have used Red Angel (same company as Blue Devil) AC sealer in a couple of vehicles with slow leaks that aren't leaving a dye trace.  Cheaper than buying a sniffer. 

Horse$h-t.  Seriously.  It’s an all natural stop leak that works extremely well.

I learned this reading the autobiography of Gerhard Neumann an early pioneer of jet engines and the first head of GE Aircraft Engines.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Neumann