At almost 306K miles, the end is near for the Q due to a leaking heater core,was hoping to drive it til the engine or transmission gave out,but it just may be the heater core that ends up causing the Q funeral when winter gets here!

I dont think it makes financial sense to spend the $$$$ to properly repair this problem due to the age of the car, so my options are to either bypass the coolant flow to the heater core and dump the car come winter or try throwing in a bottle of Bars Leaks and see if it seals up the leak and continue driving the car until the engine/tranny gives up......anyone ever try either of the 2 options mentioned? currently the leak is small,requiring maybe 8-16 oz of coolant replacement per week,but the passanger side rug is wet so something must be done real soon!

At this point, you don't have anything to lose by trying the Bars Leak.

Never tried it, but always wondered if it was possible to coat the inside of the heater core with something that would provide a better seal than Bars Leak:

Remove both heater hoses
Drain and flush thoroughly
Use a hair dryer or heat gun to dry the innerds
Temporarily plug the bottom of the core
Use a funnel to pour sealant in from the top of the core
Remove the plug on the bottom to drain excess sealant before it dries solid
Repeat if necessary

2-part epoxy might be a good choice for the sealant - Should easily withstand normal engine coolant temperatures.

You've been carving her tombstone for so long...

Funny, from day 1 I had planned on keeping her for 300,000 miles,and she made it- just thought the death would be due to the drivetrain, not something silly like this.Gotta say overall the Q has been not only the most enjoyable car I have owned, but also the most reliable and durable.Gonna miss the ole girl when shes gone.

anyone ever try the bars Leak product??????

If you want to drive it a little longer you can plug up the heater hoses or loop them back. I thought my heater core was leaking so I plugged the hoses, I even have a spare heater box in case I ever need it. Getting the heater core out was probably the most difficult job on this car I have ever done. Way more difficult that engine and trans replacement without a lift, took about 4 hours to get it out of a junkyard car. I'm guessing if your careful and move quick maybe a 15-20 hour job.

I would stay away from any stop leak if you can. I think maybe it would be okay with what skibane posted but the time I used it in the radiator to try and stop the heater core leak it ended up plugging the bleeder/overflow barb near the radiator cap. This caused a false coolant level in the overflow when in fact the radiator was low by about 2-3 quarts. More than likely its the plastic end tank that has failed and will probably only be a bandaid.

Just out of curiosity, how do you know its the heater core leaking? Is there coolant inside the car or coming from the boxes drain? My leak ended up being the water pump.

passanger side floormat is soaked with smell of coolant,windshield is fogging up!

The coolant smell is very difficult to get rid of once it has soaked in...

Yeh, something needs to be done about that, ASAP - Even if it's just a temporary fix.

Just pull the hoses at the firewall and hook them up to one another. Put a nice sheepskin on the seat and buy a pair of nice gloves.

Being cold sucks but its the defroster that you'll really miss! Been there and done that more than once.

Back in my GM/Cadillac days, you needed to use the bars leak additives in that cooling system. One thing regardless of what brand you use is you should make sure that before you add it it's thoroughly dissolved. You'd want to dissolve it in coolant (warm coolant works better) and then dump it in, otherwise the little pellets can become lodged into coolant passages.

For heater cores, I've also heard good things about this:
http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/alumaseal/

If you were going to do that, I'd try and isolate it to just the heater core, versus the entire cooling system.

Wes, the particular Bars Leak product I looked at was a bottle of dark liquid with tiny pellets in it,I think it is their original formula....are you familiar with that one? instructions were to pour into cold radiator then immediatly drive for 15-30 minutes.

elwesso wrote:Back in my GM/Cadillac days, you needed to use the bars leak additives in that cooling system.

GM also sold their own version (GM Stop Leak Tablets), which was commonly used as a "routine maintenance item" (which is a euphemism for "method of delaying coolant leaks until after the warranty expires") on some "problem" engines.

I'm not too familiar with those bars leak products other than what I mentioned. I know on the Cadillac's it was particularly bad with the Northstar's.. IMO that whole thing was a BS cover-up for a poorly designed cooling system. Turns out that it IS possible to have a 32V V8 that doesn't blow headgaskets or spray coolant everywhere... The northstar was a good engine and a good concept, but typical GM cheapness and shortcuts made it less than stellar (and nowhere near as good as the VH).

I read some old posts and they actually recommend dumping the product into one of the hoses rather than directly into the cooling system, that way the stuff gets distributed more into the actual cooling system rather than the radiator. So, I might consider dumping it directly into the heater core in your case.



Most of those bars leaks products are simply ground up ginger root. Ginger root will shrink when wet and expand when it's dry. So it will wedge itself into a leak, clot it, and then expand on the "dry" side of the leak. That's the theory anyway.

bottle of snake oil bars Leaks was dumped in, leak slowed and then stopped it appears, for how long who knows! sure looks a nasty color in the overflow container LOL.


maybe I should start looking for a Demolition Derby to enter the old girl in!

Would probably be a nice candidate for someone looking for a rebuilt VH engine...

All lost for a heater core? What else is worth $500?

qship96 wrote:bottle of snake oil bars Leaks was dumped in, leak slowed and then stopped it appears, for how long who knows! sure looks a nasty color in the overflow container LOL.


maybe I should start looking for a Demolition Derby to enter the old girl in!

how's the stop leak holding?

ended up bypassing the core.....

elwesso wrote:I'm not too familiar with those bars leak products other than what I mentioned. I know on the Cadillac's it was particularly bad with the Northstar's.. IMO that whole thing was a BS cover-up for a poorly designed cooling system. Turns out that it IS possible to have a 32V V8 that doesn't blow headgaskets or spray coolant everywhere... The northstar was a good engine and a good concept, but typical GM cheapness and shortcuts made it less than stellar (and nowhere near as good as the VH).

I read some old posts and they actually recommend dumping the product into one of the hoses rather than directly into the cooling system, that way the stuff gets distributed more into the actual cooling system rather than the radiator. So, I might consider dumping it directly into the heater core in your case.



Most of those bars leaks products are simply ground up ginger root. Ginger root will shrink when wet and expand when it's dry. So it will wedge itself into a leak, clot it, and then expand on the "dry" side of the leak. That's the theory anyway.

Wes - I saw this in real life once when I was mere youngster. We had a neighbor that inherited a 1946 Ford Pickup like the one in the picture. So one day he started it up after it had been sitting for about a year. There was no coolant in the radiator. When he filled it with water I remember seeing water spray out of the radiator core area. So the guy had somebody go purchase two cans of ground cooking ginger and then dumped it in the radiator. So then everybody watched the leaks stop like magic. I will never forget watching that ginger stop radiator leaks.